#AskTCR: Basketball Predictions, Sports Cinematography, Billboards, and Hair Care

There are two ways to ask The Champaign Room your questions. You can tweet them at us on Twitter using the hashtag #AskTCR -- it just makes it easier to keep track -- or you can email them to us at repplin1@gmail.com. And if you've got a personal question and you're worried about your privacy, just tell us. We'll change your name to Tom Crean when we publish it on the site. And remember, you can ask us ANYTHING. It doesn't have to be about Illinois or even sports.

This is Illinois Basketball, so I’m going to assume we’re going to witness the most backdoor NCAA Tournament birth of all time that keeps our head coach in town for the remainder of his contract. If the team had Illinois Football luck, we would DEFINITELY witness an overtime loss to Rutgers on a halfcourt buzzer-beater. The football equivalent happened in 2009 against Fresno State.

Oh this season for sure. If you count JUCO transfers, Delshawn Phillips is going to be a BEAST at linebacker this season. Look for him to make an immediate impact in the Illinois defense in 2017. If you don’t, Ricky Smalling could stand out as a top receiver for the Illini offense behind corps leader Malik Turner.

Rock the flow while you can coach. We all start to go bald eventually, so don’t feel the need to accelerate the process.

I can’t speak for anyone else here, but the mascot concern was the LEAST of our worries when the topic was brought up last year. We now have a permanent chancellor, who seems to be focused on university issues more important than deciding which costumed creature will roam the sidelines at athletic events. From an athletics standpoint, here’s what Josh Whitman said in an interview with Illini Inquirer’s Jeremy Werner last May:

“It's an interesting situation we're in. I can appreciate, as well as anybody, the history there and it's one of the more delicate issues that we can face as a university, let alone an athletic program. The students have brought this idea forward. Our chancellor, to her credit, gives the students a tremendous voice and tremendous input. We've set off on the course, and as an athletic program I think our responsibility is to support our chancellor and our institution. We will work collaboratively with them to make sure we're coming up with some ideas that are better than Sassy [the Squirrel]. We'll see where this thing ultimately goes. It's not going to go fast.”

1st team all Big Ten? Likely not. Hill needs to compete with guards Peter Jok of the Iowa Hawkeyes, Tai Webster of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Melo Trimble of the Maryland Terrapins, and Nate Mason of the Minnesota Gophers. While Malcolm is a GREAT scorer, he’s only ranked in the top 20 in assists per game. I see the conference electing him to a 2nd team all Big Ten spot and putting Mason or Trimble ahead of him.

Well considering basketball hasn’t made an NCAA tournament in three seasons (and it might be a fourth) and football hasn’t played in a bowl game since 2014, I would classify Illinois as a #GolfSchool at the moment. First team to make the postseason between basketball and football will earn the naming rights to the school’s athletic program.

Maybe...ask us again next week

Miracle. You have arguably the greatest sports story of all time being told by one of the greatest story telling franchises of all time. Kurt Russell was PHENOMENAL in his portrayal of Herb Brooks, and he gives arguably one of the greatest motivational speeches of all time.

Forget GoFundMe...here’s your billboard.