Have you recovered from last night’s “fun bad” Illini basketball triple overtime win over lowly Rutgers? Make no mistake about it, this was a memorable game, albeit for all the wrong reasons, kind of like the 38-33 loss to Penn State at home in 2009. The Rutgers and Illini basketball teams got together to commit time burglary against you by subjecting you to three extra periods.
Given that it was very close, and featured a ton of lead changes, you just couldn’t look away. Illinois had only one actual forward dress, and that Illini basketball team is right down in the dregs with Rutgers (and Minnesota) as by far the worst teams in the league.
Yes, every time Illini basketball hits a new low, something like this….well, let’s move on.
I’m sure the one Rutgers basketball fan in the world is happy about the effort at least.
That was only the third most important things on the Illini sports table yesterday. First and foremost is the A.D. search. Apparently, CEO of Tennis Australia and former Illini tennis coach Craig Tiley did not interview for the gig. Here’s all we know on that.
Also, in football, National Signing Day was a disastrous snore-fest.
Illinois placed 12th in the Big Ten across the board in recruiting rankings and nothing compelling or eventful really happened. Still, I promised not to be Negative Ned all the time, so let’s move on to the Illini basketball links. I’m still trying to be a Positive Pete whenever I can.
-Our first link is from Blogging Illini
I posed this question to them- where would John Groce and Illini basketball be this season if all those injuries hadn’t happened? Yes, the rash of injuries has been extreme, but you know what other team suffers from injuries?
EVERY other team.
If you’re one of the dead-enders who thinks Groce should be retained next season (there’s quite a few in the media) then you really should read Blogging Illini’s “hypothetical season” piece.
Not going to spoil it, but Illinois wasn’t exactly a NCAA Tournament team even at full strength.
If Groce’s Big Ten record hasn’t sold you on the idea to jettison him then maybe you should take a look at the current state of his 2016 recruiting class. Writing Illinois, the Illinois community on the Fan Sided network, has done an evaluation and breakdown of every single Groce recruiting classes in detail.
That class of ’16….well, they better get a new A.D. in place and find a new direction for the Illini basketball program. It’s amazing how many people in the media still love Groce though. It’s like he used an Old Jedi Mind trick on them.
Next we move on to the Daily Illini. Basketball beat reporter Alex Roux recapped that infamous 2005 meeting between the #1 Illinois and an unranked Ohio State side. You know how that one ended.
Roux charts the diverging paths that Illini basketball and OSU have taken since then (football too). Roux has a similar piece, involving Iowa, coming out later this week, so we’ll try and link that one too.
Finally, I penned a piece on Malcolm Hill’s NBA Draft stock. It’s based on what some scouts told me, where Hill appears on NBA draft big boards and within mock drafts. We gave a detailed synopsis.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous television and radio talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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