thedoctor

wisconsin guard michael flowers to miss season for medical reasons hopefully it's nothing serious for this young man.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 19, 2007 -> 01:40 AM) Thomas was never Illinois' to lose, not sure where you heard that. Not getting Thomas sucks, but the Illini are going to end up signing 3 very good RB's by the time all the verbals are said and done this class, and already have Pollard and Dufrene, so it could be worse. agreed. you already have hodge coming in and we're in on some other good backs. it's a great pick-up for ohio state, though. they are poised to have a really special class, potentially the best in the nation.

Torre

two big announcements on television tonight: on comcast, basketball player iman shumpert (oak park) will choose between marquette, unc, and georgia tech. i say he picks marquette. on espnu, football player lamaar "flash" thomas (maryland) will choose between illinois, ohio state, and maryland. i say it's osu. these are just guesses. i have no info.

QUOTE(farmteam @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 04:43 PM) I'm still getting used to this whole college thing -- I think it's really neat when I walk out of my door and Eli Holman is standing right there, as happened last night. He was a nice guy, all smiles. it'll get even better. wait until your pulling bongs with him.

QUOTE(fathom @ Oct 17, 2007 -> 02:15 AM) You know he's been phenomenal this year? He'd be the 2nd best arm in our pen. right. as i said, that was my first time looking at him and from what i saw in that moment, he looked very familiar to what we saw out of our relievers this year. in terms of being the second best arm in our pen, that's your opinion which your of course entitled to.

after getting my first extended look at him tonight, i have to say i'm happy we didn't end up with delcarmen in a dye deal. at least on this night he looked very similar to the relievers we currently have.

QUOTE(JuiceCruz16 @ Oct 16, 2007 -> 05:59 PM) I would also be shocked if Shumpert comes to UNC now. With Cheek being the priority and being so close to committing for 09 it seems like Shumpert is on the back burner for Roy. He also got some bad vibes around Chapel Hill from the whole pick-up game story which was much to do about nothing Shumpert also has said he wants to be a point guard in college and he won't get as many oppurtunities for this at UNC. I expect him to go to Marquette where he will have a free run at running the point. i've also heard marquette is where shumpert's going to go. would be a really nice get for them.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Oct 16, 2007 -> 05:27 PM) haha that video is hysterical....i wonder if they will have mike adamle larry csonka and thiesman announcing again.....csonka is probably too busy celebrating when undefeated NFL teams lose....though he has to be worried about whoever wins this years pats colts game........thiesman certainly deserves no better than american gladiators though i read that theisman won't be coming back, but his hair is going to play a role as one of the gladiatiors.

i don't expect illinois to win but i do think it will be a relatively close game. i think the illini have overachieved this year and maybe some fans are overestimating where the program is in the course of its overall development. beating penn state and wisconsin at home is an impressive accomplishment for the team, primarily given our lack of recent historical success against both. however, those wins do not mean the team has arrived or is ready to challenge for a league title yet. there are still plenty of holes on the roster (agree on the lack of defensive speed) and those types of things were exposed last week and probably will be in coming weeks against michigan and osu (the two best teams in the league by far, imo). don't get me wrong, i'm really encouraged by what i've seen this year and i think this season is already a resounding success. my biggest worry this year is the team would fall on its face and zook's recruiting momentum would be totally blunted. now he gets to head into another recruiting season with yet more evidence that this program is on the rise and he's on the right track. that's going to lead to better recruits and will probably position the team to better face the league's best in the coming years.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 15, 2007 -> 08:40 PM) Simpson to Illinois simeon's stan simpson chooses illinois good to add another cpl kid to the program.

i can understand wanting mcgee to play more and reading zook's comments yesterday i think he's going to. i don't think alternating series is a good idea, however. i've never seen a circumstance where you switch QBs every series and it works out well for the offense. in terms of the qb position, i can sympathize with those who want to see mcgee, but i'm not in that camp yet. there's no doubt our lack of a passing game has hurt and juice is not yet an accurate or consistent passer (although i do think he's improved at about the rate you can expect). however, what our offense does best is run, particularly run the option. from what i've seen of both, juice is much better at running the option than mcgee is. yes mcgee had the nice run against psu, but he is not the option runner juice is. so i guess you make a choice: do you downgrade the run game to upgrade the passing game? and is the upgrade of the passing game enough to offset what you lose in the run game? at this point, i haven't seen enough out of mcgee to know that's the case. keep in mind he's now twice thwarted comeback attempts by throwing interceptions on or near the goal line.

