I am an IU fan. At the same time, I think I am a realist. Eric Gordon will be rattled and not have a good game. DJ White will do fine, but no other IU player will step up. Illinois will win by at least 10 points. (I hope I am very wrong.)
Sherron Wilkerson
· 1 year ago
I agree with this thread, IU will buckle under the pressure of a bad team and drunk fans
Willis
· 1 year ago
I think Gordon gets to the line a lot in this game , shoots 80-90% from the stripe, and IU gets the W. I think the loss at the Kohl Center in a hostile environment gives him the experience to be a "cool customer".
Matt Brown
· 1 year ago
I get so tired of most fans. When the Hoosiers are doing well, 'We're going to win by 20'. When they hit a rough spot, 'They're going to lose by 20'. There doesn't seem to be any realism or analysis, only bandwagons. I love the Hoosiers to, but at least offer some value to the conversation. How about this -- Key to the game pace. When Indiana gets out and runs they win. Pressure,especially offensive drives the team. The opposite is true for Illinois. The slower the pace, the worse they play (That happens when you don't have an offense and can't score). If Indiana gets 62 possessions they win. 61 or less they loose.
ALH_00
· 1 year ago
If they learn to take care of the basketball, and exercise some patience to get the good look, the number of possessions wouldn't matter so much. Although I do agree that the higher number of possessions increases IU's chances, it need not be so. My key stat would be shooting percentage, because that would mean that DJ is touching the ball frequently and the shooters are getting open looks from the outside. I also would like to see us at the line a bunch, like Willis says.
Additionally, IU should rebound well tonight, hopefully on the offensive end. Our usual matchup problems at the 4-spot are less pronounced against IL (assuming Ellis guards Randle). Our guards are better. The only spot were the Illini match up evenly is with Pruitt...but he's matched up with a solid, experienced senior who might be the league MVP.
As usual, I'll take the Hoosiers.
Ryan
· 1 year ago
I think EJ will have an okay night... maybe 13 or so points. But him being a freshmen, I definitely think he'll be shaken up but the Krush antics and the constant jeering. We have to expect that someone else besides DJ will step it up and have a big game. Maybe Ratliff will finally have his first good game of the year at Illinois.
Will
· 1 year ago
I agree with the first post here. Its too hard for me to not envision Gordon getting rattled tonight. He has gotten rattled in every Big Ten road game so far and those environments were nothing like this. Hope i am dead wrong and he has 30, Go Hoosiers!
Klabby
· 1 year ago
I just want someone to explain why every clown in the fake assembly hall wears aviator sun glasses??? Does every incoming freshman get a orange shirt, wig and, aviators at welcome week?
Help me understand, please?
Fes
· 1 year ago
Sean May was smart, his coach would have been Mike Davis. The booing never made sense, May was much smarter than us.
IndianaJoe
· 1 year ago
The dark ages were a hard time for all of us.
TomCoverdale's Eyebrows
· 1 year ago
Couldn't agree more that tempo will dictate the outcome of this game. Seeing how well they stymeid our offense last meeting, the scale seems to tip in the Illini's favor. Add to that the fact that the Illini aren't playing for much, at 10-13, except their coach's pride (or whats left). My guess is that EJ will have a case of the jitters early on, but eventually will shake 'em and drop ~20.
Nick
· 1 year ago
If Illinois does win, will the fans rush the court? That would be very satisfying as it would confirm what we already know: IU is an elite program (5 titles) and UI is a mid-level Big Ten school with no titles. All, the same, IU will win with big games from DJ and Ratliff.
DavidC
· 1 year ago
Kind of how IU fans rushed the court when they beat Wisconsin a year (or was it two years) ago?
CoveyDale
· 1 year ago
we also rushed the floor when we beat Illinois two years ago...i was there and was embarassed.
Scott
· 1 year ago
Don't forget. Most of those students who rushed the court that night don't remember the glory days of IU winning National Titles. Let them have their fun. After some down years, knocking off a ranked team, esp. Wisc when they were number 2, means something. IU is obviously not the team it was 20 years ago.
Jerry
· 1 year ago
i am looking at tonights game as a measure of our team progress.
