NEW YORK, 9:46 PM, FRI JUL 18 | 29 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@deadspin.com | RSS
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Illinois Fighting Illini

The Mendenhall family is rough on Ron Zook. [Foul Balls]

it's grrrreat!

Illinois: Now Part Of This Complete Breakfast

It baffles me as to how Illinois could have missed out on the NCAA Tournament, now that we know the existence of the Great Illinois-Shaped Corn Flake. A girl in Virginia noticed the flake it in her morning cereal and immediately recognized it as one of the 50 states, and then slapped it onto the e-Bays, where the fevered bidding has reached $56. (Could this be why the terrorists hate us?) Here's the description: More »

no freaking way

The Illini's Ridiculous, Plodding "Run"


Realize that we have seen our Illini do this before. In 1999, an 11th-seeded Illini team rode the hot hand of Cory Bradford to an amazing tourney championship game run, before collapsing, exhausted, to Michigan State (who eventually made the Final Four). That run was thrilling, breathtaking; it was a sign that this young Illinois team was more talented than people realized and would be a future force with which to be reckoned. (They made the NCAA tournament the next season and haven't missed it since.) This "run," the one that has them in the Big Ten Championship Game today, isn't quite like that. Like, at all. More »

live blogs you don't care about

Live Blogs You'll Gleefully Skip: Illinois-Penn State

We know, we know: Nobody cares about a stupid liveblog of a pointless Big Ten tournament first round game. We're fully aware. As we mentioned yesterday, it's just, like, practice or something. More »

illini suck

Saying Goodbye To These Awful (And Unlucky) Illini

As part of our preparations for the lunacy that lands on our sports radars this Sunday, we've been digging around the irreplaceable Basketball Prospectus, trying to find those odd little tidbits on Oral Roberts and Siena. And we discovered something kind of amazing and oddly satisfying. More »

eric gordon

Yeah, Well, Kelvin Sampson's Still A Jerk

We couldn't possibly agree more with legendary Illini basketball reporter Mark Tupper, who said, "at no time did I think Illinois was going to win that very exciting, very emotional basketball game with Indiana." It was exciting, and we had hope, and we leapt across the room with Jeffrey Jordan hit a key overtime jumper, but we knew better: There was no way Illinois was winning that game. More »

alex legion

Kentucky Fans Are Having Anger Displacement Issues

In the "holy cow, fans can be scary" file, the frustrated fans at Kentucky, suffering through a 9-9 season, have taken a lot of their ire out on recent transfer (to Illinois! Woo!) Alex Legion. (He of the soothsaying mother.) More »

college basketball closer

Not Even Zook Can Help The Illini

Jonah Keri writes the college basketball closer (more or less) daily. E-mail your questions, comments or Clarence Ceasar-related memories to jonahkeri@gmail.com.

The Motivator. Facing Indiana for the first time in Eric Gordon's career after the superfrosh spurned Illinois to play for the Hoosiers, the Illini pulled out all the stops. That included the return of ZOOOK!!! The man who pisses intensity paid a surprise visit to the Illinois locker room before the game, urging Bruce Weber's charges to bring the hammer down on Gordon and the Hoosiers. "I want you to go out there and play like animals!" Zook spat at the mesmerized players. "The first one of you who knocks down that Gordon kid gets free waterskiing lessons and a copy of the Rose Bowl video, edited to show us kicking USC's ass and doing unspeakable things to Traveler. Now get out there and bite their heads off!!!"

More »

We will miss Mr. Mendenhall. [Mark Tupper]

rose bowl

The Rose Bowl In The Twilight Zone

The question we've been discussing with fellow Illini fans over the last 12 hours or so; was it really worth it? Was it worth watching our Illini be absolutely destroyed in the Rose Bowl yesterday? Wouldn't we all have been better off if Illinois had a more competitive, fun, matchup against Florida in that Capital One Bowl? It took us most of the night, but we think we have our answer. More »

illini suck

Woe Is The Illini

The Tennessee State Tigers are 4-8, with losses to Belmont, Akron, Colorado State and Southeast Missouri State. It was once known as the Tennessee State Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School for Negroes. Oprah Winfrey went there. And yesterday, they beat our Illini at the Assembly Hall in Champaign. More »

Ron Zook, Somewhat Less Intense This Week
We will say this: It is unlikely this photo above is going to replace Ron Zook Pisses Intensity Photo. Like, at all.

chief illiniwek

The Chief Simply Will Not Go Away

For all the excitement about next Tuesday's Rose Bowl game between our Illini and those suddenly hateable USC Trojans, it has one major downside: Everybody's talking about the damned Chief again. More »

dogmatic transfers

Alex Legion Gets His Exodus After All

In our ongoing coverage of the dogmatic inevitability that Alex Legion will lead Kentucky to the Final Four, a tranquil atmosphere casts over the tumultuous world of college basketball. More »

No More Illini For Us For A While
We're not going to any more Illini sporting events; we're gonna need something to cheer us up. Ahhh. That's better. See you tomorrow.

i - l - l

The Yearly Night In The Champaign Snow


We arrived in the new generation coal plant capital of the world late last night — the mayor of Mattoon, charmingly, used to coach us in baseball — so our holiday season has already begun. And we kick it off with our yearly trip to Champaign for some Illini basketball. More »

rose bowl

Oh, Like You Didn't Know This Picture Was Coming


Yep, it's really happening: Illinois — Illinois! — is in the Rose Bowl. The game they play on New Year's Day. That one. Seriously. Zook in Pasadena. Zooooooooook. More »

big ten down again

At Least The Big Ten Won Three, Anyway

Yes, we know we're the only people who care about the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, but indulge us: It's difficult to find any kind of sustained series between two supposedly competitive leagues that involves such repeated dominance. More »