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Has Illinois been playing more zone in the tournament?
Hoping for a lot of this - absolutely beautiful stuff from Tarris. A well passing 5 is gold.
I like this matchup - we have answers for Wagler (Silas/Ross), they really don't for Tarris. What ultimately determines winner is who is hitting threes.I think we can game plan and make things harder on Wagler than they can for both Karaban and Reed.
Conferences won't mean a thing to non UConn fans. Nobody outside of CT views us as the little engine that could. We're the biggest name in college basketball and the winningest program. Fans won't be thinking let's root for the little guy UConn.
Pretty good footage with Mullin's dad.
[QUOTE="Kolumbo, post: 5511406, member:
I think we should get some Adam's Ribs BBQ from Chicago with a gallon of barbecue sauce, and don't forget the coleslaw!!
Demery is much better, braylon is much better and tarris as well. This is a very good matchup for uconn. They are soft and do not create turnoversWagler is definitely better than he was in November, but I think the difference is being overstated a bit. He was averaging 15 points a game in 31 minutes in the 7 games prior to UConn and 18 points in 32 minutes in the 7 games after. We just did a good job shutting him down and he only played 14 minutes
Houston was a fraud,I am not super confident or anything (I almost never am - Furman gave me the cold shakes, especially once their freshman started hot, like he wanted to take it out on us that we didn't recruit him). But Illinois was also 4-5 in their last nine games coming into the tournament, with one of their wins down to the wire against Maryland. They took care of business against Penn, but VCU's point guard got hurt in the first minute which took some of the upset potential in that one, and then they got a nine seed conference rival in the regional final.
However ... winning that game against Houston in Houston turned my head. They did it with defense - I didn't watch enough of the game, or watch it closely enough, to know if it was more that Houston crapped the bed or if Illinois just smothered them with their size. But they seemed like they just took Houston's will away in the second half.
They weren't peaking coming into the tourney, but that Houston win might have altered their trajectory and given them new life. By the time you reach this round, of course, you are probably going to face somebody who can give you some problems.
I'm seeing a lot of people taking Illinois, and I love it.Myron Medcalf of ESPN ranks the teams in the Final Four. I was hoping he'd ranked the Huskies 4th. Just for the bulletin board material.
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Men's March Madness 2026: Ranking the final four teams
Four teams will play for it all next weekend. Let's rank Michigan, Arizona, Illinois and UConn one final time.www.espn.com
I mean this in the nicest way possible…. Who freaking cares?How is ESPN swallowing this 59% chance Illinois beats us garbage? Seriously? 59%?
For the Duke game I believe it was 27%.How is ESPN swallowing this 59% chance Illinois beats us garbage? Seriously? 59%?
Sat in the 100s for 2023 (tickets were like $100) and it felt so far.Having been to three regional finals and two final fours, couldn’t agree more
Hoping for a lot of this - absolutely beautiful stuff from Tarris. A well passing 5 is gold.
With anything less than our A/B+ game we'll need some assistance from Illinois. I'm assuming they play to their average level.If we do this, we are playing our A game and win going away probably by 20+ points.
Conversely, we can win with less than our A game. As an example against number 1 seed Duke: 1) Reed played great, 2) lost the rebounding battle/won the turnover battle, 3) shot 22% from 3 on 23 attempts, 4) played crap defense in the first half and fantastic in the second.
He is playing hungry and looking at a future in the NBA. Go Tarris.......could be the case. he has special mobility and quickness at his size. only really seen that in the tourney
Let's be honest. Duke is a good foul shooting team and the odds are they would have sunk two. If not, UConn had to go the length of the floor taking time off the clock to sink a winning three.Everyone is saying “hold the ball” is all that had to be done. Not remotely true.
Anything less than hitting 2 free throws in a pressure situation and a tie or win was on the table for UConn. One seemingly open pass and none of that was needed.
It took a series of great plays (and athleticism) by UConn to make it a bad decision for the Monday morning QBs to jump all over then knowing the outcome.
Did not mention UConn. Just said how disappointed he was for his guys blah, blah, blah.
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