Illinois forums

[MartyFine]

 

[ISpyCy]

This one made me laugh. "More fans closer to a major airport"

Are they aware of how much of that "bigger state population" winds up in Iowa City?

 

[exCyDing]

Are they aware of how much of that "bigger state population" winds up in Iowa City?

Just the ones who can’t get into Illinois, to say nothing of Northwestern. Or Michigan. Or Indiana. Or Wisconsin.

 

[SleepyEyeCy]

I guess to me, 8 hours is a pretty easy drive to watch your team that's really good.

I agree. Excluding bad weather, twelve hours is my Cutoff. Seven hours could be a "day trip" but more likely a one night hotel stay, which is what I did for the game last night. Now, 15 hours become more of a commitment.

 

[Klubber]

Technically I think it’s WLS which is Chicagoland and will make it down to Kankakee (it made it to the town I grew up in which was 15 miles north of Kankakee) but people there probably are more interested in Olivet Nazarene University than Illinois.

Regardless, majority of illinois, especially those close to any major airports, don’t generally give 2 hoots about U of Illinois athletics. It’s a pro sports state more than anything.

And the college interest is centered pretty much on ND football for the most part.

 

[Cyclonefan89]

While that is great, yes. The overall design and usability of their board sucks.

I have not been to all the boards, and dont spend much time on others, but know everyone that uses 247, which is a lot, is going to be subpar. And any other purpose built have been bad.

One time there was a posting somewhere that listed all the fansites and forums around the country, and I spent a little time just looking at them, to see what they were like. Never did find one batter than CF.

The hok crying... is great content, but getting around their crappy board to see it, not so much.

shaggybevo was better. this forum is good but it has its problems too. like navigation on the left of the page. honestly CF was better in the old style

 

[NWICY]

My mom SWEARS by an Illinois Tourism commercial she saw in the late 80's where the opening line of the jingle was "Just outside Chicago, there's a place called Illinois."



South suburbs of Chicago to Omaha, straight shot on 80, is 8 hours. Not that super easy of a drive. Champaign-Urbana to Omaha is 7, according to Google Maps.

I think I remember that ad

 

[intrepid27]

Having lived in Chicago for 14 years...I genuinely 100% think Iowa State has more passionate fans in Chicago than Illinois does.

I met ONE Illinois fan in 14 years living in neighborhoods near downtown. One. (and he was a relative of my wife, not even a random person I met) Pretty much every other regional Big Ten team has a ton more fans in Chicago than IL/NW have. Even when they made their big run in I think 2006 practically nobody in Chicago cares. Actual Chicagoans who are born there are always obsessed with a terrible Bears team and ignore Illinois.

I highly doubt they have more fans that care enough to fly to Boston than ISU. Both will be outnumbered greatly by UConn but no way they have any more fans there than ISU.

Off topic but I spent 5 days in Downtown Houston in early March including one day at the Stock Show and rodeo which is the equivalent of the Iowa State fair. I saw ONE person wearing University of Houston gear the entire time. Since I was attending an ag convention, I saw tons of ISU and K State gear.

 

[MyNameEhJeff]

I listened to (an extremely biased and non ISU ball knowing) Illinois basketball podcast yesterday, and they were saying ISU is basically a better version of Duquesne but overall we’re very similar to each other, and they don’t think we’ll be able to 1. Slow down their offense and 2. Score enough points to beat them.

It was honestly really hard to listen to. They are a really good team though and have been ranked in the top 10/15 for most of the year and have “impressive” (in a weak big ten) wins

 

[madguy30]

I listened to (an extremely biased and non ISU ball knowing) Illinois basketball podcast yesterday, and they were saying ISU is basically a better version of Duquesne but overall we’re very similar to each other, and they don’t think we’ll be able to 1. Slow down their offense and 2. Score enough points to beat them.

It was honestly really hard to listen to. They are a really good team though and have been ranked in the top 10/15 for most of the year and have “impressive” (in a weak big ten) wins

I wonder if ISU tries for a basketball version of the football tactic to 'shorten the game' by being intentional with using a lot of the shot clock to get looks instead of getting caught in a track meet.

This doesn't mean stall ball but just making sure to not force things and let Illinois get out for run outs and quick 3s.

 

[Clonefan32]

It's just hard to tell what they are. They can score, but they haven't beaten a team with a pulse in months. I mean, look at this:



You're getting some really big numbers hung on you by same really not good teams.

I may wind up eating these words, but I'd rather be the team with the elite offense instead of the elite defense in the tournament. New gym, NBA arena-- you're banking on your jumpshots falling. I like our chances.

 

[NWICY]

I wonder if ISU tries for a basketball version of the football tactic to 'shorten the game' by being intentional with using a lot of the shot clock to get looks instead of getting caught in a track meet.

This doesn't mean stall ball but just making sure to not force things and let Illinois get out for run outs and quick 3s.

I could see them doing that, but I would prefer lots of motion then taking the good shot when available. Seems like lots if the time you try to run clock you end up with a bad shot.

 

[madguy30]

I could see them doing that, but I would prefer lots of motion then taking the good shot when available. Seems like lots if the time you try to run clock you end up with a bad shot.

