whitesoxfan101

SIU is always going to do what they do, but there are nights where your opponents are going to score points and their lack of offensive power with Young and Tatum gone is scary right now. I know they have a lot of younger guys playing and they will find their roles, but damn you have to score SOME points to win games.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Nov 25, 2007 -> 11:57 PM) You may be right, but I am not buying your assessment of Indiana. Bassett shot 4-13 (1-7 3's), Ellis was 5-12 with several shots in and out, Crawford was 3-13. Four players had four fouls. There were a lot of things that could have gone right last night with Gordon struggling that would have kept IU in the game or given them a chance to win. I do think they looked a little lost as Gordon struggles and I don't think they utilize DJ enough in the offense. I think they dribble too much and don't space the floor well when they do, making many of their "dishes" into tight spots. Those are all things that should improve. There is no doubt Gordon is option #1, but there is enough talent to enable them to win games when he struggles. They just have to figure out how to make that happen. That's what early season games are for. Taking off my orange colored glasses, IU's fate rests moreso on their rebounding and defense. They seem to think early on this season that they can just run people out of the gym with their offense, which won't always be the case. If they defend and rebound for 40 minutes every game (which they did last year IMO), they will be a legit top 10 team in the nation. But as Lute Olsen will tell you, when you have a team that talented, getting them to buy in and do the little things is easier said than done.

That Lake Zurich team was just incredibly fast. The 5A and 7A games were incredible games, but the rest were really duds. The Mount Carmel and WWS losses leave me bewildered as to who the true #1 team in the state is. I guess you'd have to go with Naperville North, but even they lost to the 7A runner up and got a huge break avoiding Mount Carmel in the 8A finale.

Wow, USC is awfully impressive. Floyd has them playing great 2 way, team ball and if they can do that with that kind of talent, they are a legit national threat. Somebody needs to tell Matt Shaw your allowed to shoot 2 pointers though.

Yeah Ellington came with him, although he's a head case, was a Iowa State verbal, then Iowa, now Illinois. Anyways, if back to back 6-6 regular seasons weren't proof, the fact that Iowa can't cross the border and get players anymore is a MAJOR red flag for the football program. On the flip side, this class is going to be something special for Zook and the boys come signing day, they are actually going to have to turn down a few pretty damn good prospects because they simply don't have room. Unfortunately though, I think the Jason Ford switch is a sign that the program is aware the likelihood of Rashard Mendenhall coming back is low.

The post about Butler might be the most pathetic thing you'll find in this thread. Want to beat them? PLAY DEFENSE!! I watched the game, and at least 3/4 of the 3 point shots Butler made were unguarded. Nobody to blame but yourself there buddy. I was impressed by Arizona tonight. They did lose in OT at Kansas, but they gave a really good team (even without Collins) a hell of a game and actually tried on defense, which is rare for the Wildcats. As for Indiana, last night made clear what is obvious already: they go as far as Eric Gordon takes them and aren't good enough to beat NCAA Tourney calibur teams unless EJ plays really well. They will win the very weak Big 10, but I don't like their chances in March unless EJ gets on a Carmelo-esque hot streak at the right time.

