Boogua

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Jan 1, 2012 -> 11:15 PM) Un-freakingbelievable - Bears win and drop from 11th to 19th in the draft!!! Ughhh Which probably takes us out of the range to take David DeCastro. Disgusting. That potential pick was going to my silver lining of this bears season, but he will almost definitely be gone by then. Here's to hoping he gets caught with pot the week before the draft and he falls to 19th so that we can still take him.

Matt Flynn has 280 yards passing, 3 TDs, and a QB rating of 117. In the first half. Yeah, Rodgers is the best QB in the league. Nobody else could succeed with those weapons and offensive scheme. /green

I underestimated Crean as a coach. He is amazing at gameplanning. To be able to take out potential mismatches out of their game by getting them into foul trouble is pretty special. He effectively took Anthony Davis out of the game with early foul trouble. UKs defensive anchor and a huge energy guy. And now he was able to effectively take Buford, Thomas, and Sullinger out of their game by hampering all three of them with foul trouble. To know that tOSU relies on those three so heavily on offense and then to be able to get all of them in foul trouble. Perfect. tOSU is usually able to hide their lack of depth by staying out of foul trouble. That is a strength of their team. Not fouling. Not against Crean though. Or maybe it was homecourt advantage. Who knows? -- I'm admittedly biased. I'm a huge illini fan, so I hate IU basketball (I hate tOSU too and have watched a lot of their games). Congratulations on IUs two huge wins. I wish Weber could get us wins like that. I just honestly think the game was a bit fishy. A win is a win though. Congrats.

Buford getting abused on d now because he's scared to pick up his 5th. Not good for tOSU.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 31, 2011 -> 06:45 PM) There's a little home court, but once zeller went to the bench it was starting to even out. This has been a pretty fairly called 2nd half, very tight on both sides. Wasn't really watching the refs in the first half because i was drinking. Yeah, this half has been pretty even. Awful for both sides. It seems like the refs want to make this more about them than letting the kids just play. Frustrating game to watch.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 31, 2011 -> 06:18 PM) Well, now that Zeller has 3, can you call it closer to even? Well they called an off the ball foul on Buford to give him his fourth. Deshawn Thomas has 3 too. Not quite even yet.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 31, 2011 -> 05:58 PM) THANKS FOR THE TURNOVERS AND THE LEAD AT THE HALF, OSU! It looks like Indiana might have the best homecourt advantage in college basketball. They get lots of fortunate calls, but it is basketball I guess. It was what, 19-9 when they called that second foul on Sullinger? I think tOSU should be happy to be down 1. 11 turnovers, 0-6 from 3, and 4 players with 2 fouls, including one of the best players in college basketball.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 31, 2011 -> 04:30 PM) Bruce Weber should be available next March Dear god do I hope you're right. The Illini can't score a bucket in forever and are down by 23 and Weber still refuses to at least try Henry. The guy is supposed to be the team's best natural scorer. At least get the guy some minutes.

I hope Maniscalco plays the whole game and the Illini lose by 100. Then maybe he won't play as much. The guy isn't a Big ten player. Maybe if the illini played zone and the swing offense or something. He's terrible.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 27, 2011 -> 09:05 PM) Only way you can't call a flagrant is if you rule that no contact was made. It didn't look like there was contact. It was really hard to tell. I don't think they can make a game changing call like that when it was pretty inconclusive.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 27, 2011 -> 08:54 PM) It was perfectly drawn up. If Sam makes that pass, this game is over. Yeah, but instead he takes a crazy looking three with time left on the clock. Idiotic. At least he's got confidence I guess.

What an idiotic final play. Wow.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 27, 2011 -> 08:15 PM) Abrams has been awful tonight Agreed, and Sam has hit a few big 3s, but Abrams plays much better defense and the illini can push the ball better when he plays.

It's starting to look like Abrams might be a better fit in big ten play than Sam. Hopefully Sam finds his niche in the offense and the team defense can mask his inefficiencies.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 10:18 PM) Illinois' freshmen have been terrible this year. Maniscalso has bailed out Weber in a few games. No one on Illinois was playing good defense tonight. Yes, he has, and I think he'll be fine against less athletic teams in the future. Do you think there was no correlation to the illini making their huge run with him being out of the game for the majority of it? Nobody played great d tonight, but Sam didn't even have a chance.

The illini were considerably worse when Sam was on the court. I don't take +/- that seriously usually, but I bet in this case it would be pretty spot on. Weber should have never put him back in the game. Put Henry out there if need be, but not Sam. He couldn't do anything with Pressey and they were pressuring him on the ball because he's not quick enough to get around them. I love the intangibles that Sam brings to the game, but he was embarrassed tonight. This isn't the MVC.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Dec 18, 2011 -> 11:23 PM) Why is that difficult to believe? (I won't go into detail, but I'm sure someone will say "Ask the Patriots") And ya.. he's a Packer fan.. that just saw his team win the damn super bowl last season. It's difficult to believe because this could have been a historical season. Does going undefeated in the regular season mean that they were going to lose in the playoffs? Ask the Patriots? The Patriots faced a nightmare matchup in the Giants ( a team that had a dominant front 4) and still had the lead with only a few minutes left on the clock. Do you think if the Patriots would have lost in the regular season that they would have won the superbowl? I guess I don't understand the logic. I went through a similar thing with the 05 illini. There were some fans that tried to say the tOSU loss was good because it prepared the illini for the tournament. I didn't agree. I was pissed about the loss, as many people were. And going undefeated in the NFL is obviously rarer than college basketball. And how did that loss to tOSU help us against UNC?

