Edmond Ruth won the title at 174 lbs. as the Illini finished 11th in the B1G wrestling finals. Hopefully, Poeta can get them back into the upper echelons of the conference.

Big difference between #13 overall and the others.

First round you get a 13 seed. That’s going to be an auto-qualifier from a low major. They are usually 70+ on KenPom but some of them are much better than others (especially if we see a lot of upsets in those tourneys.) Want the weakest first round team possible.

Second round you get the winner of the 5/12 game. Some 5 seed always loses to the 12. Big spread in the quality of 5 seeds right now.

KenPom on Bracketmatrix
BYU (16)
SDSU (20)
Clemson (24)
South Car (47!)

Who do you think loses to the 12? The top 4 seed notionally gets South Carolina.

Then if you do get to the Sweet 16 you probably see the 1 seed. It’s clear that Purdue, UConn, and Houston are the 3 best teams in the country. There’s always a 1 seed that everyone knows is going down early. That’s going to be the #4 overall seed this year, whoever it is.

Lots of brackets are going to have the #13 overall team going to the Elite Eight. It’s a desirable spot and we have a decent shot at it even if we fall short of a 3 seed.

Nice looking wing junior. Would look good at Illinois.

Tipoff coming up at 6 pm CT from Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Illinois falls 75-65 to Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament.

Disappointing season for the Illini women. They finish 14-15.

Losses by numbers 4; 6; 9, 11, 14; 24.
And number 5 in trouble.

With the Big Ten regular season nearly in the books, Orange and Blue News offers up our conference post-season awards for the 2023-24 season.

We pick our conference player of the year, coach of the year, All-Conference teams and more.

Liam McNeely has reportedly asked out of his NLI. Huge loss for the Hoosiers.

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is why Ty Rodgers has not developed a jump shot or a 3 point shot. Given how much time these young men devote to playing basketball from the time they are 14 or younger, with high school basketball, AAU basketball during the summer, summer workouts during college, etc. how does an athletic, strong, big young guy like Rodgers not have figured out a shooting stroke that at least makes him a mediocre threat from outside of 12'? With all of the access these days to extra coaching, athletic staff, facilities, and time how is this possible? I don't know if all of you will remember former Illini like Dennis Graff, Rob Judson, Steve Lanter, Matt Heldman, or Otho Tucker - just a few names I can recall but all could hit an outside shot and yet I would not consider any of them particularly "athletic". Why is this so hard for Rodgers?

I did some quick research on a few other B1G teams: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Purdue. For every one of those teams, every player that has averaged at least 8 minutes of playing time (for WIS it's 5 min) has attempted at least one 3-pt shot except for Nicholson and Preston on NW. And that is understandable because they are both bulky, inside post players similar to Dainja. And every player on those teams that has attempted a 3 point shot has made one except for Payne (1 attempt) and Fox (4 attempts) on Minnesota - and those guys are again mostly inside players, not wings or stretch 4s.

Ty is not only limiting his personal potential but making it more difficult for the team to operate its offense when the opposing team can eliminate him as an outside threat. Why is this such a challenge for him? Is it something he is aware of and working on?

U f I guy holding steady with Djokovic in third set.

DeJuan Marrero did a podcast with Fears. He has a regular basketball-related podcast.

We covered DeJuan's recruitment back when he was in high school in Indiana. Anyone remember him? He's one of the first prospects that I covered when I was working here as a recruiting reporter.

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Bielema is getting pretty close to announcing an outside linebacker coach.

Several interviews for this one. They’ve kept the names under wraps.

I don’t think the departure of Bullen was expected. He was actively recruiting right up until leaving for the Giants job.

All I want for March Madness is the following:

Will you please play Ty Rogers and Quincy Guerrier at least 30 minutes a game going forward. After Sunday at Iowa, we embark on a win or go home stretch.

I was a good kid and Illini fan this year and don't want coal left in my stocking.

Yours truly,
IlliniSkillz
🔸🔹🔸🔹
❤️❤️❤️

Final: Purdue 77 Illinois 71.

Boilers make clutch shots down the stretch to lock it up.

Zach Edey 28 points and 8 rebounds for Boilers.

Marcus Domask led Illinois with 20 points.

Illinois was just 4-for-16 3PT FG

Purdue 8-for-10 from three in the second half

Orange and Blue News All-Big Ten teams.

This is a work in progress. Not a done deal. What do you guys think?

Some of the players I'm debating...

* Should Marcus Domak be first team? If so, over Walker or Young?
* Should Purdue guard Lance Jones be 3rd team? If so, over who?
* Coach of year Hoiberg or Chris Collins?
* 6th man Gillis or Nebraska guard CJ Wilcher?

First Team

Zach Edey, Purdue
Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois
Boo Buie, Northwestern
Jahmir Young, Maryland
Tyson Walker, Michigan State

Second Team

Braden Smith, Purdue
Marcus Domask, Illinois
AJ Storr, Wisconsin
Dawson Garcia, Minnesota
Payton Sandfort, Iowa

Third team

Tony Perkins, Iowa
Bruce Thornton, Ohio State
Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern
Ka’lel Ware, Indiana
Ace Baldwin Jr., Penn State

Player of the Year: Zach Edey, Purdue

Defensive Player of the Year: Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers

Coach of the Year: Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska

Freshman of the Year: Owen Freeman, Iowa

6th Man of the Year: Mason Gillis, Purdue