Illinois won Tuesday. Duke lost Wednesday. As did Iowa, Missouri, and Indiana. That makes for an enjoyable 24 hours or so of college basketball bliss for me.
Maryland played good enough defense to frustrate the Blue Devils, and even some horrific officiating towards the end of the ballgame couldn’t save Duke. Duke’s offense didn’t look as fluid as it did in the last game I saw them play, against Florida State. The Terps didn’t play extremely well, but they didn’t have to. With possibly their strongest defensive effort of the season, light years away from how they played against North Carolina a while back, Maryland showed how to beat Duke: Get in their face and don’t let them play the game the way they want to.
Steve Alford gets credit for having his team up 12 at Northwestern with just under 3:30 left to play. That’s about all the credit he could get though after his team choked away that lead and, eventually, the game to Northwestern by a score of 75-74 in overtime. Pierre Pierce had a double-double: 15 points, 10 turnovers. Oh, wait, that isn’t good. I would make sure I was not in front of Pierre for the next couple days.
But, this is what Iowa deserves for having once employed Bruce Pearl.
Oh Pooh Bear, Quinny the Pooh Bear… Losing to Colorado 64-62 is not what you should be doing…
Bracey Wright: 6-21 from the field, 0-10 from 3-point land. Oh, wait, this isn’t good. Again.
(Minnesota won 70-65, by the way.)
—–
I’m not very good at poetry. Never have been, never will be. But let me try these short little lines…
The sun is orange, the sky is blue
For undefeated teams, there are only two
Illinois is one, twenty wins straight
Could this finally be the year of good fate?
Boston College is the other, the Eagles have soared
But Boston could already have two title teams scored
For only Boston to be the title town, it has to be a feign
So could a title actually be coming to Champaign???
I’m sure most of you will now verbally pummel me to a pulp. So, two more pictures for you to see…
OK, this time not so bad.
But, poetry is a no-no from now on.
You’re still a ——–.
——-
Criticism = OK. Criticism + Name-calling = Not OK.
I actually do hate deleting or editing comments by others, but at some point there has got to be a line for what’s said.
Besides, the one from the VP was grammatically incorrect. What he meant to say was that “You’re still AN asshole.”
Please no more poetry, my eyes are now bleeding.
Sniff, sniff.
He finally did it.
He kept it short, and sweet.
I can die now.
B.C., you should become a White Sox fan. You’re more excited about Duke, Iowa and Indiana losing than Illinois winning.
Your college basketball team is having a once-every-15-years type of season for any program. Enjoy it. They’re real good. My college basketball team sucks, and I know it. But I can promise you that Quinn Buckner and Scott May and Kent Benson will not be pulling a Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris, publicly pining for Illinois to lose. By the way, Illinois has a long way to go before they finish that undefeated season.
Just be sure no losses come on or after St. Patrick’s Day.
Andy, actually he called me an ***clown, but that is neither here or there.
T.J., trust me, I am desperately wanting this this team to go to the Final Four. I could care less about the undefeated season, I just want the Final Four appearance. If we’re undefeated, great, if not, so what?
The way I look at it, Bruce Pearl knocked our program back 15 years, and until we get back to the Final Four, that number of years will keep growing. If you go back through the history of it all, consider 1990. The U of I gets the NCAA inquiry in Feb. 1990, putting the program into a black cloud. With the program’s focus everywhere but the court, the Illini are upset in the NCAA Tournament, I believe by Dayton. However, even with all this, Henson had a top 10 or 15 recruiting class come in for 1989-90 and had all the makings of another top recruiting class for the 1990-91 season. But, the NCAA decides to come down on the Illinois basketball program, even though the U of I only committed minor violations, because of earlier missteps by the football program in the 1980’s and even before that. Illinois may not have been on their way to become the Duke of the 1990’s and early 2000’s, but they might have gotten up into UCONN or Arizona territory.
It is only my opinion, but I believe Bruce Pearl created a situation at Illinois where we missed out on at least one really good chance for the Final Four, and probably two in the early to mid-1990’s. Add the near miss in 2001, and that’s three Final Fours that I think Illinois could have missed out on in that stretch.
So, I really don’t care about the undefeated streak. I don’t want to lose, don’t get me wrong. I want the Illini to win every game they can. What I care about is getting the Big Ten regular season trophy and getting to the Final Four. Anything after that is pure gravy.
As for the other teams’ losing and my comments about them, the combination of the Illini win and those teams’ losses were the factor. If Illinois hadn’t played Tuesday, and those teams then lost on Wednesday, there wouldn’t have been anything from me. It was the combination that made the difference.
“If you go back through the histrionics of it all, consider 1990.”
B.C. and you go to a Big 10 school?
Histrionics does not pertain to history but, rather, hysterics.
Histrionics would be the arms waving and jumping up and down from any of your English professors upon seeing your lack of vocabulary knowledge, assuming you even take an English course.
