Looking for positives - we never let them get the lead to 20 today!
:thumb:
Looking for positives - we never let them get the lead to 20 today!
:thumb:
There are no positives to this game. Just another round of the inconsistent Illini. This is just simply unacceptable. This team has it in them to play defense but they cannot motivate themselves to do it for the entire game or if they do it for 1 game, they cannot take it to the next game. The home losses are beginning to pile up now. If there's one thing Whitman won't tolerate, it is home losses.
This is what an apathetic fanbase would say. They would take a positive out of a disaster. Granted, Te'Jon did very well but the team did not. This is a team game, not an individual game. No excuses allowed.
Quick Points
1. Groce inability to recruit a PG prior to TJL is well known. But how about his inability to land that 6-10+ rim protector/quick leaper. Mav had a hard time getting around their big and he limited our drives.
2. Black is looking more like a small PF or just another wing. He just hasn't physically developed to mix it up with the true bigs. If he can develop into a Roger Powell type PF we might be OK, but he isn't a true big (see above).
3. Don't blame Hill, just like Deon decades before him. Hill didn't have the PG and Big to help him out. Hill has been great for the program hope he comes back one day to be involved with the team or university
4. One of the last Groce hold-outs but he is outclassed by pretty much every BIG coach. Saw some nice things today, but these nice things need to be par for the course and not just glimpses.
5. If there is a stat on heart and motor, TJL and Kipper would be near the top. Need to keep these two with the program and developing.
6. Defensive intensity was not the same as it was for NU.
7. A culture of not being bench for mistakes is ingrained on this team. Have seen it from pre-season of season 1 (bad shots were allowed constantly). The new coach will end this, the PSU coach went livid on they fouled late in though the game was in hand. Losing at every level will have to be removed for the program to go forward.
On point 7 there is a lot of inconsistency in that. Some guys are forced to play tight worried that even a minor mistake will result in spending the rest of the game on the bench. Other guys know that regardless of their play, they will not be sat. It's really terrible game management.
Thank God for Spring Training. And ice cream.
Curse of the Chief!!
This thread speaks volumes about the state of Illinois Basketball. Lose to Penn State and there are 38 comments. A few years ago we would be well on the way to a thousand.