Some preseason betting notes

[Fighter of the Nightman]

where is Illinois since so many seem to think they are just as good or better than we are ?

So many? I have argued here that they should be ranked about evenly:

Purdue was a 4-seed who lost in the First Round, did not finished ranked in the AP and finished with 6 Q1 wins. Illinois was a 1-seed that lost in the Second Round, finished #2 in the AP and finished with 12 Q1 wins. Illinois won the only meeting last year and has won 3 straight against Purdue.

Since then, Illinois has lost a huge star in Ayo, added a year of development for everyone else and added some nice recruits/transfer pieces. Purdue has lost no one, added a year of development and added some very nice (better) recruits. Drag Illinois down a bit and Purdue up a bit, and it’s coming down to preference to what team you prefer, in my humble opinion. I wouldn’t expect any PU fan to think Illinois will be better, and no one here should be surprised if most Illinois fans are confident we can be better again.

However, that is MY opinion and your claim that “so many” think this is false. All things considered, PU is getting AT LEAST as much hype as it deserves, don’t you think?

 

[HoosierFan21]

So many? I have argued here that they should be ranked about evenly:

Purdue was a 4-seed who lost in the First Round, did not finished ranked in the AP and finished with 6 Q1 wins. Illinois was a 1-seed that lost in the Second Round, finished #2 in the AP and finished with 12 Q1 wins. Illinois won the only meeting last year and has won 3 straight against Purdue.

Since then, Illinois has lost a huge star in Ayo, added a year of development for everyone else and added some nice recruits/transfer pieces. Purdue has lost no one, added a year of development and added some very nice (better) recruits. Drag Illinois down a bit and Purdue up a bit, and it’s coming down to preference to what team you prefer, in my humble opinion. I wouldn’t expect any PU fan to think Illinois will be better, and no one here should be surprised if most Illinois fans are confident we can be better again.

However, that is MY opinion and your claim that “so many” think this is false. All things considered, PU is getting AT LEAST as much hype as it deserves, don’t you think?

You also lost another starter in Miller, and your backup Center in giorgi bezhanishvili. The only team on par with Purdue in the preseason is Michigan.

 

[IUhaterade]

So many? I have argued here that they should be ranked about evenly:

Purdue was a 4-seed who lost in the First Round, did not finished ranked in the AP and finished with 6 Q1 wins. Illinois was a 1-seed that lost in the Second Round, finished #2 in the AP and finished with 12 Q1 wins. Illinois won the only meeting last year and has won 3 straight against Purdue.

Since then, Illinois has lost a huge star in Ayo, added a year of development for everyone else and added some nice recruits/transfer pieces. Purdue has lost no one, added a year of development and added some very nice (better) recruits. Drag Illinois down a bit and Purdue up a bit, and it’s coming down to preference to what team you prefer, in my humble opinion. I wouldn’t expect any PU fan to think Illinois will be better, and no one here should be surprised if most Illinois fans are confident we can be better again.

However, that is MY opinion and your claim that “so many” think this is false. All things considered, PU is getting AT LEAST as much hype as it deserves, don’t you think?

The reason you do not understand my assertion that so many on here think Illinois could be just as good or better than Purdue is because you do not have access to the premium board.

Trust me- there are quite a few posters on KHC that see Illinois as a tier 1 team- whereas I see Purdue and Michigan as tier 1 and Illinois as the 3rd in the conference at best.

 

[IUhaterade]

You also lost another starter in Miller, and your backup Center in giorgi bezhanishvili. The only team on par with Purdue in the preseason is Michigan.

What I was going to say. The narrative that Ayo is all they lost is just that- narrative.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

What I was going to say. The narrative that Ayo is all they lost is just that- narrative.

I guess agree to disagree … Giorgi and Miller were not putting up numbers that aren’t arguably going to be replaced, fairly easily. I liked Adam Miller and think he can be a beast by his junior year or so, but it was pretty well known that his starting every game was a ceremonial gesture to his high school coaches. For example, by the BTT Championship Game vs. OSU, Miller once again started but played fewer minutes than Grandison, Williams and obviously Curbelo off of the bench. People often forget Curbelo never started to pretty much placate Miller’s parents’ ego.

You can make an argument that PU is better than Illinois this year, like I said, but there isn’t any reason for an Illini fan to not think we’ll be every bit as good. You are making the assumption that returning everyone plus new players will take you from a 4-seed to a 1- or 2-seed. We are making the assumption that returning 6 of our 7 players who played the most last year plus some additions will keep us in the 2- to 3-seed range or above. It quite literally comes down to your bias and isn’t some clear cut thing, like Michigan vs. Maryland … which is my point.

 

[Chi-Boiler]

. People often forget Curbelo never started to pretty much placate Miller’s parents’ ego.

Don't Miller and Curbelo play vastly different positions/roles? I'm not saying you're lying about Miller's parents - we've dealt with that ourselves - but I'm thinking Frazier and Ayo had more to do with Curbelo not starting than Miller.