NU is 2-12 since first Illinois game; Illini are 7-7

[mikewebb68]

His post made me snicker. Positive!

OK, score one for the Pukester!

 

[Katatonic]

I think a lot of Big Ten players would win the Patriot League Player of the Year. But that’s beside the point. My point is that Rap never had the chance to be recruited over. He never got a chance to compete or show his skills. Collins had to recruit guys because he knew that he couldn’t depend on Rap. He didn’t know if Rap would ever become the player they envisioned. You can’t afford to keep a scholarship for a guy whom you don’t know will ever be able to play at the Big Ten level. If Rap had been healthy and produced his freshman year, maybe Collins doesn’t go out to recruit Nance. We just don’t know. He never got the chance.

Whether it was due to injury or whatnot, Rap was effectively recruited over.

Seems like Rap didn't think he would be able to compete for significant playing time/a key role if he had stayed.

“Rap and I have a great relationship,” Collins said. “There was never any animosity. … Rap made his own decision. He wanted to go somewhere he would have a key role — and he wanted to be at a great academic school.”

Ivanauskas was torn. His girlfriend, Sarah Bundra, studies at Northwestern. And many of his best friends are on the team. Had he stayed, he might not have earned much playing time.

“I didn’t particularly want to go anywhere else,” he said, “but it was definitely the best decision for me.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/spor...apolas-ivanauskas-colgate-20190306-story.html

If Rap had been fine w/ the prospect of a minor role off the bench (who knows, if he had stayed, maybe he would have taken the 4-spot?), he would still be on scholarship.

Him leaving, it seems, had everything to do w/ how big/small his role on the team was projecting out to be.

And even if Rap had stayed, CC and his staff still needed to recruit players like Kopp and Nance, if they felt that they were B1G caliber players.

 

[pawildcat]

Two things from a friendly Illini homer perspective:

1) You might be right about Ayo leaving, I’m not sure. I hope he doesn’t, though; he could REALLY benefit from one year, IMO. If Ayo does stay and with Kofi coming in next year, I think we could be a Tournament team next year. Hope so, anyway.

2) The stat you just referenced actually drew me to a somewhat opposite conclusion: Illinois has a pretty good basketball history, and it wasn’t just one coach (e.g., Boheim at Syracuse), so the potential is there. This, as you said, is HISTORICALLY awful for Illini basketball ... it might become our new norm, but I think a more likely outcome is SOME coach gets us back on track. Might not be Underwood (though I admit I’m sold), but I’m not of the opinion it’s hard to win at Illinois.

Good game today. You guys fought back, and I think both teams looked better than the insult to basketball that I witnessed in Evanston in January!

Illinois has good basketball talent. Certainly, it should be a rare year that its state university has a losing season. I've seen Illinois players shine at places such as Duke, Villanova and Kansas in recent years.

 

[mikewebb68]

For as miserable as this streak has been, has anybody noticed Bryce Drew's Vanderbilt? 0-16 in the SEC with a 17 game losing streak. Yes, they did lose their five star Frosh guard (who was averaging 16 a game) early in the year to injury, but the lineup they are rolling out there has three four-star (Soph, junior, and a Frosh) and another five star Frosh so you'd think it wouldn't have gotten this bad. But confidence is a fragile thing as we are seeing with the Cats this year and one big missing piece can be game changing. Oh, and of course, some "internet fans" want Drew fired!

Concluded their regular season today at 0-18, first SEC team ever to do that (last team to finish 0-for-the-conference was Ga. Tech, but that was way back in 1954 when they played less games...).

 

[Catreporter]

Concluded their regular season today at 0-18, first SEC team ever to do that (last team to finish 0-for-the-conference was Ga. Tech, but that was way back in 1954 when they played less games...).

That's really amazing considering the talent Drew has amassed. And he's got two more four stars and Scottie Pippen's kid coming in next year. I remember an 0-for-the BIG Cats team in the 90s (5-25 overall?) but they were utterly devoid of big time players.