Ep. 778 - On the road to the NCAA Tournament

Illini Inquirer Podcast: An Illinois Fighting Illini athletics podcast

247Sports, Illinois, Illinois Football, Illinois Basketball, Illinois Athletics, College Football, C

Football, Sports

4.9 • 576 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2024

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Illini Inquirer's Joey Wagner, Derek Piper and Jeremy Werner preview Illini basketball's NCAA Tournament appearance live on the road to Omaha. The guys discuss what they learned at the Big Ten Tournament, how they feel about the team entering March Madness and what they think about the Illini's first-weekend draw with No. 14 seed Morehead State and either No. 6 seed BYU or No. 11 seed Duquesne. The guys also discuss how much it means for Brad Underwood and this program to make the Sweet Sixteen before answering VIP member questions.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome into the Alainanai Inquirer podcast. I'm Joey Wagner, Jeremy Werner, Derek Piper. We are on the road to Omaha for the NCAA tournament.
0:21.5	Jeremy Werner has been driving for five hours now.
0:24.9	Derek Piper got a little nap, grinded through some film.
0:28.4	We are back and ready to cover a third straight NCAA tournament for Illinois.
0:33.2	A number three seed opens Thursday in the East Region against Moorhead State. Derek, let's just
0:39.9	start with Illinois's chances to make a little noise here, to build on the momentum of the Big Ten
0:46.3	tournament and try to get to that elusive second weekend. Yeah, I'd say that let's make this a tradition
0:52.7	first and foremost three years in a row.
0:54.5	Let's continue to do this every year.
0:56.6	I know that we do have to hit the road.
0:59.3	This is a really quick turn with Minneapolis.
1:01.6	But number one, thankful for not going to Spokane and making that travel.
1:06.6	But yeah, Werner and I especially have spent a number of years.
1:10.0	We covered in MIT at one point. And then a lot of seasons where there wasn't even anything to cover after the Big Ten tournament was over, and we'd leave on a Wednesday or Thursday. So this is good to be covering and talking about. Of course, we're similar to Brad Underwood wanting to get to that second weekend. We want to cover a Sweet 16 and Beyond, too. But on that note, I think that Illinois should be feeling pretty darn good. You want to play some of your best basketball this time of year. I think that second half against Nebraska into that high-level Wisconsin game. We saw, obviously, some of that. And then when you have a star like Terran Shannon Jr., that's going to give you a great shot.
1:48.0	And I mean, he's got to be the hottest player coming into this tournament in the country,
1:53.0	averaging 34 points a game in the Big Ten tournament, and just the confidence he's playing with,
1:54.3	the aggressiveness and certiveness.
1:59.2	He showed in that tournament, now you don't like getting down by double digits in every game, but the fact that to be in a position to have a chance
2:03.2	like you did against Nebraska and Ohio State when other guys weren't playing all that well,
2:07.8	it's because Terrence could carry you there and help you weather the storm.
2:11.4	So I like the feeling that that gives off.
2:14.1	I like the idea that the role players are playing pretty well.
	...

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