There’s a lot of news each day. Illini Inquirer will try to make it easier to digest each weekday morning with the Daily Digest.
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#Wisconsin matches #Nebraska with an excellent head coach hire. Luke Fickell and Matt Rhule make the Big Ten stronger. https://t.co/21cbNq6Fxr
The Big Ten West is beefing up. Both Nebraska and Wisconsin announced splash hires during the weekend.
Why it matters: The Big Ten has pull. The league has separated itself along with the SEC as destination conferences for coaches due to their resource and support advantages. The Panthers owed Rhule a $40 million buyout, but he chose to take over a rebuilding job at Nebraska for a hefty salary. A longtime Ohio State assistant, Fickell was a top target at Notre Dame and Michigan State in recent seasons before deciding now was the time and Wisconsin was the job to pull him from a burgeoning Cincinnati program that paid him $5 million annually and is headed toward the Big 12 soon.
The fit
Recruiting fallout
What it means: Not all great hires on paper go as planned (see: Scott Frost), but these two hires only stand to make the Big Ten deeper and stronger. Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue and Maryland have had big coaching upgrades recently, and Nebraska and Wisconsin just made hires that seem to have a good chance to change their courses for the better. Oh, and in 2024, Lincoln Riley (USC) and Chip Kelly (UCLA) are joining the league. If you’re a Big Ten coach coming off a disappointing season — ahem, Kirk Ferentz and Pat Fitzgerald — you better up your game.
What’s next: Cincinnati now has a vacancy just one week before the transfer portal window opens and three weeks before signing day. Our Cincinnati site has a list of potential Bearcats coaching candidates.
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Illinois safety Sydney Brown was named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week. Brown had two interceptions, a 39-yard interception return touchdown, and a 53-yard fumble return touchdown in Illinois’ 41-3 victory at Northwestern. Brown was the first player with 2+ interceptions, 1+ interception return touchdown, and 1+ fumble return touchdown in a single game since 2012 when Kenneth Acker (SMU) achieved the feat against Stephen F. Austin 9/8/2012.
Illinois coach Bret Bielema said on Saturday: “The good thing is today, (Brown) did some good things for us to win the game. But he probably put on film some things that are going to make him some money in the future.”
Brown told Illini Inquirer on Saturday of his journey at Illinois: “You get emotional thinking about it. It’s a testament to the work we put in. I do everything for this team. I do everything in my possible routine to try and help this team win. I’ve done it since I was a freshman, I’ve tried. My mind’s always been on that it’s been a dream. To see it all kind of fall into place was kind of surreal. I’m just going to take it one day at a time and one opportunity at a time and make sure I’m in the right position for what’s ahead.”
What’s next: The All-Big Ten selections will be announced later this week. Brown likely will be one of many Illini named to the All-Big Ten teams, including his twin brother, Illini star running back Chase Brown.
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Illinois redshirt freshman defensive back DD Snyder announced on Sunday that he intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal. He will have three seasons of eligibility remaining. A former three-star prospect out of Tampa (Fla.) Catholic in the Class of 2021, Snyder did not play a single game at Illinois during his two seasons in Champaign.
Why it matters: Snyder is the first Illinois player to announce his intention to enter the transfer portal following the 2022 season. More are likely. The FBS transfer portal window opens on Monday, Dec. 5, and closes in mid-January.
What it means: Snyder was not in the mix for playing time this season, and this Illinois staff signed five defensive backs in the Class of 2022 and has four defensive back commitments in the Class of 2023. The Illini also are expected to pursue transfer help as they are set to replace four of five defensive back starters, including likely All-Big Ten selections and likely NFL Draft picks Devon Witherspoon, Sydney Brown and Quan Martin. The Illini will rely heavily though on its underclassmen, including Matthew Bailey, Xavier Scott, Tyson Rooks and Kionte Curry.
Other interesting players who announced their intentions to enter the portal included star Missouri wide receiver Dominic Lovett (56 receptions, 846 yards) and Georgia Tech quarterback Jeff Sims (career 4,464 passing yards, 1,166 rushing yards).
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Not the result we wanted yesterday.
Time to get back to work ??#Illini | #HTTO | #OneWay pic.twitter.com/8q55EOL9Z9
Illinois women’s basketball suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, an 83-80 defeat to Delaware at the Dayton Beach Invitational. The Blue Hens (4-2), which made NCAA Tournament a year ago, had five starters score in double figures and shot 45.9% from the field.
What’s next: The Fighting Illini compete in the ACC/B1G Challenge on Wednesday with a road game at Pittsburgh. Tipoff on the ACC Network is slated for 4 p.m. CT.
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Current Power rankings for the @B1GMBBall. 1 – Illinois. 2 – Purdue 3 – Indiana. 4 – Maryland. 5 – Michigan State. Big games this week for ACC/B1G challenge and conference games at the end of the week.
The Big Ten might be pretty good, huh? Here’s some scores from Sunday and a preview of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
The ACC/Big Ten Challenge starts Monday and wraps up Wednesday. Here’s the schedule
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
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Have a great start to the week! Time to take a deep brea … oh, hello, portal season, early signing period and CBB season…
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