gatnom

QUOTE (SexiAlexei @ Apr 26, 2013 -> 12:04 AM) I'm not arguing Long vs Eifert. I'm arguing Long vs every other position of need. There were highly rated DTs, LBs, and CBs on the board. All positions of need. If they thought Long was the best of the bunch, then ok. Again, I disagree, but they have a valid reason. If they said the next guy after Long wasn't good, but other DTs, LBs, and CBs are better than Long, you take the better player that fills your need. You can't worry about who will or who won't be there next round, because it's a crap shoot, and you don't know. You take the best player that fills a need. We agree. I will say that I think guard is a way bigger position of need than those on the defense. With an offensive minded coach and the players we have on offense, we can't really afford to let our offensive line to continue to fester. I really don't think we can compete with Cutler getting his brains scrambled every Sunday, no matter how good our defense is.

QUOTE (SexiAlexei @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 11:53 PM) I think we're arguing 2 different things here. No, I don't think the Bears should take a QB if it's the best on the board. I was more or less trying to say that even though the Bears may not have thought in a vacuum that Long was better than Eifert, the fact that Long is a guard may have given him more value than Eifert at TE.

QUOTE (SexiAlexei @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 11:35 PM) My response had nothing to do with who the Bears had as their best player on the board. My comment was in response to 2nd city, you don't draft a player because the next player at the same position is so much worse. That's also why i said "If that was the Bears thought process, I'd be even more disappointed." What I'm trying to say is, you can't look at the board and say "Well, we'd much rather take Ogletree or Eifert over Long, but after Long, there aren't any OG left." Now, if the Bears legit thought Long was better, then I disagree, but I'm ok with it. If their pick was, as 2nd city said, out of fear, then I strongly disagree with the choice. I generally agree, but on some level positional need does play a role. If the best player available was a quarterback, would you want them to pick one?

QUOTE (SexiAlexei @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 11:08 PM) If this was the Bears thought process for their pick, I will be even more disappointed. You have so many holes to fill (OL, LB, CB). You don't draft a G because the next possible G is so much worse... You draft the best player, and worry about who's left in the next round. You're right. The best player on the board always black and white. How do you know that the Bears didn't draft who they thought to be the best player on the board?

I have no problems with the Long pick. I'm not one who usually plays the generalization card, but the Bears have been given so much crap about not being able to put together an offensive line that I can't criticize them for identifying somebody they liked and drafting them in the first round. You know, trying to solve the atrocity that has been killing the offense and Jay Cutler for the last several years. It wasn't the sexy pick, but I can't say it's the wrong pick either, considering our circumstances.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 04:31 PM) And if that's the reason why we vaporized 200k people, then the original post is correct and it was an enormous war crime for no reason. It was the worst terrorist attack in human history in that view. Instead, my reading of the situation is that the pro-military-forces in Japan were strong enough that nothing else the U.S. could have done short of invading the mainland would have ended the war, and I think the U.S. military planners were right to believe that would have cost hundreds of thousands of american lives and millions of Japanese civilians. It took the combination of 2 cities being vaporized by a new weapon and the invasion in Manchuria to break the military stranglehold on the government and create a situation where some variety of peace was possible. It wasn't the only reason we did it, perhaps not even the main reason, but you're sticking your head in the sand if you don't believe that showing our ability to destroy entire cities with one bomb wasn't part of it. We also didn't want Russia in Japan, just like we didn't want them anywhere else for the next 40 years. And, the only way to do that was to end the war as quickly as possible...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 03:45 PM) "Despite us showing off the atomic bomb"? WTF does that even mean? We didn't drop the atomic bomb on the Soviets. The combination made it a really, really bad week for the Japanese. We wanted to show the Soviets what we were capable of.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 02:17 PM) Hill is supposed to be a pretty good shooter. Bertrand showed some improvement on his 3 last year before he lost all confidence too. The Illini are losing Paul and DJ. They both shot, what, like 33% from 3 last year? Griffey was insanely inconsistent from 3 last year too. The three point shooters that the Illini are losing weren't actually great three point shooters. You might not even call them good three point shooters. True. A lot of that is the fact that there was no real point guard to set up an open shot for them, a problem we still have. Hill and Nunn are probably the x-factors, though. If they can come in and contribute both offensively and defensively at the same time (something I'm not sure about), we could be pretty good.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 12:49 PM) I really feel like you're underestimating the "we don't know" of last year. The Illini had what, two returning proven players in Paul and Richardson, and then guys that were extremely inconsistent or looked like below average players. Egwu was at the 5 (he averaged less than 10 minutes per game his freshman season) and it looked like he had no backup (thank god for Mclaurin). Griffey/Henry were at the 4 and neither of those guys showed that they could play the 4 in the B1G. I'm more confident in Henry going into this season than I was in Griffey going into last season. Then you have Paul and DJ (Rice averaged 17 PPG his last year at Drake, so there's no reason to believe he can't make up for a decent portion of Paul's offense). Then there was Abrams at the 1 with no backup in sight and really no clue if he could even handle the 1. Each team had a returning Bertrand, but this year's team will be a 5th year senior. Last year's team had no new faces. There is no reason to think that a guy like Hill or Nunn can't contribute this year. And again, if the Illini pick up a 5th year senior (like is somewhat expected) that could help with overall depth too. I think there was just as much "we don't know" regarding last year's team, if not more. New coach, new system, only two returning solid contributors, no backup C, no backup PG, etc. The problem is that we're really one dimensional. Abrams drives. Rice drives. Bertrand drives. None of them have shown a propensity to shoot at a consistently high level. Maybe some of them add a jump shot; it's not impossible. I'm just not holding my breath.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 10:28 AM) It's way too early to predict how next years team is going to do. Last year at this time it looked like Meyers was leaving, mclaurin wasn't in the fold yet, there was really no point guard, and the team won 16 games the previous season. We don't know what 5th year transfer might come in, we don't know how rice is going to play (he could be the best player), we don't know how players will continue to develop, and we don't know if the freshmen can contribute. I think the illini actually have a decent shot at the tournament. The main problems I see are that we have abysmal floor spacing on offense (Henry and Egwu might honestly be our best shooters right now), and it's going to be tough to find a replacement for Paul. I don't doubt that we can find a 5th year transfer or two so we don't have to rely on freshmen to back up Egwu and Abrams, but I really don't see them coming in and providing what Paul did. I agree it's too early to predict what they will do next year, but I stand by my assertion that it would be one heck of a coaching job for us to reach the tournament.

