EIU 80, Illinois 67 (Exhibition) POSTGAME

#76      
I know this will sound like serious rationalizing, but here goes. I would rather have a bad loss like this in front of another schools fan base with a week of practice to go for this group, then a fairly easy win. This could not have felt good, and the video of it will make them feel even worse. And it doesn't effect our record. This is exactly what Underwood needs to hopefully get this teams attention.
This. B2B wins at Vandy and EIU would not give the team what they need right now. This will provide so many teaching opportunities.

2 teachable opportunities... a passing focused offense giving up 14 turnovers in 2d half. we were not confident in the offense.

defense...we gave them momentum and confidence.. and not able to stop hot shooting team. I think we

on radio after the game....BU said he saw things in 2d half that he didnt see in previous scrimmages (in a bad way). " their 5'5" guard controlled the pace"

Sent from my VS500 using Tapatalk
 
#77      

EfremWinters84

S. Carolina
My biggest concern was the lack of individual growth we seemed to see from finke and black. This team cannot be successful without them. They must learn to defend without fouling and be leaders on the floor.
I can recall (after Finke's red shirt season) some discussion projecting him as a Frank Kaminsky type of player. As a result, I was in that camp, looking ahead to his Jr and Sr seasons.

I think I missed on that one.
 
#78      

Dan

Admin
[youtube]39BlXQnZEmo[/youtube]
 
#79      

EfremWinters84

S. Carolina
I'm confused. Did the season either start or end tonight? A lot of suicidal thoughts about a game that doesn't count.
After 10 years of pretty crappy (or, mediocre at best) basketball, I think it's fair to be a bit critical of our first viewing of "The BU Brand of Basketball". The build-up and the expectations have been rather hefty. I was expecting a crisp, well-oiled machine with lots of movement, sharp cuts and nifty passing (from Smith, Lucas, Williams, Matic & Finke) on the offensive end. That's not what we got.

Now to be fair --- the first half Offense looked pretty decent (42 pts). The second half Offense was a disaster....and the last 10 minutes were almost embarassing. The defense looked weak for the entire 40 minutes.

I don't think we predict an entire season on ONE HALF of a pre-season scrimmage.
 
#80      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
picket fence time ?

th
 
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#81      

Illiini

In the land of the Nittany Lion
Go down to Blockbuster, rent a tape of Miracle and put it in the VCR. The watch how Herb Brooks turned a bunch of college stars who couldn't play together into a team that won the Olympics against the Russians...the Red Army "amateurs."

Two things stand out for me. One is how Brooks worked on conditioning. The other is how he put the team in losing positions several times.

I saw Brooks' method being used on a high school level on sport-like team activity that felt entitled because they had won a championship the two preceding years. Spend all day practicing out in the cold, morning and afternoon, with only a few minutes for dinner before "warmups" before the event and there was no way that group was going to win. It was by design. They learned they weren't invincible.

Why do you think Underwood put this game together as fast as he did? He wanted to slap these kids up against the side of the head that talent was going to take them only so far...just far enough to get their derrieres handed to them by a team that they should have routed. Underwood did it with a game that "didn't count." Better this week than next.

I say all that from only watching the press conference, and not a minute of the game. But yeah, find a way to watch the movie, even if you don't have a VCR.
 
#82      
Smith, Lucas, Kipper, Black, Finke, Alstork.

We aren't 10 deep. We're about 6 deep right now.

I thought Williams was our best defender and did lots of things to help on both sides of the ball (although he didn't shoot much or very well when he did) so I would definitely include him. Other than that I basically agree. Front court defense was awful, Black was back doored 3 times in the first 90 seconds. Kipper had a great first half and seemed lost in the second half on both sides. For the first 30 minutes Lucas looked much more collected and playing his game, rather than forcing everything and often playing out of control like last year. Frazier got absolutely chewed out by Underwood after he got yanked when he forced a shot in the lane, but I have no idea why and he was coming down so hard that I thought that it had to be about something else rather than the shot. Anyway, hope they can learn from this. Also, even though he barely played and didn't do much, I can see why they believe in Ebo's potential. He is a freak, athletically.
 
#83      
Looking at the stats, the most glaring is Finke's 0 RBs.
Alstork appears to have been pretty bad as well. At least 4 boards. But 1/5 shooting and 4 TOs against mediocre competition.
Smith clearly a positive.
Sounds like DMW played well.
Hard to see from the video feeds who was doing what, but from the stats it appears our upperclassmen need to step up substantially if we are going to be decent.
 
