whitesoxfan99

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.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Feb 4, 2014 -> 11:19 PM) Now imagine the team without rice, ekey, Nunn, and Tate and replace them with Shaw, Henry, James, and Orris. The roster was left in shambles. This should be the last bad year. If its not, Groce will be gone fast. Yep. We will know everything we need to know about Groce by this time next year. That team has to be a tourney team and he will have 3 recruiting classes under his belt and the 2015 class has to be really good. This team was always going to be bad unless Groce recruited at Calipari levels. The only 3 Weber players on the roster in year 2 are Abrams, Bertrand and Egwu. Abrams and Bertrand (although Bertrand is a black hole and may be the worst passing guard that has ever played for Illinois) are ok roleplayers but nothing more and Egwu is f***ing terrible. I just don't think you can win with Ekey, Bertrand and Egwu playing big minutes. They should have a couple wins but this team wasn't going to be a tourney team unless the freshmen were much better than their rankings. Unfortunately that isn't the case but at least Hill and Nunn look like players.

If it wasn't clear I was being sarcastic above.

It makes you wonder where the $51 billion they have spent on the Olympics has gone.

Boozer is following up complaining about his minutes with a stellar 2-8 from the field and 0-2 from the free throw line performance.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 3, 2014 -> 08:31 AM) The show's hit a lull...the kidney subplot is boring, the boss and brother subplots are both lame...Lip's fate is the only interesting one for the moment. Will he go back to his ex? Will he meet the prissy/stiff "Southside" girl he first encountered at the party again? Does he have a shot with the blonde TA? Will the blonde TA get naked, haha? I actually thought the girl who was coming into the laundry room was about to be next. And what's the deal with the Russian prostitutes thing? Really? How is that supposed to be compelling in any way? Then you have Debbie...sigh. Wish Jimmy/Steve would come back from the dead...and not looking forward to all the dramatic possibilities with the four babies on the way, either. Agreed. This season in general has just been boring. Not a single compelling story line.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Feb 3, 2014 -> 04:30 PM) But he's had a better TS% (not much better though) despite playing 6 more minutes per game. A lot of guys like Taj regress with more playing time and responsibility on offense. He's actually improved. This is his best year in terms of TS% (.530) and FT% (72%). He also is having the worst year of his career on the glass and while he has basically maintained his efficiency with a small uptick in usage he really hasn't improved much on that end. He also is turning 29 soon and hasn't really showed any meaningful improvement in his game to this point in his NBA career so what you see is what you are going to get with Taj.

QUOTE (Jake @ Feb 3, 2014 -> 04:16 PM) 1. Taj has really brought it this season. He regressed last year, but that is not the case anymore. He has taken another step up and has earned some degree of increased PT 2. Given that we are not awaiting Rose's return to take us deep in the playoffs and have already traded away Deng, it makes some sense to err on the side of playing the younger guy with the longer deal. Gibson really hasn't been much better this year than last. Boozer continues to regress and has been really bad on offense this year though.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 3, 2014 -> 10:17 AM) the new Transformers looked terribad Least surprising thing ever.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 3, 2014 -> 10:17 AM) Andre Reed getting in before Tim Brown is about the biggest joke ever. Eh, this is clearly just a case of Reed being on the ballot longer and getting in first because of that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 2, 2014 -> 06:14 PM) That trailer is fantastic. Hopefully the movie is of the same quality. That is the only movie that had a TV spot yesterday that I have any interest in.

Anthony Davis is so much fun to watch.