College Basketball 2023-2024

[Thusly Boned]

37 minutes ago, Sammy Sofa said:

That's true for too many sports fans of any age. 

"Don't give a standing ovation to the guy embroiled in a sexual assault case" isn't a tricky thing to suss out. We don't need to act like college students are just confused babes wandering lost in the woods over some, IMO, pretty basic human decency horsefeathers. They're making a ****** choice.

I think it's reflection of confirmation bias and how cult-like sports fandoms can be. That's not a defense of anyone, but a condemnation of sports fandom in general.

Unfortunately, it seems to be nearly the status quo for communities around teams/organizations/schools in situations like this to circle the wagons, at least until the guilt becomes undeniable (and sadly often beyond that point). We've seen it countless times. 

And I hope it didn't actually happen, but odds are something bad did. And as an Illini fan, unless we get a pretty categorical retraction from the victim, anything positive that happens that Shannon is involved with is going to have the stank on it.

[Sammy Sofa]

Sure; I was just a bit bothered by the idea that college kids are too young to be making a better decision in these circumstances. Whether the sports fan is 18 or 98, they're more than old enough, IMO, to know that it's a ****** thing to decide to champion someone accused of doing something awful like they're coming back from a horrible injury or something.

[stitchface]

3 minutes ago, XZero77 said:

I think it's reflection of confirmation bias and how cult-like sports fandoms can be. That's not a defense of anyone, but a condemnation of sports fandom in general.

Unfortunately, it seems to be nearly the status quo for communities around teams/organizations/schools in situations like this to circle the wagons, at least until the guilt becomes undeniable (and sadly often beyond that point). We've seen it countless times. 

And I hope it didn't actually happen, but odds are something bad did. And as an Illini fan, unless we get a pretty categorical retraction from the victim, anything positive that happens that Shannon is involved with is going to have the stank on it.

like the 2016 world series? Agree with most of what you said and think the standing ovation is gross. Also agree sports fandom is insipid and at times downright scary. I do think he should have the right to play until he is found guilty

[stitchface]

2 minutes ago, Sammy Sofa said:

Sure; I was just a bit bothered by the idea that college kids are too young to be making a better decision in these circumstances. Whether the sports fan is 18 or 98, they're more than old enough, IMO, to know that it's a ****** thing to decide to champion someone accused of doing something awful like they're coming back from a horrible injury or something.

totally agree. this is why college women continue to get assaulted.

[Thusly Boned]

2 minutes ago, Sammy Sofa said:

Sure; I was just a bit bothered by the idea that college kids are too young to be making a better decision in these circumstances. Whether the sports fan is 18 or 98, they're more than old enough, IMO, to know that it's a ****** thing to decide to champion someone accused of doing something awful like they're coming back from a horrible injury or something.

That's true, but it's not a binary either. Dumbass college kids most often simply aren't going to have the same level of self-awareness (with regard to biases among other things) that many other people have. That's not an absolution, it just is what it is. It's still gross for them to cheer him, but maybe incrementally less so than say, one of their professors doing it or something.

Regardless, the whole production is really disappointing, and it's scenario we see way too much of.

[Sammy Sofa]

Just now, XZero77 said:

Dumbass college kids most often simply aren't going to have the same level of self-awareness (with regard to biases among other things) that many other people have. That's not an absolution, it just is what it is.

Again, I just disagree with this idea. Contrary to the cartoon characters people want to sometimes dismiss them as, college students aren't just blank slates when it comes to morality or human decency or even very, VERY basic critical thinking. 

Like, I think a sentiment of "kids are going to be kids" is needlessly letting them off the hook. It happens a LOT with people in their late teens and even throughout their 20's.

In the end, we mostly agree on this, so it's largely just nitpicking on my part.

[Thusly Boned]

7 minutes ago, stitchface said:

like the 2016 world series? Agree with most of what you said and think the standing ovation is gross. Also agree sports fandom is insipid and at times downright scary. I do think he should have the right to play until he is found guilty

Yeah, there is a little bit of taint on that 2016 team, tbh. In retrospect, part of me is glad Chapman blew the lead in game 7 so I didn't don't feel like we won because of him (but that's probably just cope).

But Shannon is the star of the current Illini team; if they were to win anything of great significance this year, it's almost certainly going to depend in large part on him, and I hate that now. Should he be able to play until there is some kind of disposition? Maybe. But he absolutely shouldn't be lionized.

[Rex Buckingham]

The "18-22 year old kid" thing is bogus on its own, because be better. The larger issue for me is the grown men who act like the rumors they have heard that they want to believe because they paint "our guy" in the best light possible are the Gospel truth are giving a standing ovation right along with everyone else. 

