Illinois 78, Butler 61 POSTGAME

[rrmarte]

Originally Posted by Antomine

Be honest. If this comment was made before the year, who would have thought they were talking about us. Raferty (sp) stated a simple truth that I didn't think would apply to this team. I think 95% of it is confidence. With confidence you also get better shooting, you also get more aggressive defense, you also get to be a PLAYER! All of these kids on this roster are stars.

I have followed Illini Basketball recruiting for over 20 years. We have had some good teams, we have had some great teams, we have even had some elite teams. However, I don't think that we have had this amount of pure raw talent since 1989. the 04-05 team was amazing, however, I believe that the raw talent of this year is better than that team. The 2004-2005 team was special. Those kids fit together perfectly as a team. We have more talent than then. Groce is making them believe that they are special. I can see it in their body language in the game, I can see it in the timeouts, I can see it in the results we have gotten so far.

Weber squeeked by delaware by 3 points with their best player out for half the game. I don't want to turn this into a comparison of coaches. I want to steer this towards a comparison of attitude, desire, and execution. I was luke warm with the coaching hire. I was completely for the dissmal of weber, however, I didn't think Groce was the answer. I am here to eat some crow. This team has an attitude. This team has a purpose, this team will surpass even the most orange tinted glasses fan.

I am on board. Long Live Coach Groce.

I get what you're saying and don't mean to nitpick, but I would have to say that this team may only have the most talent since......2011-2012. Same group and add in a Meyers Leonard.

[Bring The Paign]

Lol ESPN gave us 26 seconds... whatever... Maui Champs is all that matters right now.

[BlockI]

Congrats to Brandon he has taken a lot of critique over his career at UI. It's nice to see him play very smart basketball having 3 games in 3 days.

I love what Sam Mc brings to the line up he is truly the type of player this team needed to play along Griffey and Egwu. He battles and grinds in the post and that has been missing for a while.

The guys look so comfortable in this system and they play with out fear. All 3 guards were driving to the hoop at the right time in the game down the stretch. Aside from Griffey's 2 3's to put us up 12. I though DJ's 2 drives on the baseline for layups were huge buckets!

[illini 4 ever]

Wow Just an unbeleivable start to the season. So much energy offense and defense. I love the way things are looking. This is going to be a fun season.Good times are returning to ChamPAIGN.

[huskie44]

Dan thank you very much

[bleedsorangenblue]

Awsome tournament. Love the swarming defense. Really dictates pace and puts the other teams in catch up mode. Seeing improvement game by game. Did I just hear we only had 8 turnovers?

[schnaurt]

Originally Posted by BlockI

Congrats to Brandon he has taken a lot of critique over his career at UI. It's nice to see him play very smart basketball having 3 games in 3 days.

I love what Sam Mc brings to the line up he is truly the type of player this team needed to play along Griffey and Egwu. He battles and grinds in the post and that has been missing for a while.

The guys look so comfortable in this system and they play with out fear. All 3 guards were driving to the hoop at the right time in the game down the stretch. Aside from Griffey's 2 3's to put us up 12. I though DJ's 2 drives on the baseline for layups were huge buckets!

Sam is the perfect "glue guy".. I loved it at the end of the game when they said he had 3 rebounds and 4 points. He did so much more in this game. The little things.

[Orangetool]

Happy turkey day boys, I'm crashing.

[illinisc]

Originally Posted by BlockI

Congrats to Brandon he has taken a lot of critique over his career at UI. It's nice to see him play very smart basketball having 3 games in 3 days.

I love what Sam Mc brings to the line up he is truly the type of player this team needed to play along Griffey and Egwu. He battles and grinds in the post and that has been missing for a while.

The guys look so comfortable in this system and they play with out fear. All 3 guards were driving to the hoop at the right time in the game down the stretch. Aside from Griffey's 2 3's to put us up 12. I though DJ's 2 drives on the baseline for layups were huge buckets!

