gatnom

QUOTE (Brian @ Dec 17, 2014 -> 11:23 AM) http://highschoolcubenews.com/2014/12/17/m...illinois-leads/ I stand corrected. I didn't expect for him to commit early, but I'll take it if he wants to

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Dec 17, 2014 -> 10:28 AM) I'm a little surprised no one has voted that is under the age of 23. It's crazy because that's the age range a ton of us were when this site started... But I know it's early in the day - maybe they are all still asleep. Edit: Looks like it took 26 votes to get someone in that age range. And I'm 23 I'm pretty sure we have a few others, though.

QUOTE (Brian @ Dec 17, 2014 -> 10:34 AM) Sounds like LoVett leaning towards Illinois. Illinois desperately needs a guard like him, but I'll believe it when I see it. Long way to go yet.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 16, 2014 -> 09:57 AM) You guys seriously think anybody would give up even a 7th round pick for Cutler and that contract? There's no way that's possible. Maybe if he were underpaid or halfway through the contract, but teams are on the hook for guaranteed money. I think he'd be much better with a change of scenery, but IMO, he's the least valuable QB in the league right now. While I wouldn't expect to get anything for Cutler, I also wouldn't be surprised if he were actually valued decently among NFL GM's since there really are not that many QB's out there in general, let alone one with his physical abilities.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 04:26 PM) Melky Cabrera is a hole? Probably referring to Garcia being unproven up to this point.

87 wins. Ask me in early March, and I'll have likely talked myself into another 5.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 03:56 PM) If Chryst leaves, that will be 2 straight schools I've arrived at that have lost their head coach within a few months of me arriving. one more and that's becoming a pattern. I'd love to get you a position at Illinois.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 11:54 AM) Mediocre hire and a worse recruiter. Wisconsin could do a lot better. I think working under Alvarez is a tough job requirement. Program status wise, I agree they could do better.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 11:06 AM) lol No it works out because they got the coach that most Wisconsin fans have wanted since 2005. When they hired Andersen 2 years ago, it was only because Chryst didnt feel right leaving Pittsburgh after 1 year. He was their top candidate. So ultimately Wisconsin gets the guy they really wanted. Good coach if he can surround himself with some recruiters.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 11:12 AM) Yeah, I'll reiterate my last post: Speaking to the broader issue, though, is that this team has some serious weaknesses. Offensively, we've got "black holes" in LF and C, and are expecting regression from 3B and probably SS. Garcia in RF is a HUGE question mark -- we assume he's going to hit, but he hasn't yet. Defensively, we're still a rather bad team. Both OF corners are completely ridiculous defenders, both IF corners are just a notch better, and our CF is probably overrated. The rotation falls straight off a cliff after Quintana at 3, where our two best options had ERAs near 5 last year. We all hope Rodon will save one of those slots, but he isn't going to show up until May at the earliest, and it isn't safe to assume he's going to be a star right out of the gate. There's still a lot of work to do if this team is going to "project" to be in the hunt. We certainly have enough talent today to luck ourselves into the race if everything goes well, but I'd like to think Hahn has a better plan than that. It's funny how close yet how far we seem at the same time. Finding an upgrade to Viciedo and having Rodon pitch like a middle of the rotation type of starter would go a long way to bridging that gap. I want to say I'm optimistic about Sanchez/Johnson and Garcia, but I just kind of have a bad feeling about those 2 positions for this year, which doesn't leave much room for error.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 09:09 AM) Well, he's not using projected WAR to try to calculate a record, but instead as a measure of projected total "true talent" that each teams currently have. I think it makes much more sense there. If you asked Cameron to predict records, he would point to projected BaseRuns records (which is a much, much better version of Pythagorean record), which very quietly got put up on their site last week: http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Standings This model currently has the Sox projected for 77 wins. Obviously, this is an extremely small nit to pick, but I find it interesting that BaseRuns is giving Erik Johnson 103 IP as a starter, Michael Ynoa 25 IP as a reliever, and completely not projecting any contribution from Rodon (probably due to lack of stats to project). Also worth noting, we're giving Matt Davidson 150 PA at 3B, though he's projected for more WAR than the 350 PA we're projected to give Leury Garcia.

QUOTE (LDF @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 09:59 AM) how crap. i stand corrected. I prefer the way you look at it.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 01:28 PM) Meanwhile, the Packers have missed just 5 times in that same stretch. It's good to be a Packer fan. Turns out that having a couple HOF QB's is really beneficial to your playoff odds. And that Cutler, McCown, Campbell, Hanie, Collins, Orton, Grossman, Griese, Krenzel, Hutchinson, Quinn, Stewart, Chandler, Miller, Burris, Matthews, McNown, Kramer, Stenstrom, Moreno, Mirer, Krieg, and Walsh are really not.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 08:02 PM) Jaylon Tate should never see the floor. Awful basketball player. Problem is that Starks isn't all that good either.

