Illinois basketball fans

[ballinhun8]

I work from 1-6. So I'll be in and out of the "bathroom" occasionally from 3:30 to 5:30.

I was joking when I made the post earlier about the odds of us running the table in the Big 10 tourney but I was also hoping it would happen and thought it could because we did lose so many close games. We actually hit our FT's today even though Meachem scared me late when he missed two in a row (on two separate trips) and our seniors played very good.

One more to go and we burst some bubbles.

[Skywalker]

k YOU'RE GETTING BLOWN OUT


there I burst a bubble

[IlliniFan]

k YOU'RE GETTING BLOWN OUT


there I burst a bubble

I guarantee that the game will not be won by more than 10 on either side.

[wang4three]

I'm proud of my team, nonetheless. We played with great heart this post-season. No need to hang their head down. Things are looking up for us.

[ballinhun8]

Are we in the NIT at least?

I think our guys need some motivation and momentum heading into next season and it might be a good time to play some of the young guys and to let the seniors go out on a winning level.

[IlliniFan]

Are we in the NIT at least?

I think our guys need some motivation and momentum heading into next season and it might be a good time to play some of the young guys and to let the seniors go out on a winning level.

Doubt we go to any post season tournament. They usually want teams with winning records.

[TheGame414]

Time for football. On that front, Illinois already has three fo the top 16 Scout.com Midwest recruits.

All 4-star linemen. I'm predicting this is Zook's best class yet.

Also, Matt Hayes of The Sporting News has both Vontae and Rejus ranked in his Top 25 college football players for 2008.

Vontae at No. 14, Rejus at No. 20. Go Dunbar.

[i seen hippos]

How do you see ND this year? Will they bounce back or will it take another year before they can recover?

I'm going to the ND @ Navy game.

[TheGame414]

I don't see them making the quick turnaround that Illinois made because they don't have the unheralded-but-really good veterans we had last year like J Leman at linebacker, Chris Norwell, Derek Walker and Will Davis on the D-Line, the whole O-line. Nor do they have a dominant figure on offense like Rashard Mendenhall.

I suspect Clausen will win the QB battle against Crist and Sharpley and will be much-improved if he's healthy.

Without looking closer at the schedule and the roster as a whole, I'd suspect they'll probably win 6-7 games, but they're definitely a candidate for being the Kansas or Illinois of '08.

[IlliniFan]

Time for football. On that front, Illinois already has three fo the top 16 Scout.com Midwest recruits.

All 4-star linemen. I'm predicting this is Zook's best class yet.

Also, Matt Hayes of The Sporting News has both Vontae and Rejus ranked in his Top 25 college football players for 2008.

Vontae at No. 14, Rejus at No. 20. Go Dunbar.

If we keep Melvin Fellows, he should eventually become a 5 star. We are also heavy favorites for Craig Drummond, the best player in the state who is also a 5 star DE when it's all said and done.

[TheGame414]

Drummond could be a Martez-like recruit. I don't know who his favorites are, though I read we have a terrific shot at him.

[srv_fan]

I'm not so sold on Vontae Davis being a top 25 college player next year. No doubt he has all the physical tools in the world, and has great instincts, but he still seems like more of a raw product to me. Definately is already good and has a even brighter future... but I seriously cannot justify him as top 25 at such an early stage.

I think Laurinaitis is too high on that list as well. I am a huge Michigan fan, so I actually end up watching a lot of tOSU games as well to keep up to date with El Ultimo Enemy. The overall tOSU defense has been so good the past few years that Laurinaitis has been able to show all his strengths (play recognition, busting up plays to the outside) and only occasionally had his weaknesses exposed (shedding blocks, lack of top end speed, others). He's still a good linebacker, but he has HUGELY benefited from having some incredible players around him to mask his flaws. There are a lot of guys who could look sweet if they had Vernon Gholston, Malcolm Jenkins, et al. making plays around them.

If you Illini fans want an outside opinion of your team from someone who is not overly biased and watches a lot of Big 10 football, holler at me.

[TheGame414]

If you Illini fans want an outside opinion of your team from someone who is not overly biased and watches a lot of Big 10 football, holler at me.

Sure. As long as they aren't a Michigan fan, tell them to stop by.

I kind of agree about Vontae, but not in the way you said it. I think he has pretty good cover skills and is an outstanding tackler, but isn't an elite athlete. Above-average athlete, yes. Elite, no. I think he's got a future as an NFL free safety.

There's way too many players out there for even someone like myself who follows the sport extremely close nationwide to definitively say that Vontae does or doesn't belong in the top 25, but it seems a bit much to have him rated as the best defensive back in college football next year. One of the top four or five, maybe, but the best?

I hope it's true.

[srv_fan]

Sure. As long as they aren't a Michigan fan, tell them to stop by.

I kind of agree about Vontae, but not in the way you said it. I think he has pretty good cover skills and is an outstanding tackler, but isn't an elite athlete. Above-average athlete, yes. Elite, no. I think he's got a future as an NFL free safety.

There's way too many players out there for even someone like myself who follows the sport extremely close nationwide to definitively say that Vontae does or doesn't belong in the top 25, but it seems a bit much to have him rated as the best defensive back in college football next year. One of the top four or five, maybe, but the best?

I hope it's true.

I don't know if the first part of that was some internet zing! or not, but whatever.

My opinion on Illinois football as of late is that I am sure Zook can/will recruit a lot of talent, but he has never really shown the coaching ability to maximize that talent. I'm not saying he doesn't have it, or that he won't develop his players at Illinois- he very well could, who knows? Just that he hasn't shown good coaching ability at any of his previous stops. A lot of the players Florida won a NC with were Zook recruits who underachieved until they got a coach who maximized their talent.

