Featured

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. 

Mike Farrell, IlliniGuys National Football Recruiting Expert

March 15, 2023

(Mike Farrell also has his own website: https://mikefarrellsports.com/)

In this edition of the Farrell Files Illinois, I’ll look at another DB target and break down some of the top 2024 LB targets.

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. 

Illinois head coach Shauna Green is hopeful sophomore forward Brynn Shoup-Hill (ankle/foot) can play in the NCAA Tournament play-in round against Mississippi State on Wednesday night.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 14, 2023

(Photos courtesy Illinois Athletics)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Brynn Shoup-Hill certainly hopes to be on pace to make her return to the playing floor tomorrow night in the NCAA Tournament. 

Illini forward Brynn Shoup-Hill hopes to return after missing the last four games with an undisclosed lower leg injury. (Photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

The Illinois sophomore forward was out of the walking boot and active for the open practice session on the Bryce Center floor Tuesday afternoon. Shoup-Hill, who along with guard Jayla Oden has been out of the lineup since Feb. 22 due to an injury to her right foot, continues to make progress in her rehabilitation to possibly be medically cleared for Illinois’ play-in round game in the NCAA Tournament against Mississippi State (6 p.m. CST, ESPNU).

Brad Sturdy, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

March 14, 2023

In many cases this will be a longer, drawn out process as many of the players that Illinois is going to target may be declaring for the draft.

Despite a one-year turnaround that matched the all-time Big Ten Conference record, Illinois is slated for the NCAA Tournament play-in round against Mississippi State on Wednesday night.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 13th, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- After 20 years of waiting, the NCAA Tournament selection moment was a muddled, confusing and silent response from the University of Illinois women’s basketball team on Sunday night. 

Not only was Illinois put in a Wednesday night play-in game but the ESPN selection show special made a broadcast mistake that presented the entire Greensboro 1 region altogether after celebrating No. 1 and undefeated South Carolina’s pod in Columbia. Nobody in the Illinois program, which hadn’t seen a NCAA Tournament appearance for 20 years before Sunday, got the satisfaction of seeing its name individually revealed and even if ESPN had done the television broadcast in the correct order, it would’ve had to share the historic moment with Mississippi State. 

Mike Farrell, IlliniGuys National Football Recruiting Expert

March 13, 2023

(Mike Farrell also has his own website: https://mikefarrellsports.com/)

In this edition of the Farrell Files Illinois, I’ll focus on a few key 2024 and 2025 targets one of whom will be visiting soon.

University of Illinois Athletics March 12, 2023 CHAMPAIGN, Ill. […]