Defensive player of the year...ERIK Hansen.  The best defensive big man in the conference and one of the best in the country.

 

Ehh I had him 2nd. Part of this debate is obviously who are 2 favorite teams are, but also Randle is a complete shut down defender who will take the other teams best player and make him not exist. Hansen is a great shot blocker, but I just find what Randle does to be more valuable overall since he is so damn good. You could go with either though IMO (although I think Randle is going to win ).

whitesox101, your team looks very good. only quarrel i have is foster being only third team, and butler not being on the team at all.

 

i also think foster could factor in as defensive player of the year.

whitesox101, your team looks very good. only quarrel i have is foster being only third team, and butler not being on the team at all.

 

i also think foster could factor in as defensive player of the year.

 

Foster was the one I was most unsure about. I just couldn't put him ahead of either MSU guard, they are so damn good (too bad nobody on their team cares besides them and Davis) and IMO Horton has been the best guard in the league. That leaves Foster and Dee, and IMO you could easily switch their positions on my team and I'd have no problem with it, I just put Dee 1st team because of how damn valuable he is to Illinois, whereas I still think Ohio State is DAMN good even without Foster. I know the system isn't too fair, but I had to come up with a "tie breaker".

 

And Foster is a damn good defender, but IMO Randle and Hansen have been on a different level this year (although I'd have Foster 3rd).

Foster was the one I was most unsure about.  I just couldn't put him ahead of either MSU guard, they are so damn good (too bad nobody on their team cares besides them and Davis) and IMO Horton has been the best guard in the league.  That leaves Foster and Dee, and IMO you could easily switch their positions on my team and I'd have no problem with it, I just put Dee 1st team because of how damn valuable he is to Illinois, whereas I still think Ohio State is DAMN good even without Foster.  I know the system isn't too fair, but I had to come up with a "tie breaker".

 

yeah, it's not an easy choice. i can't even say with great certainty who i would move down. i just know how elemental foster has been to ohio state's success in ways that go beyond numbers.

 

regardless, the list is solid. you can quibble with anyone's list at the end of the day. if anything, you look at those teams and it is a pretty good example of how good this league is this year.

Let's do this Illini...at Minnesota on ESPN right now.

let's go boys.

I think this will be a tough game for Illinois. They haven't exactly played well on the road and Minnesota has won their last 4 at home including wins over Indiana, Iowa, and MSU.

 

Illinois needs this game if they don't wanna drop to a 4 seed.

I think this will be a tough game for Illinois. They haven't exactly played well on the road and Minnesota has won their last 4 at home including wins over Indiana, Iowa, and MSU.

 

Illinois needs this game if they don't wanna drop to a 4 seed.

minnesota scares me at home. Dee brown needs to get the ball to mcbride when the shotclock gets low. Dee keeps taking those longer than NBA range 3's. When he makes them its sweet as hell though.

Lets go Minny! Upset another ranked team in the Big 10

Dear Illini,

Work the ball inside, PLEASE.

Thanks,

Willie

minny's shooting the lights out.

OH MY GOD AUGUSTINE, MAKE A f***ING FREE THROW

Pruitt needs to get the ball ALOT more on the offensive end, hopefully sometime soon we'll learn that.

I'm going to miss Lavin, Musberger, and Andrews after next week.

Solid way to end the half.

Going to be an interesting second half. Minnesota's starting to come back to earth at the end of the half with some bad mistakes. 37-34 Illini.

That's a crap way to go into the half.

 

I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up for this game

Good ending to the half, a lead is a huge positive the way that half went...you'd think Minne would be up.

UIC holds off Wright State in their first round matchup. They'll play UW-Greenbay now in the second round.

HAHA.........Coach K cartoon

HAHA.........Coach K cartoon

 

 

Not bad.

Offensive rebounding has been big today.

Loyola also won tonight in Horizon League tourney play. Blake Schlib and Majak Kou are the s***, and that's about all I know about them.

Loyola also won tonight in Horizon League tourney play.  Blake Schlib and Majak Kou are the s***, and that's about all I know about them.

Boo Loyola, go Flames.

Boston College beats up on Wake Forest at home and is continuing there road to the number two slot in the ACC standings heading into the tournament, hopefully in route to a Duke rematch in the finals.

 

If this Eagles team is a two seed, watch out.