whitesoxfan99

North Carolina is a really unimpressive team. Really good athletes but the skill level isn't high and no one except for Paige can shoot.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 3, 2014 -> 11:44 AM) Egwus core numbers haven't improved since his sophomore year and his advanced metrics have gotten even worse. Everyone thought he'd be a breakout star after the last time we played Miami and he's literally gotten worse. As you mentioned his hands are so, so bad. Some of the worst I've ever seen, and you can't teach good hands. He is also one of the dumbest players I've seen. I cannot understand it, he seems like a smart kid otherwise but he has 0 basketball instinct. Last night he was routinely outsmarted by a guy who has only played the game for a few years. 1. Cosby I think will be fine. He looks the part. Just a terrible luck stretch right now. 2. Yep. 3. I still like Colbert as a backup going forward. Black looks good playing down low. Still, yeah, the big weak point of the team. 4. Hill played mostly well but he made some really dumb plays yesterday. Nunn needs to become more of a focal point. 5. Starks will be better than he showed last night. How could he not be? But yeah PG is our other big problem. The same position imbalances that were Weber's downfall are currently destroying Groce in year 3 as well. I'd be stunned if Cosby and Starks don't start making shots. Those are guys who are both proven shooters at the high major level. I don't think you need a real PG to be successful but we do need to find more capable big men (although we are perfectly fine at PF going forward and Darius Paul should help a lot at center next year). The key is that if you don't have a good PG you need multiple multi-dimensional guards/wings that can create. Michigan was the best offensive team in the country last year because of their wings. Their PGs made wide open shots at a nice clip but neither Walton or Albrecht was a big part of the offense or creating for others. We will be really good offensively as long as Starks and Cosby both get back to being the 40% 3 pt shooters which they have always been.

QUOTE (Brian @ Dec 2, 2014 -> 11:30 PM) I know someone was on here 2 years ago saying similar things. Also that he can't shoot or create. Just had vision.? The shooting is what kills him. Unless you are an absolute freak athlete its impossible to create if you aren't at least a threat.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Dec 2, 2014 -> 11:13 PM) 1-10 with 1 assist is pretty awful. Starks cost the team possessions with just terrible shot selection. I'm not saying Tate played well by any means, but I would have rather watched him more with Nunn, Hill, and Rice than Starks tonight. All in all, they were both terrible. The answer is not playing a PG at time. Tate isn't a Big 10 level guard and if he didn't play for Simeon in high school he wouldn't have been offered a scholarship.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Dec 2, 2014 -> 11:02 PM) Illinois will also miss Abrams when their starting PG goes 1-10 while going 1-7 from 3. The illini should have probably played Tate more in this game, but not with Colbert and Black out there with him. The rotations need to be tuned up a bit. No. Tate is really awful. He was dreadful defensively tonight and teams only have to guard 4 players when he is on the court.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 2, 2014 -> 10:50 PM) Egwu is such a horrific basketball player. I have 0 idea how he hasn't improved 1 but in 4 years. He's improved a lot. He was really f***ing awful as a freshman. Bad hands is a basketball player killer (see also Kwame Brown). It really is too bad Darius Paul f***ed up, sure would be nice to have him backing up Egwu this year.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 1, 2014 -> 02:28 PM) Come, high profile coaches, to Illinois, where the unrealistic expectations of our fans just axed a coach 1 year from a BCS bowl. We'll be 100% behind you though! Zook followed up the BCS bowl with 2 under .500 seasons in a row including a 3-9 season where 7 of the 9 losses were by double figures and the only game where the team was competitive in the first 7 games of the season was in a win against Illinois St. Pretty sure my expectations for Illinois football are perfectly realistic.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 1, 2014 -> 01:25 PM) This is the more troubling issue: #illini football attendance since 2009 2009: 59,545 2010 - 54,188 2011 - 49,548 2012 - 45,564 2013 - 43,787 2014 - 41,549 It really is too bad Illinois didn't have a competent AD in place in 2009 to fire Zook while the program still had a lot of talent. A new coach could have taken over, had a couple 8-4 type seasons right off the bat and actually had a chance to build a legit program at Illinois. Sigh.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 1, 2014 -> 12:54 PM) Because kids and teenagers use it to seriously harass others. It's incredibly cruel the way they use the internet to bully. Agreed and it is also quite different to have someone you actually know in real life harass you through the internet then someone on an anonymous message board. If someone a person knows is constantly harassing or threatening them online it is entirely reasonable to be concerned that such conduct will continue elsewhere.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Dec 1, 2014 -> 10:14 AM) It was "bowl or bust," so its the right move to keep him for at least one more year, made more so because Mike Thomas hiring in a market that has vacancies at Neb and MI would be an utter disaster. The Nebraska and Michigan vacancies are irrelevant to Illinois. They aren't going to be hiring from the same coaching pool anyways.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 29, 2014 -> 10:41 PM) Good god Amari Cooper. How are you not double teaming him at this point? Alabama only throws his way.

That is just an awful call in the Bama-Auburn game. No way you can say Auburn player had possession on that play.

Sucks for Ohio State. JT Barrett is done.

If Beckman blows this one he shouldn't be allowed back on the bus to Champaign.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 29, 2014 -> 12:06 PM) I'm so conflicted So am I. Last week I was sure I would be rooting for an Illinois loss today but watching the game today I'm rooting for an Illinois win and a bowl game.

So with this loss the Bears season is over. Hopefully they lose the next 3 and that Minny game will be big for draft status.

Matt Forte was unbelievably open for an easy first down on that last play as well. Just an incredibly awful play by Cutler.

And that is fine but you still need to defend and the only year Crean has put together a good defensive team at Indiana was when he had Oladipo and Zeller at the same time. Even with Vonleh who was a terrific interior defender last year they still weren't great on that end. With their current frontcourt they are very likely going to be really bad on defense all year.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Nov 25, 2014 -> 08:30 AM) I picked a good first game to not be able to watch. Well, we knew they were going to be streaky. Doesn't make losing to Eastern Washington any less stomach-turning. My concern would be that Indiana shot well yesterday, Eastern Washington wasn't on fire from 3 and Indiana still lost. Indiana will be able to score and they will have games where they are tough to stop but that is almost certainly going to be a really bad defensive team all year.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 11:04 AM) Seriously? This outlook pisses me off, that win was earned by our seniors they deserved it. Forget about Beckman for one day and enjoy an Illini win, he isn't coming back anyways so relax and let the seniors/team have their moment. I don't think that is true at all. I think there is a chance that he is brought back even if he loses to NW and if he beats NW and is going to a bowl game I would be really surprised if he isn't brought back.

And there it is. Melvin Gordon's rushing record lasts one week. Insanity.

So there's a decent chance Gordon's record is only going to last one week. Perine from Oklahoma has 378 rushing yards and its only the 3rd quarter.

And f***. There's a legitimate chance Beckman is back next year now.

Come on Penn St., put this one away. I don't want there to be any possibility of Beckman saving his job.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 04:43 PM) LOTR is ~1200 pages and became three movies. The Hobbit is only 300 pages. It could have been done in one. Desolation of Smaug was straight up boring. Despite being only 300 pages I don't think the Hobbit would have worked well as one movie. 3 movies was definitely overkill though.