ILLINI CIVIL WAR! WRESTLING VERSUS BBALL!

WRESTKETBALL

Back in the day, I was in an elevator in Champaign, and in popped a fellow who looked me almost straight in the eye. This was the star center of the ILLINI basketball team, Marcus Griffin. Now, I'm only 6-4, but he was at best fractions of an inch taller than me. 

Sure, he was slouching, but I'm a tremendous slouch. 

And that man won four IHSA basketball titles as a center for Peoria Manual teams, then became an All American for Lincoln College before becoming All Big Ten for ILLINOIS. 

At center. 

That young fellow had a lot of heart, but they grow them bigger now. 

The ILLINI Wrestling team faced off with the latest edition of the basketball team in a friendly Civil War. The teams worked on pummeling, boxing out, and played some handball. Judging by the looks on the faces of Zac Braunagel and Lucas Byrd, they got some serious workouts going:

Now, that's a big fella, and I think he's a forward. My guess is that ILLINI strength trainer Adam Fletcher set this up to get some good cross-training for all the guys. Learning how to react to physical pressure might help them in the low post. 

The Brawlnagel had success against the long, lanky types at the ILLINOIS Matmen Open (All American Brit Wilson) and at the NCAA Tournament (2x NCAA Qualifier Caleb Hopkins), but this roundballer has serious lank. 

Twitter loved Lucas Byrd's intensity in this shot. It does look like he's doing his iconic in-your-face neutral stance. Also, Byrd appears to be making that "What am I gonna do, ************? Huh? Which way am I gonna go?" face. 

Danny Pucino is ready to hit the starting lineup next year, but first he has to wrestle-off with ... a 6-7 guard/forward? 

Like the Marcus Griffin story, this one is true as well, swear on my Mother's grave, bless her soul. Anyway, my little boy is about eleven or twelve when my Wife, who worked for the U of I back then, heard about a sale of football items worn by the team. 

She asked Nick, "Who's your favorite ILLINI football player?" His response was "Rocky Harvey." Duh. Little kids always like the tiny players. Dee Brown was his basketball hero. 

So, she bought him a practice-worn jersey that had been used by Rocky Harvey. It fit him! Do y'all remember how small Rocky Harvey was? 

He was actually smaller than that. 

Coach Jeremy Hunter does not agree with the call and voices his displeasure loudly. Was he ejected? Fined by the Commissioner? Sent to gulag? We may never know. 

Lucas Byrd is going all out to block the shot of a six-foot-something guy, of course. Luke Luffman and Danny Pucino are looking for a rebound? Can somebody make Luffman-Kofi happen? Doooooeeeet! 

Maybe they're getting ready for the bench-clearing brawl? 

This looks like some kind of roundball box-out drill because if they were wrestling, then, dude, the guy is right in front of you, grab him and throw his face to the mat! 

Matt Wroblewski chilling in the background. 

Now, this is more like it! Except Danny Pucino is wrestling somebody who is half-agin as tall as him. Take advantage of that wide stance, Danny! 

Looks like basketball guys wrestling. 

And they're having fun! 

Looks like more roundball fellas doing box-out drills. It is good to work on their stances, that one guy is out of balance and needs to touch the ground to stay upright. Gotta have a good stance. 

Wrobocop in the background?

That dude is huge! And there's another big-un over to the side. Coach Jeremy Hunter is reffing, and I think that's Danny Braunagel, but, man, I sometimes can't tell. 

HOW TO MAKE AN NFT

At ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond we sell the best wrestling NFTs on the market. These are all one-of-a-kind gems that will only go up in value. For this particular NFT we followed this process:

1.  Steal somebody else's original photograph.

2.  Do some crappy photoshopping for the First Draft.

3.  Add some tinting, a frame, and put it just a little off-center, so it looks kooky and fresh. (This is the value-added step.)

4.  Call up your blockchain guy and low-ball him. 

5.  Put a million dollar price tag on the NFT, and here you go:

Photo credits: University of ILLINOIS or a fan. I'm not quite sure.