gflore34

Please tell me you are not referring to Murton/Grissom in the same light. I was referring to Murton/Grissom, given Dusty, can we really put it past him? Perhaps, its a little paranoia on my part. Maybe the more realistic picture is when Murton hits a little slump he'll be benched in favor of Grissom the "proven vet".

This has all the makings or settings of Hollandsworth/Dubois II and we all know how that turned out. I'll bet at some point last ST Dusty uttered the same rhetoric about Hollandsworth in relation to Dubois.

How can you not like them as players? You might not like their price tag, but they certainly help the bullpen. They don't certainly do anything. They're journeymen relievers, and journeyman relievers are not consistent, and guarantee you nothing. They should make the bullpen better, but neither is a lockdown reliever, or anything special, or a right fielder with solid production numbers (the Cubs real #1 need this offseason). Seems to me that the bullpen is crap shoot, look at Cardinals the last two seasons. They've had the NL's best bullpen and what wasn't journeymen about King, Taverez, Calero, Flores, et al? Sometimes it just works, let's hope it works for the Cubs this season.

Beyond the fans storming the court, I believe FSU exposed why Duke isn't the best team this year. Get Sheldon Williams in foul trouble and their only offensive option is Reddick. As good as he is, I don't think he's going to beat anyone in tournament shooting 30+ footers. I'll bet the FSU coach was delighted to see him throwing up those 30 footers. For my money, UConn, is head and shoulders above everyone else, great balance and they have superior depth which no other team can match.

OSU went 6-24 from 3pt land, they look like world beaters when they're hitting but, fairly ordinary when not. If they're to go far in the tournament, as a few have suggested, they better be more consistent. If that bad shooting night occurs in the tournament they won't be playing a Northwestern, they'll be done.

If Duke ends up in a bracket similair to the one predicted, I say it's about time they got seeded in a killer region. I remember many years in which they've gotten seeded in a cream puff East and had a cakewalk to the FF. It's probably been due more to luck than anything nevertheless, I'd love to see them seeded in a loaded region.

The worst scenarios always seem to play out or occur in the NCAA, I can see Dials getting in early foul trouble leaving them completely perimeter orientated, couple that with a bad shooting night and they're done. They're not going to continue shooting 3's at the rate they did vs. UM and U of I. If they do, they'll run the BT Regular Season and Tournament along with the strong possibility of a trip to the Final Four.

Listening to local sport talk radio (Jack Ebling) on the way in to work this morning, a caller made a good point. Specifically- at the moment Iowa is playing very well and may even win an outright BT Title but, come NCAA time, the smart money is on MSU to advance deeper in the tournament. I know this doesn't offer much comfort to MSU fans however, I believe it to be true. In a similair vien, if I had to choose which of Illinois or OSU will make a deeper tournament run, I'd still pick Illinois, despite last Sunday's game.

He "showed", but at that point in the season he was pretty much playing on one leg since the cartilege in his knee was almost non-existent. I recall that as well, and certainly did not mean to insult the Hawk, whom I still cite as a fave Cub and would gladly encourage my son to emulate (especially how he came out swinging at Eric Show in 87' :eye: ) Indeed it was sad, I remember on several occasions, in crucial situations, the Giants pitched around, was it Grace?, to get Dawson, I think he went something like 0-13 with RISP. He almost burned them in game 3 (at SF) when, late in the game, with runners on, he cranked one to CF only to have the wind knock it down. Believe the Giant CF caught it with his back against the wall. The best team in NL definitely didn't represent it in the 89 WS.

After he came back, there was still time to go at him additionally, they were in the bonus with 11 or so minutes left. Should have started driving to hoop more to stop the clock and get on the line.

I think you may be giving Illlinois too much credit and OSU not enough credit. I don't believe we'll win in the tourney if we face a team who has a very good big man. Augustine and Pruitt just can't guard big guys. Brunner, Dials and Killingsworth have shown just how a big guy can dominate Illinois. I'm glad we played UNC back in December because Hansbrough would have a field day with us now. OSU has good guards, while we have one good one.... when he's hot. I do think Chester Frazier will be very good, though. I agree with their inability to guard big men, don't know why they didn't go at Dials when he drew his third foul. With a little effort they may have been able to foul him out of the game.

The Illini showing little to no life today getting embrassed by a far from superior Ohio State team. They're down 37-26 at half, I'm guessing OSU wins by 20+ today.

If the Cubs catch a few breaks and the bullpen aquistions of Eyre and Howry pitch effectively: 1.Cubs 2.Cards 3.Brewers 4.Astros 5.Reds 6.Pirates Realistically: 1.Cards 2.Brewers 3.Astros 4.Reds 5.Cubs 6.Pirates I'm assuming the worst, Wood tries to go in May, gets hurt and doesn't pitch again until July/August, Prior suffers a concussion when a rock dropped by a Pigeon lands squarely on his head, keeping him out until August with vision problems, Eyre and Howry implode, Ramirez pulls another hamstring, Neifi gets 500+ AB's. All, save for Prior injury, will most likely occur, my motto as Cub Fan - assume the worst, hope for the best.

I'm PO as well, should have never been that close in the first place. I guess our only recourse is to hope they learn from this loss, use it to play stronger down the stretch. I'd like to see the Illini play PSU in the Big Ten tournament, those gimmick zones combined with Parker having the game of his life worked once, will it work again? ah, the cry of Illini nation. No way Penn State could have just won. It was all aqbout "gimmick zones" and "career games" you lost, live with it Penn State won, they deserved to win. Should they meet in the Big 10 tournament, with the Illini having seen their zones, will it be Louis-Schmeling II or will Penn State have a chance?

