Basketball

(EDITOR'S NOTE: IlliniGuys co-founder Larry Smith has covered sports from the local to the international level for 35 years, including 12 Final Fours and six NBA Finals.  He is the creator of the Dirty Dozen, an office pool selection matrix that is 12-0 in its existence.)

By Larry Smith - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 20, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy The Daily Progress)

--Another mid-March weekend glued to the tube and I'm so thankful that - as a lifelong sports fan - a true playoff is finally coming to college football.  I've dreamed of this kind of excitement in December for so long.  Will this mean that an upstart will crack the hierarchy of Alabama/Georgia/LSU/Clemson/Ohio State and win a national championship?  Not anytime soon.  I mean, we're still waiting for a non-power conference team to take an NCAA basketball title, right?  But to have a Troy or Coastal Carolina-type pull off an early round upset would skyrocket the already-stratospheric interest in college football.

I mean, I know college basketball lifers who didn't know who FDU was before Friday night, but found themselves changing the channel and rooting for this tiny (in stature and in school size) program from New Jersey.  And following a true David vs. Goliath triumph over Purdue, their run ended at the hands of another Cinderella in Florida Atlantic.  Neither school had ever won an NCAA tournament game before (Fairleigh Dickinson's Northeast Conference had never posted a victory) and yet it was the Owls that wrestled the title of tournament darling away from the Knights in a prime-time matchup (yes, you read that right!) to advance to their first Sweet 16.

Brad Sturdy, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

March 19, 2023

Obviously, who returns for the Illini next season dictates much of what they will grab

Illinois players and head coach Brad Underwood finally were hit with the reality on Thursday that everything this team did over the last few months was exactly who they were. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 19, 2023

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Everybody associated with the University of Illinois men’s basketball program spent practically the entire 2022-23 season trying to convince those on the outside that they were different, and their best selves were still waiting to appear.

Mike Cagley, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular March 19, 2023 […]

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 18, 2023

The day that I found access to a quickly updated list of the players who entered the transfer portal, I made an effort to check it every five minutes.

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 17, 2023

The Illinois men's basketball season is not over, but it is no secret that Illinois will address some major areas.

Brad Sturdy, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

March 17, 2023

Every player talked about having continuity, as did Brad Underwood. After the game, I talked to each player, here are some quotes and thoughts.

Illinois ends its 2022-23 season with a disappointing first […]

Brad Sturdy, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

March 16, 2023

The Fighting Illini Men’s Basketball team enters the big dance on Thursday afternoon to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in a game that features two of the most mercurial teams in the country.

A severe muscle strain in her right leg that caused pain every time she planted her foot ultimately doomed Illinois junior center Kendall Bostic in her return to the NCAA Tournament

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 15, 2023

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A legitimately argument could be made that this NCAA Tournament First Four matchup was lost for Illinois last week in a practice session inside the Ubben Basketball Facility in Champaign, Illinois. 

By IlliniGuys Staff

March 15, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The heat generated from the Illinois women's first NCAA tournament game since 2003 quickly dissipated in a frigid 2nd half shooting effort as the Illini fell short to Mississippi State 70-56 in an NCAA play-in game Wednesday night.

Makira Cook, hours after learning she had been selected as an Associated Press All-American honorable mention pick, scored a team-high 20 points, but only nine after halftime as the Illinois shooting went ice cold.  The Illini hit just 1-of-11 from the field in the 3rd quarter and managed just eight field goals total in the 2nd half as Mississippi State took a 31-30 halftime edge and quickly built a commanding 48-34 lead.  Illinois never got within single digits the rest of the way.

Illinois guard Makira Cook was named an honorable mention All-America selection by the Associated Press. Cook is the program’s first All-American in a decade. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 15, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy Eleanor Guinan/Illinois Athletics)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Makira Cook always gets the exact message from her head coach that Shauna Green wanted to hear as a player. 

As long as, of course, that message isn’t a text to Cook’s phone. 

