But I'm not sure we're going to resolve this, so that's fine. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a good game tonight.

IU, for example, made two Final Fours prior to 1973. They happened to win the title both times, in 1940 and 1953. Meanwhile, Illinois made the Final Four in '49, '51 and '52 but didn't win a title. Shall we say, then, that Illinois was far and away the more elite program during that period? No. The fact is that they both were very good programs.

No doubt the '76 and '81 IU teams were outstanding and that Knight is one of the all-time great coaches despite his behavioral problems. And IU has 20 Big Ten titles to Illinois' 17. But Purdue has 21 Big Ten titles. And the '89 and '05 Illinois teams are considered by college basketball sages to have been far and away the best teams pole-to-pole in those seasons despite not winning the title. Only the '76 IU team within living memory enjoys that status at IU.

During the past 25 years you can't make any sort of convincing argument that Indiana basketball has been better than Illinois. Nor can you looking at the history of the programs. And let's face it. Since the early '90s IU has resided largely in obscurity, surfacing a couple times competitively but existing largely as an embarrassing sideshow (Knight, Davis, Sampson.) From outside the IU program Indiana fans have a reputation as living on long-faded glory. You fancy yourselves in the league of Kentucky, Kansas, Duke and Carolina but the fact is that the program isn't of that caliber. Crean has a shot at building a competitive program; however, since reeling in D. Wade at Marquette what has he done?

Look, ranking #16 in all-time winning pct out of 300-odd programs is great, even if it's inferior to Illinois figure. But the fact is that IU has done nothing for ages. It's like Louisville, pretending to be elite but having nothing to show for its pretensions for decades.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this, which is fine. You're actually making my argument for me – historically speaking, there is NO comparision between IU and IU. I mean seriously.

Illinois is ahead of IU on the NCAA Div-1 all-time wining pct list. As of the end of last season the Illini were at 65.4% v. IU's 64.4%. The Illini have essentially owned IU for many seasons now, despite falling off sharply after their 37-2 mark in '04-'05. Given IU's continuing troubles and lack of talent it's likely that Illinois will sweep the Hoosiers this season and even the all-time series with IU at 82-82. And, of course, that the all-time winning pct gap will widen this season even with a so-so Illini team.

I know IU fans glory in their five titles. That's nice and all, though the most recent one occurred before any current undergrad at IU was born. Despite the fluke of getting to the title game in '02 (and embarrassing the program in the most sloppily played title game in memory) on a wave of emotion after Knight got canned, IU hasn't gotten within shouting distance of the final four since '92. That was nearly 20 years ago.

Illinois, meanwhile had quite a nice run this past decade, despite falling off the past three seasons. It won outright or shared the title five times from '98 through '05. Since '93 IU has merely tied for the title once.

The reason why IU has five national title and Illinois none, of course, is because Branch McCracken and Knight were incrementally better recruiters and coaches than Harry Coombes (in the '50s) and Lou Henson. Look back at the conference standings during the McCracken title years and you'll see how close it was. Knight was a great, if unstable, coach.

So… Illinois fans are delusional? That's a rich bit of projection on your part. I wish IU well in clawing its way back to respectability. For now, the fan base is living in the past if it's puffing up its chest about its alleged elite status. I hope that within three seasons Crean can field a competitive team and we can begin to enjoy the sort of epic IU-Illinois hoops battles that characterized the Knight-Henson years, esp during the 80s.

Good luck tonight.

Beyond that, the way Weber handled the recruitment of Gordon and especially the IU/UI game @ IL was really childish and low class.

So I hope we beat them to a pulp.

Go HOOSIERS!