The Eagles did show the Pats weakness: the middle of their defense against the pass. Bruschi and Seau are both washed up, and Harrison and Sanders are both weak in pass coverage. The Eagles did a great job protecting Feeley, even with spead out formations to have lots of weapons available, and he made some tough throws. The Eagles showed no commitment to the run, and thus had little success in it, but the blueprint to beat the Pats defense is out there, and if you get a team with a quality RB who spreads out the Pats defense and can threaten you with the run and pass (*cough* healthy version of the Colts), they could have problems. That Pats offense is still unstoppable though, just had an off night and weren't on the field a lot due to the defensive issues. They were ROBBED of 7 points though, the Gostowski FG miss should have never happened, the Moss offensive PI call was horrible on a should have been TD a few plays earlier.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 25, 2007 -> 03:01 PM) Well, here is the biggest Oklahoma fan next saturday. OU beats Mizzou and the bucks vs WVU in the national title game. I'm #2 biggest then, since tOSu in the title game means Illinois in the Rose Bowl. The Illini are already #15 in the BCS, and are a lock to move up at least to the necessary #14 spot to be eligible with them not playing and so many high ranked teams in the title games next week (OU would fall behind Illinois with their loss, plus Tennessee and BC are just ahead of Illinois, and at least one of them will lose). BOOMER SOONER!! Oh, and KU is in trouble in their bowl game. Their defense is slow and can't tackle, and if you pressure Reesing inside, he's nothing. The only reason that game ever even got interesting was Mizzou layed off the blitz in the 4th quarter for some reason. KU is a product of a pathetic schedule if I've ever seen it.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Nov 22, 2007 -> 02:31 AM) 27 to 15 in the fouls department, thanks Hightower. Jackass. The thing I hate most about him is how announcers ALWAYS end up talking about how great he is. It's one thing for a guy to suck at his job like Hightower, but the fact we always hear how he's some sort of superior ref when he's one of the worst refs in sports history drives me nuts. We will see a lot of him the next few years, St. Mary's is young and loaded. They look to be the team that can finally challenge Gonzaga in the WCC.

Our coach has lost Tyrus, thanks Skiles!! Meanwhile, Aldridge, who everyone and their mother knew was a polished post scorer coming out of Texas, is averaging 18 and 7 for Portland. Thanks Pax!! HEY JERRY, YOUR GM'S BOTH SUCK!! DO SOMETHING!!

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 22, 2007 -> 01:21 AM) Yes two already, join the real world already. Good signing below value. Lets keep it going KW. I've joined the real world, maybe when we finish in 4th again next year with an aging roster again, you will too.

QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 22, 2007 -> 12:40 AM) It's amazing how good the freshman class is. Beasley, Singler, Mayo, Griffin, Rose, Koufos, Bayless, and Love are just sensational talents. Hell yeah, and how about even that Australian kid on St. Mary's that dropped 36 or 38 on #11 Oregon in that upset last night. Going to be a lot of freshman in the lotto next summer for the draft.

If Duke and Marquette are only the 10th and 13th best teams, it's going to be a fun year. The refs were bad as you'd expect in a Duke game, but James has to be better than 4 of 12. Also, people need to wake up and realize that Ohio State is really good again, they just reload and Koufos is nasty. As for Illinois, coming home 4-1 is nice, and hopefully they can win at College Park against a mediocre Maryland team to get to 5-1 next week. The lineup switch worked great too, Brock was solid again and Meacham really seemed to get a wakeup call from being benched. McCamey also did a great job distributing, he set up most of the easy baskets (the few there were) it seemed like. Pruitt needs to stop fouling though, and I don't like to say this about college athletes, but I hate Brian Randle. Soft as tissue paper and a waste of talent, I will not miss the human foul machine next year.

QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 22, 2007 -> 12:31 AM) If only we did the right thing and went into rebuilding mode. Someone made a good point in another thread, but it's crazy to think we traded Garland for a major league player that is not a leadoff hitter. Kenny will never allow rebuilding mode, which is why unless he gets lucky again ala 2005, and lightning doesn't strike twice, we're in trouble on the field until he's fired. Sad but true.

Well we used the 4.5 million saved in this deal on Scott Linebrink!! I feel a lot better now........woo hoo we got Linebrink and the OC for Garland. Kill me please.

Can't we just make ONE move that doesn't completely suck?

Step 1: Trade a young inning eater pitcher for a 33 year old SS who's VORP is Juan Uribe ish. Step 2: Give a 31 year old RP a 4 year contract for over 4 million a year, despite his declining K rate and his entire span of effective work being in the opposite of The Cell (a pitcher haven, NL park in Petco). Step 3: Overpay for Aaron Rowand now that Hunter is not available. Yep, AL San Francisco Giants here we come!! Mess, we've already arrived there long ago.