Yeah I guess I should say work it around for the good look even if it's early. The rhythmic look.

 

[ScheelhaaseRock]

Are they aware of how much of that "bigger state population" winds up in Iowa City?

Oh absolutely. The "Chicago Problem" has been discussed a billion times over by Illinois fans. Plenty of kids are ABI (Anywhere But Illinois) from the jump, the school doesn't have room for all of the kids who want to get into Illinois (Campus is up to about 50,000 students), and then of those who can't get into Illinois a lot want major college experience so they want to go to a Power 2-4-whatever school over DeKalb.

The core of Illinois' fanbase is I-80 to I-70, which means were're pretty comparable to ISU in terms of core fan market. There are a few people that live in Chicago or St. Louis metro and have basketball season tickets, but Peoria, Springfield, Bloomington-Normal and of course Chambana (and outlying towns in between) make up the vast majority of the fanbase. Football has a long history of sucking and hasn't been able to keep the gameday support that ISU has. Basketball attendance has historically been robust and we bounced back from the dark days of the 2010s pretty quickly.

 

[trevn]

Oh absolutely. The "Chicago Problem" has been discussed a billion times over by Illinois fans. Plenty of kids are ABI (Anywhere But Illinois) from the jump, the school doesn't have room for all of the kids who want to get into Illinois (Campus is up to about 50,000 students), and then of those who can't get into Illinois a lot want major college experience so they want to go to a Power 2-4-whatever school over DeKalb.

The core of Illinois' fanbase is I-80 to I-70, which means were're pretty comparable to ISU in terms of core fan market. There are a few people that live in Chicago or St. Louis metro and have basketball season tickets, but Peoria, Springfield, Bloomington-Normal and of course Chambana (and outlying towns in between) make up the vast majority of the fanbase. Football has a long history of sucking and hasn't been able to keep the gameday support that ISU has. Basketball attendance has historically been robust and we bounced back from the dark days of the 2010s pretty quickly.

I live near Iowa City and happened to be in town the morning/afternoon before the last regular season game between Iowa and Illinois. I was really impressed with how many Illinois fans I saw walking around Iowa City. There was a lot of orange.

 

[cowgirl836]

Oh absolutely. The "Chicago Problem" has been discussed a billion times over by Illinois fans. Plenty of kids are ABI (Anywhere But Illinois) from the jump, the school doesn't have room for all of the kids who want to get into Illinois (Campus is up to about 50,000 students), and then of those who can't get into Illinois a lot want major college experience so they want to go to a Power 2-4-whatever school over DeKalb.

The core of Illinois' fanbase is I-80 to I-70, which means were're pretty comparable to ISU in terms of core fan market. There are a few people that live in Chicago or St. Louis metro and have basketball season tickets, but Peoria, Springfield, Bloomington-Normal and of course Chambana (and outlying towns in between) make up the vast majority of the fanbase. Football has a long history of sucking and hasn't been able to keep the gameday support that ISU has. Basketball attendance has historically been robust and we bounced back from the dark days of the 2010s pretty quickly.

yeah I was waaaaaaaaaaaay to the north of you guys and I rarely saw Illini gear. High school or pro was everything. Probably some Hawkeye and Bucky here and there.

 

[Cyched]

and they were saying ISU is basically a better version of Duquesne but overall we’re very similar to each other

Very DePaul-esque

 

[ScheelhaaseRock]

I live near Iowa City and happened to be in town the morning/afternoon before the last regular season game between Iowa and Illinois. I was really impressed with how many Illinois fans I saw walking around Iowa City. There was a lot of orange.

We traditionally travel pretty well for basketball... it's been a point of pride for us over the years. The Omaha turnout was kind of disappointing but you guys knew you were going there for weeks and we didn't think we'd get Omaha... I think that site instantly became the most expensive ticket on StubHub.

I was at that Iowa game, they had to crank up the music to try and drown out the I-L-L, I-N-I chants late in the second half, it was glorious.

I expect a pretty good turnout this weekend (although it will be mostly UConn fans) and if we somehow survive I'd expect a ton of Illinois fans in Phoenix.

 

[Cyhig]

We traditionally travel pretty well for basketball... it's been a point of pride for us over the years. The Omaha turnout was kind of disappointing but you guys knew you were going there for weeks and we didn't think we'd get Omaha... I think that site instantly became the most expensive ticket on StubHub.

I was at that Iowa game, they had to crank up the music to try and drown out the I-L-L, I-N-I chants late in the second half, it was glorious.

I expect a pretty good turnout this weekend (although it will be mostly UConn fans) and if we somehow survive I'd expect a ton of Illinois fans in Phoenix.

Makes sense. University of Iowa is "Far Western University of Illinois" after all

 

[BCClone]

It's just hard to tell what they are. They can score, but they haven't beaten a team with a pulse in months. I mean, look at this:

View attachment 126295

You're getting some really big numbers hung on you by same really not good teams.

I may wind up eating these words, but I'd rather be the team with the elite offense instead of the elite defense in the tournament. New gym, NBA arena-- you're banking on your jumpshots falling. I like our chances.

You would rather have offense over defense? I'm thinking you may have misspoke in there with the rest of your post.