In fairness to IB he said that back in March before the football season showed the greatness of that hire. Curious what IB thinks about all this now...

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

well, wasn't it a forward looking statement? A prediction?

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

maybe so, still curious if he holds to that statement now.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Why do we have to be fair to IB?

I'd say the defense would be that the hire decision itself is independent of the actual results and that the hire was still worse.

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You know me like that.

I don't really think that but he might. Well, no might about it, he obviously does.

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You know me like that.

IB has a tendency to make statements like that........

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UNC clearly wants no part of Illinois.

They also want no part of making athletes even attempt to learn in the classroom.

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your late in the year run at worst poster on the board is starting to pick up some traction

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Your obsession with me is quite creepy.

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I read before that Butler has been the most impressive team there - even though Illinois has been averaging 25 point wins.

Stevens is going to realize tomorrow the mistake that he made.

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You know me like that.

Champs

Banks open for Garner Webb.

Up 92-90 with 12 sec left on Illini.

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Griffey with huge buzzer beater!

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Illinois can't play worth shit when it's not in Maui.

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Illini inch into the Top 25 this week at #22. Tonight they play on national tv. I really hope they don't crap
the bed. They are obviously playing above their head with only one solid win against Butler. I'd like to see
a nice win tonight. Next weekend they travel to Washington to play a solid Gonzaga team, that will be the
true test of what we have.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

They have played like shit when they haven't been in Maui. They have really struggled shooting the ball and rebounding at home, for some reason. Just hope they show up tonight.

Yeah a 1 point win vs. Gardner-Webb on a last second shot doesn't exactly stoke the confidence. This should be a
decent test from a power conference. I haven't seen the new offense yet so I look forward to checking everything
out tonight. I think it has been mentioned early in the thread that it will be a roller coaster ride depending on how
they shoot and hit the boards. They will get their 20 pt wins but will also likely be staring at some 20 pt losses too.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I think Gardner-Webb might be a little better than you think. I mean, I don't think they're just some bum team to be rolled over.

Don't worry, boys. Tonight is gonna be like 1985 with Georges-Hunt and Paul standing in for Price and Altenberger, but we're gonna come out on the right end this time!

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Don't take it personally.

They beat Hawaii on a last second shot, too.

The Hawaii game I can see since it is like 5 time zones different ( weak excuse I know ). Almost losing
to Gardner-Webb at home is a bit concerning. I know nothing of GW's lineup though so maybe it was a
matchup nightmare and couldn't shoot. I am just going to take it all in tonight and try to be as objective
as I can.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I don't think it's really a weak excuse. That's a tough game. Nobody wants to go to that tournament and play Chaminade either. They've pulled some mighty upsets in their time over teams much better than this Illini team.

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Don't take it personally.

I expect some bad things tonight for the Illini. I hope I'm wrong. But, it feels like a 3-for-20 from 3 type night.

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You know me like that.

That's a very Sox fan type attitude from you, Doc.

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Don't take it personally.

and the game was played at something like 1 am here.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Pretty nice win tonight. Still can't rebound worth shit, but Bertrand came up huge and had that awesome acrobatic layup to put them ahead for good.

Free throw shooting was woeful. But I'm liking the new play style. No more 38-33 losses to Penn State on a Wednesday in February.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

Definitely letting them use their athleticism in the new offense. Why is it so hard for any Illinois team to shoot FT? Seems like they always are horrible at that.

I would guess because they are dead tired from running up and down the court. If they don't get that fixed it is
going to bite them in the ass multiple times this year. I enjoyed watching the frantic pace, they will be a tough
team to defend. They move the ball well and often find the open man for a jumper. Rebounding is suspect, it will
be nice to get some of that size next year. This team really could use Leonard on this team if he wouldn't have jumped
to the NBA, although I am not sure this pace would have suited him all that well. For stretches getting him the ball
inside would really open the outside. I am really looking forward to that Gonzaga game now. I really like their
aggressiveness but I hope they learn to take care of the ball a little better. I saw them foolishly toss it away a
number of times.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami