whitesoxfan99

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 14, 2014 -> 11:26 AM) Well yeah Bird wasn't a top pick in the 70s I think it would be safe to say he wouldn't be now when there's even more a premium on athleticism. ? He went 6th overall after his junior year despite the Celtics not being sure whether he was going to go pro or stay in college for his senior year (he stayed in school and the Celtics retained his right).

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 13, 2014 -> 10:30 PM) Ski slopestyle is awesome. So much better than snowboarding surprisingly I wonder if that will hold true for half pipe as well.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 13, 2014 -> 08:14 PM) Haha. I think I know what might be the problem now. This idiot, who's dating Doc Rivers' daughter, (had no clue about that) hooked up with a stripper last summer and now she's pregnant. He allegedly offered her 1 million to abort. But, of course, she said f*** no to that. As she'll get MUCH MORE than that in child support for the next 18 years. Oh my goodness. How could this happen? They warn you about this s***. Wrap that s*** up or atleast pull. stupid ass. This story just came out like a week ago, which I hadn't heard/read about until I googled Paul George 10 minutes ago. My game would fall off to if I had to say goodbye to millions because of a one-night stand with a stripper. Moron. Why the f*** do athletes not wear condoms when they have sex with these girls who probably want to get pregnant with their kids.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 13, 2014 -> 06:27 PM) US Speed skaters blaming Under Armor suits for their slow times. Interesting I obviously don't know near enough about speed skating to know if that is a legit excuse but in a sport where tenths of seconds are huge it could actually make a real difference.

What an epic choke job by the USA long track speed skating team in this Olympics. Davis has been the best in the world in the 1000 on the men's side and Richardson and Bowe the two best in the 1000 on the women's side and all 3 come up empty and weren't even competitive for medals.

So with just two riders left the USA is guaranteed at least two medals in half pipe and still has a chance to sweep. The women are pulling their weight so far for the USA but the men have been a disaster.

The USA is having a horrible Olympics in comparison to expectations thus far.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 11, 2014 -> 03:21 PM) Ohio State was not nearly the basketball school ILL has been when Matta got there. He single handedly made it into a destination and one of the top programs in the country. Few remember that OSU had to vacate wins and face NCAA sanctions because of O'Brien. Since he started at OSU, he's been the most dominant coach in the conference when you look at wins, conference titles and conf tourney titles. He has yet to have a season that doesn't top 20 wins. To think he wouldnt do that at ILL is foolish. Even hiring his replacement, MIller, would have been a good move. I think there is a good chance Illinois would have been the top program in the conference over the last 10 years had they hired Matta and he certainly would have capitalized on the recruiting trail inheriting Dee, Deron and Luther unlike Weber.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Feb 11, 2014 -> 02:23 PM) Weber obviously needed to go, but I don't have ill will towards him or his teams. I actually root for him to do well. And what he does in the future is completely irrelevant to Illinois moving forward. Him being good or bad or anywhere in between doesn't prove anything, if that's what people are looking for. I agree that how he does is irrelevant but I can't root for him to do well considering he ruined Illinois basketball and did as much harm to the program as sanctions in the 90s.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 11, 2014 -> 02:33 PM) Matta could have just as easily become one of the other no-names mentioned in that article. You can't look back at coaching hires like that. Considering his recruiting process there is no chance Matta wouldn't have been successful at Illinois.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 11, 2014 -> 01:33 PM) Knowing what you know now, sure. But I don't think Matta was some slam dunk hire either. Was he even on the short list? I know he was a local guy but I don't remember him being mentioned along with Weber. He was a year away from his Elite 8 run at Xavier but he had done extremely well his first two years at Xavier (following a good year at Butler) and he was local so he should have been on the short list if he wasn't. Plus, just from an interviewing standpoint I can't imagine it would be difficult to tell that Matta would blow Weber away as a recruiter. And apparently Matta was a candidate: http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/illini-...a-illinois.html