DJ also led the team in rebounding today and I think for the 4 games in Hawaii. The players are doing whatever they can to help win games. It's a very unselfish team and they're going to be tough to guard.

[Leonardite]

Clarke looks disgusted and annoyed in the Stevens presser.

[IlliniSpine]

Nice to have some home games at AH to ignite the fan base and hopefully get guys like MH, DL, MLT, etc some more experience. We will need them off the bench.

[blmillini]

Originally Posted by bleedsorangenblue

Awsome tournament. Love the swarming defense. Really dictates pace and puts the other teams in catch up mode. Seeing improvement game by game. Did I just hear we only had 8 turnovers?

Yes, and that is very good considering how fast we are playing now. 11 assists to go with those TO's. It would be great to have that ratio closer to 2 but anything over 1 is okay.

[blmillini]

TG told if he hesitated to take shots he was coming out. Curious how many times heard that in the last 3 years.

[Dan]

Rob McColley

[onebrainmob]

MAUI CHAMPS BABYYYYYYYYY I-L-L

[OrangeKrush]

Originally Posted by Dan

Rob McColley

This might be a stupid question but who are the man and the woman who were in the first picture that was blocking the trophy? Have something to do with the tournament?

[IlliniSteve]

Originally Posted by blmillini

TG told if he hesitated to take shots he was coming out. Curious how many times heard that in the last 3 years.

Probably very few times.

Groce said it on the radio postgame, the seniors are playing with a lot of confidence, not playing afraid, and they take the court as if they know that they're going to win

[IanKEvans2]

Originally Posted by Dan

Rob McColley

I love what John Groce does at 4:34 in the video.

Media: For the players, you guys were picked 9th by the media in the Big Ten. Was that, is that motivation?
John Groce (strongly interjects): Were we?! I didn't know that.
Tyler Griffey: We don't look at that. The final rankings are the ones that matter. Sorry to be blunt.

This team means business and I'm loving every second.

[troydove]

We went through the doorway Illinois BBall is baaaaaack
Sad part is they wont be able to get us off the RANKINGS for the remainder of planet earth

[bleedsorangenblue]

ESPN story w/ Groce quotes:

LAHAINA, Hawaii -- The Illinois caught a huge wave of scoring in Hawaii and rode it all the way to the Maui Invitational title.
Now, the Illini are hoping to carry that success to bigger tournaments that start in March.

"We are excited -- we are not done," Illinois coach John Groce said Wednesday night after Illinois beat Butler 78-61 to top an eight-team field that included No. 9 North Carolina and Marquette.

"It is an extremely great start for our basketball team, but we have to make sure we do not eat the poisonous pill of success,"

Link: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=323260356

Love the celebration tempered with the expectation that there is more to do and a dose of caution thrown in at the end for good measure.

[Dan]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...count=1&ref=nf

[onebrainmob]

Originally Posted by Bring The Paign

Lol ESPN gave us 26 seconds... whatever... Maui Champs is all that matters right now.

IT'S COOL LET THEM KEEP SLEEPING ON US :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

[illinihawk16]

Originally Posted by IlliniSteve

Probably very few times.

Groce said it on the radio postgame, the seniors are playing with a lot of confidence, not playing afraid, and they take the court as if they know that they're going to win

Well, so far they've known correctly. Keep it up!

[mdonsbach]

God Bless Rob McColley. Hate his interviews love his videos!

[chiefini]

Originally Posted by blmillini

TG told if he hesitated to take shots he was coming out. Curious how many times heard that in the last 3 years.

TG: "After I missed the first three, Coach Ford said, 'Don't hesitate. If you hesitate, you're coming out."

I would venture to say TG has not heard that one other time in the last 3 years.
The confidence that is being built through positive encouragement is the main part of why these players are now starting to play to their potential. The freedom to make mistakes and miss shots without recrimination is soooo refreshing. So happy for Tyler and the rest of the seniors. #proudillinination