IlliniKrush

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 11:16 AM) Jeremy Werner ‏@WernerESPNCU 4h Cliff tells Sun-Times he wanted to go to #illini but thought Bill Self could get him to the NBA quicker than Groce. http://bit.ly/1jZ9NQ5 You can get to the NBA quicker than one year? QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 12:04 PM) Anyone believe him? Hahaha, does he really think anyone would believe that? There isn't one person, Illinois fan or not, that would believe he accidentally grabbed the wrong hat.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 11:39 PM) I was disappointed to see they didn't have free wifi but I think the fee is only $10 so if we really need it I guess it won't be too much. Glad to hear its a good place! I know its close to the Magnificent Mile. We will be looking for something to do on Friday probably. Hopefully it is nicer so we can walk around a bit.. Is there a Metra stop close to it that can take us to the United Center easily? Wait, didn't we already cover all of this with you?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 01:27 PM) Yeah, that was really bad timing. I worked as a lifeguard, pizze delivery boy, subway sandwich artist (yep), bartender and contruction/demo while I was in college/HS. I cant fathom not working like some kids do. Where the hell do they get spending money? Mommy and Daddy, for those fortunate ones...aka people at my high school. I worked at Jewel (overnight) starting when I was a sophomore during summers. I was the exception to the rule.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 12:25 PM) Two words. Bruce Pearl. That's well deserved without a doubt.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 10:34 AM) I really like this Wisconsin team, so the way I've been going the last few years stay FAR away from them Do they have Acie Law though? QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 11:00 AM) For the Big Ten teams, it seems to come down to hitting shots (brilliant analysis right?). By that I mean no one really has any dominant post presence, so it's all about jump shooting. There's really not a good transition team either. MSU is the best bet there, but they're not very healthy. I get what you mean. Wisconsin could easily lose in the round of 32, or make the final four, and neither would surprise me due to that. MSU, March, Izzo, yadda yadda yadda you never know.

QUOTE (SleepyWhiteSox @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 11:36 AM) LMAO karma over the hat thing?! I had all but forgotten about that along with the childish bitterness and hate that illini fans hold in their hearts over something so dumb... Again, what goes around comes around. So this definitely got a chuckle, whether you like it or not. Don't have to have "bitterness" or "hate" as I have neither. Can still laugh about it, though.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 11:33 AM) This is cool: http://elitedaily.com/news/technology/this...der-90-minutes/ Nice, came here just to post the same link. Pretty crazy stuff.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 09:44 AM) At least there are top teams out there with surefire NBA superstars on their roster. The highest draft pick in the Big Ten is coming from IU who isnt even a tourney team. Gary Harris could be a good NBA player and Stauskas is most likely a role player. Kansas, Duke, Ok St, Kentucky, Cuse, Zona, all have high caliber NBA talent on very good teams that have a chance to win it all. I dont see a Big Ten team getting past the elite 8. I see your point...but you're not putting Kentucky further in your bracket than your last remaining (or couple remaining) BT teams. There aren't dominant teams this year, you could see a Michigan, Wisconsin, maybe MSU if they put it together get to elite 8 or final four. That Michigan offense is dynamite in the college game, NBA superstars or not.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 09:58 AM) Eh. Why? Because they get to have an overpaid Callahan and two can-miss prospects? Not buying it. Medium to long term St Louis will be bad or retired. It's a short term win they better hope to do damage with this year, which I don't think they will.

Blacklist is starting to get pretty interesting.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 09:52 PM) College basketball isn't very good this year so I would put any team from any conference in the Final Four at this point. Fixed.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 09:38 PM) Meh. 38 or not, Marty is still dynamite. Callahan is about to become overpaid. St. Louis is an actual difference maker. I'll take him out er Callahan and two unknowns any day. Oh short term it works for NYR, and I like St. Louis, but medium to long term it works for TB easy.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 10:58 AM) What a steal for NYR. What a f***ing steal. Disagree here. They are giving up a 1st and a 2nd for a season+ of a 38 year old. If the Rangers make the conference finals, that 2nd turns into a 1st (so two 1st round picks overall). And he was ONLY going to the Rangers. So that was a ridiculous amount to give up. Plus, they may or may not sign Callahan, who is younger, though not as skilled offensively, but obviously captain material. And TB is starting to rebuild on the fly anyway. Most think TB won this trade.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 02:50 PM) Detroit gave up a little bit for Legwand but pretty good pickup there. I really hate that the Hawks think they can stay pat this year. Zero cap space. Wasn't expecting anything. Now, they messed up for putting themselves in that position, but given the circumstances, I would have been shocked had something happened. The pickup was Versteeg, it just didn't happen at the deadline. And Regin, I guess.