so, new england's pretty good, huh?

disappointing loss for illinois, but not terribly surprising. they were due for a letdown after two huge emotional wins at home. it obviously sucks especially since with a win there was a good chance of gameday being in town next week, but i am trying to look at the big picture. prior to this season i thought we'd be lucky to get five wins, six tops. with five wins already and games against northwestern, ball state, and minnesota still on the schedule, an 8-win season is a strong, strong possibility. if you'd have told me that before the year i might have wet my pants. and a question for a few of the michigan fans here: what is hart's status heading into next week?

more sanctions for sampson: indiana scout site shocking.

Hahn

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Oct 12, 2007 -> 08:14 PM) hmm. maybe bertrand from siu? there never was a commitment, but i know he liked siu. or they could be referencing larry butler. butler is a prominent aau coach and he was jerrance howard's coach. butler has been at odds with illinois but took a much more gracious tone when howard was hired. i do know that d.j. richardson just switched to butler's aau program. or, it could be that b and b are just practicing their normal ssa-hattery.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Oct 12, 2007 -> 08:07 PM) Why are Boers and Bernstein on the air right now talking about Weber going the underhanded route to get recruits? I only caught the tail end of the conversation, but they were definitely indicating that Weber stole a recruit from under someone else. hmm. maybe bertrand from siu? there never was a commitment, but i know he liked siu. or they could be referencing larry butler. butler is a prominent aau coach and he was jerrance howard's coach. butler has been at odds with illinois but took a much more gracious tone when howard was hired. i do know that d.j. richardson just switched to butler's aau program.

illinois has commits jereme richmond, d.j. richardson, joe bertrand, brandon paul as well as recruits marcus jordan, nik garcia, crandall head, and anthony johnson. maybe a few others as well but i don't have all the names yet.

bertrand

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 11, 2007 -> 11:49 PM) So assuming Simpson commits, the Illini have one scholie for '08. wonder where they go with it. There's still a few top guys out there. I'm wondering if they're going to start going after Verdell Jones hard. Heard he's coming for MM, which I believe would make it 2 visits in a row for him. Only Kansas and Illinois seem to be seriously recruiting him, and KU may even have cooled on him. i read verdell was going to midnight madness at kentucky. either way, i'd almost be tempted to roll the scholarship over to 09. that class has more good kids we are in on and i'd rather roll the scholarship than reach on a kid.

here's what scout.com's dave telep said about richardson: "D.J. Richardson is a versatile wing player. He can team up at a couple of the guard spots. Forget the fact he is the top prospect in the Illinois 2009 class; he's also a very big character guy." as 99 said paul didn't really start getting noticed until he played summer ball this year. he didn't start or score much as a sophomore last year, but he played really well at some national big-time events over the summer. the rivals illinois guy thinks paul has the most potential of all the players in 2009. fwiw.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Oct 11, 2007 -> 06:12 PM) It wouldn't surprise me. Who has the Illini beat on the road? Syracuse? Besides one win over an incredibly overrated Louisville team, they aren't much to write home about. If this game were in Champaign, I would choose the Illini, but since it's in the IC, it's gonna be tough. REAL tough. i agree with you, but i'm not sure if it's because it's true or if i still can't comprehend that illinois would be expected to beat anybody on the road, let alone a team that is consistently in bowl games. one thing that makes me feel better is i know the team has been on a professed "revenge" tour, and iowa has put some serious ssa-kickings on us the past few years. i think at the least they'll be ready to play.

richardson, paul, and bertrand would be a helluva class.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Oct 11, 2007 -> 03:47 AM) Asked for comment after the game, Wannsted said, "I thought we had all the pieces in place." *aaaaaaaaaaap*