Illinois just graduated 4 out of its 7 players who got significant regular minutes including its best 2 players and the only player capable of backing up center. Barring any amazing 5th year transfers, it would be one heck of a coaching job for Illinois to make it to the tournament next year.

Glad I don't have to defend Groce over Reggie Theus anymore...

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Mar 31, 2013 -> 10:39 AM) Curious, why is it so important to observe the birth of Jesus on the same exact day every year but Easter always falls on a different day? #lame #no_day_off_from_work If I'm not mistaken, it's the connection between the last supper and passover which is based upon the lunar cycle.

I know nothing about Collins, so I'm not sure exactly what his reputation is. But, I'd definitely be wary of hiring a recruiter away from a program that recruits itself. You're never quite sure whether the players he recruited went there because of him or the big name and bright lights. I want to say it'll be interesting to see if he pans out, but it's really hard for me to even fathom somebody being significantly successful at Northwestern at this point in time.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 25, 2013 -> 02:33 PM) I wasn't trying to compare the programs. Shaka doesn't strike me as a guy that wants to lead a big time program like that. Illinois would have been a good fit because it's a 2nd tier program where you can still win consistently. UCLA your expectations are apparently more than an NC game appearance, a few final fours and a bunch of conference titles. I don't think Shaka's system would fare well in the Big Ten. That alone made him a bad fit at Illinois, IMO.

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 23, 2013 -> 10:08 PM) Marquette was really annoying me so I was rooting for Butler. Some terrible possessions down the stretch, none worse than that last play. That horrid over the back call ends up being the difference in the end, though! Marquette had a lot of crazy bounces/rolls on the rim go in too. Literally had all the bounces going their way.

After a day of fairly unexciting basketball, these late games have been fantastic.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 23, 2013 -> 09:42 PM) Stevens and smart miss the sweet 16 while... I like the way you think.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 20, 2013 -> 08:51 AM) Isn't that a good thing? The team was so f***ing bad, why would you want these coaches sticking around? Theoretically, yes. But, this disrupts recruiting continuity, and the chances of hiring a good coach are somewhat diminished after you have a 2-10 season with the majority of the fan base/media calling for your head...

So in other news, Illinois has just lost its fifth assistant assistant coach this offseason... I've been a big supporter of the "Beckman should get three years" group, but man does his ship seem to be taking on water fast.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 01:41 PM) If the Big10 wanted UNC, they should have gone after them a couple years ago, before the ACC landed Pitt, Syracuse, and ND and made the ACC a more attractive place to stay. Football is the only sport that matters.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 9, 2013 -> 02:34 AM) It's the one flaw. Wasn't it because they wanted to keep the same mailing address or some s***? QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Feb 8, 2013 -> 12:16 PM) From-- a link that is apparently now dead: .......The Whitesox attempted unsuccessfully to purchased the tall brown building behind the scoreboard. It was owned by the state, and was a senior services building. To have the ball park face the skyline, they would've needed to demolish that building. I've read the original plans were supposed to have the skyline behind the scoreboard. .........

Well, Illinois should be a tough out in the NIT...

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 31, 2013 -> 07:19 PM) Remember when Brandon Paul was good at basketball? That was nice. Now he can't even dribble 3 consecutive times without losing it. Always good when your "star" sets the tone for the start of the half by tripling your turnovers in consecutive possessions.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Jan 23, 2013 -> 01:17 AM) Only game Illinois will be favored in next year: SIU. Not even Miami (OH)?