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 11, 2014 -> 01:29 PM) US fails to make the podium in the men's snowboard halfpipe Really bad day for the USA today with getting shut out in the halfpipe, Kikkan Randle failing to medal in cross country skiing and Heather Richardson not medaling in speed skating.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 11, 2014 -> 09:32 AM) Ozzie is a good comparison. Personally I wouldn't trade eithers tenure here though since they each brought us the best season in each programs history (or 90 years). Both held on too long and it's best they are gone now. I'll root for Weber because he's a nice guy and since he's no longer affecting my team that is good enough for me.. Probably not for Ozzie since he's an asshole. I would trade Weber's tenure in a heartbeat if it would mean Guenther hires Matta instead. As amazing as 04-05 was, without a championship I just don't think it makes up for Weber running the program into the ground (we are now in year 8 of being completely irrelevant as a basketball program) when there are a lot of coaches that could have made the final 4 with that team. It makes me sad thinking about where Illinois basketball would be right now if Matta would have gotten the job instead of Weber. To Weber's credit he found a diamond in the rough in Marcus Foster at KSU. That kid is a stud and is better than any player Weber recruited in 9 years at Illinois. As long as he is there KSU will be solid.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 11, 2014 -> 11:46 AM) A seven!!!! How does that even happen? Both US teams are sucking it up so far. Not surprising at all that the men are sucking it up but this women's team has actually been respectable in international competition. Must not be handling the pressure of the Olympics well.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 9, 2014 -> 07:45 PM) Thanks Groce for listening to the fan base. Too bad you couldn't have done that about 5 weeks ago. Maybe this season wouldn't have been a lost cause. Bertrand was, again, awful. Egwu continues to dominate defensively despite the cinder blocks for hands. Ekey didn't shoot an airball, so that's progress. Nunn and Hill. Thank God it seems like you guys actually have some talent AND have a swagger to win. Next year will be interesting. A player or two (I'm thinking Abrams) isn't going to be very happy about the lack of playing time if the transfers are any good. Egwu played good D in the second half tonight but he certainly hasn't been a force on that end this year and no big man who is as bad on the glass he is can ever be considered dominant defensively.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 8, 2014 -> 07:06 PM) I hate that Bruce Weber will go to the tournament with a lot less talented team than John Groce, who sits in last place Kansas State is more talented than Illinois and I don't think its close. I don't care that Illinois has more top 100 players because Egwu is f***ing terrible and two of the other 3 top 100 players on Illinois are freshmen. Gipson is vastly superior to any big man on Illinois and Foster is easily the best guard on either team. Weber somehow actually finding Foster is going to keep Kansas St. a decent team as long as Foster is still in school. Illinois should be better than they are but the only teams in the Big 10 they have more talent than this year are Northwestern, Nebraska and Penn St. And even then when you have no big men who can rebound and no guards who can shoot it is tough to win games. My concern with Groce is that his teams have not been great defensively going back to his time at Ohio. Part of the problem at Illinois has been that it is really tough to be great defensively when you can't rebound but I do have concerns there.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 8, 2014 -> 10:31 AM) You might get more development and a better quality of NBA. The actual skill level in the NBA has decreased significantly. Athletically, its another story. I've always argued the MLB approach, you allow them to go pro out of high school or they stay 2-3 years in college and continue to develop their game and then re-enter the draft. I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that players skill sets increase more at the college level than at the NBA level. That argument is a bunch of non-sense.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 6, 2014 -> 03:00 PM) The Cavs fired their GM. I have to imagine Mike Brown will be following soon.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 6, 2014 -> 02:34 PM) How about a live action Olympics thread that clearly states spoilers could be had? Makes it easy to not click in. I'm fine with whatever. I just don't want to risk ruining anything if there is someone who is trying to avoid seeing results (I usually just avoid twitter, ESPN and a few other websites which mostly takes care of the issue).

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 6, 2014 -> 01:45 PM) I would prefer spoiler tags. I tend to agree.

So how are we handling spoilers in this thread? Is it just a free for all as events are going on live or should we use spoiler tags until events are aired in prime time? Obviously spoilers will be all over the places but I think people should know what they are getting in for if they enter this thread so they can avoid spoilers if they want to.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 5, 2014 -> 08:35 PM) The Cavs are so awful. If they get a top 5 pick they should deal Irving for a GOAT package. How has Mike Brown not been fired yet?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 5, 2014 -> 10:46 AM) When players leave due to academics I think it very rarely works out that they return. That's especially true for far away JCs. Not only do their shoddy grades have to clear but now they can also be recruited again since their LOIs don't apply until enrollment. I highly doubt we see them again but we will see. I hope Ward comes. Yep and not that I think Beckham would be successful here anyways but nice to see the school cares about being a successful football program. Sigh, maybe someday we will have an administration that actually gets it.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 5, 2014 -> 09:46 AM) Bertrand is playing really well. The only player who can say that. He's shooting 48 percent during this losing streak and everyone else is in the low 30s. Doesn't turn it over that much. That said I don't care if you bench him for freshmen since it's a lost season. Bertrand is playing fairly well he just is thrust into way too big of a role and is a terrible fit with Abrams and Rice. He should really be a 6th or 7th man on a good team. He is a black hole on offense that isn't a good pass and shoot player and he may be the worst passing guard I've ever seen. That sounds like hyperbole but his assist rate is Shaun Pruitt like. Groce needs to start Hill or Nunn just to mix up the rotation because the starting 5 has been horrible and doesn't fit together at all.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Feb 5, 2014 -> 12:29 AM) Hey, you weren't even the biggest guy here believing it. Really, wasn't going after you there. But, in no way did I see them being better this year, and had endless posts saying so. I didn't expect it to be like this in the BT, but I did see the step back coming. This year blows, but I'm still behind Groce and the program overall. Not panicking here like some are. We returned 2 role players and a bad center from a solid but not great team and had no impact freshmen coming in. This year was always going to be worse than last unless someone made an unexpected jump. The 2011 class was horrendous and we have no 2010 or 2012 clsas. When Tracy Abrams is the best player from a 6 player class you are in trouble. I don't think Groce has done a great job coaching on the defensive side of the ball this year (and it was really bad down the stretch tonight) but the biggest problem with the D is that our big men suck on the glass and since Ekey was always a bad rebounder and Egwu was a horrendous rebounder as a freshman that isn't surprising. On offense we are just f***ed for this year. When you have no guards who consistently knock down a jumper and no big men who can finish in the paint there is only so much you can do.