All hail the NUGGETS

Jan 25, 2023 - 2:23 AM

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No clue where this is going, but you clicked it, so you must be intrigued!

I think it’s time we bow down to our McDonald’s overlords, who bring us the magical nuggets.

In the middle of Tuesday night’s win over Ohio State, I asked the Illinois Stats department a very straightforward question.

While I’m not feeling confident in getting an answer, it’s a valid question!

Let’s walk through the scenario, which seems to happen more often than not.

1. Opposing team misses back-to-back free throws.
2. Crowd and broadcasters goes WILD FOR NUGGETS.
3. Team gets instant energy boost.
4. Big run for Illinois.

I’m not sure who came up with the nuggets promotion, but as others wrote on Twitter, that person/group deserves a damn promotion.

It’s a game within a game. It makes the miserable losses a bit better, but, more importantly, it can provide that spark for the crowd. And there’s something about a great home court advantage, and it’s something Illinois is still working on.

Unfortunately, the season where Illinois claimed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, there were no fans all year. Last year, the Illini stumbled a bit, and this year, a lot of the same.

As Illinois rebuilds its home court advantage that we’ve seen in years past, there’s nothing better than a gimmick like that to add some juice to the orange and blue.

And if it involves free advertising for McDonald’s, so be it?

All hail the nuggets.