#85      
Go down to Blockbuster, rent a tape of Miracle and put it in the VCR. The watch how Herb Brooks turned a bunch of college stars who couldn't play together into a team that won the Olympics against the Russians...the Red Army "amateurs."

Two things stand out for me. One is how Brooks worked on conditioning. The other is how he put the team in losing positions several times.

I saw Brooks' method being used on a high school level on sport-like team activity that felt entitled because they had won a championship the two preceding years. Spend all day practicing out in the cold, morning and afternoon, with only a few minutes for dinner before "warmups" before the event and there was no way that group was going to win. It was by design. They learned they weren't invincible.

Why do you think Underwood put this game together as fast as he did? He wanted to slap these kids up against the side of the head that talent was going to take them only so far...just far enough to get their derrieres handed to them by a team that they should have routed. Underwood did it with a game that "didn't count." Better this week than next.

I say all that from only watching the press conference, and not a minute of the game. But yeah, find a way to watch the movie, even if you don't have a VCR.

I'm not quite sure Underwood scheduling an exhibition against Eastern Illinois in Charleston is the same as Brooks scheduling the Russians at Madison Square Garden.
 
#87      

illini80

Forgottonia
After 10 years of pretty crappy (or, mediocre at best) basketball, I think it's fair to be a bit critical of our first viewing of "The BU Brand of Basketball". The build-up and the expectations have been rather hefty. I was expecting a crisp, well-oiled machine with lots of movement, sharp cuts and nifty passing (from Smith, Lucas, Williams, Matic & Finke) on the offensive end. That's not what we got.

Now to be fair --- the first half Offense looked pretty decent (42 pts). The second half Offense was a disaster....and the last 10 minutes were almost embarassing. The defense looked weak for the entire 40 minutes.

I don't think we predict an entire season on ONE HALF of a pre-season scrimmage.
I’m not being critical of you, but those expectations were generated here. Not in any basis of reality. I think we will get there but it could be rough for a while.
 
#88      
I find it comical that we can’t beat EIU. We’re picked 13th in the B1G for a reason. Wake me up in 2019.

No thanks. We need fans that will stick all year long and not bail after an exhibition game.
 
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#89      
I don’t know if it was by design, but the first 10 minutes we only ran one flow of spread. It seemed like the emphasis was pushing and running secondary and halfcourt sets. Lots of quick shots, some not necessarily good. The one flow of spread resulted in a dribble entry, bad screens for the cutters, and a foul on Black for posting up after a down screen.

Second ten minutes or so, I counted 5 spread possessions. Only 2 were good. One resulted in a baseline drive and kick to kipper for 3, one resulted in a baseline drive and score by Mark Smith. 2 of them were turnovers: Someone drove baseline and a kick out option cut into an open spot for a pass but didn’t catch the ball. It’s a good read that happens quite a bit in the offense when you baseline drive people to death, just didn’t execute. The other was Mark Smith. We entered to the high post and ran the cut/full action. Smith caught it at the top and tried to drive the wing gap. This is not a good read because somebody is filling close to that gap and they bring their defender with them, hence a turnover. There is no driving lane off the high post action because the wing and middle are both closed. Best bet is to just move the ball. That is easily corrected by film study.

The best driving lane in the offense, and where we attacked a lot, is the baseline. With the entire set lifted there is so much space to work with you have to attack there. I like that we attacked it, even if we didn’t get as much out of it as one would hope. Final observation, I think everyone was pressing a bit too. Maybe some jitters or just excitement and anticipation. If we can calm down and execute the way BU teaches, there will be a lot of good to come this season.
 
#90      

But yes, I also noted that we weren't using "The System" fully yet. That's why last night's result doesn't bother me whatsoever. This is a complete scheme reboot PLUS heavy freshman minutes. We will get better. There is simply no doubt.
 
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#91      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
I honestly expected more ledge-jumping that what's been expressed here, so I guess that's a good thing. Maybe people are realizing that it takes more than a couple of weeks to grasp a system and be able to execute it.
 
#94      

Glory Days

Palmetto, FL
I try to beat a glass half full guy, but for this team and this season, I'm afraid the glass is half full of pablum.
 
#96      
My concern is that this team is not using the defense scheme that is realistic given the personnel we have.

We are lacking post presence and depth, and BU's defense is perfectly exposing our weakness.
 