I hope we don't regret it when we lose Fernando Hernandez in the rule 5, but besides that I like the news in this thread.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 07:22 PM) I'd be fine with Pat on TV, but I've really come to enjoy John Wiedeman on the radio. I don't want him to go anywhere. Agreed, he's as good as I've ever heard on radio in any sport at describing the game to be honest. And hockey is by far the hardest sport to do on radio, but he's amazing.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 10:42 PM) Remember we started off 3-9 last year and still made the playoffs. I'm definitely not off the bulls bandwagon but they better step it up and soon. There TOs and defense has been bad so far. Not to mention inconsistant shooting and not stepping up to the FT line. They could still MAKE the playoffs, but will go nowhere once again, which is the problem. This team has reached a plateau, and the plateau is pretty small.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 11:31 PM) Bring on Duke. Our guards should be able to handle their guards, but I really worry about guys like Singler and Henderson doing some major damage. I don't think we have anyone who can matchup against Singler -- the big three are going to have to play a phenomenal defensive game to win. It's actually quite an even matchup, and I would say that Singler, who is the one difference between the teams, will be the thing that decides it depending on how he plays. Should be a great final.

Illinois pulls to within 44-41 with 18 minutes left in the game, then goes 2 for their next 21 from the field. Ballgame, end of story. As for the game, I think Duke is actually a REALLY good team, perhaps a Final 4 contender, and Henderson and Nelson on the wings will give nightmares to a lot of teams this year. Illinois seems to have everything but a 2 guard, and as a result the defense will suffer against athletic and small teams like Duke since Randle is foul prone, Calvin is a bench player that is an exclusive 3 (and you can't bench Alexander because you need his offensive prescence), and Chet isn't big enough to guard wings, despite the fact he shuts down point guards every night. Besides that, Illinois will be better on offense this year but the lack of a stud 2 guard will still lead to some bad stretches like we saw tonight. I think this years team is modestly better than last years in a modestly worse Big 10, and hopefully they beat Okie State tomorrow to get out of the Islands at 4-1 overall, which isn't too bad. As for individual players, I was impressed with Rodney Alexander and here's why. Yes, he shot AWFUL, but he still managed to acquire 9 rebounds, with 6 of them on the offensive glass leading to some points. I wish he were a better defender though. Calvin Brock looks like a different player, he's really bulked up and seems to have figured out how to best use his strengths, which include defense. Chester had a rough game tonight, but his shot looks a bit better and I think he's a solid point guard overall (did have 9 boards tonight too). Pruitt missed some easy ones tonight, but he's still a beast, I have hope this is FINALLY Randle's breakout season, and Meacham and Holdren are USELESS. I'd also like to see more of Tisdale and wish we'd have seen Cole tonight, and McCamey is a very good talent but is lost in the motion offense and seems slow on defense, so he'll be very up and down this year IMO (down tonight). QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 10:17 PM) Jamar killed the team with his stupidity last year. So did Quinton Watkins not making it here, he was an ideal 2 guard for this system. If you have Jamar and Watkins instead of Mike Davis this year and in the future, then the Illini might really be onto something until the calvary that is the 2009 and 2010 classes show up.

Haha that's not Erin Andrews, it's the also hot Ivon Gaete.

QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 11:19 AM) I've said this for a month now, but Carlwell and Semrau won't be in the program for 4 seasons. Agreed on both counts, no doubt about it.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 06:01 AM) He's definitely overpaid, but him alone has allowed Dwight to take his game to another level. Nelson's stepped up his game, Bogans doing well at SG, I couldn't be more happy with the way things are going with this team at the moment. Also, a lot of rumors that Isiah Thomas could be canned soon. He kicked out all of his players in practice yesterday, sounds like he's getting desperate. It's the NBA, outside of the superstars everybody is overpaid. And I'll miss Isiah!!