ILL is looking good

[Tater]

As impressed as I am with our Gophers so far, I think I'm more impressed with Illinois. Groce has a very fun team to watch. Paul and co. look tough. I thought they'd fall off with the coaching change but it may have been addition (Groce) by subtraction (Weber).

 

[mnsportsgeek]

They have some real competition coming up. Let's see how they fare against Gonzaga and Missouri. I'm reserving judgement till then. However, 8-0 is 8-0. They're beating the teams on their schedule.

 

[Tater]

They have some real competition coming up. Let's see how they fare against Gonzaga and Missouri. I'm reserving judgement till then. However, 8-0 is 8-0. They're beating the teams on their schedule.

Good point. Let's see how they handle the grind.

 

[tjgopher]

Anytime you win the Maui Invitational you have something to hang your hat on. That said, they won the Maui Invitational with wins over USC, Chaminade, and Butler. The bracket worked out for them to avoid North Carolina, Marquette, and Texas. In reality, that was a fairly mediocre field of teams relative to how Maui usually looks. And, they beat a below average Georgia Tech team on Wednesday (a GT team that will likely not make the NCAA tourney field or even get to the bubble).

I do think Groce can coach and I do think Illinois has an impressive roster (underachieved the last 2-3 years). Certainly anyone who figured Illinois would be an easy win will have to reconsider that stance.