“She never responded to my texts quickly,” said the Illinois first-year head coach who recruited Cook to Dayton and brought her to Champaign via the transfer portal. “Still doesn't, God love her.” 

Illinois junior forward Kendall Bostic will, once again, be at a physical disadvantage to the post player opposite of her in the form of Mississippi State 6-foot-5 leading scorer Jessika Carter.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 15, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- At this point late in the 2022-23 season, Kendall Bostic should be used to folks noticing the physical size advantage for her center counterpart.

The Illinois junior center, who is listed on the roster at 6-foot-2 but admitted Tuesday measures just 6-foot-1 “in basketball shoes” and whose head coach said is “probably 6-foot”, has already been matched up against some of the most premier skilled bigs in the Big Ten Conference. 

By Larry Smith - IlliniGuys Staff Member

March 15th, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

It was March, 2001.  I was at an opening round NCAA tournament game and the gentleman sitting next to me was a veteran referee who had worked numerous postseason tourneys over the years.  Recognizing me from CNN/SI, he struck up a conversation.  He became so comfortable that he admitted to me that he'd once given a star player's foul to another player in order to keep him in the game.

I was shocked by this revelation.  If a referee was fully aware of time and score in the waning moments of a game, what else are they capable of?

When my plane landed, I headed straight for the office to begin my research.  Those scribbles would collect in a notebook for eight years when I finally asked myself 'what would happen if I put all of this work into my bracket for the friendly office pool?'  The year was 2009 and I ignored the usually clueless pundits of the cable network world and depended solely on my own work.  The result:  two office pool victories and more than $1,000 in my pocket.

And that's how the Dirty Dozen was born.  It's a matrix; examining the top 24 teams - or top six seed lines - the matrix can tell you the 12 teams that will NOT win the NCAA championship.

And it has never missed!

A perfect 12-0 heading into this March.  The biggest to fall would have to be the 2015 Kentucky team that finished the regular season undefeated.  As I began to share the Dozen list with hoop fans that year, I was often accused of hating Wildcats coach John Calipari and thus called his team "dirty".  I would explain that this is not what I say or think; it's the matrix that decides and that's the point.  It eliminates bias and all emotion.  It doesn't matter who the coach is or what the team did last year or their school colors or how many banners hang in their home arena.  It's strictly a numbers game.

Before I reveal the list (note: IlliniGuys members always get the list first), I need to remind you that this is strictly for entertainment.  Past results have no bearing on future outcomes.  This process has been perfect every year since its inception (there was no Dozen in the COVID years of 2020 & 2021), but at some point it has to fail.  As its creator, I am fully aware of this.

So here it is - the 13th annual Dirty Dozen. Like the years before this, I have no faith in its chance of success.  It's not the list I would pick personally.  So, as much as anything, I'll watch in amazement to see if it can survive again, just as its brothers have before it.

Enjoy the games and may this help enhance your own bracket and earn you a few more dollars in your office pool!

(Subscription required for further access.  Sign up here: https://illiniguys.com/subscribe/ )

Illinois first-year head coach Shauna Green had no realistic expectations for this season until she invited perennial powerhouse Notre Dame to an empty State Farm Center for an October scrimmage.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 14, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The mental turning point for Shauna Green in her first season as the women’s basketball head coach at the University of Illinois might have been when her team played an opponent with no fans in the stands and no official stats were kept.

Notre Dame, a program coming off a third place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference, a consistent Top 20 ranking throughout the 2021-22 season and a Sweet 16 appearance in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, came to State Farm Center in the second-to-last weekend in October to play in the annual ‘dark scrimmage’ game just 11 days before the Illini’s exhibition opener. Green’s program over the last five years had won just seven total Big Ten Conference games. By the time Illinois center Kendall Bostic and Notre Dame forward Maddy Westbeld battled for the opening tip, the expectation bar for this first-year Illini coaching staff was not high.