Nic

@cody_illini 💯 💯 💯

Late night reaction to Illinois 65-55 win over Houston in the Sweet 16. Gotta be up at 7 am. No way I’m getting any sleep tonight. ILL

@937JakeSorensen @937TheTicket @SandhillsCareer We’ll beat the Hawkeyes. #ILLINI

Final thoughts from Houston. Stared into the abyss for a full half hour after the game ended. Time heals all wounds but this will hurt for a while #Nebrasketball @937TheTicket @SandhillsCareer

@Recru1t1ng_Guru @JonathanKoon1 03.26.26

3.26.05 & 3.26.89 Legacy day #illini

@AfterDarkCF @CycloneLarry69 After dark indeed

TJ’s contract isn’t the only thing about to be extended

I see that "Illinois has a bunch of 25 year-old European professionals!" is making the rounds again. The four players whose names end in "ic" in the rotation: Zvonimir Ivisic (22) - JR Tomislav Ivisic (22) - JR Andrej Stojakovic (21) - JR David Mirkovic (turned 20 in Jan) - FR They're all essentially prep school ages, just like college basketball seasons of the past where schools would add a player from a prep school that did four years of high school, one year of prep school, and then, depending on their birth date, entered college basketball as a 19-year old or 20 year-old freshman. Mirkovic was 19 years old when he enrolled and then turned 20. Zvonimir was 19 when he enrolled at Kentucky, turned 20 before that season, 21 before his season at Arkansas, and 22 before his junior season at Illinois. Mihailo Petrovic was the unique case and probably what sparked this debate. He enrolled as a 22 year-old (he turned 23 last month) and the NCAA labeled him a sophomore. But he didn't make the rotation, so the one "older Euro player" doesn't play. And Stojakovic grew up here and has followed the typical "turn 19 as a freshman, turn 20 as a sophomore, turn 21 as a junior" path. So no, the "Balkan Five" are not a bunch of 25 year-olds. They're college-aged kids from Europe.

Sources: Bill Self will be announcing his retirement later today. Self will be stepping away from the Jayhawks after 23 seasons. UNC and Kansas are now open. We sleep in fucking May.

@jagidoc @BuriedTreys Nebraska great, they are so wonderful, blah, blah, blah. They won on a last second shot while they were arguably playing their best basketball of the season. Illinois returned the favor later in the season and beat Nebraska in Lincoln by a larger outcome.

@BuriedTreys Now. Go back to the Nebraska AT Illinois game. That you conveniently ignored? And watch the HUSKERS pick apart Illinois for most of the game before WINNING at Illinois on a last second shot. But this doesn’t fit the narrative does it? Yep. Huskers BEAT Illinois on the road🤭

Houston / Illinois (Houston) The undisputed King of the S16 games with the 4th and 6th best teams in KenPom facing off in a quasi-home game for the Cougs in Houston. Also the most fascinating schematic matchup of the Thurs/Fri games As I alluded to in a previous post, I can make a decent argument that Illinois may be the single worst matchup, especially offensively, for a Houston defense that has played exceptionally poor for their standards against top competition (3rd best defense falls to 45th vs T25 teams). If your team possesses any of the following, you are pretty much DOA against the Cougs: Rim reliance, transition reliance, dribble-heavy shot diet, lack of perimeter shooting, poor defensive rebounding, and don't protect the ball offensively Illinois doesn’t fall into ANY of those categories, and actually, they tend to excel in most of them. This iteration of Illinois plays much slower and is happy to entertain a half court, execution-based game. They’re 15th nationally in 3PRate, Top 10 in allowing turnovers offensively, and are even shooting 35% from the arc (which was their issue last year). They also have 3 different guys who can lead/initiate offense to alleviate some of that up-the-line pressure concerns, as well as being the biggest team in the country and an elite 2-way rebounding frontcourt. If you can keep Houston off the offensive glass, prevent them from creating live ball turnovers, and force them to play in the half court, you have as good a chance as anybody to beat that physical juggernaut. Illinois has the best 5-out spacing in the country to stress that Houston no-middle overload, in addition to having highly skilled bigs who are above average passers playing out of the short roll, while also having 3 ball handlers Go back and look at the way Illinois picked apart Nebraska's aggressive post doubles. While obviously a different caliber of athlete b/w Corn and the Cougs, Mirk was slowly backing down with his head swiveled like a Serbian Owl and MAX-baiting the double team in order to spray it crosscourt to an open weakside shooter. Can implement the same gameplan here with the auto Houston Monster double team on post-ups. The Illini don’t possess as many advantages defensively as Houston is more than willing to jack a ton of the contested, midrange jumpers that Illinois’ drop coverage will inevitably funnel them into. Which means A LOT of Houston’s offense will come down to Flemings/Uzan/Sharp midrange shotmaking. The efficiency fall-off for Flemings down the stretch of the season wasn’t as stark as I was expecting (only a couple % difference in true shooting), and if you look at his KP page, you’ll actually see the usage tick up against Tier A/B competition and again vs Tier A. Which means he's probably the single most important piece of Houston's offense in this game and could have the upside to score upwards of 25+. He just has to hit his shots. One of my issues with Illinois comes down to Underwood himself. While I certainly commend his adaptable scheme changes year-to-year, he has also not been a very good in-game manager at times, so what happens if they come out with the wrong gameplan akin to 'let's challenge Clingan early' (we saw how that went). That lack of in-game X's & O's management means Houston has the potential to jump on them early and never let up. I think Houston is also much more capable to mount a comeback with their style of play should Illinois get up early. Illinois is also 348th in Paper Tiger and both teams are outside the T300 in results consistency per Haslam, so that makes things a bit tougher to gauge. There aren't any drastic fall-offs with Illinois' analytics against top tiers but the rebounding numbers aren't quiteee as elite. In 13 games vs T25 teams, opponents shot 34.4% from 3 compared to 31% (35th nationally) Best guess is the venue location means Cougs take money for the majority of the next couple days, which is when I'll probably look to play back on Illinois. This won't be as hostile of an environment as Mackey or Breslin were, but Illinois did have a very soft road schedule in B10 play. Columbus was the toughest place they played at other than those 2 as well as Pinnacle Bank in Lincoln. FWIW, Houston is also the type of team where even the greatest schematic advantages can be tossed to the wind if that defense comes out connected & locked in, so it could all be for naught. I RARELY find myself in the business of stepping in front of Kelvin Sampson, but this does feel like the single best offense left in the tourney to matchup against that vaunted Houston defensive pressure. One last thing. Yes, Torvik's 'close games' stat can be used as a way to identify late game luck/variance for SOME teams. But when programs consistently win a high % of close games, that is something I tend to buy. Prior to this year, Houston was 21-10 S/U in games decided by 2 possessions or less. This year, what's been our worry with Houston? Amongst other nitpicky stuff is the fact that this is the youngest Cougs team under Sampson I can remember in a while. Houston this year is 3-4 in close games. While obviously a small sample, I also think there is something to Houston being slightly less bulletproof in close games this year. Looking at betting: >Illinois +points at better number later in week. Points will be worth a lot in this low possession game >Mirk assists over (likely have to wait til day of) >Flemings o17.5 points (think alts somewhat in play as well). Wish there was a littleee better scoring floor from the FT line, but Illinois just doesn't foul so you'll need him to get hot on tough shots & likely against Boswell. Not my favorite but his pull-up game is definitely Houston's best path to offense >Tomi/Mirk over 3Pointers, probably Sharp as well >Initially thought about an 'efficiency-based' over as both offenses can take advantage of the types of shots the other defenses allow. I'm also not really a totals guy fwiw and if there isn't good shotmaking in this one, we could be staring at a 64-62 game in the low 60's possessions so I'll probably pass on that

