whitesoxfan101

I would love for somebody to explain to me why the NIT and other loser tournaments exist. Well, I guess that's a dumb question since the answer is they must make money. But other than that, talk about pointless. This isn't like football where going to the crap.com bowl at least gets you more practice, which is of the essence in that sport.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 14, 2010 -> 05:04 PM) I can't wait for the first round NIT loss. I don't see any way with the personality of the players on this team that they show up for this game. Mike Davis shouldn't even get off the bus because you know he won't be showing up. Well maybe this will teach him (because he is by far the biggest culprit) to take every game seriously. I would think they'll learn a lesson from this. As much as the collapse down the stretch hurt, they'd probably be in had they shown max effort in certain bad losses earlier this season, because those are games they'd have won had they done so. I hope (and think) you are right about the first round NIT loss. Just get out of there as fast as possible.

Illinois playing in this will be the biggest embarrassment for the program in a very long time outside of the Eric Gordon fiasco. A rare really bad/unlucky/whatever season like 2008 happens, but two times in three years, and now in the NIT? What a hard pill to swallow.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Mar 14, 2010 -> 04:56 PM) Gosh, you sound like a crybaby. 75th RPI Lost 6 of 8. Average Big Ten RPI conference ranking. Dont blow a double digit lead vs Ohio St or maybe actually take a shot at the buzzer and you wont be on the outside looking in. Yeah, you can run to the highest mountain and scream about SOS, but 14 losses including 6 of 8 to end the season, and blowing it yesterday makes it hard to really be upset Illinois isn't in.

Two missed tournaments in three years. No NCAA Tournament wins since 2006, only one since the magical run of 2005. We can point to recruiting trail victories that have occured in recent years all we want, but the results say Bruce Weber is doing an awful job, and has taken a program he inherited in top 20 (at least) position nationally and brought it down to mediocrity since Bill Self's players left. They should be a lot better next year, but they better be, or else Weber's job should be looked at VERY closely.

QUOTE (Felix @ Mar 14, 2010 -> 04:43 PM) The Gophers definitely stole Illinois's spot. Sorry about that guys Nobody should be upset. Illinois should had tried in their home game against Minnesota had they wanted to be in. Or in the Bradley game. Or in the Utah game. Etc.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Mar 14, 2010 -> 04:41 PM) Yes you can when its a f***ing loaded 8 games and Utah State didn't play a legitimate team all year long I don't even know if Illinois was the last team out. I simply can't complain about them not being in, they had a lot of chances all year and did not take advantage. As bad as the bad losses are, blowing opportunities in the Ohio State game yesterday and the Gonzaga game at the UC are the ones that stand out in my mind as why they aren't in.

I would hope they decline the NIT bid, but they won't. Maybe next year, Illinois will actually try in all of its games. They probably deserved to be in, but that's life on the bubble. Somebody always gets the shaft, and that's why you need to just take care of business.

Illinois is out. I think it's impossible now for them to be in.

QUOTE (EvilJester99 @ Mar 14, 2010 -> 01:06 PM) Geez I kind of miss Habby after watching these guys.... I know these aren't all on them but they have let up some real softies. The Hawks will regret not making a move for a real Goalie. IMO There is just an absolutely hard to quantify amount of pressure on the Hawks at all times, particularly on the defense. They have seemed to turn the puck over more in recent times, and I honestly think that pressure if part of the reason why, as they are afraid to make mistakes. The Hawks know that they are allowed no stretches of bad defense or mistakes at all, because such stretches will lead to 2 or 3 goals (or more like last Sunday.) It has to be very hard to play that way, and I think it affects the offense as well because you just can't be as aggressive as you'd like to be.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 11:21 PM) I'd play in it just to get extra practice time but I would let DJ, Paul and Griffey each play 30 minutes plus. They won't turn the bid down, even though they should. The extra practice time isn't worth the embarrassment. Illinois State might finally get their shot at Illinois.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 11:15 PM) Glad I was out and didnt come in this foul b**** fest as the OSU Illanoy game went on. The illinois hack fest was on full display tonight. Love to see Minny kick the s*** out of Purdue, that was fantastic. Now only Minny needs to win to get 6 in the tourney. Huh? The game was called pretty fairly, I'd hope there wasn't a whine fest in here. Illinois just blew the game a couple of times. There is absolutely no way the Big Ten gets 6 either, Illinois is out barring a major surprise based on everything that has gone against them. Those are the breaks when you leave others to do your work though.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 11:13 PM) The funniest thing is they won't get a home game because Assembly Hall is booked, so they will play a road game and lose to whoever they play because you know Davis and the upperclassmen would be no shows. Thank God. An NIT game at Assembly Hall would be beyond embarrassing. Just tank the first game and go home, winning the NIT would be more embarrassing than missing the tournament.

Illinois isn't going to make it, although you could argue they should over teams like Utah State, Virginia Tech, and UTEP. Anybody that shows up to an NIT game at Assembly Hall should be shot btw. Need Kentucky to win tomorrow so Illinois at least has an outside shot at getting in.

