In this week’s Chicago basketball report, the Bulls don’t love the timing of the Bears playoff game — and the Illinois women just missed the Associated Press Top 25 after their upset of Maryland.
Every Tuesday, Tribune writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Bulls, Sky and local college basketball teams. Want more? Sign up for our Tribune sports newsletter.
Bulls bemoan Bears playoff timing
Few Bears fans are more upset over the scheduled kickoff for Saturday’s NFL wild-card game than Bulls guard and Chicago native Ayo Dosunmu.
The Bears will kick off against the Green Bay Packers at 7 p.m. at Soldier Field. Barely six miles away, the Bulls will simultaneously tip off at the United Center against the Dallas Mavericks. The ill-fated timing left Dosunmu — a lifelong Bears fan — looking for solutions.
“They’ve got to change the schedule,” Dosunmu said. “They’ve got to do it.”
The Bulls roster contains a large volume of local players, including second-year forward Matas Buzelis and backup guard Jevon Carter. The group is resigned to the fact they won’t be able to watch Saturday’s game live, outside of catching the final quarter from the locker room after their own game.
For Dosunmu, this weekend offers a rare opportunity to celebrate his hometown team. The Bears have made the playoffs only six times in Dosunmu’s lifetime. He was only 10 the last time the team won a postseason game. As a result, he admits he doesn’t have a favorite playoff memory from the Bears growing up.
“Let’s build one this weekend,” Dosunmu said.
Illini women just miss Top 25
The Illinois women pulled off their first victory over a top-10 team
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in the Shauna Green era when they took down then-No. 7 Maryland at home 73-70 last week. That extended their winning streak to 11 games before No. 15 Michigan State ended it Sunday with an 81-75 win in East Lansing.The Illini’s upset of Maryland wasn’t enough to get them into the Associated Press Top 25, however.
Illinois (13-2) was the first team out, behind No. 25 Nebraska, though it did receive more votes than Notre Dame, which dropped out after back-to-back losses to unranked Georgia Tech and Duke.
Green credited the Illini’s second-half defense with coming up with the needed stops to knock off Maryland.
“They’re big-time players,” Green said at her postgame news conference. “They believe in their game, and they’ve worked so hard on their game. When you put all the work and preparation in, then you’re a pretty confident basketball player.
“There’s no special sprinkle dust I put on them and they’re confident. That’s them. I have to give our players a ton of the credit. They listen. They’re coachable. They have been so bought in and locked in on our preparation.”
The Illini have another chance to make an impression on AP voters Wednesday when they host No. 19 Ohio State at the State Farm Center.
WNBA nears CBA deadline
The latest extension on collective bargaining agreement talks between the WNBA and the players union is set to close Friday — and according to a report from ESPN, the sides are still far from a new deal.
ESPN’s Alexa Philippou reported that revenue sharing remains a key barrier separating the two parties, with the union and the league disagreeing over fundamentals such as whether to base sharing on gross or net revenue. The league is arguing that meeting a proposed 30% revenue share for the players would make the WNBA unprofitable as a whole, while the union believes this is untrue based on its own financial modeling.
Although the league and union have agreed to several extensions since the original deal’s expiration date in October, this upcoming deadline might be the last. However, the passing of the deadline does not mean an immediate work stoppage. Both parties will operate under a status quo agreement that is standard across many industries, allowing business to continue as usual while labor negotiations proceed. For a work stoppage to begin, either the players would need to call a strike or the owners would need to trigger a lockout.
The WNBA season normally begins in May with monthlong training camps in April. The league also needs to execute several key mechanisms before a season can begin, including an expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo and the college draft, which typically takes place in early April.
Number of the week: 30
There are 30 days left until the NBA trade deadline at 2 p.m. Feb. 5.
The Bulls will be on the road in Toronto on deadline day, with a 6:30 p.m. game scheduled against the Raptors. This leaves only 15 games (and seven home games) before the deadline, which is expected to be one of the more active windows in recent history for the Bulls.
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Of course, all of that is just speculation. With nearly half the roster on expiring contracts, the Bulls should be in a strong position to make moves, but the front office has made only one midseason trade — moving Zach LaVine last February — in the last four years. Injuries are muddying the market for players such as Coby White, who has played fewer than half of the games this season because of recurring calf injuries.
With less than a month until the deadline, the Bulls are officially on the clock.
Week ahead: Bulls
- Wednesday: at Pistons, 6 p.m., CHSN
- Thursday: vs. Heat, 7 p.m., CHSN
- Saturday: vs. Mavericks, 7 p.m., CHSN+
The Bulls should begin to exit their latest round of injury absences this week. White returned Monday from a calf injury, and Zach Collins’ right toe sprain will be reevaluated later in the week. However, Josh Giddey is still sidelined for another week in addition to Jalen Smith, who is in concussion protocol.
Week ahead: Best college basketball games
- Wednesday: Illinois women vs. No. 19 Ohio State, 6 p.m., BTN+
- Thursday: Northwestern men at No. 12 Michigan State, 5:30 p.m., BTN
- Saturday: DePaul men at No. 4 Connecticut, 11:30 a.m., TNT
- Sunday: No. 16 Illinois men at No. 19 Iowa, 11 a.m., Fox-32
- Sunday: No. 22 North Carolina women at Notre Dame, 1 p.m., ESPN
The Illini men and women each have games against ranked teams in the week ahead, while the Northwestern men face a stiff test at Michigan State. DePaul, which got its first Big East win against Xavier on Saturday, takes on the UConn men for the second time since Dec. 21. The Huskies won 72-54 in the first meeting.
What we’re reading
- Can Matas Buzelis take the reins as the primary playmaker for the injury-depleted Bulls?
- No. 18 Notre Dame women drop their 2nd straight ACC game, falling 82-68 at Duke
- Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry apologizes for chasing ref after controversial call late in loss to Cal
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- New Year, New Bulls? 4 questions ahead of February’s NBA trade deadline.
- David Mirković and Kylan Boswell help No. 20 Illinois beat Penn State 73-65 at Philly’s Palestra
- Tre Jones provides a much-needed creative spark for injury-depleted Bulls: ‘That’s our recipe to win’
- Nick Martinelli scores 26, but Northwestern fades late and falls to 0-3 in Big Ten with 84-78 loss to Minnesota
- No. 13 Nebraska remains unbeaten with 58-56 win over No. 9 Michigan State, extending streak to 18 games
- Bulls believe depth is their greatest strength. But is this roster even that deep?
Quote of the week
“He had a tough night tonight because they doubled him every trip. … No one trusts Tomi more than me. It’s a night where they rotated really hard to him shooting it. It’s one of the beauties of this team. Two (games) ago against Missouri, our bigs got loose. And now it’s our guards. It’s one of the things we can bank on every night. It will be whatever the defense throws at us, we’ve got some answers.” — Illinois coach Brad Underwood on Tomislav Ivišić, who had no points, two rebounds and four fouls in a 73-65 win over Penn State