QUOTE (SleepyWhiteSox @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 09:26 AM) Excellent attempt at elaborating on your one word response, refuting in any way what I posted, and continuing the discussion. Ok, let me spell it out for you, it's complicated. One can't help but look at what happened to Cliff losing and think about Karma. No one said anything about kids. But if they didn't qualify, then whatever. We don't know the story. Anyway, they lost the game on the court to a lesser team, so in that sense they did deserve it.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 09:16 AM) They didn't have a great non-conference. They had one good win against Missouri that turned out to be OK. They lost to an awful Georgia Tech team despite having a late lead, and they lost to Oregon despite having a late lead. And there were other games, including the beginning of that conference losing stretch, where the freshman brought them back into the game and then Groce went to the seniors to close it out and they lost. I think it was Purdue at home when the upper classman played the last 8 minutes exclusively. I just don't see how the expectations should be much different next year. They still don't have a quality PG. They still don't have much shooting. You can say Starks can be the 3-pt specialist but that was supposed to be Ekey this year and it didn't work out. I still think it's a team that's limited offensively. The non-conference is what had everyones expectations higher than when the season started. Only the GT loss was bad. It was a good non-conference overall. Either way, no one was clamoring for Hill and Nunn after the Wisconsin loss. After all, they are freshman. You don't want to throw them into the fire too early either. Hindsight is 20/20. I think he waited too long when the stretch ran long, but the Nw and Purdue losses were happening. If they were later in the schedule, probably not.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 08:57 AM) The biggest mistake this season was continuing to keep Nunn and Hill on the bench. Make that change 4-5 weeks earlier and this is a tournament team or at least a bubble team. They don't lose those games against NW, Purdue, OSU, etc. Glad he finally realized his mistake and made the change though. I was concerned he would be a stubborn "these are my guys" type coach like Weber was. My main concern going forward is how well he can coach basic basketball skills. It's a little unfair to him and the coaching staff because he did inherit a lot of the veterans on the team, but i've never seen a team miss more open layups/bunnies near the basket. I've never see a dumber team (bad shot selection, terrible passing, unforced turnovers, etc.). These are things that are pretty basic to basketball and don't require a ton of stars next to your name. And that's why they've lost. You can overcome being a bad offensive team (OSU is awful but still wins bad games). They've beaten themselves too many times, and that happened last year as well. It's also a little upsetting that no one except the freshman really made much of a leap this year. Abrams is the same player as last year. Bertrand regressed. Egwu maybe improved more on defense, stopped fouling as much, and found a jumpshot, but he still doesn't fit into the offense at all except to set picks. Ekey was a bust as a transfer unfortunately. And Rice. Well, on the one hand he carried the team for a while. And then he completely disappeared, which was the main reason they lost those early games. I don't have much faith in him to be all that great considering he still makes terrible decisions. Add him to the top of the list next to Bertrand as one of the dumber players on the team. I think the future looks bright with Nunn and Hill as some decent cornerstones. Black looks like a legit recruit. But with guys like Abrams and Rice still on the roster, they'll be limited. I hope next year Crosby/Starks can really shoot. If not, I can't see them being a tourney team. He waited a bit too late, but the NW and Purdue games were the 4th and 5th games in the BT, when the team had a great non-conference and had 2 losses. No one said Nunn and Hill should start at that point. That wasn't really any sort of mistake. Those losses aren't on a lack of a different starting lineup. Anyway, he's working with a pretty limited roster. Rice also was way different once he got hurt. Cost us the NW game by himself, and I'm not sure he was ever fully healthy in BT play. I think we're fine next year.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 08:51 AM) We lost by 30 percent more than we ever have at Assembly Hall. I'm not trying to make it worse than it is. It was just that bad. Because they shot 70% from 3. 70%. They normally shoot 40.

QUOTE (SleepyWhiteSox @ Mar 4, 2014 -> 11:18 PM) No, not at all. The kids didn't deserve it at all. Go look up the definition of karma.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 07:20 AM) I didn't say it was hard to understand. We we played awful and we're not prepared in the least bit. It was a historically bad loss. Inexcusable. They made every 3 that went up. Shot historically well. Yeah, trying to make this worse than it really is.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Mar 4, 2014 -> 09:30 PM) When a team shoots ~70% from 3 on 20+ attempts it usually means its a blowout. Exactly, not that hard to understand.

Karma.

Yeah, not exactly a trap game when a win means a title.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 4, 2014 -> 10:41 AM) CapGeek ‏@capgeek 1h #Blackhawks have slightly more than $800K in cap space with Khabibulin on LTIR. Only real option to gain more cap space is to move salary. Or put Hossa on LTIR

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 4, 2014 -> 09:16 AM) Yes. It's really weird that people would steal things. No, it's weird that people are able to steal things from an NHL locker room, and a giant set of pads at that.