#97      
I don’t know if it was by design, but the first 10 minutes we only ran one flow of spread. It seemed like the emphasis was pushing and running secondary and halfcourt sets. Lots of quick shots, some not necessarily good. The one flow of spread resulted in a dribble entry, bad screens for the cutters, and a foul on Black for posting up after a down screen.

Second ten minutes or so, I counted 5 spread possessions. Only 2 were good. One resulted in a baseline drive and kick to kipper for 3, one resulted in a baseline drive and score by Mark Smith. 2 of them were turnovers: Someone drove baseline and a kick out option cut into an open spot for a pass but didn’t catch the ball. It’s a good read that happens quite a bit in the offense when you baseline drive people to death, just didn’t execute. The other was Mark Smith. We entered to the high post and ran the cut/full action. Smith caught it at the top and tried to drive the wing gap. This is not a good read because somebody is filling close to that gap and they bring their defender with them, hence a turnover. There is no driving lane off the high post action because the wing and middle are both closed. Best bet is to just move the ball. That is easily corrected by film study.

The best driving lane in the offense, and where we attacked a lot, is the baseline. With the entire set lifted there is so much space to work with you have to attack there. I like that we attacked it, even if we didn’t get as much out of it as one would hope. Final observation, I think everyone was pressing a bit too. Maybe some jitters or just excitement and anticipation. If we can calm down and execute the way BU teaches, there will be a lot of good to come this season.

Here is small assessment:
As much as I think we all want Finke/Black/Kipper to take on the role of Malcolm they are better served as key role players (spot up shooting, put backs, smart post defense) now with all that being said this team needs them to play big roles BUT Kipper and Black putting the ball on the floor trying to create shots is not their strong suite....
Smith is a freshman but needs more touches on the offensive end which will open more scoring opportunities for others but last night Lucas and Frazier were trying to create but being smaller they struggled finishing
DaMonte looked good as much as we all want him to play he should be inserted slowly and I know he's a defensive player but bringing him back slowly
Alstork is not our answer as a team leader I saw him pouting on the court because he was not scoring....defensively he's our best I'm waiting on another motor but jury is still out with Alstork.

I'm not throwing in the towel just yet but this team will have a lot of growing pains this year but a grow-up/maturity level will need to happen real fast, real quick, real soon!

I still believe under BUs leadership "WeWillWin!"
 
#98      

PJD86

Texas
No Bigs is going to hurt us bad this year


Agreed, to me its still a bad roster, that is getting better. All the pie in the sky people who predicted 4th place, 6th place, etc.. remind me of people who predicted a bowl game for football.

We arent close, luckily basketball can be turned around quicker. We were picked 12th for a reason, thats where I expect us to be.

Build for the future, get the roster up to par, and for goodness sake get some interior players...All I got
 
#99      

BananaShampoo

Captain 'Paign
Phoenix, AZ
Go down to Blockbuster, rent a tape of Miracle and put it in the VCR. The watch how Herb Brooks turned a bunch of college stars who couldn't play together into a team that won the Olympics against the Russians...the Red Army "amateurs."

Two things stand out for me. One is how Brooks worked on conditioning. The other is how he put the team in losing positions several times.

I saw Brooks' method being used on a high school level on sport-like team activity that felt entitled because they had won a championship the two preceding years. Spend all day practicing out in the cold, morning and afternoon, with only a few minutes for dinner before "warmups" before the event and there was no way that group was going to win. It was by design. They learned they weren't invincible.

Why do you think Underwood put this game together as fast as he did? He wanted to slap these kids up against the side of the head that talent was going to take them only so far...just far enough to get their derrieres handed to them by a team that they should have routed. Underwood did it with a game that "didn't count." Better this week than next.

I say all that from only watching the press conference, and not a minute of the game. But yeah, find a way to watch the movie, even if you don't have a VCR.
Funny, but I've also compared Underwood to Herb Brooks a few times in my mind. Hope the results are similar.
 
#100      

sdfidaho

Boise, Idaho
Agreed, to me its still a bad roster, that is getting better. All the pie in the sky people who predicted 4th place, 6th place, etc.. remind me of people who predicted a bowl game for football.

We arent close, luckily basketball can be turned around quicker. We were picked 12th for a reason, thats where I expect us to be.

Build for the future, get the roster up to par, and for goodness sake get some interior players...All I got

In the poll from another thread, I picked us to go to the NIT this year.
These guys are learning a totally new system and are not playing without having to think about it yet.
This team was picked to finish 12th for a reason as you say, but I expect us to finish 9th/10th this year, and be much better in February than they are now.