Jake

It's like political discussions. "You're going to spend $5 billion on WHAT???" Brb,

I'm going 89-92. We finish the season off and we see better seasons from Dunn, Konerko and a just-as-good season from Rios. We won't give away 5+ wins early via experimentation with the closer position and the starting staff does better. Floyd bounces back to normal and Danks posts ~4.00 ERA with both Sale and Peavy pitching at a very high level. Somebody will take time off with an injury and Hector will pitch fantastically. Flowers survives and bats about .220 with 20 HR and 175 K's, Beckham gets up to the elusive .250 BA mark and hits 15 HRs again. Dayan steps up, but not a total breakout yet. Will have another crazy month at the plate that makes us hard to beat like he did early last season. Kep and Gillaspie make a decent tandem and we get a nice gain from that position compared to last year. Versus last year: Starting pitching - gain. Sale and Peavy not quite as good, but Danks shows flashes of his old self and Gavin returns to career norms. Any injuries are negated by Hector and maybe Simon Castro if things get that dicey. Bullpen - gain. Some numbers will probably look similar, but our closer position will have more stability and it won't cost us so many games compared to early in the year last season. Catcher - wash. T-Flow's offense will not be quite what we got from AJ, but his defense will make it up. First base - gain. PK will do better this year with a healthy wrist. DH - wash. I think there is much room for improvement for Dunn, but I'm not putting my money on it yet. Might lose time to the injuries that normally just hamper his performance. Second base - wash. I predict some improvement from Gordo, but not a significant amount. Shortstop - gain. I think his peripherals will look better with similar 70+ RBI production and excellent defense as always. Early season slump won't last so long. Third base - major gain. Doesn't need much explanation. Left field - gain. Dayan takes a significant but not huge step forward in his progression. Center field - loss. De Aza regresses a bit, misses time with injury. Will get a thrill from a guy like Mitchell during that stint but the overall contribution will be a drop off. Right field - wash. Rios will drop some in peripherals but gain in run production from the 3 spot in the lineup. Management - gain.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:17 AM) google tracks let you set your sampling rate but a dedicated device is probably better if you really want to log that stuff. Doesn't seem to exist on iOS

John Groce better find some players that can play without any offensive coaching, because he doesn't have them now.

Time to Reggie Miller this s***

Griffey drives and scores...anything can happen now.

The quality of offensive possessions is just atrocious. f*** reversing the ball, am I right? That doesn't work! Just shoot a 3!

Game is getting closer... can Illinois keep scoring like this?

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 12:31 PM) Here's a prediction: If IU scores every time down the floor, we will not win the game. Indeed

McLaurin's third point-blank miss of the day

Our offense is coming alive, but IU is scoring at will. I have to think Abill is done with his shot making for the day, though.

Keep feeding McLaurin, he's much stronger than Zeller. I actually think this is why Zeller won't do too well at the next level. His game is too predicated on the fast break and not so much in the half-court offense or defense.

Man, it'd be great to get some production from Bertrand today.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 12:08 PM) Agree with this. I could maaaaybe even go slightly below that. For example, Matt Lottich supposedly had a 26 on his ACT when he went to Stanford. A 26 isn't going to get you even sniffed at for regular Stanford admissions, but it shows you're fairly intelligent. Yeah, I could go that low provided he displayed a likelihood to succeed at the school. In the end, you have to ask if this person would be able to be a good-as-normal student if he were let in and especially if he left the team.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 12:00 PM) I can't see that happening. Me neither. I might be a NU student in a year or so, and I wouldn't want it that way unless it was only a little bit. I was a college athlete so I understand that everyone's grades take some hit from the time commitment, but I wouldn't want guys that would never even think to apply getting into the school. Not fair to everyone else. But if you were marginal, a close miss type applicant I don't mind your special talents getting you in.

Devin Langford sighting

I'm getting pretty f*** sick and tired of Abrams' bulls***. Either finish those drives or pass out of the paint.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:50 AM) Honestly if NW really wants to succeed in basketball, they need to leave the Big 10. I always heard that the Big East is the key to the promised land for Chicago schools

That's a terrible f***ing call on Mike Henry. Boxing a guy out who is trying to jump over you is not a foul.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:48 AM) Remy Abell makes his first shot since December. Or seems like it anyway.. Edit: There's the Abell we've come to expect since January! From the Ronnie Brewer school of shooting technique

I never thought I'd say this, but Brandon Paul needs more shot attempts

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:45 AM) The problem is how inconsistent the game is being called. 1 possession a slight touch is a foul, another possession it seems nothing will be called. Breaks the flow and just makes for a bad game. Yeah it's tough to figure out what's going on. They'll let some hellacious contact go and then you get called for hand checking.

Looks like it's time for Paul to go off for 40 for the win

Sam McLaurin is easily the worst player I've ever seen at putting back offensive rebounds.

Egwu swatting Zeller is easily my favorite non-game winning moment this year.