So despite working in the software industry, I rarely keep up with things like the latest and greatest smartphones. I'm going to be upgrading soon, and due to me working with android quite a bit lately I was thinking about making the switch to an Android device. Are there any brands/phones that I should particularly avoid or check out?

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 5, 2014 -> 06:55 AM) There are 81 bowl eligible teams, plus two more than can become eligible by winning this weekend. There are 78 bowl slots. I find it hard to believe that a BIG team is one of the only 3 teams left out. Bowls aren't going to pick these teams over Illinois: 6-6 Ohio 7-5 Central Michigan 6-6 South Alabama 7-5 Texas State 6-6 Old Dominion Not sure about how the OSU-Wisconsin game affects things, but you definitely want Oklahoma to beat Ok St and Tulane to beat Temple. This is a much better way of putting it than I did.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 04:30 PM) Well that's a kick in the balls. Apparently there might not be enough bowl games for the bowl eligible Big Ten teams. I'm sure Illinois would be the first team out. Need Wisconsin to beat Ohio State in order to get the bid. While it would suck, I would find it a little amusing that the primary justification for Beckman coming back just didn't happen. Realistically, a bowl spot will open up somewhere that would be interested in taking on a Big Ten team, albeit a bad one.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Dec 2, 2014 -> 10:06 PM) No. Tate is really awful. He was dreadful defensively tonight and teams only have to guard 4 players when he is on the court. Put me in the Tate is bad camp.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 1, 2014 -> 12:20 PM) That's why I put "well" in quotes. But they didn't luck into the win either. They deserved that win, as they deserved the win against Minnesota - a pretty good team - and NW. To me they improved in all phases basically over the course of the year. Special teams was actually decent all year, the offense was never great, but improved, and the defense also wasn't great, but improved. I don't have much hope for the future, but I think Thomas is basically stuck with this decision. What kind of coach is going to accept a job at a lower tier Big Ten school with little recent success, taking over for a guy that got fired after getting to a bowl game? He's gone from zero wins in conference to 3. That sounds terrible, but at Illinois recently it really isn't. I think this argument just goes back to realistic expectations at Illinois. He didn't get to 6 wins by putting a better team on the field, and I think that's all that matters. I understand why he was brought back, but I still don't agree with it.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 1, 2014 -> 11:18 AM) They didn't play very "well" in the PSU game, they were just the luckier of two awful football teams. And the two games before that, they were routed, so I don't know how you can say they were playing their best football at the end of the year. The Minnesota game was the only one that gave them more credibility. Let's also remember they were trailing in the 4th quarter in 11 of their 12 games, including all 3 non-BCS non-conference games. Given the 6-6 outcome, I think he earned another year, but my hopes aren't very high for 2015. I do agree with B>W, the best decision for Illinois football would be to find a new coach this year, but it's not always that simple. This is the exact reason he doesn't deserve another year. The team hasn't gotten better after year 3; the Big Ten has gotten worse. The 2011 team that got Zook fired is definitely better than this years team, and I'd say the 2013 team is probably better too. If your analysis of Beckman ends at the W-L column, then sure the team has shown improvement. However, the eye test and advanced statistics both agree that this team is still bad, and that is unacceptable in year 3, IMO.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 29, 2014 -> 11:06 AM) I'm so conflicted I've never been less excited to see my team winning, that's for sure.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 28, 2014 -> 11:17 PM) Maverick Morgan is a disaster. Backup center is obviously the weak point on this team. I've actually liked what I've seen of Colbert and he's gotten most of the minutes so far this year. No idea why Groce went with Morgan tonight but it was terrible. You think Colbert would at least have been competent with his athleticism. Groce tends to go with Morgan against the bigger centers/forwards because of how thin Colbert is. The problem is that these Baylor players are both big and athletic.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 28, 2014 -> 10:32 PM) First half of Illini basketball I am able to watch all year and they are on pace to score 42. Defense looks good, though.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 05:32 PM) Regardless of Beckman staying/going, us making a bowl this year would be huge for the program and so I'll be rooting on this team no matter what. I honestly don't think Beckman will be kept, I think Thomas has a plan on moving on from him but we'll see. There's a 0.000001% chance he's fired if he makes it to a bowl, which is probably worse for the program in the long run, but I can't actively root for them to lose. So, a win win situation, right?

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 05:17 PM) I personally would be shocked if Beckman is kept by Thomas, he would have to win out and the chances of that are still low. I think Thomas wants a new coach and hasn't seen Beckman as the guy for awhile. That said, this all relies on two things: 1. Do we win Saturday/and in a bowl (moreso Saturday)? 2. Are any coaches worth pursuing even interested in this job? But in the meantime I'm going to enjoy this team finally doing something in the Big Ten and really, really want to beat NU and Fitzy to steal a bowl game from them as we go bowling. I'd fire Beckman even if he got 6 wins, but as long as he plays NU close his odds of sticking around are probably better than 50%.