Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: Not going out tonight?
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shabamon
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Posted: 12/8/2012 9:40 PM
Undefeated Illinois vs. Undefeated Gonzaga

10PM

ESPN2
bornacatfan
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Posted: 12/8/2012 9:48 PM

marked on my schedule. You want some fun ....go over to Illinois Loyalty and watch the in game thread.  You would laugh thinking of the comments we heard the last 2 years times 1000 regarding Groces team. It is every bit as entetaining as the game.

THe game is at the Kennel. The size of Anderson Arena and is full every night. Just got back from Muncie Central thanking the basketball gods that I can watch the end of the Butdogs game and still make it in time for the illini game.

Paul Baron is coaching Guerin HS so I got to spend a good half hour catching up and listiening to his New Yawk accent. Fun day here Ohio wins , Temple loses, Army Navy game entertaining and Purdue gets beat at EMU. THis is one of those days that all is well with the world and sports provides a worthwhile existence.
 

LuckySparrow
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Posted: 12/8/2012 9:56 PM
Damn. I'll be watching the Bulls until I go out, but this would be the next game in line. 

(I'm from IL) 
OUbobcat9092
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Posted: 12/8/2012 10:22 PM
Groce and the Illini will have their hands full tonight.

This may be the best Gonzaga team I have ever seen.  They absolutely dismantled WVU at home earlier this season and ran away from Oklahoma too.

The Kennel is a tough place to play.  
bornacatfan
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Posted: 12/8/2012 10:39 PM
OUbobcat9092 wrote:expand_more
Groce and the Illini will have their hands full tonight.

This may be the best Gonzaga team I have ever seen.  They absolutely dismantled WVU at home earlier this season and ran away from Oklahoma too.

The Kennel is a tough place to play.  


right on all counts

Illlini down already

GOtta love the illini board

We are a joke inside. A joke.

The poster that said we have no offense inside so it will get better, I couldn't disagree more. We will NEVER get any offense inside. Our bigs cannot rebound, and they cannot score. Nnanna Egwu is just plain bad.
Last Edited: 12/8/2012 10:42:22 PM by bornacatfan
Columbus_Bobcat
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Posted: 12/8/2012 10:48 PM
The broadcasters were just talking about John Groce and his past four years at OHIO and the energy that he brought to the team. They even talked about OHIO making the sweet 16, first time since 1964, and their electric guard in D.J. Cooper. 

I like getting some love from ESPN even when were not even playing!
The Optimist
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Posted: 12/8/2012 10:54 PM
Bobcats_828 wrote:expand_more
The broadcasters were just talking about John Groce and his past four years at OHIO and the energy that he brought to the team. They even talked about OHIO making the sweet 16, first time since 1964, and their electric guard in D.J. Cooper. 

I like getting some love from ESPN even when were not even playing!

I was pleasantly shocked they remembered 1964.
JSF
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Posted: 12/8/2012 11:03 PM
bornacatfan wrote:expand_more
THe game is at the Kennel. The size of Anderson Arena and is full every night


I don't know if you meant physical space, but seating is most comparable to the MAC Center.
Pataskala
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Posted: 12/8/2012 11:07 PM
Illinois is very much a John Groce team: guard oriented, not afraid to take a 3, although I haven't seen a lot of ball screens.  They got down big early but have fought back and tied it at the half.
bornacatfan
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Posted: 12/8/2012 11:32 PM
JSF wrote:expand_more
THe game is at the Kennel. The size of Anderson Arena and is full every night


I don't know if you meant physical space, but seating is most comparable to the MAC Center.


I am not sure which one is the MAC center except that the official name for the Kennel is the MAC   Mc Carthey  Athletic Center IIRC. I am sure I have been  there if it is on the Mac schedule. ....I did mean the Stroh Center but I hink Gonzaga seats 6 K ....saw pics one time and thought the 2 resembled each other
anorris
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Posted: 12/9/2012 12:08 AM
MAC Center is Kent's arena.
bornacatfan
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Posted: 12/9/2012 12:28 AM
Yeah I been there

Russ and ROb hate that place.

