2023 NCAAT I: Made You Look

I don't really use TikTok. I'll watch a TikTok that someone sends me, but I've never just opened the app and scrolled through. Not sure why. Just haven't ever gotten into it. I don't use Instagram, I've never had a Facebook account in my life - I'm

2023 Comps

My brain lives in a world of comps. If you've read five or more articles I've written (and you probably have - I just looked up the total and this is article number 4,376 since I started the first blog), then you know that I navigate the world through

Selection Sunday Nerves

One thing I have going for me: random access memory. Not on my laptop - in my head. For whatever reason, memories that are erased from most people's heads remain in mine. I just have this thing where I can place myself in the emotions of a moment from

Big Ten Tournament Thursday 2023 - Moments

**10:00 AM** It's here! My favorite two basketball days of the year - Big Ten Tournament Thursday and Friday. What you ask? Not the first two days of the NCAA Tournament? Well, no. For one, I'm never in attendance for the first two rounds of the NCAA

Ben Trovato

I watch the last five minutes from the tunnel where the team comes out. I went there to pace, but I didn't need to pace. I just watched us slowly let the Penn State lead creep up to 12 before we tried to chip away but fell short. Tyler attended the

Killing Time

I'm killing time before the Illinois-Penn State game in the BTT. I sat in the arena for Rutgers-Michigan but don't feel like doing the same for Iowa-Ohio State. So I'm down in the media room thinking about the coaching decisions at the end of the

The Bar

I think I'm on the other side of the whirlwind of the last few weeks. My wife and I have been back in St. Louis each of the last three weekends, and she's going back this weekend for something else (I'll join her if we lose or stay in Chicago if we

The Waiting (Is The Hardest Part)

_Editor's Note: The comments aren't working on any of the Tyler posts anymore. There's a whole site design change coming soon which should fix all of the website and subscription issues, but until that goes live, I'll have to publish the Tyler posts

Atmosphere

I attended nearly every game during the Covid season (home and away). People told me "oh man, you quit your job to cover the Illini and then all sports are canceled three weeks later - how awful" that year, but I always pointed to the ability to be in

In Like A Lamb

I'll just start with a list. And maybe I should just start and end with the list. The list will speak for itself. It's March now, we all know what March means for college basketball fans, and this Illinois fan would like to tell you where we stand as