I always root for Iowa to lose, but that’s more from a loathing of Steve Alford and Juan Pierre Pierce than anything else.
Mike D., the dictionary I have says that one of the uses of histrionics can be for “describing a sequence of events, especially in theatrical arts or performances”.
However, since the rest of the uses of the word do not seem to be linked to any sort of historical purpose, and since this obviously is a big deal to you, I will change the word to “history” in a moment.
And, also, there doesn’t seem to technically be a link between histrionics and hysterics. One definition of histrionics is the following: “Exaggerated emotional behavior calculated for effect”, but I don’t consider that technically to be hysterics. But that’s beside the point.
I call BS – those weren’t the real board members of the BC fan club. The real ones usually comment “I’m an assclown,” and that’s why they’re not censored as having crossed the line. They’re the victims in that case, see. It’s such a fine line between clever and stupid.
B.C.-
1) First thing you should do is throw out your gag Norm Crosby-authored “dictionary”.
2) Feel free to check out:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=histrionics
3) I was wrong to imply that histrionics “pertains” to hysterics. I should have said they the same etymology, hence the similar spelling/meaning.
3) Don’t get snippy with me, kiddo. It’s no “big deal to me”, but if you’re serious about becoming a journalist (and God help us all), you may want to spend more time brushing up on substance (i.e English Lit/Comp) and less time worrying about style (i.e. Mariotti-esque “Shortcuts to Being a Journalist 101”), lest you come off as some shallow “using big words you don’t know the meaning of” hack
Hey, don’t bad mouth the kid. Cliche’s and stupid word choices are the stuff that get you on shitty ESPN shows. Keep working, kid. Someday, you can write such blather as: “The magnitude of Paxson’s accomplishments cannot be understated.”
Paxson’s accomplishments are shitty. I think I just understated their magnitude.
I could be wrong, but isn’t an undefeated season better than just a final four appearance?
An undefeated season means you win the final four, which makes you national champs. A final four appearance just means you have 2 more chances at a loss.
That’s just my take.
Two point threes Mike D.??? We can all be a little picky.
I extended the word “histrionics” a little more than I should have. I changed my comments in response to your concern, and now I’m one word for the better as far as my vocabulary goes. Whatever the heck that means…
MrSpeed, my comments were made to show that the Final Four appearance is what I am concerned about right now. I don’t care if we have 0 losses at the time or 5 losses. Just get there is my point.
If we’re undefeated, great. If we get a loss somewhere along the way, then let’s just worry about getting to the Final Four. I don’t want the Illini to lose, but if we do, then we shouldn’t go overboard about it for two weeks. Let’s move on, hope the team learns and gets better from it, and then make a push for the Final Four.
If my comments weren’t clear about what I want, I am sorry.
Final four? Gotta get the championship.
I’d like to know who the fat loser is with the blue boxing gloves. Does he skip class to paint his obese body before home game? And why the hell is allowed to go shirtless during games? Tell me more about this loser BC.
How does a website that rips on sportswriters with the frequency that this one does ’employ’ a ‘writer’ who can’t stand people not liking him?
I’m not sure about that guy Corporal. I will try to find out something for you though…
Come on, Ivy6, if BC couldn’t stand people not liking him, would he really come back for more?
I just don’t get it. B.C. posts more in his comments section than readers of his articles. Aren’t the comments meant to be commentary on the article itself? Isn’t B.C. in essence commenting on his own article  why the hell did he write the article then? I realize he uses the comments section to lash back at Nasty America and also boister his undercooked writing, but putting 5+ posts in the comment section of your own post is either self-absorbed or borderline paranoid. It’s as if B.C. turned over his Trapper Keeper and ants fell out and he is now feverishly stomping on those ants.
Some tips:
â€â€You are gonna get flamed for any article containing poetry that does not have a dirty limerick. Try throwing in a “boobie” or a “pee-pee” for a laugh.
â€â€You don’t have to comment back, and devolve things into a point and counterpoint tit-for-tat.
â€â€Revisionist history is really bad. If you wrote something, stand by it and take it; don’t go back and change it.
â€â€Never ever edit someone else’s post. Who are you, John Ashcroft? If it’s name calling you want to avoid, letting the poster’s inane insult stand as an example to his/her foolishness is much more honorable. Stay above the fray instead of yanking out the magic Backspace button. Besides, a$$clown isn’t that bad. You need thicker skin if you are going to write for a living.
Awww, leave B.C. alone.
I’m sorry B.C. the —clown statement wasn’t directed towards you or your article at all.It’s just a unwritten rule that anytime the president of your fan club posts,he/she refers to theirself as a or an —clown.I’m a Cubs fan so naturally I’m easily amused.
The Real BC, by any measure, is a complete and total assclow.
GO ILLINI! Good luck in Sweet Sixten and on to the Arch!
Bruce Pearl can die and burn in hell.
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