gatnom

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 22, 2014 -> 01:20 PM) It was a back-loaded schedule vs 5 straight bowl-bound teams that included the rigged JoePa finale. Sure, they sucked against Minnesota at the end, but the rest of the schedule wasn't a cakewalk. Had the Indiana and Michigan games been reversed, I bet the same final outcome would have looked differently. If you throw out all the losses, Zook was a great coach.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 22, 2014 -> 01:11 PM) The state of the program? Again, he ruined the program so badly that they made back-to-back bowl games for the first time in 20 years. That's the "state" of Illinois football. You're not looking at trajectory. Last season was going to suck whether or not we had Zook at the helm. He lost all of his ace recruiters, and it showed. He may very well have won 6 forgettable games in 2012, but people would be calling for his head after it bottomed out last year. Saying Zook went to 2 straight bowls is like saying this Illinois team is 3-1, so we're looking good.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 22, 2014 -> 11:46 AM) Regardless of the quality of the class, Zook found NFL caliber players routinely. They just didn't have the coaching to really win at the college level. I agree with you though that he needed to be fired much earlier to save the program 5-6 years of rebuilding. Guenther did the same thing with Weber, so let's all be glad he's gone. I see this team winning 5, maybe 6 games at most. Beckman gets fired and Cubit is offered the HC job and he takes it. Another 2 years of 4-6 win seasons and we're back to having the same conversation about whether Cubit is good enough for year 3 and 4. No way does Bill Cubit get offered the job. I would want MT fired immediately if that happens.

VK also had a lot of NFL players on those defenses. He's a good coordinator, but it helps when you have the amount of talent he did.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Sep 22, 2014 -> 09:58 AM) So true. I don't want to reopen the whole "Zook should not have been fired debate," but ironically TB seems to be just as bad (if not worse) at several of the many things Zook himself was particularly bad at, two-point strategy being one prime example. His main problem has been getting quality coaches to come to Illinois. If Beckman can't win 6 games in this B1G, he definitely deserves to be fired.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 20, 2014 -> 06:39 PM) Congrats to IU who played great. Mizzou shot themselves in the foot a thousand times. And the oline is somehow a problem. Seriously, AJ ricker took an experienced oline that was the strength of the team and ruined it in four games I'll take him back if you don't want him. His replacement has somehow done the same thing at Illinois.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 19, 2014 -> 01:52 PM) Didn't ND just get a guard commit to fill that scholarship? They did land a guard from California, but I'm not sure that guard is good enough to get them to actually back off somebody as good as Coleman.

So who's ready to see Illinois get run on to the tune of 5+ ypc?

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Sep 12, 2014 -> 04:27 PM) I don't understand the whole "X school will get me to the NBA" thing, it doesn't make any sense. You could play for eastwest southern alabama state a&m. If you have NBA talent, they'll find you, and they'll draft you. If you want to talk about it helping their development a little bit? Maybe a LITTLE bit. But one year of a player "developing" at a school isn't going to change much when people are calling the player a possible lottery pick before he even plays a game in college. Do you know why Kentucky and Kansas "put" guys into the NBA? It's because NBA-level talent go to that school. I don't disagree.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Sep 12, 2014 -> 01:31 PM) A Kentucky writer back in June said that Illinois was the leader for Bragg, thought that could change. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Groce had the best relationship with Bragg, leading to Illinois being the early leader (wouldn't be surprised the other way around, either). But, when push comes to shove, it's all about the big stage and getting to the NBA. To these kids, you can't get that at Illinois. The only way I see him going there is if he's the fifth member of an already top 5 class (i.e. we land Evans and Thomas), which is a bit of a pipe dream IMO. Or, I suppose we could surprise everybody and make a trip to the final four while returning a lot of talent...

