The Fighting Illini of Illinois (22-12) will take on the Wildcats of Kentucky (23-11) in the 2nd round on Sunday with the winner advancing to the Sweet 16 next weekend. The Cats defeated Troy on Friday night by 19 points and the Illini defeated Xavier by 13 points. They last played in the NCAA Midwest Regional Final in 1984. This should be a good game. Illinois is a very physical that typically gives the Cats problems. Go Cats!!

This game has me worried. 

7 minutes ago, theguru said:

This game has me worried. 

Yeah, I am not seeing a victory for the Cats.

This is going to be a tough one to pull out, going to need a few things to break our way to get the W.

Game time announced as 5:15 PM tip on Sunday. 

32 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

Game time announced as 5:15 PM tip on Sunday. 

Also it will be on CBS.

The Cats better figure out how to make layups to win this one. For one game can Amari Williams just dunk the ball every time he is near the rim? Big Zs brother is a huge matchup problem.

I am not confident for 3 reasons.

1) We miss too many "bunnies", often shooting them way too hard off the backboard.

2) They think they're better ball-handlers than they really are. They need to pass the ball much sooner than they do.

3) Unfortunately, too many of our passes are soft and lazy, just begging to be picked off.

In spite of my doubts, I'm picking Kentucky to win.

Why? Because I'm a homer.

Illinois is a slight favorite (-1.5) in this game. Fair.

2 hours ago, Bluto said:

In spite of my doubts, I'm picking Kentucky to win.

Why? Because I'm a homer.

Same!

Cats! Cats! Cats!

2 hours ago, Bluto said:

I am not confident for 3 reasons.

1) We miss too many "bunnies", often shooting them way too hard off the backboard.

2) They think they're better ball-handlers than they really are. They need to pass the ball much sooner than they do.

3) Unfortunately, too many of our passes are soft and lazy, just begging to be picked off.

All three things are true, and all three things sadly is mainly contributed to one player and that is Williams. 

I’ll defend Williams somewhat. It is one thing for him to catch the ball at the top of the key and be a distributor. He’s been forced into being one of UK’s primary ball handlers because others aren’t capable and attrition. Him scoring the ball seems to be a confidence thing. He makes his first shot or two or FT, he’s golden the rest of the game. I can deal with whatever on the scoring front as long as he’s rebounding, passing well, and altering shots.

Ky finds a way to get this done, they will shoot better and not make unforced turnovers, Cats by 3.

Kentucky 85-80.