SWEET SIXTEEN!

[Illinibbfan]

HackPanther said:

Just from reading a few of your posts so far, I like what you bring to the board Illinibbfan. Looking forward to seeing more of your posts this week.

As for UWM's run, I think Bama and BC fans said the same to us. Should be a fun game to watch, no matter what.

Hack...I just want this to be an enjoyable few days for fans of BOTH teams. We as fans should be proud of our respective teams, not be talking about the past.

Now...for the smack! Yes, you guys beat Alabama and B.C. and should be congratulated...BUT, Bama was a little overrated imho, and B.C. was 20-0 but started losing once they played good teams. Illinois is a step up from both Bama and B.C.

I have to admit I am concerned with the play of Dee Brown. He hasn't been the same since he put up an air ball in the loss vs Ohio St. Their fans chanted air ball the rest of the game and he was noticably bothered. He did have 19 in the game vs Fairleigh Dickinson, but still didn't look right.

There has also been talk that his teeth are bothering him and a sore foot, not to mention his upset stomach vs Nevada. Whatever is the problem, we need Dee to find his "mojo" as we get deeper in the tournament.

I

[admin]

I have to admit I am concerned with the play of Dee Brown. He hasn't been the same since he put up an air ball in the loss vs Ohio St. Their fans chanted air ball the rest of the game and he was noticably bothered. He did have 19 in the game vs Fairleigh Dickinson, but still didn't look right.

I think our students need to chant air ball every second he has the ball! ;D

Welcome to the UWM discussion board Illinibbfan!
-UWMfreak

[dutchpthr]

i have to agree with Hack, thank you for actually using common sense Illinibbfan. I too want this ti be enjoyable for both teams and hope that it is.

Serious question to you though, what does a team have to really do to beat you guys, i really havn't watched many of your games this year (except the ones against UW, so that really doesn't help us too much).

I'm not guaranteeing a win by us or anther but just curious what one of their fans would say if seriously asked how you guys could be beat.

[Illinibbfan]

dutchpthr said:

i have to agree with Hack, thank you for actually using common sense Illinibbfan. I too want this ti be enjoyable for both teams and hope that it is.

Serious question to you though, what does a team have to really do to beat you guys, i really havn't watched many of your games this year (except the ones against UW, so that really doesn't help us too much).

I'm not guaranteeing a win by us or anther but just curious what one of their fans would say if seriously asked how you guys could be beat.

Dutch, in my opinion in order to beat us you must run a deliberate half court offense. By that I mean run the shot clock down to at least 10 seconds to go each possesion. We love to run, run, and run some more.

Also, James Augustine has had the habit in the past of picking up silly fouls early in games.I would pound the ball underneath time and time again hoping to get him to foul. We are VERY thin off the bench. Ingram is very good off the bench but Nick Smith, a 7'2" senior is so deep in coach Weber's doghouse due to poor play that he is a non factor.

The other 2 reserves are Rich McBride, who is 1 for his last 20 (it seems anyway) from the field and Warren Carter, a tall lanky kid that has moved ahead of McBride and Smith in the rotation. McBride comes in at the second guard and Carter can play some guard but more suited at a small forward spot.

If UWM can get Augustine in early foul trouble, run some clock, AND...I would be tempted to almost force Dee Brown to take the outside shot. His confidence with his shot is at about as low as I've seen it...I think you guys could pull off the upset.

But we know this won't happen!

[dutchpthr]

while i might beg to differ on whether or not we have a chance in this game it is very nice and to be honest somewhat surprising to hear a loyal fan get so detailed into, what appears to be some of the VERY FEW short-comings their team might have.

where as i think running a half-court offense such as one you describd is far from the type of game we liek to play, not sure if anybody has picked up on this at all during the year, but let me tell you a little secret, we like to run to. Not saying that these two teams run the same, don't get me wrong you have the better athletes without doubt to me, but it should still make for an exciting game don't you think?

[Illinibbfan]

dutchpthr said:

while i might beg to differ on whether or not we have a chance in this game it is very nice and to be honest somewhat surprising to hear a loyal fan get so detailed into, what appears to be some of the VERY FEW short-comings their team might have.

where as i think running a half-court offense such as one you describd is far from the type of game we liek to play, not sure if anybody has picked up on this at all during the year, but let me tell you a little secret, we like to run to. Not saying that these two teams run the same, don't get me wrong you have the better athletes without doubt to me, but it should still make for an exciting game don't you think?

