Their fans are pretty lustfully cheering against us and outnumber us. Go X.
How did Illinois (as a 6 seed) get a site 3.5 hours from their campus?
- Thread starter FiveStarCat
- Start date
Same way Louisville got to play 70 miles away.
I wouldn't worry about it. Fans won't determine the outcome Sunday (if IL is even there)
Vegas thinks otherwise but who knows. It will be a tough game either way for us but I’d rather not play against 75% Illinois crowd
The committee thinks teams still travel to games via cart and buggy so tries to put everyone as close to home as possible instead of using a true S curve since it’s 2025
It’s not just 3 1/2 hours from Champaign, but 90 miles from Chicago. There is a HUGE UofI alumni base in Chicago.
Even with UK’s best travel efforts (this does not appear to be one), the fan base would have been vastly outnumbered.
Go Xavier.
Even with UK’s best travel efforts (this does not appear to be one), the fan base would have been vastly outnumbered.
Go Xavier.
Same way UL as an 8 seed traveled a little over an hour to play, and Duke in any other year plays a near home game as less than the top 2 of 4 of whatever their seeding is, and same as us playing in Milwaukie against a much lower seed in the tourney within a couple hours of said Illinois or Wisconsin opponent's home court. SSDD. You kinda get used to it after a while
We packed the arena for the SEC tournament and it was a bust. We will win or lose regardless of the fans.
Packed it but it was pretty quiet against Bama from the jump
The OU game put a hangover on everybody
Could honestly just be random. They like to try to get the 1 seeds and sometimes the 2 seeds close to home as a bit of a perk for achieving that kind of status, but the rest of the bracket still has to be built somehow. It would be way too much of a headache to ensure that the higher seeded team is the one playing closer to home in every single game.
There are very few real Illinois fans outside of their alumni, and even that group is sketchy at best.
I live in northern Illinois, and the fan base was passionate back during the Dee Brown/Deron Williams finals run, but they've been eerily silent since then.
I think UK will have at least 40% of the fans tomorrow afternoon.
I live in Chicago, and this is just patently not true. Sure, there are fewer non-alum fans than in a small state with no pro teams like Kentucky, but there are still plenty throughout Chicagoland and Northern IL (source - I AM a non-alum fan here), and they’re literally everywhere in Downstate IL, which is still more than 4.5 million people. The myth that Illinois doesn’t have a big and passionate fan base is treated as gospel among Illinoisans who cheer for other teams, but it’s just not true.
And last night, Illini fans outnumbered UK fans at least 3:1. I’d be surprised if there were a massive enough shift for UK to now make up over 40% of the crowd…
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Alabama and Michigan State get dibs since they are higher seeds.
Does it really matter a lot? If you're not at home, you're not at home. Being in different environment is the biggest issue, and all the teams deal with that. Yes, it's nice to have 100% fan support. But if it's 70/30 against, it might as well be 50/50. Not like you can't get motivation because theres a few more boos than cheers.
Yeah, I get that. I don't care all that much, once you're away, you're away. I was just pointing it out to cincinnaticat that it doesn't always work out.
How is it fair that Purdue (4 seed) get to play in Indianapolis against the potential 1 seed Houston?
The bigger question I have is that Illinois was given a 6 seed.............that was a bit of an under seed.
That's why this line is so close.
That's why this line is so close.
Two of the other 6 seeds were SEC teams, so we can't play them. The other 6 is byu. So either Pope vs his Alma mater or Illinois in Milwaukee
Hi. UK fan living in Chicagoland. I see as many UK flags as I do Illinois. Watching the game at a UK sports bar up this way. UK fans are everywhere.
I guess that makes a little sense. It's more so we were a bit overseeded (due to great resume) than they underseeded.
Purdue is the Louisville of Indiana. Most people on the state are IU fans and hate Purdue as a rival and the Purdue fans, a much smaller group, hate IU. While Purdue has had some success in Basketball their fans don't seem to travel that well. Of course, the IU fans may show up to root against Houston for obvious reasons
Those of you overplaying the home crowd thing seem to forget how having pro-UK crowds the last few tournaments hasn't really helped Kentucky.
What will matter is how our players execute. The fans matter, but not nearly as much in these neutral gyms where you're still experiencing 30% Kentucky fans regardless of where you're playing.
What will matter is how our players execute. The fans matter, but not nearly as much in these neutral gyms where you're still experiencing 30% Kentucky fans regardless of where you're playing.
Then I read that as UK overseeded. And betting lines I've seen for tomorrow agree.
Yep which makes sense.
Currently Illinois in 16th in Kenpom. We are 17th.
This was one of those seasons where the resume gave us a bump up.
We would have been seeded correctly if Robinson and Krisa were not out.
I don't agree.Purdue is the Louisville of Indiana. Most people on the state are IU fans and hate Purdue as a rival and the Purdue fans, a much smaller group, hate IU. While Purdue has had some success in Basketball their fans don't seem to travel that well. Of course, the IU fans may show up to root against Houston for obvious reasons
Purdue is the Land Grant Ag school. Rural Indiana has a lot of Purdue over IU fans.
The last team we should complain about being too close to home is Illinois. The game in Rupp in 1984 is why nobody can play on their home floor anymore.
Perhaps, not going to argue since i dont follow either one, but the area I lived in for a short period of time was strong IU territory sprinkled in with Purdue. That was around Marion/Gas City and BK was still coaching.
At Rose Hulman we would make fun of Purdue for being the worse engineering school. Most of the students were Indiana or Illinois fans from the Chicago area. Have a few Illinois fan fraternity brothers I’m hoping to have bragging rights on. I don’t think i knew anyone that was a Purdue fan though, but that makes sense because of the engineer thing.
I have more Purdue contacts in my phone than any school. I am a UK grad.