I think Cal is still in, and I also think Minnesota is in no matter what. The two teams that Lunardi currently has in over Illinois that I don't buy are Mississippi State and Virginia Tech. I think Kentucky will take care of Mississippi State tomorrow and Illinois will be ahead of them anyways, but Virginia Tech is obviously done in the ACC and I'm not sure how they are in over Illinois. Utah State really needs to win tonight at any rate, as does Kentucky tomorrow. If that happens, Illinois has to feel somewhat ok.

Washington wins. Another bid gone. Utah State absolutely HAS to win tonight, and really Mississippi State has to lose tomorrow. We're past the point of having too many bids gone already.

Lunardi now has Illinois as 2nd team out. Utah State has to win tonight, Kentucky has to beat Mississippi State tomorrow, Cal has to beat Washington, and even then it's iffy. QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:23 PM) you're crazy. He's played 3 freshman with significant minutes. They're the 2nd youngest team in the conference. I dunno how you could have expected more. Because the freshman, unlike oftent times in the recent past under Bruce, are actually talented enough to contribute. And anybody who has watched this team can tell they simply don't try often times, which is the only reason they are in this mess. If they had tried all year like they did the last 2 days (Utah game, Bradley game, Gonzaga game for a while, Minnesota game for about 33 minutes) they'd have a mid 20's win total and easily be in.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:06 PM) Of course the counter to that is that he had a team without a ton of talent last year and was able to get a 5 seed. That's precisely why I can't stand this years team. They have far more ability than a 5 seed who finished #2 in the Big Ten, and they are going to be sweating on selection Sunday, if not out of the tournament if they are unlucky. It's ridiculous.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:03 PM) Overall, it was Ozzie and KW and how the DH spot has been handled. I don't think they are at the level of people like Linebrink yet. But after 6 weeks or so of watching our DH's flail at the ball pathetically and generally suck in a lot of 3-2 type losses, they will be right up there on the list too, so good point.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:01 PM) I think the difference for me is I knew that team was bad and the Big 10 tourney run was a lot of fun and a good note to go out on. This years Illinois team would have a chance to make the Sweet 16 and if the upperclassmen would play with the intensity they did today and yesterday all season long they wouldn't even be on the bubble. The only thing that makes me not really upset about this season is that with the incoming talent and the talent of the current freshmen the program is definitely on the upswing and won't be on the bubble again any time soon. Unless DMac is a dumbass and goes pro only to not get drafted. I don't trust Bruce Weber anymore after this season. They had enough talent to easily have 5 or 6 more wins right now, but for whatever reason they just didn't show effort for large portions of the season. In theory, they'll have enough talent to be really good for a long time, but Bruce has lost all of my trust because this might be the first time where one of his teams underachieved at Illinois. I guess you could make an argument for 2008, but I think they just sucked.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 04:54 PM) But the problem is that if you compare Illinois just to Miss St. they have the same bad losses as Illinois without having the wins. Should they be in over Illinois because they played in the SEC West and played more bad teams over the course of the year? It will be interesting tomorrow though. I think the quality wins help Illinois and the fact that they showed today they can play with anybody in the country (Because the tourney committee head let it slip a bit that they were watching the OSU/Illinois game). I sure hope you are right. For some reason, the true measure of how pathetic it was Illinois didn't make the tournament didn't hit me fully in 2008 due to the Big Ten Tournament run and the fact that the final was Illinois' last game of the season. Watching Illinois play in the NIT however would make it really hit home, I wouldn't even able to watch that. There are a lot of programs even bigger than Illinois who are not even close to the tournament this year (UConn, UNC, UCLA), but it just doesn't seem as bad for them since they have all won titles (UConn and UNC recently), or had a multi Final Four streak like UCLA did a few years back. Plus they are just better programs, and haven't missed 2 in 3 years like Illinois would.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 04:49 PM) I have to say, when Conan left the air I had a big late night void. Until I started watching Craig Ferguson. I love him. The biggest reason I was so excited originally when Conan moved to 10:35 was that I wouldn't have to deal with switching back and forth between he and Ferguson, because they were the two best guys in late night by a mile.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 04:48 PM) Miss St. resume really isn't close to Illinois though. Good wins are only Old Dominion and Vandy (both neutral) and they have just as many bad losses. They lost to Arkansas, RIder, Auburn, and Western Kentucky. Illinois has wins at Clemson, at Wisconsin, neutral against Wisky. All three of those wins are better than any of Miss St.'s wins. And then obviously Illinois also beat Vandy and MSU at home. I don't think anybody has the quality wins Illinois does who is currently on the bubble. But 14 losses and 6 out of 8 to end the season is going to be hard to overlook, and few bubble teams have those either. The one saving grace Illinois has is all of those losses were to tournament teams, but the neutral losses to Utah and Bradley and road loss to Northwestern are just killers. I think they'll either be like the first team in or last team out, which is why I used the phrase coin toss earlier.

Linebrink by far. Juan Pierre and Mark Kotsay have a great shot to make it close by the end of the season though.

The way the committee looks at teams like Mississippi State and Virginia Tech against a team like Illinois will determine whether or not they get in. None of us really know how they will separate such teams though.