Illinois Was Awful Tonight & That's Okay Because They're Still Going To Be An Absolute Wagon This Year
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Maybe in an alternate universe I would sit here and complain religiously and lose my mind. I'd be pissed we gave away a solid early-season road win. I would lament about the lackluster guard play and point out how much better the squad would be with Ayo. But the reality is that's all a bunch of bullshit and pretty much anybody carrying that opinion should spend the night in Champaign County jail. Tell them Carl sent you.
If Kofi isn't an NCAA murder suspect for donating nominal apparel-proceeds to charity, then this is a classic double digit heyhowyadoin blowout. There's more reality. The Illini were without the powerhouse All American center that will likely dominate college basketball highlight reels for the months to come. For now - for tonight - he's on the sidelines and the Illini lost the game.
Would've been nice for Trent to step up. No way I'm reading into his late fuck up. And it would've been better if Curbelo didn't go 4-18 from the field with 7 turnovers in his first test of being The Guy. Chances are though he levels out over the season and ends up playing like the preseason 1st team Big Ten point guard everyone predicted. You'd be a moron to judge this guy at his worst and tonight was definitely that. So let's quickly move on because the Bulls tip in less than hour.
Big takeaway is this team will grow throughout the year. Losing Ayo and filling that gap down the stretch of games is going to take experience. Then you get the machine that is Coach Underwood an opportunity to mold and teach what's in front of him. History shows that's going to work out just fine for us. In the meantime don't lose sleep about this loss. You deserve to lose when you commit 26 turnovers and shoot 37%. Sharp money says they go up from here.
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