Principle #1: Only thing that counts is going deep into March
Principle #2: Regular season is to develop ability to do #1
As such I am looking for:
A. Team Identity : Offense .....lets roll with it
B. Serious minutes from Crawford and McGee. Gordon needs to drive to the basket with PURPOSE of KICKING for the POP ! and not for the score every time. Then we need to play players who can POP. We need at least 3 guys other than DJ who can POP and they are not MWhite, Stemler, Thomas or Ellis.
C. Zone: with a serious half court trap to enable us to bring the UI offense out from the basket and still pressure the ball. This also allows offensive minded players some lattitude to cover defensive weaknesses
DavidC
· 1 year ago
I always felt the best time for a freshman who has yet to play any significant minutes this season is to all of a sudden give him serious minutes on the road in one of the most hostile games the Hoosiers will play away from their home court. There is no way that strategy will not end well.
But I am intrigued by the prospect of seeing IU playing some zone. But that may just depend on how well the Illini are shooting the ball.
Mr_C
· 1 year ago
We need a big game from Ellis, Crawford, or Basset in order to pull this one out. I think EJ will be a mild factor in this game given that he is going to have 8,000 suburban kids yelling mean things at him like "verbal commitment indian giver". DJ will be big, but he is always big. I agree that tempo will play a large role in this game, but even more then that I think staying out of foul trouble will be more important. If DJ gets in trouble early it gives Bruce Girl ownership of the paint. Ratliff will be a no factor and Taber's line will be highlighted by 18 high fives with Ahlfeld.
T
· 1 year ago
I always thought the booing of Sean May was stupid, and I think that when the Tool of I fans boo Gordon tonight that too will be stupid.
A lot of good points have been said - namely, someone besides Gordon and White need to step up and score some points. I look to Bassett and Crawford as the two most likely, if one of them can have big games, the Hoosiers win. For some reason though, I have a good feeling about this game, as in, I don't think it's even going to be that close.
BigT
· 1 year ago
its going to be a slugfest--there will be blood
DavidC
· 1 year ago
I expect DJ to have his typical double-double against the Illini. I'm guessing somewhere around 15 points and 11 boards. I fully expect Gordon to get around 20 or more points. Sure it'll be hostile environment but lest we forget - this is Eric 'Freakin' Gordon donning the Indiana jersey for his home state team.
I hope we see more points from Bassett. He needs to be that outside threat for IU to be effective inside.
I don't see the Illini scoring a lot of points, so if IU can get solid points from some of their role players (Bassett, AJ, Crawford) I envision IU winning by a 10 point margin. Of course that may depend on how shored up the interior defense is.
CoveyDale
· 1 year ago
Illinois is incapable of scoring. They literally have no one that can score points. But, they play some of the best D in the Big Ten, and I think IU saw that first-hand in their previous meeting about a month ago.
A double-double is a given for DJ (I think he would get a double-double against San Antonio) but I'm not entirely sure what IU will get out of EJ. It's important that others, notably Bassett and Tone, step up. The great thing about Armon is that he's quickly becoming one of the best shooters on this team and Tone plays the most under-control and (hopefully) won't let the atmosphere get to him.
This game isn't just important to EJ. Both Ellis and D (and McGee) are Chicago kids and Stemler is at least an Illinois kid. I hope they'll all be fired up tonight.
Bill
· 1 year ago
It's interesting to see the Hoojin' perspective on this. Yes, you did rush the court against Illinois in Bloomington a couple years back and it was completely embarrassing for you, reinforcing the fact that since the early '90s the program had had only one glimmer of credibility (that awful, ugly 2001 title game.) Secondly, you barely eked out a win at home last month against the weakest Illinois team since '98.
As for Illinois being a "mid-level Big Ten team" dream on. We're ahead of you in all-time winning percentage. You're very lucky to have had McCracken and ( a young) Knight at a time when otherwise our teams would have participated regularly in the NCAA tourney and probably taken a few titles. Won't take anything away from those two coaches; they were fantastic and a joy to watch.
And regarding Sean May... apparently IU students and grads don't score well on the Miller analogies test. Sean May dissed IU solely because his father wanted to spite the U for firing his mentor. And he made an excellent choice given the train wreck that Davis was.
