http://redbirdfan.com/msgforum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12530

someone is a little jealous of the big brother.

"Of course Weber wants to do a 1 and done at home, but who knows if Lowery would agree to that. (I know we wouldn't). "

Funny, I remember us playing them at least once (Jan. 2004) and maybe twice (when Tarise Bryson was on their team) but don't remember playing them outside of the Ass. Hall.

They would agree to a 1 and done in a heartbeat. Lowery probably wouldn't.

The article they linked to showed me that Weber has grown up since he came to Illinois, and I like it. I remember when he used to talk about going into Carbondale to play SIU.



I agree with Weber, there is zero reason to play any of these schools in their home arena. It becomes their Super Bowl and a no win situation. Now, I would go one step further and I would never ever play them period.

If you want to play a mid-major on their home court, go out of state.

Also, Bruce never ever ever play them as our United Center game, don't give it a second thought. The United Center game should be reserved for a major program much like Lon thought. (I think Self made a mistake taking the UC game down a notch because he didn't want to give programs like Kansas and Arizona a showcase in Chicago for recruiting so we got Arkansas and Temple).

There were a few posters there that actually had their heads on straight.

A poster summed it up pretty well on why Illinois has absolutely nothing to gain in playing in another gym by saying this:

1. If Illinois wins big, nobody cares because they were supposed to.
2. If Illinois wins close, Illinois fans get all pissed and scared.
3. If Illinois loses, all hell breaks loose.

In any scenario, Illinois does not make money from the game, nor benefit in any way. Is the big win going to be the tipping point between a recruit who's deciding between Illinois and Southern? I sure hope not, and frankly, I hope the amount of recruits we have in common is ZERO.

There is absolutely no benefit in playing at another team's gym in Illinois if you are Illinois. No point. If you want to play Illinois in Illinois? Get yourself to the Assembly Hall. Or elevate yourself, get yourself in a major conference, and earn your home and home.

Plain and simple.

There is no reason for us to do a home and home with any mid majors, especially those who are in-state.

I agree with Bruce, there is something special about the yearly atmosphere with Mizzou, it would be stupid to water it down with another game in St. Louis.

Perhaps we could play them in the yearly game in Chicago.

Otherwise, i would have 0 interest in playing SIU anywhere but Champaign. Its not necessary, and we just dont need it.

When I was at SIU, we played Indiana in 2003 and smoked them at home...

Maybe you should take the extra 2 seconds to spell this out next time.

huh?

Boo Hoo ISU

Unlike the idiots that put the Illini football schedule together, you don't go to Southern and play anywhere, anytime. There really isn't any controversy on this subject, unless of course you live in Carbondale, and you'll try whatever to get the Illini to come to town. WE'RE NOT COMING

If you don't see it then nevermind.

Honestly, who suffers more from a 'syndorme [sic]?' A handful of guys on an ISU message board doesn't amount to "ISU Complainging [sic]." Keep scouring the message boards of those you see as your inferiors for perceived slights. It's healthy.

Oh please.....you bunch of whimps.........

If you are good you play anyone, anywhere anytime!!! Period.

I wouldn't be afraid to schedule any school in the state.

Whining babies, worried about their precious little ranking, so you lose one a decade, or a century. SO WHAT?? It is just a game.

maybe Bruce should be our new AD. He seems to know that we should not play away games out of conference.

Its about money, Illinois has nothing to gain, if southern wants to play us, play us on our terms.

ONe of the isues with basketball is that there is not that much difference between teams, nothing worse than playing a team whose season is made by winning a game as opposed to illinois who has nothing to gain and everything to lose by playing SIU at SIU.

The idiot who puts the Illini football schedule together. Singular.

Let's turn it around. Illinois can play lots of good teams (Vandy, Georgia, Gonzaga, Missouri, etc) Why in the hell would we schedule SIU?

I really don't see much point in scheduling the likes of ISU or any of the other in-state compass schools with the exception of SIU.

This is not in reply to you zimmer, just a general "rant" =). But schools like ISU are cherry pickers. Sure, they want to play us when they're at their zenith. Fine....then you play us EVERY YEAR, not just when you think you have your best chance to beat us.

