Xavier 83, Illinois 74 POSTGAME

#51      

illinitiger

I
illinitiger
Illini John said:
I'm looking at the final stats (yes, very hard to stomach) and I find this one hard to believe: Da'Monte Williams played 21 minutes, so a little over half the game, and did not take a shot, did not shoot a free throw, had 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

Why in heaven's name was he even out there? In a game we ended up losing by only 9. Surely somebody on our roster could have been more productive with those minutes.

Wait, I think I just answered my own question. :(
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Agree he needs to get more active offensively..and needs to deliver more steals and boards if he's there for D.

It seems he's settled as a role player...but needs to rebrand himself as an alternative playmaker, which is what we need and he's very capable. Side note related to playmakers....I am really missing Leron Black after last 2 days.
 
#55      

Deleted member 8632

D
Guest
Deleted member 8632
Illiniwacker said:
Our team is bad so our fans attack the announcer.
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It's not that Bill said anything negative about the Illini. The fact is he comes into every game doing zero research about the teams playing. Kipper checks into the game and he says "Kipper Nichols..... First I've seen of this young man". Seriously Bill? Stay off the Maui wowie. He started the previous games that you announced. I personally can't believe ESPN cuts him a paycheck. Whether we're bad or not doesn't change the fact Bill Walton brings little to no value to the game of college basketball.
 
#56      

saukee

S
saukee
Tron2010 said:
It's not that Bill said anything negative about the Illini. The fact is he comes into every game doing zero research about the teams playing. Kipper checks into the game and he says "Kipper Nichols..... First I've seen of this young man". Seriously Bill? Stay off the Maui wowie. He started the previous games that you announced. I personally can't believe ESPN cuts him a paycheck. Whether we're bad or not doesn't change the fact Bill Walton brings little to no value to the game of college basketball.
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That comment that Bill Walton said about KIPPER WAS GENIUS he just summed up KP illinois career
 
#57      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
Dbell1981 said:
We also played Gonzaga to the wire. The same Gonzaga that beat the immortal Duke team today
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#58      

illini62707

I
illini62707
So, some posters think they lost because they were too tired. Well why don't we give them milk and cookies during time-outs. DaMonte has been shooting with Jordan a lot from what i read. But takes only one shot i think in 40 minutes of play the last 2 days. That means he has no confidence in his offensive game. I don't like to say this but i'd play Tevian more just to keep his buddy around not to mention hopefully he will contribute more. Why he can't figure out his defense doesn't work is mind boggling. For you folks that think this team is on the right track again they lost to a to a team with 4 guys out and a team with a new coach that graduated some top players.
 
#59      

Deleted member 521385

D
Guest
Deleted member 521385
So all we have to do now is win out in the Non-Conference and go 10-10 in B1G to grab a seat on the bubble.

See you all in 3 years.
 
#60      

coachingillini

C
coachingillini
Not sure what some of you want DaMonte and Kipper to do. This offense is either Trent, Ayo or Felix trying to score under 7 seconds or running some lame motion offense in which they never get a touch unless it's to pass the ball to the other side. We were hoping that Kipper would be Black 2.0 this year but between the guard dominated style and a lack of sets being called he is not getting the touches he needs.
 
#61      

RickBB

R
RickBB
It seems like every game we are up 5, and then next thing you know we are down 10. I'm optimistic by nature....I don't know what to say any more. But I'll keep tuning in, hoping for better.
 
#62      

IlliniinIowa

I
IlliniinIowa
With the way things are going defensively, I'll bet a team as offensively challenged as Missouri puts up 85 on us. If that happens I'll accept Underwood's resignation the next day (just kidding). I'll settle for a new scheme....
 
#64      

Berg88

B
Berg88
Illini John said:
I'm looking at the final stats (yes, very hard to stomach) and I find this one hard to believe: Da'Monte Williams played 21 minutes, so a little over half the game, and did not take a shot, did not shoot a free throw, had 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

Why in heaven's name was he even out there? In a game we ended up losing by only 9. Surely somebody on our roster could have been more productive with those minutes.