I hope he didn't do what he's accused of, but the fact is there are only a couple people who might actually know what happened, and those people aren't involved in any of these conversations, and I'm uncomfortable with all the speculation because it's just an awful situation either way. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

One other quick thing about Shannon and the unfortunate standing ovation - Bringing him in off the bench made that situation worse and set up exactly what happened.  I get not wanting to start him immediately upon returning, but they brought him in about 2 minutes into the game, so what's the difference really?  Had they started him, his ovation could have blended in with the introductions and not stood out quite so much on the TV broadcast.  Maybe they made the right move from a pure basketball standpoint, but they could have managed things better by not giving the initial crowd response so much room to breathe.  I get that it doesn't change anything in the big picture, but optics matter and they set the stage for a bad look.

[soccer10k]

7 hours ago, XZero77 said:

Yeah, there is a little bit of taint on that 2016 team, tbh. In retrospect, part of me is glad Chapman blew the lead in game 7 so I didn't don't feel like we won because of him (but that's probably just cope).

Even now if you ask me would I prefer the Cubs to have either

A. Not won the title in 2016
or
B. Won the title but had Chapman record the final out

I'd take option B and wouldn't think twice about it.

But man am I glad he didn't get the final out even though it made the night more stressful.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Rajai Davis is a hero in hindsight. 

[stitchface]

34 minutes ago, Ding Dong Johnson said:

Rajai Davis is a hero in hindsight. 

who undoes Addison Russell?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

3 hours ago, stitchface said:

who undoes Addison Russell?

He was a POS in hindsight. Aroldis was a known scumbag. 

[mul21]

Northwestern shot 61% from 3 and 55% overall from the floor last night.  They hit a few ridiculous shots but the Illini defense was disorganized and mostly trash all night.  Frustrating to see after how good they've been the last several years and so far this year.

[stitchface]

5 hours ago, mul21 said:

Northwestern shot 61% from 3 and 55% overall from the floor last night.  They hit a few ridiculous shots but the Illini defense was disorganized and mostly trash all night.  Frustrating to see after how good they've been the last several years and so far this year.

this was their first game I watched - they seem to have a lot of weapons but it all seemed to be 1v1s - not much team play. they had no answer for Buie for the part I watched

[Derwood]

DePaul has been bad for many years.

But 3-24 (0-16) bad? JFC

[bukie]

DePaul is an MVC team stuck in a major conference.

[Derwood]

21 minutes ago, bukie said:

DePaul is an MVC team stuck in a major conference.

Never should've left Conference USA

[SouthSideRyan]

20 hours ago, Derwood said:

Never should've left Conference USA

Over/Under 1.5 teams you can name in the current Conference USA

[Derwood]

1 hour ago, SouthSideRyan said:

Over/Under 1.5 teams you can name in the current Conference USA

UAB

uh….

Detroit Mercy?

 

[bukie]

1 hour ago, Derwood said:

UAB

uh….

Detroit Mercy?

 

0 for 2

[gflore34]

Big win by the Illini at Madison today, only team to ever beat the Badgers at the Kohl Center four consecutive times.  Thought the Illini had an excellent chance today, they're a terrible match up for Wisconsin, Badgers really have no answer for Shannon, Domask, Hawkins and, when he comes to play, Guerrier.  Don't understand why the computers love Wisconsin so much, overrated, over achieved early in the season, Gard deserves a lot of credit for the coaching job he has thus done.

Edited March 2, 2024 by gflore34

[UMFan83]

Wait college basketball is still going on? I must have stopped paying attention seeing as my 2 favorite schools are a combined 11-47 this year

[Tryptamine]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

Big win by the Illini at Madison today, only team to ever beat the Badgers at the Kohl Center four consecutive times.  Thought the Illini had an excellent chance today, they're a terrible match up for Wisconsin, Badgers really have no answer for Shannon, Domask, Hawkins and, when he comes to play, Guerrier.  Don't understand why the computers love Wisconsin so much, overrated, over achieved early in the season, Gard deserves a lot of credit for the coaching job he has thus done.

A win against Purdue in a few days would take off a lot of the Big10 tournament pressure and pretty much lock them into a top 4 seed. They'd have to pretty much run the table, but there's still an outside shot at a #1.

[scarey]

8 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

A win against Purdue in a few days would take off a lot of the Big10 tournament pressure and pretty much lock them into a top 4 seed. They'd have to pretty much run the table, but there's still an outside shot at a #1.

I have a feeling my Boilers are taking an L on Friday.