A different world 90 miles away

[BUSongwriter]

A sample of the comments on the Champaign News Gazette's Facebook site after Illinois' 21-point loss to Wisconsin last night: "Underwood has to go. He's a horrible coach." "Turn out the lights, the party's over." "Put a fork in them they're over done! Will be playing on the Thursday probably get beat! End up a 8-9 seed in a tough region gone after one game! Then it's who hits the portal first!"

There are many more like these . . . for a team that has a NET of 20!

The Illini have lost 6 of their last 10. There is a good chance they will drop 3 of their next 4, meaning they'll have ended their season 5-9. And yet they will still be an NCAA tourney lock with a seed higher than a 25-plus win MVC team can dream of. What a different world!

[BUBraves2006]

I'm no fan of the Illini. Never will be unless they weren't such wimps and agreed to play us and other in state schools YEARLY.

With that said, the Illini are loaded with injuries right now and had three starters out yesterday against Wisconsin. When at full strength, they are really good and have done WAY more than we have to deserve a bid to the tournament. They have TEN quad 1/2 wins (10-10) overall and that's plenty good enough.

I'll defend smaller schools forever that we get cheated on bids but a BU v. Illinois comparison isn't the right one this year. Where the debate needs to be had is for teams like Georgia, who somehow are on the bubble with a paltry 16-10 record and 2-10 record against quad one teams. They are near the cellar in the SEC (4-9 conference record) and they are even being considered? That's ridiculous. There are many more examples like this that make me upset.

[egib52]

A sample of the comments on the Champaign News Gazette's Facebook site after Illinois' 21-point loss to Wisconsin last night: "Underwood has to go. He's a horrible coach." "Turn out the lights, the party's over." "Put a fork in them they're over done! Will be playing on the Thursday probably get beat! End up a 8-9 seed in a tough region gone after one game! Then it's who hits the portal first!"

There are many more like these . . . for a team that has a NET of 20!

The Illini have lost 6 of their last 10. There is a good chance they will drop 3 of their next 4, meaning they'll have ended their season 5-9. And yet they will still be an NCAA tourney lock with a seed higher than a 25-plus win MVC team can dream of. What a different world!

They also have played part of the this stretch without top players Ivisic, KJ and other due to sickness. Then lost a very productive freshman to a broken arm. Illini fans are ridiculous. They still have a decent resume, and when at full strength are arguably a top 15-20 team. It's unfortunate how this season has gone, but none of these complaints were being made after they nearly knocked of #1 Tennessee or beat Arkansas. They have one of the toughest schedules in the country, and this is the risk scheduling that way. My hope is Underwood gets the team healthy even if it means sacrificing a few Ws now.

[Da Coach]

Yeah, crazy. Underwood has done a great job, and this year's team is loaded. But they have had a tendency of having bad games occasionally, like they did at Rutgers. Wisconsin is the # 11 ranked team in the country, and they were on fire last night, so that had a lot to do with it. And as egib mentioned, Illinois has multiple players sick with flu. They will be an at large team and probably get a 6 seed

It's been a weird year for the top teams in D1. Kansas, who was ranked # 1 for the first month of the season, just lost last night to unranked BYU (didn't receive a single vote) by 34 points. It was Kansas' 8th loss of the season. They won their first 7 games, and have gone 10-9 since then, but are still in the Top 25.
It's also been an unusual year for the Big Ten. They only have 4 teams in the top 25 (Purdue, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Illinois), and only 1 in the Top 10, despite adding a slew of new schools. And the top 2 schools in the Big Ten Standings are not even in the Top 25! (Michigan & Michigan State).

[Stryker]

Yeah, crazy. Underwood has done a great job, and this year's team is loaded. But they have had a tendency of having bad games occasionally, like they did at Rutgers. Wisconsin is the # 11 ranked team in the country, and they were on fire last night, so that had a lot to do with it. And as egib mentioned, Illinois has multiple players sick with flu. They will be an at large team and probably get a 6 seed

It's been a weird year for the top teams in D1. Kansas, who was ranked # 1 for the first month of the season, just lost last night to unranked BYU (didn't receive a single vote) by 34 points. It was Kansas' 8th loss of the season. They won their first 7 games, and have gone 10-9 since then, but are still in the Top 25.
It's also been an unusual year for the Big Ten. They only have 4 teams in the top 25 (Purdue, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Illinois), and only 1 in the Top 10, despite adding a slew of new schools. And the top 2 schools in the Big Ten Standings are not even in the Top 25! (Michigan & Michigan State).

Like you said, IL has suffered from players being out lately. They will be relatively fine. Also it was a major roster turnover for them this year with can create fan disenfranchisement I believe. IL fans have also been used to being really strong performers in the Big10 the past few years, so not finishing in the top 3 or something is likely a let down. However, when healthy this team could be better than their team last year that went to the E8, so if they are healthy in the tournament they will be dangerous. Also inconsistent play some a couple key freshmen is never fun to deal with as a fan.

[tomahawk chop]

I think Underwood is a great coach but he has lost a lot of talent every season because of his sideline antics. He seems to have calmed down more this season.He has brought in a lot of talent to this program since he arrived unfortunately has not been able to keep them for whatever reason.

[egib52]

I think Underwood is a great coach but he has lost a lot of talent every season because of his sideline antics. He seems to have calmed down more this season.He has brought in a lot of talent to this program since he arrived unfortunately has not been able to keep them for whatever reason.

I have never seen one player quoted as saying that they left because he was too hard on them. Where did you see this? He was really hard on Hawkins and he stayed until this year when he tried to make big money in the portal. I've seen players quoted as saying they liked how hard he pushes them.