whitesoxfan99

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:52 PM) Rice is a PG right? That should help Abrams, who can dribble the ball but can't set anyone up. Egwu needs to be more consistent and stay out of foul trouble. He didn't show much growth this year. Henry is probably the most improved, especially the last month. I was surprised he didn't get more playing time today, but I didn't get to watch the whole game so maybe there was a good reason. IMO he's the key for next year. If he can make a jump defensively and be more confident on the offensive end they're a tourney team. If not, Illinois will be terrible next year. Rice is a wing who is built like an NFL linebacker. Solid scorer at Rice but wasn't particularly efficient.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:50 PM) Truth be told, lack of big wins or not, Iowa right now is just as good of a basketball team as Illinois or Minnesota and they are in. Iowa has to beat NU, beat MSU and win another to get in. If Iowa is 9-9 in the Big 10 without beating anybody, the 8-10 teams who have beaten good teams have some brutal losses. But that is how it is. Its not like any of them are going to win. Many years ago, back when Jalen was playing and Digger was coaching, that was a general rule. If you weren't at least .500 in your conference, you were NIT bound at best. Illinois and Minnesota also didn't play a ridiculously weak non-conference schedule and despite playing better schedules in the non-conference had fewer losses coming into Big 10 play than Iowa. Iowa has only themselves to blame for horrific non-conference scheduling. Seriously, most people on this board could have put together a smarter schedule than what Iowa played this year.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:30 PM) It's way too early to say that. Rice is going to be pretty big addition and I think Egwu is going to be a force next year. We also don't know about transfers (5th year seniors), how the freshmen will be, and other player progressions (Henry, Abrams, etc). Fine. Sucks is too strong of a word but we are looking at a bubble team at best with the current roster and recruits. You add a really good 5th year transfer and Desmond Lee is really good than maybe it is different but otherwise you need Henry, Egwu and Abrams to make massive jumps to make the tourney.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:39 PM) Losing last 3 there could of been some doubt...................8 or 9 seed now! Not really. Illinois was a head of a ton of teams on the NCAA tourney pecking order.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:25 PM) Iowa is my dark horse to win the Big Ten next year. Depends entirely on who goes pro. The conference could be pretty bad next year if a lot of the underclassmen that will be first round picks leave. You could conceivably have Oladipo, Zeller, Thomas, Harris, Payne and Burke all go pro (and it wouldn't be completely shocking if guys like Hardaway or Robinson III take a crack either) which would leave you without a single top tier team in the Big 10 for next year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:09 PM) I wonder if an Iowa win against NW gets them in, with Minnesota now out? Seems the Gophers are usually in the Top 20 at some point in a season and completely fade out. Probably, Iowa would need to be MSU to seal it, a huge task. If they would have only beaten Nebraska on the road or not had a ball that was halfway down rim out against WI and then go on to lose in double OT, it would already be a done deal unless they somehow managed to lose to the Wildcats. It would be the first time in the NCAA's since 2006, when we lost to one of those direction Lousiana schools with an almost 20 point lead in the 2nd half and a 3 seed (Horner, Brunner, Haluska team, can't remember if Tyler Smith was also on it). Minnesota is not out and is still ridiculously far ahead of Iowa. A win against NW does absolutely nothing for Iowa other than give them a chance at a good win tomorrow. They have to beat MSU to even be considered for the tourney and I'm not sure that does it. They may need to make the finals.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:10 PM) llini should be 100% safe for NCAA tourney bid now! They were safe before that game but now they should be looking at a 7 seed or higher.

Paul was awesome in the stretches I watched today. Everyone else, not so much. Thanks for the win Brandon.

Illinois is going to suck next year unless the freshmen play well above their rankings. That is a really good class but none of those guys appear to be instant impact players. But the talent that will be left on the roster from Weber for next year is awful. Just absolutely dreadful.