We've heard this same crap from all the in-state schools----i.e. DePaul. They only whine when they THINK they have their best chance to beat us. Moreover, they want short-term deals in terms of setting up games....it's laughable. I mean, when a program like ISU is "mediocre," I don't hear them clammering for a match-up with Illinois. Why is that?

Go Illini!

"There is absolutely no benefit in playing at another team's gym in Illinois if you are Illinois. No point. If you want to play Illinois in Illinois? Get yourself to the Assembly Hall. Or elevate yourself, get yourself in a major conference, and earn your home and home."

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!!

Look I like all the instate schools and want to see them succeed. However it is about $. With the state of our economy, IL needs to maximize its revenue potential and play at home as much as they can during the non conf season. If the in state schools want to work something out...then they have to come to the hall. They'll get a nice pay out and it is a chance to boost their strength of sched.

BTW...most IL fans I know of our grads of other instate schools...and would likely show their colors and support toward their alma...so it isn't like they wouldn't have some fan support in the hall.

Of course if ISU, NIU or SIU ever were accepted into a major conference, then I say they've earned the right to negotiate a home and home. It would still take some pressure for IL to budge.

I don't really see the big deal in playing on the road at mid-major schools. Purdue, in recent ryears, has played at Ball State, at Valpo, at Indiana State, and at Evansville. Matt Painter wants to prove to recruits and to fans that Purdue is the best school in the state. To me, going to Illinois State would be a great test for Illinois. What better way to get your team ready for road play in the league then going to a place that would be jacked up to beat you.

Quite honestly, not going on the road to those places shows that Illinois is afraid to lose.

That's nice. Weber already knows Illinois' status in that respect. We aren't infected with the same "little brother" disease that you have.

OH SNAP!!!

:creeper

Quite honestly, this is a stupid opinion.

Snap. Somebody broke out the beatin' stick.

LOL...well you know what they say about opinions.

But to me...i see the financial reason are far more of a reason of why not to play them on the road. We are not as bad as Michigan...but our state is pure #$%&@! economically and maximizing revenue is important at this time. Hell this #$%&@!ty state owes half a mil to our local school district...and it isn't coming any time soon cause the state is broke...as usual. So take matters in your own hand and maximize revenue all you can. Schedule as much as posible at home.

Yet Lon was the one that set up the 3 game series with Bradley including a game at the UC.
I'm sure that was because of his close relationship to Jim Molinari.

The UC game isn't what it once was. Major programs with high reputations and tradition don't dare agree to play up there anymore. Don't get me wrong...it isn't just Chicago...but same can be said for Charlotte, Dallas, Kansas City, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if it continues to only attract middle teir teams from BCS conferences or top programs from smaller DI conferences such as the Valley.

From memory, we also played them in an Illini classic in 80 - 84 window. They came in nationally ranked, something like mid teens thinking this was the year they weren't going to be the little brother anymore. At the end of the game the crowd was chanting "If you can't go to school, go to state" & they left with there heads hanging low. I imagine that has something to do with them not playing us for a few years after that.

Are you kidding? Do you think that is really the case?

Reality is the same reality of not playing DePaul. Illinois loses, it hurts recruiting. It an era of parity, it is not out of the realm of possibility that if the game were to be played tonight, ISU could beat us. Two months from now, when our Freshman grow, not so much.

Last year, ISU had a 50/50 shot if the game was played in Normal. They would have had the best player on the floor and who knows, still might.

SIU over the last 3 or 4 years(post Final Four) could have drilled us if a game was played in their gym.

Makes no sense for Bruce to schedule those.

If you're going to take a road game with better than a 50/50 shot at losing, schedule a big dog(UNC, Duke, UCLA, etc...), so that even a loss means something.

This says it all right here. Any major program would love to bring Illinois to Champaign for a home-and-home or like what we're doing with Gonzaga. We've done this with schools like Texas, Georgetown, Temple, and UCLA over the years. Why schedule the in-state schools? We have plenty of options for games with major conference schools and national TV exposure.

