Illinois Basketball

[FtWorthCat]

Growing up in Paducah, our ABC affiliate was in Harrisburg, IL. So we always got some coverage of Illinois basketball, and they have always been my favorite Big 10 team. They used to show the Illinois State High School Basketball Tournament every year, which was cool. I saw Jay Shidler play in high school on TV. The 1989 Illinois team with Kendall Gill, Nick Anderson, Lowell Hamilton, Kenny Battle, and their 2005 team with Deron Williams are two of my favorite non-UK teams ever. Both of them probably should have won national championships. Respect to the Illini, hope we get a classic game with no controversial calls today.

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheDude73]

Illinois can score. They are almost right with us at 83.9 ppg. They don't have fantastic defense and allow nearly 75 ppg. Which means today is going to be a shootout and we NEED to be hitting shots, because unless IL has another Maryland/ACC type lay down (they were blown out by 23 and only managed 65 pts), it'll be either a barn burner high scoring event or blowout.

They are also 3rd in the country in rebounds per game. That could be a killer given we tend to just watch rebounds rather than go after them (I don't count Williams against little bitty Troy...).

 

[yoshukai]

Illinois can score. They are almost right with us at 83.9 ppg. They don't have fantastic defense and allow nearly 75 ppg. Which means today is going to be a shootout and we NEED to be hitting shots, because unless IL has another Maryland/ACC type lay down (they were blown out by 23 and only managed 65 pts), it'll be either a barn burner high scoring event or blowout.

They are also 3rd in the country in rebounds per game. That could be a killer given we tend to just watch rebounds rather than go after them (I don't count Williams against little bitty Troy...).

I’m guessing Williams will be mostly out at the top of the key because of big Z’s brothers shooting ability. SOMEBODY is going to have to step up on the boards today.

 

[TucsonCat]

Growing up in Paducah, our ABC affiliate was in Harrisburg, IL. So we always got some coverage of Illinois basketball, and they have always been my favorite Big 10 team. They used to show the Illinois State High School Basketball Tournament every year, which was cool. I saw Jay Shidler play in high school on TV. The 1989 Illinois team with Kendall Gill, Nick Anderson, Lowell Hamilton, Kenny Battle, and their 2005 team with Deron Williams are two of my favorite non-UK teams ever. Both of them probably should have won national championships. Respect to the Illini, hope we get a classic game with no controversial calls today.

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Loved that era Illinois and Kendall Gill.
Marcus Liberty is first time I heard of non kentucky recruit before they got to college.

 

[-BBH-]

I also grew up in Paducah and have fond memories of Henson’s 80’s team. Loved Kenny Battle’s game and the 89 Final Four team. They were my team in the tournament to fill the void of our issues. Again, great memories.

That was then, this is now. Hope we beat them soundly.

 

[katwest]

Growing up in Paducah, our ABC affiliate was in Harrisburg, IL. So we always got some coverage of Illinois basketball, and they have always been my favorite Big 10 team. They used to show the Illinois State High School Basketball Tournament every year, which was cool. I saw Jay Shidler play in high school on TV. The 1989 Illinois team with Kendall Gill, Nick Anderson, Lowell Hamilton, Kenny Battle, and their 2005 team with Deron Williams are two of my favorite non-UK teams ever. Both of them probably should have won national championships. Respect to the Illini, hope we get a classic game with no controversial calls today.

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Growing up in Princeton, I also watched some of the same players and teams on ABC out of Harrisburg. You are right about those teams, they were loaded. There was one thing I never liked about high school basketball in Illinois and it was those moon backboards. It was hard to bank shots in from angles. There was always some outdoor courts with those around in places and I never liked them. I don’t even know if they still have them now or not.