In stark contrast, Gordon reneged on a verbal commitment that he had repeatedly reinforced to Weber for over a year. He continued this to signing day long after he had clearly decided to pay for IU and was simply attempting to damage the Illinois program. He is young man with lots of talent and not a shred of integrity. A lot like Kelvin Sampson, come to think of it (sans talent, of course.)
The Illini (as someone else noted) have no offense this year. You're stacked with talent and yet you can barely beat us on your home court. That's a testament to Sampson's skills and Weber's ability to wrench performance out of a mostly dismal lineup. Enjoy your brief period of glory against us. Commencing next year we will resume owning you.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if one-and-done chokes again tonight and you crumble on the road at the REAL Assembly Hall. Regardless, most of us Illini fans are laughing ourselves senseless at your inability to be anything more than a first-weekend tournament team this year given your roster.
DavidC
· 1 year ago
Wow, you're not a complete a$$ at all.
Bill
· 1 year ago
Illinois is 12-6 v. IU since the '99-'00 season. A 0.667 winning percentage in that window clears the hurdle easily for "current ownership."
Am unsurprised that you respond to the facts with denial.
However, c'mon; you guys should have pounded us by 30 at home last month. We suck this year. In fact, most of you were cocky enough to expect it. Instead, you escaped with a four-point win and in fact should have lost.
Man, we beat MSU in Champaign 70-40 in '03 and then 75-51 in '04 when they had good teams. We beat you 80-54 in Champaign in '03 when you had a decent team (21-13 / 8-8.) So for goodness sake when a lower-division conference team (like the cellar-dwelling Illini are this year with only two wins so far) plays a squad with IU's talent on the road the result should be a hefty double-digit schooling.
Truth hurts. Deal with it.
Steve
· 1 year ago
Get out of your moms basement and buy a clue Bill. You get off postin on the other teams boards? How original, you must be the first person ever to think of that. Seriously though, you are a douche, go blow Mariotti Chad.
Bill
· 1 year ago
Unsurprisingly, disparagement comes naturally to y'all. Countering my arguments is, shall we say, problematic for you. Ignore me or prove me wrong. I can't wait to see Gordon's legs quiver and see him struggle to break 10 pts against us tonight.
CoveyDale
· 1 year ago
hopefully Gordon can do as well against you on your home floor as Jamelle Cornley (18 pts) did for Penn State. or Michael Bramos of Miami of Ohio (19 pts). or Bruce Price of Tennessee State (17 pts).
ALH_00
· 1 year ago
"Weber's ability to wrench performance out of a mostly dismal lineup"
Get used to it. Weber can't get anyone to play in Champaign. Illinois won't "own" IU until it gets some talent...which is neither there nor on the horizon...and fyi, IU leads the all-time series.
Bill
· 1 year ago
Yeah, I suppose that's why his '09 and '10 recruiting classes are monsters. As I said, enjoy this season; you won't see the likes of it again for a long time.
ALH_00
· 1 year ago
One commit for '08...the talent is really flowing in!
Willis
· 1 year ago
Bill is probably the guy in the first row that wears the Orange Top Gun outfit. Tell me Bill, why does Weber constantly look like he is holding in the biggest dump of his life? I hope you enjoy heckling Gordon tonight because it will be the highlight of your season.
Bill
· 1 year ago
....and Illinois won NCs in football in the '20s. Which is about as relevant.
oh, BTW... speaking of football, how did recruiting go for you this year? Can't wait to see you in a bowl in, say, late December. You might even get to go south of the Mason-Dixon line. Ambitious, I know, but still...
The high point of your program during the past 45 years is the longstanding resident court jester at ESPN.
lol.
Kreigh_Smiths_Short_Shorts
· 1 year ago
Seriously, Bill, you used "lol"? Are you a 14 year old girl?
Look, regardless of margin of victory at IU earlier this year, they beat Illinois and will do so again tonight. I give you some respect for acknowledging how much you suck this year, but you're kind of a dick in how you present your arguments. And frankly, wrong. IU and UI are pretty much even over history. Weber is a good coach, maybe even better than Sampson at Xs and Os, but he's a whiny bitch and is going to struggle to attract strong players to UI. The losing is going to become more frequent and Illini fans will be crying along with him.
