2026 Elite Eight - Saturday | Page 3 | The Boneyard

2026 Elite Eight - Saturday

nelsonmuntz said:
Not true. There are no key contributors that didn't play against us.

Why do you frame things like this? The implication of your post is that UConn beat a lesser Illinois team. Are you just trolling the board?
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The big differences were Wagler certainly was not the player he was then BUT Reed was still coming back from his injury and was not 100% and Mullins had just returned and was relegated to 10 minutes. Those are the differences.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Not true. There are no key contributors that didn't play against us.

Why do you frame things like this? The implication of your post is that UConn beat a lesser Illinois team. Are you just trolling the board?
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Weird response. The guy asked what makes this team different than 2024 - there is a lot that makes the two teams different. And no, I'm not trolling - that 24 Uconn team would have beaten any Illinois team. Poor assumption. I've been on record stating our 24 team is the best college team we've seen as long as I can remember. The only team that had a chance to beat them in that 2018 Nova team.

That Illinois team was lead by Terrance Shannon, Coleman Hawkins and Domask. This 2026 Ilinois team is better - they have a complete backcourt and giants at the 3-5.
 
Underwood is a very good coach yes he’s not Hurley and sure it was foolish to keep on attacking Clingan, Illinois ran into the greatest team ever and ran into a real buzz saw that day they stood no chance no matter what their strategy was going to be. You get a whole different perspective when your at the game, Illinois was going against an avalanche with 100 mph win that day.
 
Not sure anyone has mentioned this. Illinois Keaton Wagler, who has had a huge freshman season and is B10 Freshman of the year was ranked 150 by 247.

Braylon Mullins who was preseason Big East Freshman of the year, but has struggled most of the season was ranked 15th. Granted, Braylon, started the season recovering from a high ankle sprain, but he really struggled with defending without fouling early on and down the stretch has struggled getting open and shooting the 3 until the last couple games.

As for which will be the better pro, time will tell, but so far it looks like the Illini struck gold with Wagler, while UConn is still waiting to see if Mullins can live up to his lofty expectations.

Don't get me wrong. I love that he's our guy and happy we landed him. I'm rooting for him to come up huge the next 3 games.
 
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RuffRuff said:
Weird response. The guy asked what makes this team different than 2024 - there is a lot that makes the two teams different. And no, I'm not trolling - that 24 Uconn team would have beaten any Illinois team. Poor assumption. I've been on record stating our 24 team is the best college team we've seen as long as I can remember. The only team that had a chance to beat them in that 2018 Nova team.

That Illinois team was lead by Terrance Shannon, Coleman Hawkins and Domask. This 2026 Ilinois team is better - they have a complete backcourt and giants at the 3-5.
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Coleman Hawkins would crush any UConn player from the 2023 and 2024 championship teams in a tenor sax one on one.
 
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aceboon said:
Iowa had a nice run but I had zero interest in watching them in a Final Four so this result is good with me
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Yea, as good as he is I get tired of watching Stirtz shoot. He took one three where his feet were all tangled up. He missed. At one point van Gundy mentioned that eight players could leave the court making it a 1x1.
 
HCCForever said:
Yea, as good as he is I get tired of watching Stirtz shoot. He took one three where his feet were all tangled up. He missed. At one point van Gundy mentioned that eight players could leave the court making it a 1x1.
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Def not a sexy player.
 
DogMania said:
Not sure anyone has mentioned this. Illinois Keaton Wagler, who has had a huge freshman season and is B10 Freshman of the year was ranked 150 by 247.

Braylon Mullins who was preseason Big East Freshman of the year, but has struggled most of the season was ranked 15th. Granted, Braylon, started the season recovering from a high ankle sprain, but he really struggled with defending without fouling early on and down the stretch has struggled getting open and shooting the 3 until the last couple games.

As for which will be the better pro, time will tell, but so far it looks like the Illini struck gold with Wagler, while UConn is still waiting to see if Mullins can live up to his lofty expectations.

