Tate & Turpin chat: 11 a.m. Monday
Monday, December 15, 2008 - 11:00am
Chat with the hosts of "Saturday Sportsline" and "Monday Morning Quarterback."
Chat with the hosts of "Saturday Sportsline" and "Monday Morning Quarterback."
Good morning ... lots to talk about ... let's go. Jim and Loren
Loren,
With Northwestern, Iowa and now Wisconsin playing at Solider Field, why hasn't U of I scheduled a game there in the past 20+ years to help connect with their Chicagoland fan base and attract their Chicagoland recruits. I know Zook has mentioned wanting to play Notre Dame at Soldier Field sometime in the future. How realistic are Zook's comments and when could you see this potential big time matchup being on the schedule?
Michael -- Illinois tried that with a game against Washington State and had a very poor crowd and a bad experience. I know Guenther considers the idea, but I don't think it'll happen again in the near future. As for Notre Dame, there is no interest on their part to play Illinois. Jim and Loren
Best player at Hall?
Jim: I'd say Crandall Head but I didn't see Brandon Paul.
Loren: I'd say Paul because he had no turnovers for a team that committed 23, and he handled much of the time, rebounded like Head, and scored 17 with four steals and about 10 rebounds.
Just answered.
Guys
Who was the best player you saw at the Hall Saturday?
Just answered.
I haven't read much abt Mizzou. How good are they and do they have the interior offense/rebounding to make it a long night for UI?
Scott: I have articles filed on Missouri which I haven't read yet. Still recovering from the weekend. What I know is that Mizzou plays full-court and will be very aggressive. I'm not sure about their presence in the lane. They lost a lot of players from last season but are apparently better with only one loss. We'll know more this week. Loren
Hi Guys,
Everyone is getting worried about the rebounding discrepency the team has had the last few games, but I think don't think it's something to worry about. The stats show that the rebounding got bad as the men played later in the long stretch of games in a short period of time. Also, the Big Ten isn't particularly tall or strong other than OSU, so with some practice on the importance of boxing out, we should be fine. The only other time I see this as a problem is against Missouri with their beef inside. Your thoughts?
Justin: I certainly am worried about rebounding. The early games have indicated Illinois has trouble against physical teams in the paint. Weber is doing box-out drills this week, but it still comes down to talent, physicality and reaction time. Jim
Jim and Loren: For some reason I was thinking about former broadcaster Dick Martin and his famous "Touchdown Fightin' Illini" calls. My first memories of Illini games came from listening to him on the radio.
Forgive my ignorance but is Dick still around? Thanks.
Kyle: I hadn't seen Dick for awhile and he turned up at the Illini game at the United Center. Got to talk to him a few minutes. He is at least partially retired. Loren
Are there still some renovation jobs that need to be completed at Memorial Stadium before next season? Will the gated portals and some more improvements to the east Great Hall get attention over the next several months?
Also, any news on who will replace Locksley or other staff changes?
Tom: They are continuing to do work.
We haven't asked about the gated portals. They need to upgrade the East Side after doing all that work on the West Side.
Nothing new on Locksley's job for probably another week at least, and perhaps after some bowl games when coaches become available. Jim and Loren
Why does The News-Gazette withhold information from its readers? Surely your paper knew about legal problems involving Juice Williams, Brit Miller and Arrelious Benn long before the alleged misdeeds appeared in the paper. Traffic violations in October that show up in November's paper? C'mon.
Also, why do I hear about Martez Wilson and D'Angelo McCray from ESPN? Shouldn't The News-Gazette have better sources than ESPN when it involves local athletes?
From Jim Rossow; The offenses committed by Miller, Benn and Williams were by no means brought to our attention. It took a tip from a caller to unearth Brit's offense, which would not have been noticed by our police reporters otherwise. Once we looked into that, we decided to go player by player in an attempt to explain what went wrong with the 2008 season. This was done around week 12. We are still waiting for another media outlet to address the issues.
We had stories on Wilson available at the same time ESPN.com did. Actually, the Daily Illini reported the knifing incident first.
Sounds like Champaign is turning into a war zone, so much for the quaint college town! Has there been any response from the Champaign PD or campus police on the rash of violence at these bars? Seems like the establishments should be responsible for this as well and have their own security
Kevin: Is this really somethign new? In any campus town on the weekends, and at 2 a.m., the bars are jammed, there will be incidents and there will be arrests. When they arrest a star player, it becomes big news. Jim and Loren
Bottom line, will we be a better team with Legion? If yes, how so? Thanks
Bob: Illinois can use another scoring guard, and that's what Legion is. He is better at getting his shot than Meacham, and a better offensive player than Frazier. So, yes, Illinois should be a better team with Legion alternating at the guard position. But he'll have to play defense better if he wants to please Weber. Loren and Jim
Thanks, gang, see you next week. Jim and Loren