Bill
· 1 year ago
You lead the all-time series 81-78. And that's a source of chest-puffing pride for you? Pathetic.
steve
· 1 year ago
As an Illinois fan you should be ticked at your players for not playing as hard against everyone else as they do against IU. If they did they would have a much better record.
anon
· 1 year ago
your team lost to tennessee state. your team is 10-13. your team is 2-8 in the big ten this season. your team has never won a national title.
your shit-talking privleges have officially been revoked.
Quincy
· 1 year ago
Its time for this team to go on the road and put the hurt... on someone. If we can not go into a bad teams (10-13) home arena, take a little booing and insults, then we are not going to have a good seed for the tournament, or even do well in it. We are only kidding our selves. Its time for this group of guys to deliver!.. and coaches coach... Contend.. or Pretend...
Bill
· 1 year ago
Right on, Quincy. You're a realist. Win by less than 15 tonight and it's an embarrassment.
xxZPxx
· 1 year ago
Bill- I can remind you of the zero national championships your school has. Or I could bring up games in which we crushed you like you previously brought up. (my favorites are the two games in '02 where we hit a combined 37 3's against you.) I can even bring up how you choked with your best team ever in '05. But I wont. You'll probably respond with "oh that was all in the past, what counts is this year." Well funny you mention it because the present IS all that matters and currently your team is 10-13 overall, 2-8 in the big ten. HAHAHA I seriously cant remember the last time the hoosiers had that kind of a record. Keep the comments coming though, we think its hilarious.
Timmy
· 1 year ago
We need to get our wins now against Illinois because the word on the street is they will be legit ncaa championship contenders in 2012. Also, I wonder what clevel nickname they'll give Richmond when we commits to Tracey Webster & UK.
Jerry
· 1 year ago
The key tonight will be if our offense can develop another 2 efficient scorers other than EJ /DJ. This is also the key to our season. Crawford, Bassett, McGee give us the best chance to do that.
UI showed last time that they can make things difficult for our offense if its defined by 2 players. We need to play 4 scorers most of the time. Plus they have scored >70pts in B-10 play only 1 fewer time than IU. We can and will outscore them however .
IU - 72 UI - 66
MLOVE
· 1 year ago
You think joey shaw is bitting his lip for transferign yet, considering he probably would be earning significant minutes on this yrs team...
All Comments
Key to the game pace. When Indiana gets out and runs they win. Pressure,especially offensive drives the team. The opposite is true for Illinois. The slower the pace, the worse they play (That happens when you don't have an offense and can't score).
If Indiana gets 62 possessions they win. 61 or less they loose.
Additionally, IU should rebound well tonight, hopefully on the offensive end. Our usual matchup problems at the 4-spot are less pronounced against IL (assuming Ellis guards Randle). Our guards are better. The only spot were the Illini match up evenly is with Pruitt...but he's matched up with a solid, experienced senior who might be the league MVP.
As usual, I'll take the Hoosiers.
Help me understand, please?
Principle #1: Only thing that counts is going deep into March
Principle #2: Regular season is to develop ability to do #1
As such I am looking for:
A. Team Identity : Offense .....lets roll with it
B. Serious minutes from Crawford and McGee. Gordon needs to drive to the basket with PURPOSE of KICKING for the POP ! and not for the score every time. Then we need to play players who can POP. We need at least 3 guys other than DJ who can POP and they are not MWhite, Stemler, Thomas or Ellis.
C. Zone: with a serious half court trap to enable us to bring the UI offense out from the basket and still pressure the ball. This also allows offensive minded players some lattitude to cover defensive weaknesses
But I am intrigued by the prospect of seeing IU playing some zone. But that may just depend on how well the Illini are shooting the ball.
A lot of good points have been said - namely, someone besides Gordon and White need to step up and score some points. I look to Bassett and Crawford as the two most likely, if one of them can have big games, the Hoosiers win. For some reason though, I have a good feeling about this game, as in, I don't think it's even going to be that close.
I hope we see more points from Bassett. He needs to be that outside threat for IU to be effective inside.
I don't see the Illini scoring a lot of points, so if IU can get solid points from some of their role players (Bassett, AJ, Crawford) I envision IU winning by a 10 point margin. Of course that may depend on how shored up the interior defense is.
A double-double is a given for DJ (I think he would get a double-double against San Antonio) but I'm not entirely sure what IU will get out of EJ. It's important that others, notably Bassett and Tone, step up. The great thing about Armon is that he's quickly becoming one of the best shooters on this team and Tone plays the most under-control and (hopefully) won't let the atmosphere get to him.