Don't get me wrong. I love that he's our guy and happy we landed him. I'm rooting for him to come up huge the next 3 games.
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Wagler is very much an outlier in this class. Most of the top frosh were highly rated. Nigel James was a bit lower, kid from High Point was as well.
 
RuffRuff said:
Weird response. The guy asked what makes this team different than 2024 - there is a lot that makes the two teams different. And no, I'm not trolling - that 24 Uconn team would have beaten any Illinois team. Poor assumption. I've been on record stating our 24 team is the best college team we've seen as long as I can remember. The only team that had a chance to beat them in that 2018 Nova team.

That Illinois team was lead by Terrance Shannon, Coleman Hawkins and Domask. This 2026 Ilinois team is better - they have a complete backcourt and giants at the 3-5.
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What the????

The question was what’s the difference between the Illinois team we beat EARLIER THIS YEAR and now. Both teams are completely different than they were two years ago, that is an irrelevant comparison. Yet that doesn’t stop you from taking another shot at UConn.

You are one weird, dysfunctional dude
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Not true. There are no key contributors that didn't play against us.

Why do you frame things like this? The implication of your post is that UConn beat a lesser Illinois team. Are you just trolling the board?
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It's wild how he frames things.

www.espn.com

Illinois 71-59 Iowa (Mar 28, 2026) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Iowa Hawkeyes NCAAM game from March 28, 2026 on ESPN. Includes all points, rebounds and steals stats.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
www.espn.com

UConn 74-61 Illinois (Nov 28, 2025) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the UConn Huskies vs. Illinois Fighting Illini NCAAM game from November 28, 2025 on ESPN. Includes all points, rebounds and steals stats.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
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RuffRuff said:
Weird response. The guy asked what makes this team different than 2024 - there is a lot that makes the two teams different. And no, I'm not trolling - that 24 Uconn team would have beaten any Illinois team. Poor assumption. I've been on record stating our 24 team is the best college team we've seen as long as I can remember. The only team that had a chance to beat them in that 2018 Nova team.

That Illinois team was lead by Terrance Shannon, Coleman Hawkins and Domask. This 2026 Ilinois team is better - they have a complete backcourt and giants at the 3-5.
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Where did he mention 2024? Doesn't it make far more sense that he was asking about the differences between Illinois when we beat them this year and Illinois now? He even mentioned "adding a player mid-season after we beat them" which makes no sense if it's about 2024.
 
Sibeerian said:
Imagine how tall Cluff would be if he had a neck.
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If he had a neck, he'd have a neck beard. I can't help but picture Cluff and Smith on a horse a buggy pulling a trailor of oats.

Purdue playing tough.
 
Well, neither of these teams looks very good right now. Arizona pushes way too much, and they arent good at it. They are so out of control
 
RuffRuff said:
Weird response. The guy asked what makes this team different than 2024 - there is a lot that makes the two teams different. And no, I'm not trolling - that 24 Uconn team would have beaten any Illinois team. Poor assumption. I've been on record stating our 24 team is the best college team we've seen as long as I can remember. The only team that had a chance to beat them in that 2018 Nova team.

That Illinois team was lead by Terrance Shannon, Coleman Hawkins and Domask. This 2026 Ilinois team is better - they have a complete backcourt and giants at the 3-5.
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He didn't ask what makes this team different than '24.

You're being even stranger than you usually are.
 
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Are the refs watching what we're watching. A lot of missed contact, traveling, etc. Officiating just seems lacking this year. I wonder if the speed, size and physicality of the players is making it harder to call games. Or maybe most of them just suck at their job.
 
RuffRuff said:
Freshman euro - not a bad player, can defend a bit. Def their weak link in the starting 5. Probably not the best compliment to this roster as they could use a a shooter in that spot.
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He just shut me up. Then proved my point. All in 1 minute.
 
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