I give a shit so congrats on being wrong
The Big 10 can't prepare you for March
- Thread starter Original_Irish
- Start date
I give a shit so congrats on being wrong
Nah, Big Ten is getting ripped everywhere. Sports sites, message boards, tv personalities, articles, social media, it’s bad. We all know the Big Ten is way overrated.
I would take losing to a 16 in exchange for winning a natty every day of the week. So would literally every program in the country.
At least the Big Ten had the best OOC record, most bids, and more teams ranked in the top 10 / 20 than any other conference...it's the best! Keep piling up those moral victory awards - NCAAT Championships are meaningless!
At least UVA didn’t lose to a school named after a televangelist. It doesn’t get more bush league than that
Apparently big 12 and ACC don’t prepare you for March either, while PAC12 prepares you very well for March.
I think it’s the kind of kids these school are recruiting. Most big schools are bringing in high character kids with a good home life and up bringing. They have professional careers to worry about when they’re done. A lot of these other schools are getting desperate and taking kids that have been fighting for everything all their life. To most this is the best they’ll have it, afterwards it’s over to Europe if they’re lucky otherwise theh may get a job at the YMCA when they get back to whatever podunk Coastal town they came from.
I agree on the conference as a whole, but that certainly wasn't Illinois' problem ... they just flat-out laid an egg, lol. Nothing will make me feel better about that abortion of a game, but I at least hope Loyola goes on another run. They looked like a good team.
I always thought the term "battle tested" was kind of funny. I mean, what good is it being battle tested if you lose 50% of your battles?
It's fine to get tested but it's very arrogant (and baseless) to assume that only happens in one conference.
I will say, I hope this year puts a halt to the idea that ANY conference is just ~so superior~ to another in any one given season. Big Ten fans likely overindulged in celebrating the conference's notoriety this year because we have often been on the other end of that narrative in the 2000s and some of the 2010s, with conferences like the Big East or ACC getting all of the love. This year is just more proof that the hype of the media doesn't always pan out in March. As an Illini fan, it was pretty frustrating to hear all throughout 2005 that the Big Ten was a weak conference, only to have 2 out of the 4 Final Four teams and 3 in the Elite Eight. Now, I see we are obviously in the reverse position ... lol.
I know Underwood has done a great job but for this game it wasn't a good performance for him. He needed to turn up the heat defensively and make it tougher for Loyola to get into their half court set, and I just didn't see an effort to do that. Loyola didn't win that game due to quickness edge obviously, but more of a lack of adjustments by Illinois. Also just couldn't get a shot to fall it seemed from 3. Top guard with a real rough game overall.
There is just a ton of parity after the top teams this year and I think it's a culmination of OAD + Transfers evening things out universally.
Yeah, it was truly amazing how little we adjusted. I think Underwood probably had the mindset of "just keep playing our game and stay calm," but that is the OPPOSITE of what we needed. Loyola had us scouted perfectly and played one of their best games of the year, and we played right INTO their game plan. It sucks, because I honestly still think Illinois is one of the best teams in the nation, but that inability to adjust is nothing short of an epically fatal error, and that's what matters at the end of the day.
Sadly, no one cares if you’re one of the best teams in the country. They judge you by how you perform in NCAA tourney. It’s stupid and unfair but there’s no question that’s what most people in the media do.
You don't have to tell me that. Illinois basketball has a tradition that stacks up with many programs your casual fan would consider clearly better programs, but at the end of the day ... our deep Tournament runs (1942, 1989, 2005) have come up short of a Natty, and we have had FAR too many early exits as a high seed (1985 Sweet Sixteen as a 2, 1987 First Round loss as a 3, 1988 Second Round as a 3, 1990 and 2009 First Round as a 5, 2021 Second Round as a 1, etc.). If you don't win when it counts, that is definitely what people remember.
Keep earning high seeds and you’ll probably break through at some point. And even if you win, people will call it a fluke or that you didn’t deserve it or that your style of play is made for early exits.