I love that Bilas calls refs out for not knowing what a charge is.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 04:45 PM) He's kind of what he is in the college game at this point. IMO the NBA is alot less physical than the college game especially the Big Ten. He'll have a little more freedom for that jumper and his post game. That isn't even close to being true. The NBA doesn't allow the bulls*** holding and grabbing that you get away with in college but post play in the NBA is much more physical than in college. Really isn't even close.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 04:57 PM) And he is being defended in the post much more aggressively and has scored from a distance, showing range, which was not in his repertoire last year. I think the guy got a ton of hype and has played and improved very well through it. He didn't improve as much as Oladipo and he still has a ways to go in many areas. I think at times he felt like he had to do too much and rushed things. All that said, I will say it right now, I think there is better than a 50% chance he comes back next year. He isn't going to improve his draft stock by coming back another year. This year's draft is remarkably weak and he will go in the top 10. We will see if it is good as the hype but the 2013 high school class is supposed to be really good so you would likely see a ton of freshman pass him on the NBA radar.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 04:19 PM) That's the problem with numbers. They don't always tell the story. For Cody to have done the same thing as last year would have been a big improvement just based on how teams defended him. But by looking at the numbers, you'll miss that Cody has become a better passer, he has extended his range in a big way and he's a better defender. Cody doesn't care how much he scores if the team wins. They might not tell the whole story but improvement generally shows up in the numbers whereas Zeller's assist rate has gone down and his assist to turnover rate from last year is also worse. He is also scoring less efficiently than as a freshman while not seeing his usage rate go up much at all. I agree he has improved on defense though and he has also improved on the glass.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 05:20 PM) NO matter how the brackets end up, this year is going to be a b**** to pick. I have no idea who I like as champs this year. None. There isn't even anyone I feel comfortable picking to the Final 4.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 6, 2013 -> 10:17 PM) Ya I'm not gtowns biggest fan either. I could see either losing in the rd of 32 but I think there's a better shot UM goes down the first weekend. Let's be honest, there really aren't any great teams this year. It wouldn't be shocking if anyone is gone before the Sweet 16.

Another missed charge call by the refs as McCabe clearly was still sliding when contact was made and Paul drifted to the side to avoid him. I haven't had too much of a problem with the refs besides those calls (Illinois has rightfully been called for more fouls) but it drives me nuts how often the refs blow the charge/block call. For f***s sake, just call it a block every time and you will more often than not be right.

Terrible job by Groce letting Bertrand play tonight. Bertrand single handedly willing Iowa to victory right now.

This game is just awful. Terrible play by both teams with Richardson and Bertrand (with Abrams closing strong) deserving of special merit for their terrible play. I think Bertrand gets my vote for LVP so far tonight.

Nice recovery by Illinois after terrible start.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 5, 2013 -> 07:28 PM) OMG LOOK ILLINI FANS COMPLAINING ABOUT THE REFS!!!! That was a laughable call. It's one things if fans complain about the block charge all the time, but even Jay Bilas says they get it wrong almost all the time. Something really needs to change. College refs get that call wrong twice as often as they get it right. Just make the arc extend as far as the NBA's arc and basically remove the charge call from college basketball and I'd be thrilled.

Can we fire every ref in college basketball since they don't understand what a charge is? Abrams just got called for a charge where he was already in the air when the Iowa player slid over. I am 100% sure I can do a better job than these hacks simply because I would basically never call a charge.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 5, 2013 -> 01:10 PM) WOOT IM3 looks 'meh'. You'd think they could have done something different than yet another "OMG some huge evil villain is here". What the f*** do you expect? How is this any different than Nolan's Batman trilogy which simply replaced one evil villain for another?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 3, 2013 -> 05:07 PM) Could Iowa be the 8th Big Ten team in the Dance this year? Unless the committee doesn't follow any criteria they have used in prior years Iowa isn't even remotely close to the dance. Even if they win their last 2 regular season games they won't even be mentioned without a deep run in the BTT.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 2, 2013 -> 01:56 PM) Every time players collide in college basketball it's a charge if you guys didn't know. I've complained about that numerous times in this thread. What makes it particularly egregious that the refs favor the defensive player to the extent they do in college basketball is that well over 50% of the time the defensive player should be called for a foul in those situations.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 28, 2013 -> 02:41 PM) John Wall isnt awful and Turner is finally contributing. But clearly no talent that is head and shoulders above anything we've seen. John Wall still has some upside but he isn't a good basketball player and Turner is still really bad on offense.