Illinois Preview

[bullcity gamer]

Living in Illinois I have a lot of friends who root for the Illini, some of them are my best friends. Illinois plays a rotation of 8 guys now due to Johnson being out indefinitely with a broken wrist. The Illini are a young team with only having 2 upperclassmen in their rotation. The Illini are a live by the 3 and die by the 3 team this season with a handful of their players shooting between 33-35% on the season from 3 point land (Jakucionis, Tomislav Ivisic, Riley, Humrichous, and Davis). The Illini are Led by Projected Top 5 NBA Draft Pick Jakucionis, when he plays poor then the rest of the team plays poor. Boswell, a junior this season, who played for Arizona last season is the only player familiar with the Blue Devils.

I think this is how Duke will match up with Illinois on Saturday night,

Boswell - James
Jakucionis - Proctor
Riley - Knueppel
Humrichous - Flagg
Tomislav Ivisic - Maluach

Illinois' Reserves:

White - Guard
Gibbs-Lawhorn - Guard
Davis - Forward

I think we will witness Duke's Coaching Staff make it an Emphasis to shut down the Illini's 3 point shooting and they will force the Illini to try and score on them inside the paint. As long as Proctor and James do a great job in shutting down Jakucionis and Duke Succeeds in shutting down the Illini's 3 point shooting prowess I see Duke winning by at least 15 points. Illinois is not a team that makes comebacks, Duke HAS to defend the 3 point line very well on Saturday Night! If the Illini are cold early and Duke gets out to a fast start, this game will become a blow out and a long night for Illini fans as for some odd reason, Illinois tends to continue letting it fly from 3 even when they cannot shoot the ball into an ocean.

Great Opportunity to finish a tough non-conference game schedule in the regular season with a 3-2 record. A lot of Duke Fans should be present in NYC on Saturday Night.

Let's Go Duke!

 

[johnl1219]

Good preview of Illinois. I will be there in person, so I'm looking forward to seeing Duke add a decent non-conference win to their resume.

 

[bullcity gamer]

Good Deal John! Have A Great Time in NYC!

 

[DukeDallas9192011015]

We need to get an early lead and bury them. The metrics say they are a much better team than their record suggests. They shoot a lot of three's so can't allow them to get hot and get confidence.

That Jakucionis guy can get hot and get 30, or he can go 1-13 and score 2, he is very streaky. He probably hasn't seen a defensive combination like Proctor/Sion all year though, so I think he has an awful night.

 

[AlanInNJ]

Nice review, thanks for sharing!!

Duke's backcourt height and length should disrupt their shooters. I do think we are going to really miss Brown this game, but Proctor and Sion should give their shooters problems. I expect it to be close at half with Duke coming out strong and taking control in the second half. Let's see if Evans can get going again and give us a spark off the bench.

I looked at ticket prices, just a little steep for my wallet for anything but nosebleeds at Cameron North, so I will be watching from home. Let's go Duke!

 

[bullcity gamer]

The Illini's tendency to keep letting it fly from 3 point land even when they are not making the shots reminds me of a child trying to fit a wide rectangular peg through a narrow triangular hole.

Also, don't know if any of you learned about the U of I's botched Jersey Retirement Ceremony for Terrance Shannon Jr. which occurred on Saturday night. Long story short, the retired jersey was upside down when the U of I was raising it up to the rafters. Not a good look for Illinois.

 

[t-towndomer]

The Illini's tendency to keep letting it fly from 3 point land even when they are not making the shots reminds me of a child trying to fit a wide rectangular peg through a narrow triangular hole.

Also, don't know if any of you learned about the U of I's botched Jersey Retirement Ceremony for Terrance Shannon Jr. which occurred on Saturday night. Long story short, the retired jersey was upside down when the U of I was raising it up to the rafters. Not a good look for Illinois.

The fact that they retired the jersey of a 3rd team all-american transfer is the real joke. The fact that they screwed it up seems fitting.

 

[ioliva]

I hate this game. We lose and it’s a bad loss . We win and it doesn’t mean much. Illinois has not panned out this year

 

[bullcity gamer]

I hate this game. We lose and it’s a bad loss . We win and it doesn’t mean much. Illinois has not panned out this year

It’s a Quad 1 Opportunity on a Neutral Site against an NCAA Tournament Team. Illinois will be similar to a 2nd Round or Sweet 16 Opponent Duke may face in the NCAA Tournament.

Duke used to always play non conference opponents in January or February during conference play such as St. John’s and Georgetown. I like the idea of facing a strong non conference opponent or 2 late in the regular season to prepare Duke for the NCAA Tournament.

A loss tomorrow night would drop Duke to a 2 seed

 

[JimboSlice00]

Yeah I think tonight’s game is massive. With the ACC so poor this year, have to prove they can beat a non conference 2nd round type of team as Illinois is a 7 seed. A win should really cement our 1 seed moving forward barring a collapse, but a loss probably does kick us to a 2. I just have a bad feeling the committee will really hold the ACC against Duke.

 

[ioliva]

It’s a Quad 1 Opportunity on a Neutral Site against an NCAA Tournament Team. Illinois will be similar to a 2nd Round or Sweet 16 Opponent Duke may face in the NCAA Tournament.

Duke used to always play non conference opponents in January or February during conference play such as St. John’s and Georgetown. I like the idea of facing a strong non conference opponent or 2 late in the regular season to prepare Duke for the NCAA Tournament.

A loss tomorrow night would drop Duke to a 2 seed

Illinois is mid in the big ten. Quad numbers aside a loss here will put us in a 3-4 seed. Our record would be 5-4 against quad 1 wins, and would further carry the notion that Duke struggles against decent teams. We really needed that auburn win with Kansas and uk imploding in the conference. We have a lot more to lose here than gain.

Illinois is projected as a 7 seed, that’s not a true strong conference opponent.

It was a good move to schedule Illinois it just didn’t pan out like we hoped.

 

[bleediteveryday30]

What? So, losing to Illinois drops us from a #1 to #3 or #4 seed? Where's the logic in that?

 

[bullcity gamer]

Illinois is mid in the big ten. Quad numbers aside a loss here will put us in a 3-4 seed. Our record would be 5-4 against quad 1 wins, and would further carry the notion that Duke struggles against decent teams. We really needed that auburn win with Kansas and uk imploding in the conference. We have a lot more to lose here than gain.

Illinois is projected as a 7 seed, that’s not a true strong conference opponent.

It was a good move to schedule Illinois it just didn’t pan out like we hoped.

Strongly disagree here. Losing to Illinois would not drop Duke to anything below a 2 seed.

Who would you have as the 1s and 2s if Duke loses tonight?

Auburn, Alabama, Florida, Houston, Tennessee. Who are the other 3?

Purdue - is on a 3 game losing streak
Texas A and M - lost to Tennessee today and now has 7 losses on the season
Iowa State - more losses than Duke
Arizona - more losses than Duke and Duke has the head to head win over them
Wisconsin - lost at home to Oregon today
Texas Tech - has more losses than Duke

Duke does have solid wins on the road @ Arizona who is one of the best teams in the Big12 and at Louisville who is one of the top teams in the ACC, the home win against Auburn - the best team in the SEC, and against George Mason - the leader in the Atlantic 10. The notion that Duke cannot beat good competition is not true.

A loss to a Round of 32/Sweet 16 caliber team on a neutral site does not drop Duke to a 3 seed