Chocolate Milk

The "Big Ten Wonk" has it about right.

Well, we both lose. Tucker was effective but didn't get 20. Pretty close though. Wisconsin is in big trouble. A very disappointing game.

it's a pet peeve of mine, that's all. i'm no definitive expert on college basketball, but i know enough about the BT, and wisco (being a current resident and all) to be offended when someone asks me that question. tucker's just not a back-to-the-basket player. he's an inside-out guy, similar to roger powell, but with more skill and less power. he gets his points driving into the lane, shotting from mid-range, and exploiting mismatches down on the blocks. randle is not a mismatch. i'm predicting 10 points from tucker tonight. if i'm wrong, i'll face up. Sorry, if I came across snippy there. Wasn't my intent. I was just pumped about the game and wanted to talk some basketball. I agree that he doesn't play excusively with his back to the basket but he does post up about as much as anyone else on the team. Then again, basketball isn't really my strong suit when it comes to sports. So I could be wrong. 10 points it is! If he scores under 20 then I'll come back and eat my crow as well. God, I hope it's not 10 points. That would be really really bad for Wisconsin's chances of winning.

against shaun pruitt. How can Randle "always draws the opposing team's best offensive player," play 35 mins, but not be on Killingsworth? Not being combative, I just didn't see the game. Did he get into early foul trouble and spend some time ont he bench? If so, that's what I think is likely to happen tonight. killingsworth is a post player, tucker isn't. can he go inside? sure, but why put your best perimeter and mid-range defender on a post player, opening up shaun pruitt and marcus arnold for an even worse matchup? no, tucker is the exact kind of player that randle matches up well against. Tucker isn't a post player? What? Tucker spends most of his time in the post and around the hoop. so, tucker is your prototypical back-to-the-basket player? I wouldn't say prototypical but he gets a majority of his points in the post. Have you ever watched Tucker play? Do you understand the swing offense? Why do you think Weber said he had to give Randle a "crash coruse" in post defense specifically to gaurd Tucker? He may not be a prototypical post player, but he is absolutely not a perimiter player. have i ever seen tucker play? i watched him play in high school, and i've watched him play in college. what kind of ridiculous, meant-to-be-insulting remark is that? weber's a freaking goofball. his interviews are hilarious and he generally makes strange statements to members of the media. tucker is absolutely NOT a back-to-the-basket player. he's not going to dazzle randle with any kevin mchale-box moves, and he's not going to match-up to the same player that killingsworth matched up with. they're different players. Wow, take it easy. No offense was meant. I've seen every single one of Tucker's college games and this is how his game appears to me. If it appears differently to you, then that's fine by me, I don't care. I was asking if you'd seen him play much becaue I didn't know. If I didn't see him play much, judging by his size that would be my impression of him as well.

I guess we'll see tonight. It's my impression that Tucker plays more of a 4, which is why I thought he won't make it to the NBA becuse he's not a good size for what he's good at. Nixon, despite his greater size, plays more the role of the 3. In Bo's swing offense, every position has to be able to post up when called upon. If Randle is more of a perimter defender, as it seems, I think we'll see Tucker with his back to the hoop many times tonight.

against shaun pruitt. How can Randle "always draws the opposing team's best offensive player," play 35 mins, but not be on Killingsworth? Not being combative, I just didn't see the game. Did he get into early foul trouble and spend some time ont he bench? If so, that's what I think is likely to happen tonight. killingsworth is a post player, tucker isn't. can he go inside? sure, but why put your best perimeter and mid-range defender on a post player, opening up shaun pruitt and marcus arnold for an even worse matchup? no, tucker is the exact kind of player that randle matches up well against. Tucker isn't a post player? What? Tucker spends most of his time in the post and around the hoop. so, tucker is your prototypical back-to-the-basket player? I wouldn't say prototypical but he gets a majority of his points in the post. Have you ever watched Tucker play? Do you understand the swing offense? Why do you think Weber said he had to give Randle a "crash coruse" in post defense specifically to gaurd Tucker? He may not be a prototypical post player, but he is absolutely not a perimiter player.

against shaun pruitt. How can Randle "always draws the opposing team's best offensive player," play 35 mins, but not be on Killingsworth? Not being combative, I just didn't see the game. Did he get into early foul trouble and spend some time ont he bench? If so, that's what I think is likely to happen tonight. killingsworth is a post player, tucker isn't. can he go inside? sure, but why put your best perimeter and mid-range defender on a post player, opening up shaun pruitt and marcus arnold for an even worse matchup? no, tucker is the exact kind of player that randle matches up well against. Tucker isn't a post player? What? Tucker spends most of his time in the post and around the hoop.

against shaun pruitt. How can Randle "always draws the opposing team's best offensive player," play 35 mins, but not be on Killingsworth? Not being combative, I just didn't see the game. Did he get into early foul trouble and spend some time ont he bench? If so, that's what I think is likely to happen tonight.

