@Eastern Illinois

Matt Hein Fan

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Birds -9.5 @ Eastern Illinois

Old friend Marty Simmons is in control in Charleston for his 2nd season. Although it appears he may have ditched the sweater vest.

Eastern won 5 games last year, including 2 vs non-D1 teams in the weak OVC.

This is a must win, there are absolutely no excuses for not winning this game. It’s embarrassing enough we are going to play at EIU, it would be a whole other subject if we were to lose to them.
 
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Redbird28

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Birds -9.5 @ Eastern Illinois

Old friend Marty Simmons is in control in Charleston for his 2nd season. Although it appears he may have ditched the sweater vest.

Eastern won 5 games last year, including 2 vs non-D1 teams in the weak OVC.

This is a must win, there are absolutely no excuses for not winning this game. It’s embarrassing enough we are going to play at EIU, it would be a whole other subject if we were to lose to them.
...or it could end up like it did for Illinois last time they visited EIU and took an 80-67 L. Dubious beginning to the Underwood Era, but it's safe to say he turned it around in Urbana. Just like it was the very beginning for Underwood, this is the first road game for Pedon. It's pretty clear from the opener that we have an uphill battle ahead of us. Just give it time.
 

Phantom

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I vaguely remember that. How the hell did U of I end up going to Charleston?

Road games are always tough, even against the mighty Panthers. Figure some shit out and win.
 

Redbird28

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I vaguely remember that. How the hell did U of I end up going to Charleston?

Road games are always tough, even against the mighty Panthers. Figure some shit out and win.
I think it had something to do with Tom Michael being the AD. Goodwill trip on both sides that ended up being a bit of a black eye for BU right out of the gate. In the long run, though, it affected absolutely nothing and Illinois is where they are today as a program.

The game we're talking about is a prime example why I will never buy the old argument that Illinois has nothing to win and everything to lose by playing the in state schools. In the moment, a loss can be nice chirping point for the ISU/NIU/EIU/WIU/SIU's of the world, but it's not going to move the needle for a 4 or 5 * recruit (If you believe in those star rankings). It's not like Ayo flipped to EIU or anywhere else because they lost that game.
 

Phantom

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I think it had something to do with Tom Michael being the AD. Goodwill trip on both sides that ended up being a bit of a black eye for BU right out of the gate. In the long run, though, it affected absolutely nothing and Illinois is where they are today as a program.

The game we're talking about is a prime example why I will never buy the old argument that Illinois has nothing to win and everything to lose by playing the in state schools. In the moment, a loss can be nice chirping point for the ISU/NIU/EIU/WIU/SIU's of the world, but it's not going to move the needle for a 4 or 5 * recruit (If you believe in those star rankings). It's not like Ayo flipped to EIU or anywhere else because they lost that game.
I think a big part of that old argument was more about RPI/SOS numbers (when those were super emphasized) as opposed to recruiting or future program stability. For the longest time, the "everything to lose" stance was to avoid risking a bad loss and drop their tourney seeding, or worse if they were on the bubble. Plus there was the proverbial chest puffing from P5 teams about not possibly standing to lose to "one of those mid-majors." 2006 changed that...and unfortunately the NCAA noticed.
 

Seven

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I vaguely remember that. How the hell did U of I end up going to Charleston?

Road games are always tough, even against the mighty Panthers. Figure some shit out and win.
It was one of those Hurricane Relief games. There were quite a few of those in Fall 2017 but they haven't returned.
 

Seven

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Anyone else heading down to Charleston? Doesn't look like EIU has an online ticket buying mechanism for MBB, so it'll be buying them at Lantz Arena.
 

Matt Hein Fan

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Anyone else heading down to Charleston? Doesn't look like EIU has an online ticket buying mechanism for MBB, so it'll be buying them at Lantz
I’ll be making the trek down. It looked like tickets are $8-$13 depending on where you sit.
 

gobirds85

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Hoping for a different outcome, but nothing will surprise me this early in the season.
 

Metamoron

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It’s kind of funny. Marty has coached vs ISU a lot of times, but at a different school. Only Jud has really seen it before.

If it was a few years ago it could have been meeting #20 or so between Dan and Marty.
 

stats

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I found it refreshing to see ISU running an offense with 12 seconds left in the half as opposed to the dribble it down to 5 seconds and have everybody clear out.
 
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DoubleDeuce

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It's good to hold a team under 20 in the first half. Eastern certainly did their part to help that effort.
 
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