This game isn't just important to EJ. Both Ellis and D (and McGee) are Chicago kids and Stemler is at least an Illinois kid. I hope they'll all be fired up tonight.
As for Illinois being a "mid-level Big Ten team" dream on. We're ahead of you in all-time winning percentage. You're very lucky to have had McCracken and ( a young) Knight at a time when otherwise our teams would have participated regularly in the NCAA tourney and probably taken a few titles. Won't take anything away from those two coaches; they were fantastic and a joy to watch.
And regarding Sean May... apparently IU students and grads don't score well on the Miller analogies test. Sean May dissed IU solely because his father wanted to spite the U for firing his mentor. And he made an excellent choice given the train wreck that Davis was.
In stark contrast, Gordon reneged on a verbal commitment that he had repeatedly reinforced to Weber for over a year. He continued this to signing day long after he had clearly decided to pay for IU and was simply attempting to damage the Illinois program. He is young man with lots of talent and not a shred of integrity. A lot like Kelvin Sampson, come to think of it (sans talent, of course.)
The Illini (as someone else noted) have no offense this year. You're stacked with talent and yet you can barely beat us on your home court. That's a testament to Sampson's skills and Weber's ability to wrench performance out of a mostly dismal lineup. Enjoy your brief period of glory against us. Commencing next year we will resume owning you.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if one-and-done chokes again tonight and you crumble on the road at the REAL Assembly Hall. Regardless, most of us Illini fans are laughing ourselves senseless at your inability to be anything more than a first-weekend tournament team this year given your roster.
Am unsurprised that you respond to the facts with denial.
However, c'mon; you guys should have pounded us by 30 at home last month. We suck this year. In fact, most of you were cocky enough to expect it. Instead, you escaped with a four-point win and in fact should have lost.
Man, we beat MSU in Champaign 70-40 in '03 and then 75-51 in '04 when they had good teams. We beat you 80-54 in Champaign in '03 when you had a decent team (21-13 / 8-8.) So for goodness sake when a lower-division conference team (like the cellar-dwelling Illini are this year with only two wins so far) plays a squad with IU's talent on the road the result should be a hefty double-digit schooling.
Truth hurts. Deal with it.
or Michael Bramos of Miami of Ohio (19 pts).
or Bruce Price of Tennessee State (17 pts).
Get used to it. Weber can't get anyone to play in Champaign. Illinois won't "own" IU until it gets some talent...which is neither there nor on the horizon...and fyi, IU leads the all-time series.
oh, BTW... speaking of football, how did recruiting go for you this year? Can't wait to see you in a bowl in, say, late December. You might even get to go south of the Mason-Dixon line. Ambitious, I know, but still...
The high point of your program during the past 45 years is the longstanding resident court jester at ESPN.
lol.
Look, regardless of margin of victory at IU earlier this year, they beat Illinois and will do so again tonight. I give you some respect for acknowledging how much you suck this year, but you're kind of a dick in how you present your arguments. And frankly, wrong. IU and UI are pretty much even over history. Weber is a good coach, maybe even better than Sampson at Xs and Os, but he's a whiny bitch and is going to struggle to attract strong players to UI. The losing is going to become more frequent and Illini fans will be crying along with him.
your team is 10-13.
your team is 2-8 in the big ten this season.
your team has never won a national title.
your shit-talking privleges have officially been revoked.
I can remind you of the zero national championships your school has. Or I could bring up games in which we crushed you like you previously brought up. (my favorites are the two games in '02 where we hit a combined 37 3's against you.) I can even bring up how you choked with your best team ever in '05. But I wont. You'll probably respond with "oh that was all in the past, what counts is this year." Well funny you mention it because the present IS all that matters and currently your team is 10-13 overall, 2-8 in the big ten. HAHAHA I seriously cant remember the last time the hoosiers had that kind of a record. Keep the comments coming though, we think its hilarious.
UI showed last time that they can make things difficult for our offense if its defined by 2 players. We need to play 4 scorers most of the time. Plus they have scored >70pts in B-10 play only 1 fewer time than IU. We can and will outscore them however .
IU - 72
UI - 66