Recent content by combes1

The new name is not a big change. Memorial Stadium to Gies Memorial Stadium. Beilema and Underwood have been great hires for the main sports.

I know Illinois loves Morillo. Of course, so does Minnesota and lots of other schools. Morillo is Dominican. Illinois’ hope is assistant Orlando Antigua who is also Dominican and has close ties with their national team.

Cal was 14-19 last year and lost it’s one star player.

Final Four team. I was at the Minnesota game. Illinois scuffled for a few games after losing Kendall Gill to injury. Only lost 5 games all season and only one with Gill in the lineup. 31-5 Great win for Minnesota, though. Anderson and Battle are all time Illini greats. Lowell Hamilton and...

Without checking, I believe Illinois has 5 also: Texas Tech, Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, UConn. Coach says they are looking for another, too.

It can happen. Ben Humrichous played three years at Huntington before going to Evansville for a year then to Illinois. I will say that adjusting to competition level of the Big Ten was tough at times for Humrichous, but he came on strong late. I expect him to shoot it better with a year of...

Illinois is not listed as a top portal team as they only had two transfers. The other top players were Euros who count as recruits.

no doubt he is a very good coach. The Big Ten is filled with very good coaches. Still comes down to talent.

Underwood is a glutton for punishment. Confirmed games: Tennessee, UConn, Alabama, Missouri, Texas Tech Illinois went 2-3 against a similar gauntlet last season. I’m torn on whether this is a good idea.

I know Washington has fared well in the portal. Northwestern is always better than predicted and have the returning leading scorer in the league. Lots of unknowns right now. Indiana has a new coach but has added a lot of talent.

I don’t think Illinois will play in one. Underwood prefers the single game high profile matchups. Pretty sure they are playing Tennessee and Alabama again. Expect a couple more.

It’s been updated since this one.

He’s really not. He’s an extremely kind man. You just see from the outside. Do a little more research about his relationships with players, his close friends among the Big Ten coaches and his many charitable activities. He just had a huge Coaches against Cancer fundraiser. In the last few...

You are pretty far off base. Hawkins loves Underwood. He spent four years here and graduated, then went for a bag. He constantly talked about winning at Illinois while KState struggled. He still follows Illinois and still talks to Underwood weekly. He jokes a lot, too, like about the...

Desmond Claude entered the portal today. I thought he was really good for USC this past season.