@_AlexGookin To not count the big ten’s record against each other seems. Just do overall and not non-con. Iowa is playing NEB, conference records does matter.

Okay, non-con records vs. Sweet 16 teams: Duke: 4-0 ISU: 3-0 Arizona: 2-0 UConn: 2-1 Alabama: 2-2 Purdue: 1-1 Houston: 1-1 MSU: 1-1 Tennessee: 1-1 Illinois: 1-2 Michigan: 0-1 Iowa: 0-1 St. John's: 0-2 Texas: 0-2 Arkansas: 0-3 Nebraska: 0-0 For reference: Big 12: 6-1 Big 10: 3-6

@CBSSportsCBB I honestly think he was trying hit the ball to dislodge it, not punch Condon

Tensions are high in Tampa. Iowa & Florida had to be separated after this play.

@CardiacCatsss @h_hansen5 @IowaStateNation @DMRegister Nate Heise, Cade Kelderman, and Killian Toure can all shoot it. They were 🔥 last game.

@h_hansen5 @IowaStateNation @DMRegister You guys will ovi have to play through Milan but if he’s off who’s ur next go to for 3s?

Joshua Jefferson has officially been ruled OUT for today’s game against Kentucky. (Via @DMRegister)

@IowaStateNation @DMRegister Ugh. The bench will need to be big today

@coleadamss @CycloneLarry69 It’s that Rocky Mountain air. He lives in stem boat. The man is living his best life.

Bill Raftery is 82. Calling his 6th game with only a day of rest and hasn’t aged my entire life. The man is the definition of a living legend. ONIONS!

ILLINOIS AND VCU ARE TRYING TO DUNK EACH OTHER INTO OBLIVION

@OffTheBenchKXnO @VandalHoops

The much requested SEXY SOUTH Region of Lucas' girlfriend filling out her #marchmadness bracket based on hottest coaches Big game tonight @VandalHoops

seeds 1 through 5 did u already lose

New season begins today! One Shining Moment (Only 🌪️edition)⬇️ #FeelsLike44

@IlliniKing @CardIllini Bottle that up and give it to the team. This team can do it. They have to believe it.

@CardIllini Analytics mean jack shit. Get to a Final Four and win a Natty already. 0 for program history. Enough is enough.

Don’t show the Brad haters this.

@ryanhammer09 Cy all day.

Filling out my annual "which mascot wins in a fight" bracket & I am Who wins? A hurricane or a cyclone.... Google says they're essentially the same😭

Hannes Bieger dropping absolute synth fire with 'Black Hole' in this mesmerizing analog studio session—warm Moog-style tones, hypnotic grooves, and pure retro electronic magic! 🎹🌀 Really awesome indeed!

For one day, one game, we get to enjoy the aura of Fran. Im rooting for a technical for old time sake. #GoIllini