Tag: Illinois

And we are dancing! Let’s keep this momentum rolling! (BIG TEN TOURNAMENT EP. 3 OF 5)

We are dancing!!! My God we did it!

It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it?

LIKE A PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES INDIANA IS ON A TEAR IN MARCH PEOPLE!!!!! We are a new squad. A squad gaining momentum at the single most important time to… March!

So following that win I immediately ran to pack a bag, my wife understands, and I was out the door. I’ve got to be there tomorrow! So I’m writing this actually from a rest stop of I69 at the Fort Wayne exit. So for any spelling mistakes or grammar errors, I do apologize!

What a win.

“People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed”. Now while I often times think speakers like Tony Robbins are full of it, I have to say he nailed it with that one. This team is rolling and they look so much more invested across the board for it.

Cockburn is an absolute monster… One that needed stopped. And while I’m not sure many can stop him. I feel like our boys did just enough to slow him down enough to limit his game.

Trayce Jackson-Davis is showing what he can do in this big ten tournament. He sees a shot to build an NBA resume in March and looks to be taking full advantage of it. Making some clutch shots today, challenged by Cockburn to take the open shot! CLUTCH FREE THROWSSSS!!!! CLUTCH GENE positive!

Basketball is a game of runs, and it may just be because this is the team I follow religiously but our games seem to have more momentum shifts and runs than anyone else. This team is going to give me a heart attack by the end of this season. But I will gladly take those heart attacks because their showing the skill to not give up when adversity is hitting its hardest.

Don’t look now but we are gaining momentum and the boys are remembering again that they can compete and beat ANYONE IN THIS GAME!!!

I can’t be alone in just how proud of these guys I am. They have taken me to the woodshed emotionally, but that’s just because of the investment I put on them. I can’t imagine what these guys who actually put it all out there are feeling, what they are thinking. It’s wild. I hope to God this game cemented courage in these men, courage to persevere and take chances! They can beat anyone and we know it.

The NCAA better be on watch, because I think these guys are starting to know it too!

Sorry for keeping my thoughts so short on this one… have to hit the road!!

On to… who gives a heck! They’re going down!!!

LUX ET VERITAS!

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Illinois came to Assembly Hall (Indiana Hoosiers Post game blog 2/5/22)

It’s gotta be painful to post these post game tweets. But it must be done. You post a dub you post a L.

The energy at Indiana was absolutely off the charts coming into this game today. You could tell excitement resonated throughout Assembly Hall. When Assembly Hall is getting rowdy, I’d argue (yes largely as an Indiana University Alumnus) they have the greatest home court advantage in the nation. The Cameron Crazies can shut the hell up if they think they can hold a candle to Indiana.

“Oh yeah Burke but what about Duke’s acoustics in that arena?”

Shut the hell up you DWEEB!!!

Acoustics don’t mean shit when sandwiched between two tsunamis of screaming lunatics that make up the east and west sides of Assembly Hall!

All this being said, while the energy was apparent, Trayce Jackson-Davis severely limited his early minutes by committing his second foul within the first 5 minutes of the game starting. This meant Michael Durr had to eat some major minutes against Kofi Cockburn, a National Player of the Year candidate. “This might be the MICHAEL DURR game” was called and I was all for it.

The first half was an absolute bout with each team throwing a return punch on each possession. Damn it though, if Race had splashed down with that last second 3 to end the first half that’d a sent Assembly Hall into a frenzy. Championship teams make that shot.

That being said. The second half illinois was just able to come out swinging and we just went out to the forest and laid down, Needless to say the second half went very differently from the first. Lost a couple units on the outcome of this one. Apparently hooking isn’t all in all illegal for Illinois I guess. In all reality, we let them dominate the pace and let them get the ball to Kofi.

Not the scene today…

Illinois looked good today. Look like the team I thought they were going to be all along.

Just some of my random thoughts through this… and please know when it comes to my favorite teams I’m hopelessly and painfully optimistic. I’ll be the first to admit this.

Xavier Johnson, has quickly become one of my favorite Indiana players in recent memory. I can’t really remember someone who transferred into our program and had such an immediate impact on the programs success and honestly my confidence in it.

Mike Woodson has created a perfect storm for me to buy into this program’s future and what he can do in Bloomington.

So apparent throughout this season is Mike Woodson’s undeniable ability to have guys buy in. Whatever he’s selling his guys their all buying, and the program is so much better for it.

Onto Northwestern! IU is consistently on the cusp of the top 25. I’d like to see us make the jump into it prior to the dance.

-Burke

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Illinois Illini vs. Indiana Hoosiers (The One vs. Kofi Cockburn) pregame post

Date: Saturday, February 5
Game Time: 12:00 ET
Venue: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, IN
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Illinois (16-5), Indiana (16-5)

INDIANA V. ILLINOIS 184 (IU LEADS ALL TIME 93-90)

Big, Big, B1G matchup today (see what I did there?). Indiana has silently been a force in the Big Ten this year. Apart from some heartbreakers, least of which is the God forsaken loss at Wisconsin. SO CLOSE!!! SO CLOSE TO SNAPPING THAT LENGTHY ASS L STREAK IN MADISON!!! Indiana has locked down teams ability to hit the three in Bloomington and I believe their 37% opponent field pct. is going to play a huge factor in the overall tempo of this game. If you can’t hit shots you can’t find a rhythm.

This Indiana team just plays a balanced game together. Each man playing their role to a t in a finely tuned machine when things are running properly. Mike Woodson is really doing some great things in Bloomington, things already paying dividends! They seek to dominate the tempo by wearing you out on the defensive end. This aspect of Indiana’s game will be face no bigger test than the test of Kofi Cockburn.

I gotta hand it to Kofi Cockburn. That guy is a certified stud. This Indiana defense will be a true test for the scoring National Player of the Year candidate, who just last week absolutely balled out with 16 for 19 from the floor and 12 rebounds in Illinois’ spanking of Wisconsin.

Indiana is sitting as a -1.5 favorite with an over/under sitting at 136.5. I gotta say personally I’m going large on units for both of these bets. Seems to be an easy win. Take Indiana and the Under. I’m sorry, never fun to take the under but Indiana has set a tone with their defense at home. A tone that hasn’t yielded large scoring outputs for their opponents.

As an avid Indiana fan I’m pumped for this game between two “all things pointing to tournament bound” teams, it will be a true test of both teams. As a gambler I’d have to say you can’t bet against the deafening ruckus that is brought by the Indiana Fans in Assembly Hall.

-Burke

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