I'm PO as well, should have never been that close in the first place. I guess our only recourse is to hope they learn from this loss, use it to play stronger down the stretch. I'd like to see the Illini play PSU in the Big Ten tournament, those gimmick zones combined with Parker having the game of his life worked once, will it work again?

This isn't difficult. Linebackers from generations ago aside, U of I hasn't been good with any consistency recently in the sport. They are a big school, in a major conference, and obviously aren't going to be competing with Middle Tennessee State in the recruiting rankings. The point is that they were terrible last year, and it's not a departure from the near past(11 wins the last 4 years, 5-19 in B10 play, including 1-15 most recently). How many 8 and 9 loss schools do you see near the top 30 in the recruiting rankings? top 50? It's great for the program that Zook's been able to do that, I'm just wondering how he did it. And no, I'm not implying any sort of illegal actions at all. Kevin Hardy and Simeon Rice say hi. So does Eugene Wilson...

Not with the Randle I watched Tuesday night in Wisconsin, Haluska' a good player but, I don't believe he's as quick or long as Randle nor can he jump with him.

i'd be happy with the illini getting 11-12 wins and coasting into the tourneys feeling pretty good. i think if they beat MSU at breslin they'll win the conference. You might be right. However, that Iowa/IL game in Assembly Hall will certainly be a big game for both teams. If Henderson can shut down Brown again...Iowa will certainly have a shot. That's a tall task though. i gotta say, i put iowa's chances at winning at the AH at about 100-1. while henderson very much has shot to shut down brown, i don't see them winning even if that happens. iowa would have to shut everyone down because illinois will likely make it very difficult for the hawkeyes to score in champaign. 100-1? Don't you think that's just A LITTLE bit high? We did beat you at home earlier this year. Last year we lost at Assembly Hall in overtime and the game in Carver was very close. Two years ago we only lost by 6 in Assembly Hall in a game that came down to the last minute. This group of seniors is 2-4 against Illinois and there's only been one game that wasn't in doubt in the last 5 minutes. At the Breslin Center we just get killed, but in Assembly Hall we've been within striking distance late. The last three games between the two teams have been very close. It will be an extremely difficult game and Iowa's most probable loss the rest of the way. But 100-1 odds? I'll take that bet. The Illini team Iowa will be playing in the Assembly Hall will a much more balanced team than the one they faced in Carver. McBride has begun to conrtibute and Randle seems to improving with every game. Randle is the X factor, Henderson may be able to contain Dee Brown but, there's no one on the Hawkeyes who can match up with Randle. I'd also take McBride' matchup with Horner.

Haven't you heard? We already have a solid RFer in JJ, after all he's going to better than a lot of people think or was it he's going to surprise a lot people?

There are a lot of them in the Big Ten. Weber, Davis, Ryan, Izzo and Monson are all pretty bad. I don't think there's anyone who can work the refs and get more calls than Izzo though. I haven't seen much of Monson, and I don't think Davis and Weber are that bad. Ryan is the worst IMO. You don't think Davis and Weber are bad? Davis has that constant look on his face like he's either in pain or going to cry. Both he and Weber stare in disbelief with their mouths wide open after nearly every foul call on their team. Last night, start of the second half, Chappell (SP?) going at Augustine trying to draw his third foul by lower his shoulder and driving into him, Ryan was at his funniest. His gestures, antics and faces were hilarious; did he really expect fouls to be called on Augustine when it was so blatantly obvious Chappell was initiating the contact?

That's what I don't get about Butch, for his size, he has virtually no inside game. Just hangs out around perimeter shooting jumpers.

Not to mention Randle, in a word, wow. He has amazing talent his combination of quickness and jumping ability may be matched by only Ager or Shannon Brown, once he works on the mid range jumper look out! By the way, I've seen serveral UW games and not once has Tucker been called for an offensive foul. How does he get away with the left arm wrap around and jumping into the defender on every basket he makes?

i think that randle will shut tucker down. I would think that pretty unlikely. Especially considering the fact Weber said he was giving Randle a "Crash course in post defense." He's likely to get in foul trouble on the road anyway. If Tucker scores under 20 I'd consider it a job well done by Illinois. that would be a first, seeing as how nobody has scored 20 on randle yet, and he always draws the opposing team's best offensive player. He draws the best offensive player in Big Ten play tonight, without much post defense expierence, at the Kohl Center. I feel fairly confident that Tucker will get his. No doubt he'll get his and quite probably draw 2-3 fouls on Randle within the first 5 minutes. It's the Big Ten, it's the road therefore, I fully expect UW to shot around 30-35 FT's to UI's 10 and squeeze out a close victory.

yeah I did...Paul Davis definitely got fouled on a layup opportunity late in the game and there was no foul call. I can see how MSU fans were pissed tonight...Michigan is not that bad of a team though this year. I watched it as well, not only was Davis fouled, I can't believe Pentway(SP?) got away with that shoulder and elbow after the Ager' alley-oop dunk. And that happened right in front of the Official! I understand the home team is going to get the majority of the calls in its favor but, a 34-10 FT discrepancy is a little bit too much.

If Slick Willie comes into the picture that other school will magically morph from Memphis to Kansas, no doubt…