Rowand44

Looks like Matt isn't going to play today, blah. Bench needs to step up big time and we're going to have to make up for his scoring somewhere. Tyrone Green is going to be huge in this game, with the athleticism of Va Tech, he's a guy that can stay with anyone with athletically. I'd expect to see him play a lot of minutes and play his ass off like he always does. We have to keep this game at our pace(duh), Va Tech is going to want to run and we just have to play within ourselves. If we can keep the tempo our way then I like our chances. GO DAWGS!!!!!!!

Drew Nicholas is flashing through my mind right now. QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 04:24 PM) Drew Nicholas is flashing through my mind right now. Nope. Congrats Butler and f*** you Gary Williams.

Boo.

TONY f***IN BOYLE. We really need Matt on sunday, we really really need him. Boyle was the man though tonight, I'm not sure where the f*** that came from but thankfully it did. Sunday is going to be tough.

If Shaw is hurt bad we're in deep f***in s***.

I'm officially beyond nervous.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 12:41 PM) UCLA will win by 15+ Ha, if you gave me 15 I'd take IU all day.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 10:55 AM) Come on...I know hating everything Illinois recruiting is the cool thing to do, but how can you say SIU's class is better than Illinois? This Illinois class would give SIU their first 2 4 star players in forever yet it would only be mediocre. Yep. Like I said, Fay would be a 4 star if he didn't verbal to SIU so early and a lot of people say that Bocot is about as talented an offensive guard as there is, I love what we got coming in. As for the Illini's class, it's very underrated imo and that has nothing to do with star rating. I couldn't care less how many stars some people have next to their name especially when it comes to these recruiting services. Fay on one of the sites(don't remember which one) dropped right when he verballed to SIU. If you committ early to a so called mid major then a lot of times your stock wont go up, it's just how it is. QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 11:42 AM) Bruce was behind the 8 ball when he left SIU, he was never in a win situation with Selfs shadow looming. If Gordon would have stayed true to his word, WS101 would still b*tch about who he missed on and how bad of a coach he is. And he isnt the only one Yup.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 10:25 AM) Oh, I don't think so. Avg "star" ranking for a 2007 UI recruit is 3, for SIU it's 2.5. Not much difference. And word is that Quinton Watkins is going to drop his verbal commmit to UI and reopen his recruitment. AZ supposedly is interested in him since they are expecting to lose players to the draft. Weber is having a hard time getting any players, let alone highly regarded ones, to play for him. If Bocot can get himself eligible, then I'll take our class but going by star rating just isn't accurate. Fay would be a 4 star right now if he didn't committ to SIU so early, I guarantee that and I certainly wouldn't trade him for Tisdale or Cole. Overall, I actually believe that Illinois has a pretty underrated class but I like what we have coming in.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 08:46 AM) I think Moccia has something up his sleeve, and hopefully Lowery chooses his Alumni over alot more money. Hopefully you're right, I just don't have a good feeling about it.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 07:32 AM) http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...cs-home-utility OMGOMGOMG, SIU MIGHT LOSE THEIR COACH AGAIN, OMG!!! Moccia better pony up. The rumor is a deal worth 500K base plus incentives, time for the alumni to sweeten this pot. Minnesota is not a better situation than what he has going, despite facilities. Lowery would have to rebuild that team from the bottom up. Donate some damn money. Seriously though, we gotta keep Chris around, unfortunately, if he goes we're losing a lot more than just him. If we can keep him around, this program is going to continue to get better as the prospects he's landing us are just outstanding. If he goes, well there's a possibility we lose Fay, Roundtree and Booker, and all of the sudden we're in a s*** load of trouble. I pretty much think we're going to lose him, I better be wrong.

IU will be in that game through out, but in the end UCLA's guards will just be too much imo and they'll pull it out.

QUOTE(ScottyDo @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 10:20 AM) In addition, Iguchi has the most amazing defensive play on record. That should get him at least 4 million. I'm sure you're being sarcastic, but it'd be a great deal to make money because you tripped. I should try that sometime.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 12:09 AM) Everyone I talk to from Texas hated the deal big time, so I guess it just matters who you talk to. My best baseball friend is a Rangers fan and everything and he hated the deal with a passion. They were really high on Danks there and both Masset/Rasner have good arms. Exactly, it depends who you talk to.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 10:28 PM) FWIW, the majority of Rangers fans think that we hosed them big time in that deal when you consider Danks is lefty, at least as good in terms of MLB prospects as B-Mac, plus we got Masset. That's how the trade was seen for the most part in Dallas, and I tend to agree with them. You live in Dallas or something? Cause I've definitely talked to people who live in Texas who loved the deal from their end.

No homer picks from me.

Anyone else wanna jump into the players pool? We need one more.

QUOTE(Brian @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 05:56 PM) Jong Lee is the main scorer. Can not leave him open. Stineman is a junior who has come on strong and really played well. Stevenson is a very good defensive squad. Held one of Warrens leading scorers to only 2 pts and they were free throws. Did I mention I hate Stevenson? Ya, I honestly completely forgot about Stineman. I've seen him play quite a bit when he was pretty young, he's pretty ridiculous. Never heard of that Lee kid but I talked to someone today who said he is quite the player as well.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 01:27 PM) Why does every bad-but-young Sox player have to be compared to the best players in the game? Justin Morneau! Roy Halladay! Because some of our fans give up on players so damn early and it's just a reminder of that fact that some players do indeed take time to develop.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 01:06 PM) Very good post. Also: I didn't know that Brian Anderson was the next Justin Morneau. No one said he was, but that's a simple example of what could happen if you give up on a talented player too early.

I honestly couldn't care less who wins the 5th spot, I just want it to be the best guy. Who that is? I haven't a clue at the moment.

QUOTE(HeGone33 @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:42 PM) That was my point in summing it up. Im not going to repeat all the things on here that keep repeated over and over about him. Say all you want about Brian this and Brian that, but last year he sucked and looked nervous, scared and clueless at the plate! Well I haven't read through every thread in PHT about Brian lately so I haven't seen your points, whatever. Nobody has to think Brian is going to be a star and not many do, but that's not the point anyone is trying to make here. The fact of the matter is, Brian is the best option we have in Center by far and away. You can say that the reason Ozzie doesn't like Brian is because he sucks, well explain to me why in the 2nd half of the season when Brian and Mack were virtual equals at the plate that Mack still got so many damn ab's when he's about a million times inferior defensively. Something is wrong with that picture. Ozzie cost us a good amount of games last year because he has something against Brian, and that's just unacceptable, period.

QUOTE(HeGone33 @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:35 PM) Like calling people out on a message board for stating their opinion. Well actually back up your opinion instead of just saying "he sucks and can't handle pressure." Why does he suck? Because he wasn't a fantastic hitter after 400 ab's? When has he proven that he can't handle pressure? Lets hear some facts instead of a baseless opinion.

Let me clarify my point: If Ozzie doesn't like you, you basically don't have a fair shake, I hate to say it but it's the truth. A lot of these players that Ozzie seemingly doesn't like are young players as he obviously has 0 patience. Brian and Brandon rubbed Ozzie the wrong way and one is in Texas while the other has basically been given up on after what...400 ab's? Ridiculous.

Randal's doing a daily diary for the tournament, so here's his first entry: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...0E?OpenDocument