ILHawk, do you ever go to Northwestern or Illinios games?
I got a buddy out there who isn't too far from Champaign but hasn't gone to a game yet.
I went to the Norfolk game. I'm not a fan, but have a son going their and another graduate from their before moving to Iowa.
The Illini struck me as slow on the perimeter so I"m not surprised at the fall off in B1G after seeing that. That is a huge advantage for Iowa. BP can get insane about shooting though.
Bertran is one of the most under rated players in the B1G. He doesn't know how good he really is. If he figures it out, hope it's not before they play Iowa.
The match up I'm most concerned about is Igwu. He doesn't get a lot of press because they shoot so many 3's. The don't really have a strong 4 either. They have a bunch of 3's and that is somewhat similar to the 88-89 team and they do show glimpses. The weakness of Igwu is that they don't have anyone else.
Another potential match up problem is the chastised Griffey. He is the type of big player that doesn't do much all year and then lights it up for 20 plus points against Iowa.
If Illinois starts doing assists again, could be tough. However I don't think it's all about lack of team play. They do have serious quickness problems on the perimeter. I don't think Norfolk loses to IL on a neutral court.
The hate toward Iowa is as strong as ever. They even like to still bring up the Andy Kauffman shot, which I have no problems with except they talk about how emotional the Hawks were after the game in a not very nice way. A local radio personality I know used to bring it up a lot and I called him on it. He stopped.
The fan base over here is a shambles. It's ugly. People just don't care anymore about football and basketball maybe going that way. At the risk of criticism, I see some similarities in the direction of athletics between Iowa and IL. IL is several years further down the road.
I don't do IL boards as I'm not a fan. Once in a blue moon I do check it out. The hatred of the direction of the IL programs is really ugly.
I've gotten to know a number of coaches over the year. Zook and Turner were actually pretty swell guys. I coached Turners kid years ago and spoke to him via phone a number of times before meeting him. I honestly never made the connection. They were a really nice family.
Greg Landry tried really hard to fit into the community and was fun to talk to. That thing ended badly.
Rob Judson is one of the nicest most steady guys you'll ever meet. He should be a HC somewhere but got caught in the NIU quicksand. He became a HC late and no time to recover. At IL he was able to steady the Chicago recruits. He helped me out a lot in coaching youth sports in spite of his busy schedule. I can remember yelling at him shooting in 79 win the Hawks beat the Illini the week they would have climbed to #1. I miss the Field House!