Am I the only one who likes Iowa over Illannoy?

STILLBUSTER

STILLBUSTER

Well-Known Member
I was not thrilled with the loss to NwU. (They have quickly gone from my favorite underdog to most hated opponent in every sport.) However, I was not disappointed to fall to #8 and avoid a 3rd game against Minny. When the dust settled, I actually like facing Illannoy for several reasons:

-- Iowa lost to Meyers Leonard and themselves.
Outside of him and Gatens, the rest of both teams' players performed somewhere between awful and inconsistent in the first matchup. Illannoy just does not scare me like the challenge of beating a team 3x in one season.

-- Skimming some matchup stats ...

NCAA College Basketball Matchups

These are 2 very equal teams with the exception of a couple key stats and trends, which clearly favor the Hawks ... 3-pt shooting, how these teams respond after a loss, records ATS. (Not to mention that Illannoy is 1-8 ATS in their last 9 B1G games. Granted, that "1" was beating Iowa x 11 with the spread = 6 but that was home, after Iowa had just beaten 2 ranked opponents during the previous 7 days.)

I'm liking Iowa 71-66, with Matt G's first strike in avenging his 1st-team conference snub (the 2nd coming as he conjures up Luke Recker to beat Sparty on a buzzer beater -- something I don't think he's ever done!!).

First things first ... MG gets 26 on 52% from the arc, White gets 14 & 11 (+ just enough help from Basabe & McCabe on the backside while he fronts Leonard into a frustrating 12 point day) and Iowa's 2-3 suffocates the orange crush.
 
Leonard is a bad match up for us but we've beaten/competed with teams who have a strong inside presence before. Against Indiana when we beat them at home we flew defenders to Zeller when he had the ball. We should do that against Illinois and make them beat us with jumpers. We can beat them.
 
Like I said in another thread. If the Illinois guards are smart and get Leonard the ball, we have little chance of winning. If they get selfish and start jacking the ball up, we win.
 
I tend to agree with 20, Meyers is a very bad match up for us. If we could get some defense and rebounds instead of just fouls out of Brommer and/or Archie and/or Gabe, I would like our chances a lot more. I'm just not seeing it. Unfortunately, I see 75-68, Illinois. I'll be watching, swearing and cheering on Iowa, just like every game.
 
I like it better than a Minny rematch. It's easier to beat a team once than it is to beat them three times in a year.
 
1st meeting was odd circumstances because Weber sat Leonard and Paul out of the gate so you knew they were going to play with a chip on their shoulder, especially at home.

I fully expect the Illini we have all come to love watch play the 2nd half of the season come to play in Indy tomorrow morning. 1st game of the tourney with maybe 8-9 thousand people there, hopefully the Illini sleep walk their way through an early BTT exit.
 
STILLBUSTER said:
I was not thrilled with the loss to NwU. (They have quickly gone from my favorite underdog to most hated opponent in every sport.) However, I was not disappointed to fall to #8 and avoid a 3rd game against Minny. When the dust settled, I actually like facing Illannoy for several reasons:

-- Iowa lost to Meyers Leonard and themselves.
Outside of him and Gatens, the rest of both teams' players performed somewhere between awful and inconsistent in the first matchup. Illannoy just does not scare me like the challenge of beating a team 3x in one season.

-- Skimming some matchup stats ...

NCAA College Basketball Matchups

These are 2 very equal teams with the exception of a couple key stats and trends, which clearly favor the Hawks ... 3-pt shooting, how these teams respond after a loss, records ATS. (Not to mention that Illannoy is 1-8 ATS in their last 9 B1G games. Granted, that "1" was beating Iowa x 11 with the spread = 6 but that was home, after Iowa had just beaten 2 ranked opponents during the previous 7 days.)

I'm liking Iowa 71-66, with Matt G's first strike in avenging his 1st-team conference snub (the 2nd coming as he conjures up Luke Recker to beat Sparty on a buzzer beater -- something I don't think he's ever done!!).