The fact that Zook is a monster recruiter will move you guys out of the basement of the B10 and into contender stage. I still think Michigan and tOSU will continue to dominate the B10 because they both get major talent and coach it up. Illinois, to me, looks like they're heading into the PSU/Wisconsin/Iowa zone where they will consistently finish in the top half of the B10, and occasionally win a B10 title.

Oh, and Juice Williams is unbelievably overrated. Everyone in the national media loved to attribute last years success to him, completely ignoring the fact that Mendenhall and Leman and a bunch of quality role players carried your team. He's a scrambling QB whose slow and fairly unelusive, and has a cannon of an arm with terrible accuracy.

[TheGame414]

I don't know if the first part of that was some internet zing! or not, but whatever.

Sort of. No group of visiting fans has ever been more obnoxious in Champaign than Michigan football fans, but I don't hold the douchery of an entire group against an individual I don't know.

My opinion on Illinois football as of late is that I am sure Zook can/will recruit a lot of talent, but he has never really shown the coaching ability to maximize that talent.

Did you mean to say that a year ago? He kinda blew that one out of the water last year. Outdated opinion.

A lot of the players Florida won a NC with were Zook recruits who underachieved until they got a coach who maximized their talent.

Underachieve? They were underclassmen. Zook didn't get to coach his guys as juniors and seniors.

He was handed a program that was nowhere near ready to compete at a national title level because their recruiting had fallen off in the last few years under Spurrier. Combine that with unrealistic expectations from Florida fans and how historically hard it is to follow a coaching legend in any sport and at any level, and no one had a chance there. Especially not a first-time head coach.

If Urban Meyer worked such magic there, how come he went 9-3 in his first year? Wow, what a drastic turnaround, from 8-5 to 9-3. Leaps and bounds.

Urban Meyer, so far, is the Bruce Weber of football. He built winners at the mid-major level and was lauded for "coaching up" the megarecruits of another coach to a national title (or damn near, in Weber's case) to a level the previous coach supposedly couldn't have done. And he is yet to prove he can build a national contender with his own players.

Of course, the difference is that Meyer started to recruit well right away while it took Weber four years, so he'll probably continue the success, but that's another story.

90% of the coaches in America, including Ron Zook had he been given the chance he deserved to coach his own recruits as upperclassmen, could have won it all with that Florida team. In fact, Zook may have had an easier time in 2006. Let's not forget how much better Chris Leak- and the offense as a whole- was when Zook was there. They won the national title in spite of an inconsistent offense that was the result of Meyer pushing his system on a QB that didn't fit it in Chris Leak.

The fact that Zook is a monster recruiter will move you guys out of the basement of the B10 and into contender stage.

Um...it already did. Remember that 6-2 conference mark and returning Top 20 team we have?

Illinois, to me, looks like they're heading into the PSU/Wisconsin/Iowa zone where they will consistently finish in the top half of the B10, and occasionally win a B10 title.

Probably.

Oh, and Juice Williams is unbelievably overrated.

Sigh....

If he didn't have the cool nickname, there wouldn't be as much hype, and as a result not as much backlash against the hype.

Everyone in the national media loved to attribute last years success to him, completely ignoring the fact that Mendenhall and Leman and a bunch of quality role players carried your team.

Give me a break. Media types from Chris Speilman to Brent Musberger had an orgasm every time J Leman made a play. They loved the kid. And I don't remember the media giving Juice the Big Ten MVP or putting him on ESPN.com's Heisman watch at midseason like they did for Rashard Mendenhall.

As far as the attention Juice did get, let's not forget that he dominated Ohio State, on the road, when they were No. 1 in the nation. Four TD passes, and absolutely broke their will with first down after first down in the 4th quarter. That was a will-be-talked-about-for-years performance.

Our offense was best in the last three games of the Big Ten season, averaging nearly 40 points and over 500 yards. It isn't a coincidence that Juice was the best player on the field in those three games, throwing 7 TD passes, running for 330 yards and 3 more TDs, and completing 63% of his passes in that stretch.

He's a scrambling QB whose slow and fairly unelusive

You're right that he isn't a speed demon. You're wrong that he's "unelusive (sic)."

I could point to any number of examples of how he's one of the most elusive QBs in the country. My favorite was his scramble against Mizzou before he got hurt in that game, escaping the rush and doing a U-turn about 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage, going to his left and throwing a laser to Brian Gamble for the first down. You'd have to go back to Mike Vick to find someone who made a play like that, combining that kind of elusiveness with that kind of arm strength. (No, I'm not putting Juice on that level, just illustrating the point that it's silly to call him "unelusive.")

Or you could just ask Ohio State about his elusiveness. Slow QBs with a lack of elusiveness don't do what he did to Ohio State.

and has a cannon of an arm with terrible accuracy.

He's come a long way in the accuracy department, and is continuing to. He completed nearly 58 percent of his passes last year. Not great, but not terrible. He hit on 62 of 101 passes his last four games- which of course included games against Ohio State and USC- and averaged 203 pass yards and 80 rush yards a game in that stretch. I wouldn't be surprised if he duplicates those numbers over a full season this year. He's only getting better as a passer, he'll have Rejus Benn at 100%, Jeff Cumberland finding his niche as an outside receiver, and the offense will be a little more run-pass balanced with Mendenhall's departure.

His sophomore numbers actually bear quite a resemblance to that of Vince Young's sophomore numbers, and Juice didn't have the benefit of a redshirt year.

Bottom line, he's going to be one of the best dual-threat QBs in the country. And something I haven't mentioned yet: as awesome as Mendenhall was, Juice's execution of the read option was just as big of a reason for our dominance running the ball last year, which bodes well for our running game no matter who wins the No. 1 job.