COme to think if it... I kind of do too.. bad set up and uncomfy seats.
anorris
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Posted: 12/9/2012 2:20 AM
bornacatfan wrote:expand_more
Yeah I been there

Russ and ROb hate that place.

COme to think if it... I kind of do too.. bad set up and uncomfy seats.
+1 on that, and from the upper level, there is a giant beam which completely obscures the scoreboard.
GroverBall
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Posted: 12/9/2012 3:09 AM
Wow, that's all this thread gets?

I've been thinking of this match-up for a week or more, wondering if the Bobcat faithful want to pretend to care or not.  I'm a big JG fan, been in his house, my kids have played with his kids, and though I didn't decide to post until recenly I've been a huge OU fan for decades.

So, like a lot of us, I read every page of our record JG to UI thread in the spring.  I wanted him to stay, but I understood the business and knew he should go if he had the chance.

But I bought into the dope that so many were selling that UI was in shambles, that re-building would have to take place for their program to be in sweet 16 territory.  So let OUr coach go, root for him to do his magic to prove the doubters wrong, recruit his own players and in 5-6 years have a seriously competitive program on his hands.

But in all this love for OU and JG, did I want U of I to be a better team than the Bobcats in 2012?  No freakin way.  I'm still stuggling with my respect for JG and his newfound success.  If he beats the 5000 lb gorilla from Columbus I'm on his side, but otherwise am I alone in hoping that his decision to change programs wasn't so easy?

Someone shed some light... is this for real?  How has that Illini team become a team capable of beating a pretty damn good Zags team?  I mean if I remember correctly nobody on this board thought much of that team AT ALL and now they are in a national championship (top 10) conversation?

Wow.
Ohio69
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Posted: 12/9/2012 8:21 AM
GroverBall wrote:expand_more
Someone shed some light... is this for real?  How has that Illini team become a team capable of beating a pretty damn good Zags team?  I mean if I remember correctly nobody on this board thought much of that team AT ALL and now they are in a national championship (top 10) conversation?  Wow.


Groce has "it".  Guys just play for him.  And, a 6'4 guard blossoming into an NBA lottery pick helps.  He's got them playing pretty good defense.  And Illinois averages 11 made threes per game.  Wow indeed.  


FearLeon
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Posted: 12/9/2012 10:33 AM
So, where are all of the Illini fans now who hated the Groce hire???

Don't flinch.



bornacatfan
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Posted: 12/9/2012 10:40 AM
Lucky you.

I was never invited to his house LOL.

That aside.. I am a homer for all Indiana born and bred guys to do well. I was loving Brownell beating up on Arizona yesterday .....JG is one of our home guys and when Holtmann (KY native ) and him played  I would have usually rooted against the BIG team but JG is one of ours.

THere was a stable of top 100 players in Champaign waiting for him. I argued in that same thread and daily with the IU faithful riding Cody Zellers nuts that  UI is going to be legit....and quick because JG is not only a good and meticulous game planner but he gets good buy in. He has many weakness' but he plays to his strengths and that of his team.

My chicago AAU connections keep telling me he wont be able to recruit the Public League (read "Black Folks") but I tell them if he can get high profile kiidout of CHicago selling them OHIO then he will have no problem getting them to the flagship of that state. He does not need Burger Boys to win.....in fact he is not very good with one and dones. He needs program guys that buy into his system and stay 4 years. When he sits with a parent and recruits the entire family and tells them he is not taking money under the table but their kid will get a degree they buy in too. He needs those guys for his system to work. I think the best thing that he did at Ohio was bring families and good characters into the program. He has a solid rural settiing downstate IL to do that again.