First things first ... MG gets 26 on 52% from the arc, White gets 14 & 11 (+ just enough help from Basabe & McCabe on the backside while he fronts Leonard into a frustrating 12 point day) and Iowa's 2-3 suffocates the orange crush.
Click to expand...

Matt needs to really step it up to separate himself in the group of one time all-conference 1,2,3 team players in Hawk history a group that includes guys like Carfino, Barnes, Hansen, Kingsbury, Arnold, Lohaus, etc.
 
Assuming Iowa would win the first game regardless of the seed they had, I think our chances to beat Michigan would have been better than beating MSU. This is why I was really hoping Iowa would get the 7 seed.
 
Hawkfan3318 said:
Assuming Iowa would win the first game regardless of the seed they had, I think our chances to beat Michigan would have been better than beating MSU. This is why I was really hoping Iowa would get the 7 seed.
Click to expand...

I didnt look at their all-time BTT record but it seems like MSU regularly underachieves in the BTT.

They also lost Dawson for the year with an ACL.
 
I for one am not assuming Illinois is not going to show up tomorrow just because they packed it in the 2nd half of the Big Ten season. Remember Alford's teams? They too had a way of grossly underachieving during the regular season, and then getting their $h!t together and making a run in the conference tournament.

Conference tournaments are the last chance for many teams to save their season, so I won't be a bit surprised to see Illinois come out pretty amped tomorrow. In fact, I'd be more surprised if they come out flat.

Then again, I could just be full of it, and Iowa will own them tomorrow.

Regarding Leonoard, Iowa had a much better effort against Zeller the 2nd time around, so they could do the same against Leonard. But yeah, any good big man isn't really a good matchup for this year's Hawk team.
 
atomicblue224 said:
im glad ghost got banhammer !!!!! jon is the wild bull pumfus!!!
Click to expand...
Jon wields a mighty BanHammer, Atomic.....

2dhbrde.jpg

Man gonna need a lot of body armor to survive the slam.....

:D
 
STILLBUSTER said:
I was not thrilled with the loss to NwU. (They have quickly gone from my favorite underdog to most hated opponent in every sport.) However, I was not disappointed to fall to #8 and avoid a 3rd game against Minny. When the dust settled, I actually like facing Illannoy for several reasons:

-- Iowa lost to Meyers Leonard and themselves.
Outside of him and Gatens, the rest of both teams' players performed somewhere between awful and inconsistent in the first matchup. Illannoy just does not scare me like the challenge of beating a team 3x in one season.

-- Skimming some matchup stats ...

NCAA College Basketball Matchups

These are 2 very equal teams with the exception of a couple key stats and trends, which clearly favor the Hawks ... 3-pt shooting, how these teams respond after a loss, records ATS. (Not to mention that Illannoy is 1-8 ATS in their last 9 B1G games. Granted, that "1" was beating Iowa x 11 with the spread = 6 but that was home, after Iowa had just beaten 2 ranked opponents during the previous 7 days.)

I'm liking Iowa 71-66, with Matt G's first strike in avenging his 1st-team conference snub (the 2nd coming as he conjures up Luke Recker to beat Sparty on a buzzer beater -- something I don't think he's ever done!!).

First things first ... MG gets 26 on 52% from the arc, White gets 14 & 11 (+ just enough help from Basabe & McCabe on the backside while he fronts Leonard into a frustrating 12 point day) and Iowa's 2-3 suffocates the orange crush.
Click to expand...
I like it, Buster.....

I do believe we have a good chance of upsetting the Illini.....

We should be inspired, not certain what the mindset of Illinois will be. Weber is on the hot seat, burning up rapidly.....

Sometimes that inspires a team to play better, most times not. Might not be able to win one for Coach this time.....

And remember, not matter how meaningless comparative scores are, they lost big at Nebraska, falling behind by thirty during the game.....

Not only that, We Are Due for a conference tournament win.....

:D
 
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