Eastern Illinois (KenPom 352)
UMKC (KenPom 290)
Monmouth (KenPom 283)
Lindenwood (KenPom 343)
Alabama A&M (KenPom 340)
Bethune Cookman (KenPom 316)

These chumps are going to kill our SOS. There's an art to scheduling teams that are in the 100-200 range where you have almost no chance of losing but they actually add a little something to your resume. I'm glad we're not looking like a bubble team because in the past this kind of thing would make a big difference. The good news is that if you are a top team your Quad 1 games usually matter more.

I guess it will be fun to see if we can break 120 points (Alabama A&M likes to play fast), break school records for individual game performances, or achieve some other statistical dominance.

The only justification would be that we needed 3 tuneups for the freshmen, and then 3 easy ones after Thanksgiving, final exams, and Christmas.

This is a strong team and it was a ton of fun seeing them take on elite competition. Looking forward to the meatier portion of the schedule.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters was selected as one of 15 semifinalists for the prestigious Broyles Award, announced Monday by the Frank & Barbara Broyles Foundation. Walters has coached his way to become a Broyles Award front runner, as Illinois ranks in the top 10 in the nation in 17 major defensive categories. The award is presented annually to the nation's top assistant coach.

Walters' unit is led by Bednarik Award semifinalists CB Devon Witherspoon and DT Jer'Zhan Newton. Illinois and Alabama are the only teams with two Bednarik semifinalists, which lists the top 20 defenders in the nation.

The Broyles Award is presented Dec. 6 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Here's a look at the Illinois defense notes:

• Illinois ranks in the top 10 in 17 major defensive categories: 1st in passing efficiency defense(91.8), 2nd in interceptions (17), 2nd in total defense (258.6), 2nd in touchdowns allowed (14),3rd in scoring defense (13.1), 3rd in rushing touchdowns allowed (6), 3rd in passing touchdowns allowed (8), 3rd in passes defended (74), 3rd in yards per pass attempt (5.4), 4th in red zone touchdown percentage (40.0%), 6th in takeaways (24), 6th in third down defense (28.1%), 6th in fewest first downs allowed (155), 7th in passing defense (165.3), 7th in rushing defense (93.4),9th in fewest red zone attempts allowed (25), 9th in third down conversions against (43)
• Illinois and Alabama are the only teams with two Bednarik semifinalists (Newton, Witherspoon).
• Illinois' defense is ranked 3rd in the nation by ESPN's SP+ metric and 5th by PFF.
• Illinois has allowed only 26 points in fourth quarters, with 19 coming in the last two weeks (10 vs. Purdue, 9 at Michigan).
• Illinois has allowed fewer than 100 yards rushing in six of 11 games this season.
• Illinois' pass coverage is ranked third in the nation by PFF and its run defense is ranked seventh.
• Illinois had held six straight opponents to 14 points or fewer before the Michigan State loss, the longest streak since 1989.
  Illinois is 7-0 when allowing fewer than 19 points and 0-4 when allowing 19 points or more.
• Last week against Michigan, Illinois snapped a streak of 13 straight games with an interception, which was the longest active streak in the nation.
• Eight different Illini have an interception this season.
• Illinois has allowed only 14 touchdowns on 138 opponent drives (10.1%).
• During Illinois' seven wins, opponents have a third down conversion rate of 19.8% (18-91).
• Illinois allowed 11.9 points per game at home this season, its best mark at Memorial Stadium since the 1983 Big Ten championship team allowed 9.4 per game.
• Illinois is outscoring opponents 112-53 in the second half this season.
• Illinois held Wisconsin to just two yards rushing, the fewest yards the Badgers have rushed for at home since being held to 12 yards on Nov. 3, 2007, vs. Ohio State.
• Illinois did not allow a touchdown in nonconference play for the first time since 1921 (52-0 vs. South Dakota, 21-0 vs. DePauw), helping Illinois complete its first undefeated nonconference schedule since 2011. It was the first time Illinois played 3+ nonconference games without allowing a TD since 1917 (22-0 vs. Kansas, 44-0 vs. Oklahoma, 28-0 vs. Camp Funston).
• Illinois has allowed 50 passing yards or fewer in three games (30 vs. Wyoming, 49 vs. Chattanooga, 38 vs. Minnesota).
• Kendall Smith and Sydney Brown are tied for 12th in the nation in interceptions (4) and second in the Big Ten. Illinois is the only team in the nation with two players with four interceptions.
• Illinois and Kansas State are the only teams in the nation with three players with 3+ INTs.
• Johnny Newton (50) and Seth Coleman (33) have 83 combined pressures, the most in the Big Ten among teammates, according to PFF.
• Devon Witherspoon and Jartavius Martin have combined for 29 passes defended, the most in the nation among Power-5 teammates.
• Jartavius Martin has the top tackling grade in the Big Ten among cornerbacks and the No. 2 grade in the nation.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.– Terrence Shannon Jr. is the Big Ten Player of the Week for Nov. 14-20, the conference office announced Monday afternoon. He earns the award after averaging 22.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists while shooting 59.5% from the field, including 56.5% from 3-point range.

