Chicago area 2017-18 BBall alternatives to Bulls

League Circles · Post #1 » by **League Circles** » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:49 pm

I've only lived in the area for a few years, and have been focused on the Bulls, but now that they might suck and be somewhat uninteresting, I'd like to know what other bball in the area is worth maybe following a bit and catching a game of.

Off the top of my head, these are the relevant teams:

Windy City Bulls - kind of boring to me cause of the transient nature and probable lack of fans/atmosphere, but IDK
Northwestern - big ten, so that's interesting I guess. Will they be competitive again?
Depaul - do they still play at All-State?
Loyola - I know nothing about them
UIC - do they have a bball team?
High School ball - I know there is great competition in the city. I live in the north shore, are there any programs worth watching up there?

Am I missing any teams that might be interesting?

I'd guess Northwestern is probably the most compelling just due to fan presence and competition level. Am I wrong?

Hangtime84 · Post #2 » by **Hangtime84** » Mon Aug 21, 2017 3:15 pm

I've been to Northwestern game i live in Rogers Park. The environment was fun but game was quite boring. But it was fun to objectively look at basketball. Usually the better HS games are during Thanksgiving and Fall tournaments.

poolshark52 · Post #3 » by **poolshark52** » Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:23 pm

Northwestern should be pretty good again. Didn't lose any major contributors from last year'rs team, and have one 4 star recruit (Pete Nance) committed for this year.

pwrshft99 · Post #4 » by **pwrshft99** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 3:18 am

The Bucks and the Timberwolves

ThisGuyFawkes · Post #5 » by **ThisGuyFawkes** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 5:29 am

WNBA?

TheSchmaranz · Post #6 » by **TheSchmaranz** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:49 am

League Circles wrote:Depaul - do they still play at All-State?

I beleive this will be their first year in the arena they built. I know Northwestern is playing at all state this year because their new facility isn't going to be done until next year.

Bandit King · Post #7 » by **Bandit King** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 11:56 am

Watch the Chicago Bulls North as known as the Timberwolves!

RememberLu · Post #8 » by **RememberLu** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:19 pm

All you need to know about Loyola is they're the only Chicago college team in history to win the NCAA tournament

Ramblers represent!

TheStig · Post #9 » by **TheStig** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 2:49 pm

The Milwaukee Bucks will be quite good and interesting. They're a fairly short ride up I94. If you want to see real professional athletes compete.

League Circles · Post #10 » by **League Circles** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 3:27 pm

Guys, I'm talking Chicago area. That means northeastern Illinois.

yifsuibfe1 · Post #11 » by **yifsuibfe1** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 3:59 pm

You can stop being a wimp and continue to support the Bulls

League Circles · Post #12 » by **League Circles** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 4:42 pm

yifsuibfe1 wrote:You can stop being a wimp and continue to support the Bulls

Did I say anything about not supporting the Bulls?

jacoby1us · Post #13 » by **jacoby1us** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 6:48 pm

Someone said it best, HS Holiday Tournaments in the Chicagoland area are pretty good. In addition, Milwaukee is not that far, it is a straight shot off of the toll way.

jStuNNa · Post #14 » by **jStuNNa** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:29 pm

League Circles wrote:Guys, I'm talking Chicago area. That means northeastern Illinois.

Milwaukee basically is the Chicago area. It's a really quick drive up there. I've been stuck in rush hour traffic longer than it takes to get there.

They also have a nice downtown and a great lakefront. Make a weekend out of it. You'll be surprised by how fun of a town it is.

League Circles · Post #15 » by **League Circles** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:48 pm

jStuNNa wrote:
League Circles wrote:Guys, I'm talking Chicago area. That means northeastern Illinois.

Milwaukee basically is the Chicago area. It's a really quick drive up there. I've been stuck in rush hour traffic longer than it takes to get there.

They also have a nice downtown and a great lakefront. Make a weekend out of it. You'll be surprised by how fun of a town it is.

Oh I love Milwaukee. It's not Chicago area though.

jStuNNa · Post #16 » by **jStuNNa** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:31 pm

League Circles wrote:
jStuNNa wrote:
League Circles wrote:Guys, I'm talking Chicago area. That means northeastern Illinois.

Milwaukee basically is the Chicago area. It's a really quick drive up there. I've been stuck in rush hour traffic longer than it takes to get there.

They also have a nice downtown and a great lakefront. Make a weekend out of it. You'll be surprised by how fun of a town it is.

Oh I love Milwaukee. It's not Chicago area though.

Dealing with Chicago traffic my entire life, I consider anything under a two hour drive to be within the Chicago area :lol:

That being said, peep http://247sports.com/Season/2018-Basketball/RecruitRankings?State=IL

High school basketball in Illinois is very exciting. Check out some of the Chicago area recruits. Watch for the high school team rankings to come out soon as well. Tickets to big matchups sell out VERY quickly though.

College basketball kinda sucks around Chicago. Northwestern plays in the Big Ten though obviously, so you can get tickets when good Big Ten teams come in to town to play them. However, it can be pricey.

Univ. of Illinois (Champaign) usually plays a game at the United Center for all the alumni they have up here. Those games are fun to go to. Usually a competitive matchup. The year I went they played UCLA.

EDIT: The date for Illinois at the United Center is Dec. 16th. They play New Mexico State.

Dominator83 · Post #17 » by **Dominator83** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:56 pm

Do we have the Mcdonalds all american game again? If so that would be the best talent we see all year

Posey H8er · Post #18 » by **Posey H8er** » Wed Aug 23, 2017 12:26 am

TheSchmaranz wrote:
League Circles wrote:Depaul - do they still play at All-State?

I beleive this will be their first year in the arena they built. I know Northwestern is playing at all state this year because their new facility isn't going to be done until next year.

Yes Wintrust Arena. It looks like it will be really nice venue. DePaul is also starting to improve recruiting. Definitely something worth checking out for people living in Chicago. Hopefully more people show up there than they did at Allstate.

ATRAIN53 · Post #19 » by **ATRAIN53** » Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:45 pm

Wildcats!

Coming off their first tourney, one blown goal tending call from possibly knocking off the team that lost the title game to UNC.
Hype should be big.

They will be in Rosemont at the old Horizon or whatever it's called now. That place is gonna be empty for non conference games - but if they sell to capacity for UM, MSU, OSU that's like 6x the size of McGraw and could be crazy. If they are good and contending for the Big 10 title, those last 3 games there could be insane crowds like 15k. If they draw that those will be bigger crowds than the renovated McGraw can hold. Could be some of the best NU games ever and make therm think about moving those huge matchups to the UC in the future. This is a HUGE season for the Cats and staking a real claim to LEGIT NCAA basketball in this city.

They play DePaul 12/16, that could be at the new WinTrust. This could be the Tyger Campbell coming out party.

and who knows who they will draw in the Big 10/ACC Challenge

Go Cats!!!