Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Slow time of the offseason and slow day for me (boss is on PTO and I am way ahead on work!), so I wanted to pose a fun question to the fans. How would you rank the current Big Ten basketball programs as far as the animosity you, as an Illini fan, have for them? Feel free to just rank them in order, use the tiers I used or simply provide an anecdotal feeling, haha. I like the tiers, but I tried to roughly put them in order, too. Here is a brief description of my categories for context:
Genuinely Dislike/Rivals: Teams we have had historical animosity with for decades and most Illini fans get excited to beat. The matchups generally remain "exciting" even if one or both teams are down.
"Historic" Animosity: Teams I have disliked more or less at certain points over the years, but I generally find a matchup with them especially "relevant" to Illini basketball.
"Specific" Animosity: Teams that I dislike for more specific and/or recent reasons (e.g., Northwestern treating TSJ like crap or Maryland being a royal pain in our !!!).
Generally Relevant: Teams we have a real history with for one reason or another, but they generally don't spark the same level of animosity for me as the teams above here.
Very Little Feeling: Teams I of course want to beat (and might even dislike during the game), but they don't stir up too many emotions from me.
Begrudgingly Like: Teams that I, for one reason or another, am at least mildly fond of. Since this category is just Rutgers for me, I will explain that I kind of like them due to their similar dynamic as us (big state university between two pro sports metros that they rely on and are constantly battling for fan engagement), the RAC atmosphere and RU being the birthplace of the Pizza Hut Parking Lot legend.
GENUINELY DISLIKE/RIVALS
Iowa
Indiana
"HISTORIC" ANIMOSITY
Michigan
Purdue
"SPECIFIC" ANIMOSITY
Maryland
Northwestern
Penn State
GENERALLY RELEVANT
Michigan State
Ohio State
Wisconsin
VERY LITTLE FEELING
Minnesota
Nebraska
UCLA
Oregon
USC
Washington
BEGRUDGINGLY LIKE
Rutgers
One interesting note for me is that I never would have put Purdue in that tier until recently. A combination of two related factors - the shared hatred we both have for Indiana and my sister living in Indianapolis as a Butler grad and bonding with Purdue fans over how annoying the IU fan base is - actually always kind of led me to have zero ill will toward Purdue. However, with the great teams they have had recently (props to them), our current losing streak vs. them (again, props!) and the marked change in their fans' arrogance level lately, I have developed a distaste, haha.
Genuinely Dislike/Rivals: Teams we have had historical animosity with for decades and most Illini fans get excited to beat. The matchups generally remain "exciting" even if one or both teams are down.
"Historic" Animosity: Teams I have disliked more or less at certain points over the years, but I generally find a matchup with them especially "relevant" to Illini basketball.
"Specific" Animosity: Teams that I dislike for more specific and/or recent reasons (e.g., Northwestern treating TSJ like crap or Maryland being a royal pain in our !!!).
Generally Relevant: Teams we have a real history with for one reason or another, but they generally don't spark the same level of animosity for me as the teams above here.
Very Little Feeling: Teams I of course want to beat (and might even dislike during the game), but they don't stir up too many emotions from me.
Begrudgingly Like: Teams that I, for one reason or another, am at least mildly fond of. Since this category is just Rutgers for me, I will explain that I kind of like them due to their similar dynamic as us (big state university between two pro sports metros that they rely on and are constantly battling for fan engagement), the RAC atmosphere and RU being the birthplace of the Pizza Hut Parking Lot legend.
GENUINELY DISLIKE/RIVALS
Iowa
Indiana
"HISTORIC" ANIMOSITY
Michigan
Purdue
"SPECIFIC" ANIMOSITY
Maryland
Northwestern
Penn State
GENERALLY RELEVANT
Michigan State
Ohio State
Wisconsin
VERY LITTLE FEELING
Minnesota
Nebraska
UCLA
Oregon
USC
Washington
BEGRUDGINGLY LIKE
Rutgers
One interesting note for me is that I never would have put Purdue in that tier until recently. A combination of two related factors - the shared hatred we both have for Indiana and my sister living in Indianapolis as a Butler grad and bonding with Purdue fans over how annoying the IU fan base is - actually always kind of led me to have zero ill will toward Purdue. However, with the great teams they have had recently (props to them), our current losing streak vs. them (again, props!) and the marked change in their fans' arrogance level lately, I have developed a distaste, haha.