Shannon had career and school-record performances while leading the No. 16 Fighting Illini to a 2-1 record on the week, including a top-10 victory.

Shannon began the week by setting a new career scoring high with 30 points in just 23 minutes in the blowout win over Monmouth, adding eight rebounds and four assists.

He then had arguably the signature performance of the early college basketball season, pouring in 29 points while tying the school record with eight 3-pointers in Illinois' comeback win over No. 8 UCLA in Las Vegas. Shannon was on fire throughout the night, going 8-of-9 from downtown to become the sixth player in Illini history with eight made threes in a game. He also tallied his third career double-double – and first as an Illini – collecting a game-high 10 rebounds vs. UCLA to go with his 29 points.

Shannon finished the week by tying his career high with six assists and scoring nine points in the loss to No. 16 Virginia in the championship game of the Continental Tire Main Event.

Officials decide another game. That's 3.

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Ultimately, Illinois couldn’t defend Virginia without fouling

How’s he lookin for the scUM game?

He’s the real deal. He’s fun to watch and a big that can compliment the perimeter nature of this team. Really look forward to watching him play.

And the four freshmen are legit and will only get better and better looking ahead. It’s going to be tough to keep these kids off the court.

I can see where Goode and his shooting will be a real X factor for this team come March. Look out!

UCLA is favored by 4.5. Baylor and Virginia are just as good.

I think Shannon will do well but I have loads of other concerns.

Turnovers and fouls are just going to give away tons of possessions and easy points.

Coleman and RJ both play soft and can’t handle adversity. They will struggle from 3 against elite talent and stingy defense.

Dainja and Rogers will get rebounds and will get fouled but can’t score at the line.

Epps can score but I don’t think he can guard at all. Skyy is still learning the PG position and will struggle with his handle.

I don’t know what Mayer’s deal is but we will need him to show up. If he’s struggling then we’re going to get in a big hole early.

I like our talent and our potential. Guys are improving. I just saw a lot of weaknesses that will be exploited by top coaches and top talent. These other teams are Final Four contenders.

This will be a fantastic measuring stick and teaching tool for our guys. We may even win a rematch in March. I’m just expecting things to get ugly here.

Playing with house money IMO. If we do win a game I will be extremely bullish on this team going forward.

I'll post a few pics, tweets, etc. from my trip to Vegas.

I got checked in at the Luxor at around 2 am PT this morning. I forgot everything is difficult in Vegas...moving around, checking in, etc. Just too many goddam people. LOL.

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I can see this team portentous making a run?

Tipoff from T-Mobile Arena in about 10 minutes.

I think it's pretty impressive how in 6 years of Underwood we've seen at least 3 different offensive/defensive schemes. Underwood does his homework and is willing to change up the scheme to suit the strengths of his personnel. Kofi Cockburn was an All-American twice and we started winning as soon as he showed up, but it's not like he was a lottery pick. He was a unicorn in college basketball but it's because we played to his strengths. Now we have a team full of long athletes and we switch to this nasty full-court trap defense. I thought maybe it was just something that would work against lesser teams but it clearly bothered UCLA just as much as it did everyone else. That UCLA team was loaded with elite athletes so there's no team in college basketball that is going to just shrug it off like a gimmick. It's going to be a problem for a lot of teams.

Similarly, our offensive scheme has clearly unlocked Shannon's game. TSJ has done the work to improve his 3-point shooting and right-handed drives but even still this is a guy that is absolutely thriving and playing like a first-team All-American.

Even in the first two seasons when we were short on talent we were driving other teams nuts. When we did run into Big Ten coaches that figured out our defense we moved to something different.

What makes Brad Underwood a special coach is that he's humble enough to study up in the offseason and cook up different schemes to maximize his personnel. He's not just a system coach. His system is whatever he needs it to be to win the game.

Michigan jumps on top 7-0.

Did not see a game thread.

First story in the C-U News-Gazette posted about 2 hours ago.

Cause of death unknown at this time:

Tight one between Baylor and Virginia in game 1.

Cavaliers lead 36-35, 17:36 second half.

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