Bradley or Illinois

[Les is More]

bradley by 12 without ruffin

[mportsch]

As bad as Illinois has looked the past two games, I still think they're clearly better than Bradley this year, especially without Ruffin. Now if we're talking ISU vs Illinois, we'd have a serious debate...

[Buddy Lee]

If the game were tonight, BU loses by 5 on a neutral court, by 8 on the road and by a last second put-back by the Illini in Carver...just following the theme of poor defensive rebounding by BU.

If the game was before the Mich St. game, BU reverses all of the above scenarios. Outside of a nice win at WSU, we've gone backwards ever since that great game.

[MacabreMob]

If the game were tonight, BU loses by 5 on a neutral court, by 8 on the road and by a last second put-back by the Illini in Carver...just following the theme of poor defensive rebounding by BU.

If the game was before the Mich St. game, BU reverses all of the above scenarios. Outside of a nice win at WSU, we've gone backwards ever since that great game.

Yo Buddy Lee!

[mportsch]

As I've said before, RPI isn't especially meaningful at this point in the season, so let's look at wins and losses using Pomeroy's ratings (RPI should end up getting closer and closer to Pomeroy's ratings as the season goes on):

Bradley losses...Illinois losses
13 (home)............2 (neutral)
29 (away)..........16 (semi-home)
64 (neutral)........28 (home)
71 (home)..........70 (away)
96 (home)..........75 (home)
112 (away).......195 (home)
132 (away)

Bradley wins.......Illinois wins
123 (away)..........26 (neutral)
124 (home)..........33 (neutral)
138 (neutral)........63 (neutral)
272 (away).........170 (away)
277 (home).........172 (home)
279 (home).........186 (home)
338 (home).........254 (home)
........................288 (home)

Illinois has a tougher schedule, a better record, and 3 wins against top 63 teams on neutral courts. I don't think there's much question that Illinois has had a better season than Bradley so far, but it's not like that is something to brag about.

[houstontxbrave]

I dont care what any of you say... ICC beats both teams

[Beninator]

Bradley wins in double overtime in the MacabreMob schadenfreude bowl.

[Boiler]

Illinois wins by 12 in Champaign and 6 in Peoria. Pruitt & Randle would have a field day in the paint.

[BradleyBrave]

Illinois wins by 12 in Champaign and 6 in Peoria. Pruitt & Randle would have a field day in the paint.

Not if BU fouled them every time they touched the ball. They shoot free throws at a grade school level.

[ph]

Not if BU fouled them every time they touched the ball. They shoot free throws at a grade school level.

Na, BU would get the Illini repeating their one great FT performance of the year when actually shot 90% from the FT line before their deep subs entered that game..

[mportsch]

Not if BU fouled them every time they touched the ball. They shoot free throws at a grade school level.

If they shot their FT's at their current 59% rate, your strategy would give Illinois 1.08 points per possession. Congratulations, you just turned Illinois into a decent offensive team while fouling out a bunch of Bradley players. There's a reason nobody does this.

*EDIT - I realized I calculated that wrong - it would actually be 1.18 points per possession, which is equivalent to an excellent offensive team. So, yeah, your strategy wouldn't work.

[IlliBraves]

Keep in mind I'm not being biased as a fan of both squads, but I would have to say Illinois just because they have more experience, especially in the front court with Randle and Pruitt. I don't see Bradley being able to counter, mainly because they have Salley and guys like DC are inexperienced and foul a lot/can't play good defense. Although, if Ruff is healthy, things could turn in Bradley's favor, and both teams seem to have played better than they do home or away on a neutral floor.