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Sep 11, 2014 -> 04:58 PM) Tate had his moments in the pick and roll in his limited B1G minutes last year. Obviously he needs to shoot better than 4% from 3 (literal 3 percentage last year) and be a threat offensively, but hopefully he made a leap from Year 1 to Year 2. Beyond that Starks and Cosby should be able to give good minutes at the 1. Still should be a deep roster, Starks' minutes just go up. Cosby sees some spot minutes at the 1. Honestly, while the Tracy injury hurts, he was, in my opinion, the guy in the top 9 at Illinois this year that Groce could most afford to lose. I don't know. Starks will get abused defensively in the B1G.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 04:45 PM) Why? They're pretty close in the rankings, but Evans is quicker and better at defense than Brunson. Brunson is the better shooter/scorer. Considering the roster construction and the amount of shooters that will be on the team (Nunn, Cosby, and Hill in the lineup) having somebody quick and tenacious at d at the 1 is more important IMO. If for no other reason, landing a big time recruit out of Chicago would be big. Watching Abrams struggle offensively (particularly shooting) has just worn on me. I don't think it's a surprise that all of our guards seem to throw up ill advised 3's a few times a game. But it's a matter of preference, I guess.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 04:34 PM) I've long preferred Evans, but it would have been nice to be able to have the future PG in the mix already. The worries continue... I think you're crazy to prefer Evans to Brunson, but really nothing has changed today. It's been whichever of Evans or Brunson we could land (with Evans being way more likely), and we'll be fine. Until Evans is no longer in play, there's no real reason to worry. If Groce misses on Evans too, yikes. Although, in that scenario, the Abrams injury becomes a bit more of a blessing in disguise...

Sucks to be a Temple fan. They went from having Jalen in the bag to having him go to their rival.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 12:41 PM) It's Nova for Brunson. With the timing, smart money would seem to be on Villanova. However, I'm with Henricksen: everybody is in the dark with this recruitment, so who knows exactly what Jalen is going to do?

QUOTE (scs787 @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 05:16 PM) http://cheekymonkeyart.com/artwork/wcg/Hat...e-500pxWide.gif Needs a cigarette in his mouth.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 8, 2014 -> 01:50 PM) Penn State's bowl ban is lifted, they are immediately eligible for postseason play. I doubt it's a coincidence the NCAA announced this right after Ray Rice was cut, perfect timing. Looks like they got all their scholarships back too.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 28, 2014 -> 09:51 AM) Navy's uni's for saturday are pretty awesome http://www.elevenwarriors.com/college-foot...inst-ohio-state The rank thing is really cool.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 09:14 AM) We have not, there have been some rumors that there is interest on both sides so if he's willing to wait he very well could end up with an offer. I like Morrow, but he's a little redundant with Black already on the roster, IMO.

So Auburn has had one weekend to recruit and has landed 3 recruits in that time period. Are you telling me that Bruce Pearl was recruiting when he shouldn't have been? I can't believe it.

Got in a quick 9 holes this afternoon. Just couldn't get out of my own head and played like absolute crap for the first 8 holes. But, had a great drive, a good chip, and a good putt on the last hole, and all I want to do is get back out again.

Had my first draft tonight. Kind of just winged it because I don't follow the NFL close enough to be particularly good at fantasy. 12 team non-ppr league. Maybe should have taken Calvin Johnson at 6 because I ended up picking Ball and Bernard at 18 and 30 respectively... QB: Cam Newton RB: Matt Forte RB: Montee Ball WR: Victor Cruz WR: Michael Floyd TE: Greg Olsen Flex: Giovani Bernard K: Matt Prater/Shayne Graham Def: Baltimore BN: Lamar Miller BN: Brandin Cooks BN: Zach Ertz BN: Jordan Matthews BN: Jarett Boykin BN: Rueben Randle

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 15, 2014 -> 02:54 PM) Neither is any minor leaguer that have their fan bases buzzing over a certain prospect so your argument is invalid. The point is that if a AAA player can put the bat on a ball to put it in play, a player in the majors is going to be hitting that ball a lot harder and more frequently.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 08:10 PM) Chris Beck is a very underrated prospect around here....I don't think he'll be a front line starter, but I think he can be a good #4 who can keep his ERA around 4 and eat innings. Don't get too caught up in the K #'s....plenty of sinker ballers have had successful cseasons with a K/9 in the 5's. He's also not pitching against major league hitters.

I'm not the most optimistic person when it comes to what I think he will be as a player for us at the major league level, but it's very clear that he has nothing left to prove in the minors. If he can come in right away and more or less dominate AAA pitching, I see no reason not to bring him up.