If the ISU and SIU fans don't like this, I really don't care. And to Hart's post above, now that Purdue is far and away the best program in the state, they should be looking to schedule more like Illinois instead of playing the little sisters of Indiana. At least you get a CBS or ESPN game if you play a school like Vandy or Georgetown because of two major conference teams playing each other.

I'll agree with most of this. We schedule these mostly for good will. Most schools don't play the complete season against all teams of equal competition, and everyone schedules cupcakes. But I believe the idea is that if we can go play College of Charleston, why wouldn't we just play someone in our own state? I mean there are arguments both ways.

If anything, Illinois is ISU's smarter little brother as ISU is the older school ;-)

You don't load up your non conference schedules with teams from major BCS conferences. You play a few. It makes more since to bring in the in state schools to play at the hall if they want a game. Reason being? Attendance. You have a better chance of packing the hall against an SIU or ISU than like last night's game against Woodford. I understand that it was a late game and if Woodford (who is probably just as equal to ISU, SIU...maybe better) is not in this LV tourney, there likely wouldn't of been a game. But you can't tell me the hall has a better chance of selling tkts to a match up against an in state school verses teams like Northern Ark State, SW Montana St, etc.

It really doesnt matter, almost all of the tickets are sold via season tickets anyhow. The marginal revenue increase from ticket sales playing local schools is very very small.

Ticket sales is not a huge deal. The point is that ISU and SIU think Illinois ought to play at their gyms.

I don't see Wofford, Presbyterian, Boise ST, SIU-E, etc. demanding a return game in their gym. They are happy to take home a nice check, even if that means losing a game.

If you're going to play home/home series', there are plenty of BCS schools who Illinois can play. I have nothing against ISU or SOuthern ILL, just that it makes more sense (TV, revenue, everything) to play Gonzaga or Vandy or Arizona in a series than to play a home/home with IL St.

Purdue is the best program in that state. But they have reason to look over their shoulder... and history tells them they'd better do so. That's not a problem we have.

I've always felt that schools in our position are a little paranoid about the effects of going on the road and losing an in-state game. College basketball people know that it's no sin to lose in Carbondale, and, occasionally, Bradley, ISU and DePaul might have similar teams. I don't buy the recruiting explanation. If, with all of our other advantages, a big in-state recruit chooses one of those schools over us, then the problems go beyond one game. If we lost in one of those buildings, I think the biggest consequence will be that alums from SIU or wherever will have something to crow about at work for a couple of days (and this might be enough to dissuade us).

That being said (for you "Curb" fans out there), why do we owe them home games just because they're located in the same state? Our basketball program owes its fans the strongest possible team and the most possible entertainment. Scheduling is one part of it. If they can't give us what we think we need to succeed, we'll move on to others who will. Maybe they'll get good enough to where the basketball and entertainment value of a game will lead us to accept terms that they prefer to our present offer. If not, we'll do what we need in order to improve our program and they can do the same.

The scheduling thing....hey it is what it is! I agree with the poster who said economically what does UIUC have to gain? You make more money selling games in your building, it's larger and you charge more for tickets. But what if ISU raised it's tickets from the normal $16 a game to $35 with UIUC getting an even split? Does it matter now?

I agree with the poster who said going to play in one of these MVC or In-State gyms can help you prepare for the hostile road environment. Where else would you get a more hostile environment than at SIU, Normal, or Peoria?

FWIW....Illinois got Mr. Basketball last year in the State of Illinois, but traditionally you really stand a 50% chance of getting Mr. BB because Illinois is recruited very hard by other states. I think since 1981, Illinois only got 11 of the 29 MBB. Conversely, in a State like Michigan for example....Mr. BB has gone to either Michigan or Michigan State 21 out of 29 years. The talent gap is getting better based on recent years recruiting, but that hasn't been the case always.

I guess the way I see it is, you might have everything to lose and nothing to gain. But just as Syracuse, Ohio State, Kentucky and other schools have lost to seemingly "inferior" school in years past. What impact does it have other than a few embarrassing moments on SportsCenter? Do you think kids stopped wanting to go to UK because they lost to Lipscomb or whoever last year?