Wait, I think I just answered my own question. :(
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We could have given his time to Griffin who, in 13 minutes, had 1 pt., 1 rebound, 1 assist and 5 turnovers.
 
#65      

Berg88

B
Berg88
Just finished watching the replay online.

I'd love for someone with some time to find out how many points we scored per lob this tournament. I'm guessing .25.

Adonis' minutes weren't the most productive, but he had 5 and 6 and was able to play 15 minutes in the third day of a back to back to back. Before the season started, I doubted we would see him till December at least. Hopefully, he will get more comfortable in the coming weeks. God knows we need him.

Giorgi, rough second and third game. Someone seriously asked after Gonzaga if he would average 14 and 6 for the season. We were so young...

Kane??? I really don't know which is harder to believe. BU could be thinking about red shirting him, or he is so bad that, with as bad as our interior was today, BU still thought he'd be worse. Equally frightening thoughts to me.

Feliz had a VERY quiet tournament. Before Maui everyone seemed certain he was an upgrade over TJL.

It was nice to see Trent have a solid first half. We can't afford his first half disappearances.

Griffin followed up a nice performance with a freshman one. He needs more time. Hopefully the same is true for Jones.

Jordan and Ayo had nice tournaments. People who were calling for Jordan to get less time, shame on you.

Kenpom has Damonte listed as "nearly invisible". Hard to disagree right now. Needs to change.

Kipper. :noidea:
 
#66      

illini62707

I
illini62707
I agree the "offense" Illinois runs doesn't get many good looks. What do i expect from Williams? A much more aggressive player who is willing to miss some shots He's been practicing all year for this don't let fear of failure get in the way. He shot less than 20% from 3 last year which can a huge mental hurdle on the court.
 
#69      

breadman

B
Herndon, VA
breadman
The one thought that popped into my mind from watching this game was noticing how Jordan, being a senior, was doing senior things on the court. Very refreshing. This is the first game that I believe he was throwing his senior weight around, like, get out of my way, I am doing this and you can't stop me kind of thing. I found myself wanting to see more of it, but then came that substitution.....
 
#71      

Ibball62

I
Ibball62
Lol at half this thread being about Bill Walton. Changes need to be made on defense. We give up wayyyyy to many easy baskets. I believe Gonzaga shot 20 less times than us, and they beat us. It’s because those shots are easy looks cause of the defense. I get we force turnovers, but if you don’t score on the turnovers, the other team is getting easy baskets because of overplaying. Sad to see
 
#72      

Love the Illini

L
Love the Illini
Don’t think the tired card works Gonzaga played in same game we did and beat Duke yesterday. Xavier was a game we needed to win they are not as good as last few years could possibly miss the tourney very winnable game for us. ISU without 4 of top 8 including their best player. Saw some good things but not enough to win games. We have to figure out a way to defend besides the turnovers we create. Teams get wide open looks and layups every game. We have to play almost perfect offensive basketball if we are going to allow 50% plus shooting every night. It just is not a number we can win with until opponents FG% goes down wins are going to be scarce
 
#74      

bombayIllini

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bombayIllini
In his radio interview, BU seemed to imply that the younger kids have not committed to executing on defense. IIRC he actually mentioned Alan with just one charge (could be wrong on this one).

Same on offense too. He expects timely "cutter"s. BU claims that the younger team members have not caught on as yet.

I think Kipper is also semi lost at both ends. And, that probably hurts more than anything else (just an observation, not a knock).

I am optimistic.
 
#75      

Dayman

D
Dayman
What I don’t understand is BU made defensive adjustments his one year at OSU when things weren’t working, I don’t understand why not now. i get that he might be thinking he is here for the long term and wants to build a culture and if he gives in and changed then he never will have kids work hard enough to play his style because there is the option to back off. But he needs to win now for recruiting purposes and quite frankly his job security more than likely. I am a BU fan and like his style but we also need to win games while he implements his system. IMO these kids don’t play much defense in AAU and high school and now they are trying to play the most intense difficult style there is against the best in the country. Keep teaching it but also don’t sacrifice games.