I am not sure he would have the same advantages in an Urban setting .....and he will never have to...unless he pulls interest from maybe a UCLA he will most likely stay in Illinois till a guy like COach K or Self retire and if he continues to be an "IT" guy he may get a shot. I can see him building UI into an ever present power in the tourney. I am not fond of the BIG or any of their fans except the very nice guys I met in Iowa but Izzo, Crean, Groce, Beilein and a couple of others are going to give those insuffable fans even more reason to be arrogant and make those consistent and incredibly stupid statements they do so well .

Groce is really good with recruiting, He is really good at game planning and getting kids to execute. His basketball pedigree is really good and he takes the best from anyone and has the mathematical mind to figure out how to use it and make it better for him and his players. I think I see his weaknesses but he covers them pretty weill so Iwill just keep them to myself as it is counterproductive and that would seem to be the only part of this that gets repeated.

SO..... answer to your question.....is that all the interest there is? I have always found that there are a lot of lurkers here that have awesome opinions they share in the Convo and the Cats EYe or Broneys but do not take the time to put them up...too bad...they have some really great stuff that we would all really love reading......but you are right it appears to an observer that there is not enough interest.  I do not think that is all the interest there is .... I think there are a great many folks round here watching with interest.
Brian Smith (No, not that one)
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Posted: 12/9/2012 12:50 PM
GroverBall wrote:expand_more
Wow, that's all this thread gets?

I've been thinking of this match-up for a week or more, wondering if the Bobcat faithful want to pretend to care or not.  I'm a big JG fan, been in his house, my kids have played with his kids, and though I didn't decide to post until recenly I've been a huge OU fan for decades.

So, like a lot of us, I read every page of our record JG to UI thread in the spring.  I wanted him to stay, but I understood the business and knew he should go if he had the chance.

But I bought into the dope that so many were selling that UI was in shambles, that re-building would have to take place for their program to be in sweet 16 territory.  So let OUr coach go, root for him to do his magic to prove the doubters wrong, recruit his own players and in 5-6 years have a seriously competitive program on his hands.

But in all this love for OU and JG, did I want U of I to be a better team than the Bobcats in 2012?  No freakin way.  I'm still stuggling with my respect for JG and his newfound success.  If he beats the 5000 lb gorilla from Columbus I'm on his side, but otherwise am I alone in hoping that his decision to change programs wasn't so easy?

Someone shed some light... is this for real?  How has that Illini team become a team capable of beating a pretty damn good Zags team?  I mean if I remember correctly nobody on this board thought much of that team AT ALL and now they are in a national championship (top 10) conversation?

Wow.


I wantOhio's basketball coaches to move up and succeed. I'm fine if Christian wins 28-30 games for three years and leaves. Unlike football, I don't think coaching continuity matters as much. You can change a program with one recruiting class. In football, you need to build for five years.

If Ohio starts producing big-time college basketball coaches on a three-year schedule, e're all going to be very happy with the product on the floor.
Alan Swank
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Posted: 12/9/2012 1:20 PM
Here's an article that pretty much echoes what borna said:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-co...

Last Edited: 12/9/2012 1:21:15 PM by Alan Swank
RSBobcat
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Posted: 12/9/2012 11:25 PM
I watched the whole game. Felt so strange to me pulling for Illinois, who I have never given a damn about my entire life. Was fun watching JG so active on the sideline the entire game - nearly getting T's called on him - seeing Dustin and the asst's. I will be a JG fan forever. Just hope I get a chance to root against him in a game w/the Bobcats sometime..........
Andrew Ruck
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Posted: 12/10/2012 8:25 AM
Groce has the Illini heading for the top 10 already...Incredible.  But also worth noting...this time last year, the Illini were also 10-0 and ranked in the teens, and went 7-15 the rest of the way.
Ozcat
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Posted: 12/10/2012 9:45 AM
Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more
Groce has the Illini heading for the top 10 already...Incredible.  But also worth noting...this time last year, the Illini were also 10-0 and ranked in the teens, and went 7-15 the rest of the way.

What he's done so far is impressive, no doubt.  But we'll find out how great he really is once conference play starts.  If he leads the Illini to a top 4 finish, I'll be extremely impressed.
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