Also, with the economy being the way it is...I would think an Illinois vs. ISU/DePaul/SIU/Bradley thing would be GOOD for the people of the State of Illinois. A short road trip, keeping the money in-state and helping to support other schools that don't get money from our broke @%$ State is a WIN-WIN for everyone.

But hey...what do I know. From what I'm told I have "BIG little brother syndrome".

Hahaha

Don't get me wrong swank. Not by any means saying Redbird Arena is Cameron Indoor, but my point is since Illinois is basically Goliath, the proverbial David's of the world will gear up to make the environment hostile. Well I'd say maybe Normal and Carbondale. Too many old people who sit on their hands in Peoria.

REALbird runs the Redbird board and always seems to chastise any Illini fan that has the gall to post over there. Hey, but you are welcome here REALbird. You are a knowledgeable fan.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough; I wasn't responding to the scheduling turn that the thread took, but rather the question of if we had played ISU before & remembering one of the better games from my days in Champaign when we did indeed play ISU.

I'm not arguing that we need to schedule ISU (or SIU/Bradley/...) at there gym nor do I think that game is significant in the discussion 20+ years later, I agree we don't need to play ISU at there gym, but those arguments have been well stated. I also don't feel a need to play them in our gym, but the nothing to be gained as those agruments have been made as well.

What I am saying I was at a game in 1982 when ISU was nationally ranked (looks like they were 18 preseason, I think were 16 when we played them - as I recall the other great cheer at the end of the game was "16th in the nation, 2nd in the state)) & ISU thought they should beat us, not 50/50 chance on there floor, but that they should beat us at our gym. They came to Assembly Hall expecting to leave on equal status or be crowned as the best in the state, at the end of a 7 point Illinois victory that I don't remember being that close - we had humbled them & I don't think there fan base really wanted a piece of us for awhile after that - That was 27 years ago and many/most of the fans on both sides have forgotten or wern't around to appreciate that game & because of this it certainly has no bearing on today's schedule.

As a side note, I checked our records, we have played them 7 times over the years, the first one in the 1920's was the only one in Normal. We played them 3 times from 79 - 82, but after the game I referred to we didn't play them again until 2001. From the early December date on 2 of them, I expect it was in the Illini Classic Tournament, the other was in March at Champaign, guessing NIT early round game.

Nope, wrong guy Birdfan runs Redbirdfan.com not me!!! Furthermore, I don't chastise much of anyone as I tend to watch from a distance these days unless I can get an "intelligent" conversation.....well except on Valleytalk.net.

Either way, having seen the loss UIUC took against Bradley last week I think it further clarifies my position. It's a loss, but it's not the end of the world. UIUC is young and inexperienced, but I don't think for one bit that now that BradLee has won a game that they'll suddenly start getting Mr. Basketball's up on the hilltop.

To be honest....I was rooting for you guys as my disdain for Bradley trumps any perceived "little brother syndrome" that might exist. Good luck the rest of the way!

The most Illinois should do is a 2 - 1 with top mid-majors out of state. I'd like to see this more so we'd have two of the home throw away games against good competition and one chance for a tune-up in a hostile environment that won't kill you if you lose. I'd never do this vs an in-state program however.

As a Bradley grad (and lifelong Illinois fan), my feeling of Bradley getting the win over Illinois isn't really any different than Bradley beating any borderline top 25 program. It's a good win that helps the guys realize they can compete and will be a huge benefit if they have a good enough season to be a bubble team (which I doubt).

For the players, the only added incentive may come from not getting recruited by the bigger program in the state, but I think Bradley's roster has many more out of state kids than Illinois does.

It may help Bradley win a recrtuit against another mid-major, or it may give them a shot to lock up an Illinois ( or © recruit early before Illinois offers, but no top 50 stud is going to play at Bradley.

Didn't Lon play Bradley at the UC in 98?

Izzo said he would never take a team into an atmosphere like Peoria again. Try again.

Your sarcasm detector is broken. I can suggest a good repair shop!

Yes, I believe all three of those games were relatively close Illinois wins. I also think it was Lon's connection with Molinari that got the series.

Stupid opinion? I'm pretty sure the News-Gazette printed the same exact opinion the other day following the loss to Bradley.