ILLINOIS vs Texas in NY baby 11-18 Mens NCAA Basketball

[Carpet]

I want to kick this off early and provide as much insight to this game as I can. Lets share with you a great article from rivals regarding the new ILLINI BASKETBALL TEAM

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/gamecast?gameId=303200057

[Carpet]

Bruce Weber on Texas: "They have a lot of talent, no doubt about that." 'Horns using fullcourt pressure on D, running "Utah Jazz stuff" on O.

FROM A TEXAS FAN

Focusing in on the match-ups here, and let me tell you this is going to be no cupcake. Texas lost a lot of talent, but their cupboard is far from bare. Starting 3 seniors Hill, Balbay and Johnson. Hill was barely a contributor coming into this year but is sturdy player, 6-10 240-250, pretty big dude. Balbay and Johnson are both in their 3 year of major minutes and Johnson is an excellent player. MD will have his hands full with this guy. backing up the bigs are Wangmere, 4 star wide body red shirt junior, and stud Tristan Thompson 5 star major talent. Hill, Johnson, Wangmere and Thompson(3 star, 2-4 stars, 5 star respectively) will not be dominated by Tisdale/Leonard/Griffey/Davis,

I think that UofI has an edge there but they won't be blasting them off the boards by any means. Their guards/small forwards are excellent to say the least. 5 star phenom Joseph joins Balbay in the starting lineup along with major weapon Hamilton, another 5 star player. Throw in two more 4 star sophs in the rotation, Brown and Williams, and that backcourt is pretty formidable.

Texas obviously has some meshing issues, but they have real talent all across the board. We've got an edge in height and experience, but this will be a major test. Very curious to see how Cole/Paul/Richmond handle the explosive Hamilton. We're going to find out who the real defender in the group is by the end of this game. Cole has an opportunity to prove his worth against top flight talent here. Should be fun. Also, how does the Dmac and Joseph match-up play-out. Fascinating matchups. Thrilled we are planning this level talent in the non-conference.

FROM CARPETS VIEW reading the above Texas fans thoughts. Texas does not have a edge in Height, Illinois will throw two seven footers at you all night long.

The Illini will go only as far as Demetri McCamey PG Senior takes them, he is the straw that stirs the drink. The length of the guards and size of Illinois will create match up problems for anyone. The Illini must get back on defense because Texas will run at every opportunity, missed shot rebound, turnover if don't matter they will run.

Texas looks a bit sloppy to me and I don't think the free throw shooting is that great at this point. Coach Weber has been focused on Defense he has only employed 5 or 6 offensive sets coming into this game. Now compare that with a team like Ohio State they have over 20-25 sets already in place.

This tells me one thing and I see this Laser Beam clear, the Illini will be in a full transition game with Texas. This Illini team can flat out get it when they are running and you are going to see some highlights on ESPN when that happens. The beauty of this is that it plays into the strength of Illinois which is speed and talent, the bench is deep and when one Mr Illinois Basketball High School award winner leaves the floor another one steps in to play.

Coach Weber admits he does not know what kind of team he has, but he does know that it is loaded with talent. So much talent that the games are easier than the practices.

So call it a coming out party for the Illini and there is a chance that Illinois could end up playing # 4 Pitt and if there is ever a chance to take out a # 4 its early in the season.

More to follow

[Carpet]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketb...n-bigten111610


Coorect link from above

[Carpet]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketb...n-bigten111610

[Carpet]

The Line opens a Pick-em, I do see some action moving the line early to Illinois -1

All that Long Horn money is just waiting for that line to move higher.

Illinois should be favored in this game even on a neutral floor.

[Carpet]

I am going to call this one early give you time to lock in your bets

ILLINOIS 74 Texas 68

[woodee12]

Texas is a little immature this early in my opinion. Lots of new faces adjusting to the big time level and at MSG Illinois experience will help.

If you watched the Texas game vs. Navy you saw this, and this was on their home court.

Illinois wins I expect as well.

[Carpet]

Texas has adopted the entire play book of the Utah Jazz on offense Barns spent 2 weeks at the Jazz camp and came back with this new offense,

Deron Williams A Super Star guard with the Jazz comes from Illinois and gave Coach Weber the playbook of the Jazz offense.

[woodee12]

Still, A experienced Illinois team should look better and put those youngsters away...shows you that on paper, nothing matters. They need to figure itout or once again it will be an over-hyped, overrated Illinois hoop year. Its early, i know but usually experience wins out in the early going.

Hard to tell who was the freshman and who was the seniors on that floor last night.

I do expect a bounce back against Maryland today tho.