If UWM decides to get into a track meet with the Illini, what a game we are in for! I still say the KEY for you guys to win is to get into our bench. If you can get Augustine in early foul trouble...we'll be in trouble.

[dunzz]

i havnt really thought about the game it self. but i will be reviewing how ohio st. beat ill bc its the only game ill lost.

but i would like to offere a question to ill fans. I believe that Ill has had to make some changes since the BP incident. But its my belief that when the BP thing happened ILL had to make some changes. Changes that effected the future program of ILL. Almost like, a different chain of events would of occured had BP not recorded Thomas. Setting a different time line for Ill. However, the changes that occured due to bruce has lead up to this season for ILL. A very impressive season. Now if you give any validity to the fact that bruce cause an impact on ILL forcing a change in how they do operations do you think that BP's impact has changed ill and eventually leading ILL to the team that is it now. Kinda like, BP made a huge impact on your team thus leading ILL to the path they are at now. My question is, would you rather bruce not of made the recordings? Thus changing the events of the past and altering how Ill has worked. Or do you believe even though bruce did what he did you would still be in the same spot where you are now. Or do you think that your impressive season would of happend earlier.

If you find some sort of validitiy in that, ILL fallowed a chain of events due to the BP thing would rather trade this season up for the BP thing never happening at all?

[UWMKrazie]

In honor of our Sweet Sixteen game vs Illinois and currently living in Chicago...I will be sporting a gold UWM shirt each day leading up to my entrance into the Allstate on Thursday!!!

[Illinibbfan]

dunzz said:

i havnt really thought about the game it self. but i will be reviewing how ohio st. beat ill bc its the only game ill lost.

but i would like to offere a question to ill fans. I believe that Ill has had to make some changes since the BP incident. But its my belief that when the BP thing happened ILL had to make some changes. Changes that effected the future program of ILL. Almost like, a different chain of events would of occured had BP not recorded Thomas. Setting a different time line for Ill. However, the changes that occured due to bruce has lead up to this season for ILL. A very impressive season. Now if you give any validity to the fact that bruce cause an impact on ILL forcing a change in how they do operations do you think that BP's impact has changed ill and eventually leading ILL to the team that is it now. Kinda like, BP made a huge impact on your team thus leading ILL to the path they are at now. My question is, would you rather bruce not of made the recordings? Thus changing the events of the past and altering how Ill has worked. Or do you believe even though bruce did what he did you would still be in the same spot where you are now. Or do you think that your impressive season would of happend earlier.

If you find some sort of validitiy in that, ILL fallowed a chain of events due to the BP thing would rather trade this season up for the BP thing never happening at all?

A fascinating question Dunzz. One I had not thought of.

In my opinion, if the BP incident had never happened the following few years, ('90, '91, '92) would have been much better seasons for the Illini. Our recruiting would have been much better coming off our final 4 appearence in '89.

But I also must admit that I believe Lou Henson and his style of coaching would have held us back to a degree and possibly kept the better talent away.

Yes, yes, all of us Illinois fans love Lou now, but the last few years leading up to his dismissal were not the best. Lou was being outcoached during this time in my opinion. It's quite possible that if the BP incident had never occured, Illinois would have gotten somewhat better talent, but that talent would've have never reached its full potential under Lou Henson.

There's no telling how much longer Lou would have coached, thus not allowing Lon Krueger, and Bill Self to bring in the talent they did, and also not allowing Bruce Weber to coach said talent to the heights we see today.

It's hard to say which scenario I would have preferred because I have no crystal ball. Perhaps Illinois would have become an elite team with the talent they MIGHT have gotten, although unlikely, as I said before, due to Lou Henson's coaching style. The chances of getting another Gill, Anderson, Battle, Bardo...etc, is highly unlikely.

This question, albeit an interesting one, doesn't erase the fact that BP, 15 years ago, did something that was considered unethical and did cause the Uof I problems for a few years following '89.

But I still believe that the problems caused do not affect the illini team we see today and should not be used as a crutch. Nor do I believe that the degree of hatred shown towards Pearl is right either. The hatred I'm seeing/hearing from some Illinois fans should be reserved for murderers or rapists, not college basketball coaches.