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. the illini have already shut down the best two offensive players in the big ten, i seriously doubt that he goes for 20. Have they done it on the road? Killingsworth worked you guys on the road for 23 and 12. I sincerely hope you are wrong. If Tucker goes for under 20 the Badgers are likely to score like 35 points.

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. That's my rational. Home Teams have been shooting an average of 8.5 more free throws per game in Big Ten play. A player who already draws the most fouls on the Illini, against the home team's best player, is likely to get into foul trouble. Tucker shoots his free throws better without the plasty face. These game have been exciting in years past so I expect a great game tonight!

In addition, I feel Tucker is going to take a lot of shots tonight so he may get his 20 without a particularly great FG%.

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.

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.

Another exciting Illinois Wisconsin matchup tonight! It should be a great game for what has become a nice rivalry over the last 3 years or so. Illinois knows that they only play Wiscy once and this is it so they will be fired up. Wisconsin just fell out fo the top 25 and will be eager to show their homecourt advantage still means something. I don't think Wisconsin matches up well with Augustine and I don't think Illinois matches up well with Tucker. The matchup to watch is Chris Rock vs. Dee Brown. My roomates (Illini alums) and myself (Badger) have been giving each other crap all week regarding this game. I'm pumped!

Since no one but Tucker can score, this looks to be a long day for the Badgers.

Both teams come out firing.

Go Badgers! Try to keep me entertained as I put my nose to the gridstone. Not like last Sat....

The NFL just remembered that Desmond Clark is one of the worst TE's in the NFL. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=13963

UCLA rarely does too. :( Neither does Iowa, but it's actually been working well here. Yeah, I can't really complain.

Sconsin never gets super cool recruits. :(

If Randle-El is the type of player you're looking for, just draft Brad Smith. No thanks. The window will be closing on the Bears within two or three years, and Smith is raw. I'd prefer a vet WR; we have other projects (Bradley, Berrian, etc.). And you wouldn't be biased, would you? Nah, if I were biased I'd be telling people to draft him instead of Vince Young. :D Seriously though, they are similar talents. Both were running college QB's. Randle-El is probably a touch faster(although Smith isn't slow by any means), and Smith is more elusive with the ball in his hands. Smith's ability to catch the ball is a bit of an unknown, but that's why you work him out as a receiver to see how well he does. If he's got the hands, he has the other tools(size, speed, agility, elusiveness), that you'd value with Randle-El. if turner had a shotgun package, i'd say draft Smith as a QB. however, randle-el is a proven commodity in the NFL, so I'd take him. Depending on how his workouts go, I wouldn't mind taking a chance on a talented player without a position. Not as a first option however.

Also, put me firmly in the El camp. He would be a perfect fit for what the organization has been trying unsuccessfully to find. Speedy WR who can return kicks and punts. I hope we don't overpurse and give him too much money, but I'd love to have him on the Bears. Frankly, the Bears need more speed on offense. They already have a bunch of projects at WR, so they probably wont draft another one. I think El's aquisition would signal and end for Gage, which would be a good thing.

FYI, Mel Kiper has Davis projected going #11 to STL. The Bears would have to move up @ least 15 spots to have a chance @ him, if these projections held true. He also has Pope going to the Bears @ #26. I doubt the Bears would move that far up in the draft. It would cost them too much. TE is supposedly one of the deeper positions in this draft. Kiper is usually pretty inaccurate until it gets close to the draft. I don't think that Davis is going to go that high. Davis will go that high or even higher. If Davis goes in the top 10, you can make me any sort of sig to use for a month. That isn't going to happen. If Davis runs anywhere near that 4.41 he supposedly ran in that video, he's going to go at LEAST top 15 and most likely top 10. I haven't seen a single mock draft where he is under the 11th pick. Unless he bombs his workouts, he'll be going very high. In any event, the Bears have absolutely no shot to get him.

On one hand, I feel for him but on the other hand, he only needed to maintain a 1.85.

Tucker's effectiveFG% is 45%, 51st of 60 qualified Big 10 players. Only Krabbenhoft is worse on UW. He's 57th of 60 in PPWS, worst on his team. Thanks for this site, by the way. It's pretty flawless. I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not. Either way, I laughed when I saw that Wisconsin was up 20+ from the getgo on the jumbotron. So much for the poor shooting night. No sarcasm. It's great! I can't beleive how stupid you'd have to be to be declared academically ineligible.