QUOTE (TheCut87 @ Dec 18, 2011 -> 09:04 PM) Rodgers wasnt the only one in that game to have a sub-par performance, i dont even remember how many passes were dropped by recievers and the defense couldn't get the big turn over that they have been getting week in and week out, i don't mind this loss it is a good wake up call for the packers going into the playoffs. So you're a packers fan and you don't mind a loss that ruined what could have easily been an undefeated regular season? I find that somewhat difficult to believe.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/734631...riangle-offense Pretty interesting article about the Triangle offense and Phil Jackson.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 14, 2011 -> 02:58 PM) Fine, but I have a real problem with people 50 years later trying to re-write the story in their vision. In 50 years, don't you think people will look back and say "how the hell did Lebron James NOT win the MVP this year?" But to the people who lived and watched, it was impossible for that man to get that award. And for the people who watched, if you ask them, it would be impossible for them to accept our assertion that, no, no, you see Wilt was actually better! Interestingly enough those same people had Wilt make 7 all nba first teams while Russell made 3.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 14, 2011 -> 02:30 PM) Don't fall for the propaganda. Bill Russell is unequivocally the most overrated figure in NBA history. Right there with the "great" Roger Maris for most overrated, glamorized figure in sports history. He had Joakim Noah's offensive skill-set. His rebounding numbers are totally inflated due to the ridiculous pace teams played back then. He played with 66 Hall of Famers. Dikembe Mutombo saw stiffer competition in a month than Russell saw in 3 years. Centers better than Russell: Wilt, Kareem, Moses, Walton, Shaq, Hakeem, Robinson. Centers arguably better than Russell: Mikan, Ewing, Sabonis. Centers comparable with the same skill-set: Mutombo, Mourning, Ben Wallace, Howard. Players overall better than Bill Russell: MJ, Magic, Bird, West, Duncan, Kobe, Erving, Robertson, Dirk, and some others I'm probably forgetting about. I missed this post, but yeah, I pretty much agree with most of that. Although Russell does deserve some credit for 11 rings.

The Russell argument is always something that interests me. I tend to agree with J4L that he is overrated, although I think a factor is the way basketball is played now. Don't get me wrong Russell dominated his era, but I feel a player of his ability would have a much easier time doing it back then than in the past 30 or so years. He was extremely agile, could run the floor well, and was a very good shot blocker and rebounder. Consider that the era that he played in was played at a very hectic pace where jump shots weren't all that common and people shot low % shots. Wouldn't that make it easier for someone like Russell to have a massive effect on the game? Rebounds were plentiful and blocks weren't all that hard to come by. Elgin baylor, a small forward, had a season where he averaged 20 rebounds per game. So I think Russell's game translates VERY well to the type of basketball played during that era (hence the 11 rings), but I don't think he's a top player if he plays in a different era. I honestly don't think anybody can really make the argument that he would be nearly as successful in today's era. The guy was not very good at offense. He was a career 44% shooter in an era where he should have dominated on offense (Wilt).

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Dec 12, 2011 -> 10:39 AM) So Aaron Rodgers isn't that good? He just has really good WR. Aaron Rodgers is a very good QB. I never said he wasn't. To think that a huge change in scheme and a major downgrade in weapons wouldn't change his overall production, and therefore perception, is a bit farfetched though.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Dec 12, 2011 -> 10:13 AM) All pro yes, greatest QB season ever? No Aren't there two QBs that usually make AP All pro? The first team and second team? If so, you believe that Rodgers, on the Bears, would make one of those teams over Brady or Brees this year? Packers fans need to realize the type of talent we have at receiver. Jordy Nelson is a better WR than anything we have. Greg Jennings is a better receiver than anything we have. Hell, the ancient Donald Driver is probably better than anything we have. Jermichael Finley, the tight end, is a better receiver than anything we have. Now take into account the Bears play a very different offense than the Packers. There is absolutely no way Rodgers is an all pro with the bears.

It was interesting how the game played out. As one poster in the thread said earlier "the refs let them play". While that is mostly true, it didn't seem all that true in regards to Anthony Davis. If he's able to play 30+ minutes the game wouldn't have been all that close. Also interesting is that Kentucky and Indiana shot the same amount of FTs. This is taking into account the fact that UK was up late and got 4 FTs because IU had to foul. I saw a lot of no calls on Kentucky's end that were resulting in FTs on Indiana's end. Especially early on. With that being said, Terrence Jones cost Kentucky this game. I mean, was the guy shaving points? How does a player of that caliber put up a line of 4 points, 1 rebound, and 6 turnovers? Dude had Will Sheehey on him during points of the game. Doron Lamb missing FTs, Anthony Davis missing the front end of a 1 and 1 late (why did he have the ball?!), and Terrence Jones having, what I expect will be, the worst game of his career. And still Indiana had to shoot 60% from 3 and hit a buzzer beater (while Kentucky was trying to foul in backcourt, but no call) to win. It was a really huge win for Indiana. Congrats on that. But it might be a bit early to proclaim that "IU is back".