OK, the long weekend is over, and the Illini have another chance to redeem themselves with a Wednesday night game at Minnesota. This one seems like a possible road win, based on Minnesota's record of 7-10 this season. Seems hard to believe, but Illinois has won the past straight 15 games against Minnesota, quite a streak going into the game. With a conference record of 1-3, we desperately need a win, especially one on the road. The game will be on ESPN2, with a start time of 6pm Central time.
Minnesota has two main scorers, guard Lawrence McKensie at 15.7 ppg, and 6'9" forward Dan Coleman at 15.4 ppg. Their third best scorer, 6'9" Spencer Tollackson at 12.5 ppg is injured with a broken hand. Like Illinois, Minnesota has been offensively challenged recently, having failed to reach 50 points the last two games. Minnesota's depth/bench seems very limited. Thus far, they have few quality wins recorded, with a home win against Purdue their best to date.
In terms of panic time, it probably makes sense for Illini fans to take a deep breath, since the Illini can still get to the NCAAs. But it will look bleaker if they lose to Minnesota, with home games against Wisconsin and Indiana coming next. The Illini have a record of 13-6, and have 12 remaining games, 6 home and 6 away. Winning all remaining home games and losing all remaining road games leaves them 19-12 going into the conference tournament, probably a bubble team at best. With Ohio State and Wisconsin in the conference, it will be tough to win the tournament.
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2 comments:
It is time for the university to dump the chief. I have turned 180 degrees on this issue since graduating over 20 years ago. First, the chief is used against the U of I in recruiting minority athletes. We have virtually no chance of landing an elite Indiana athletes. Pretty sure the Siux, Cherokee and Apache all concur on this issue. Second, now that it is known that turkey feathers are in the head dress, why bother? Who wants to be known as the fighting turkeys. Think about it.
Third, birds are cool. Lets use a red hawk as our mascot. Even if a bird can't fight, it sings pretty. No lose situation.
Chief
Chief, good points. I have long supported the Chief myself, but after this recent news item, it has made me wonder why we should continue the losing battle. If we can continue to use fighting illini, or fighting illinois, that would be a nice compromise. Not sure about the bird idea, but we should avoid turkeys, especially with all of those Thanksgiving tourneys!
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