OurMottoisOskeeWowWow
- Illinois
I was having flashbacks of the Winthrop game from last year. I'm glad we won.
Illinois 77, Tennessee-Martin 74 POSTGAME
And it's why I'm not really concerned about how close this game got. 5 TO's will be an outlier for Tejon by the end of the season. He takes care of the ball.
Also, BU got a little nonchalant at the end of the game. He took his last time out with about 3 minutes left and switched to a zone which we haven't really played at all. They hit a 3 and start their comeback, and we don't have any timeouts left. I think he tried to expirement a little and it almost came back to bite him.
Thanks, JFG. "Treadmill" was being thrown around in a bunch of different contexts. It was hard to follow.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
No prob. Underwood has moved around a lot, but the treadmill has been a constant for him.
Excellent points, JRich. I watched a DVR'ed version later, after I already knew the final score. It was hard to imagine how the game tightened when the Illini were up 16 with 3:42 to play!! Coach Underwood definitely got "nonchalant". The Illini offense didn't milk the clock; the offense stayed in an uptempo mode.
I believe BU thought the other team would concede and the game would just run out. Also, UT-Martin was in much better shape than the Illini (despite the "treadmill"). Martin's 3 best players played 40, 36, and 33 minutes and were running around at the end like madmen trying to get back in the game. Illini were gassed.
IlliniDent
- Chicago, IL
Really don’t see us doing a lot of running out the clock with 3 minutes to go this year. That got us into just as much trouble last year.
It felt like our entire offense last year was based on running out the clock...
Against the zone? An overload is also a common approach to beat a zone. Idea is to have more players on one side of the floor than the zone can naturally guard. In a basic overload you’re looking to fill the high and low post, the corner, the wing and the top of the key.
I think the biggest problem I saw was 2 guys flashing to the same spot. Easily correctable as they get more reps with each other. We also really need to hit some of those rhythm 3s we had too. Hit enough and teams get scared and come out of the zone.
1st paragraph: agreed and hopeful that this is tjl’s worst TO game of the season.
2nd: I actually liked the switch the zone. They were carving up the backside of of our man with pick and rolls and straight line drives. Zone offense can take longer to get into and a lot of times teams just pass the ball around the perimeter. It can be a good way to make teams bleed clock defensively. Bad news is they hit a wing 3, which is something a 3-2 is supposed to negate.
I think you've got a valid point, but I was concerned about the way we played. It showed a couple things to me about our mental toughness, habits, and understanding of how to close out a game. In addition, I don't think we ever dominated these guys like we're capable of. We're fortunate the letdown was against a team that was over-matched, and guys like AJ were able to step up. Great teams have players waiting to step up, and it makes me like how Underwood is rewarding guys who may still need to prove themselves more.
LOVE Underwood and how he's helping these guys grow. As he said himself, it's a work in progress.
We've won both of these games without hitting many threes. Also, does anyone else get the feeling we skipping open threes to try and get higher percentage shots? Not sure how I feel about that. Offensively we have a great combination of scoring that will only improve as more 3's start to fall.
Defense is where we will be a question mark the entire season.
Defense is where we will be a question mark the entire season.
Yes defensively we are going to struggle especially if we play the pressure style defense where we are picking up the opponents at half court or on the perimeter....this will expose our slowness...especially with our feet....we are slow in moving our feet and cutting off lanes to the hoop....I expect fouls will become a problem as we encounter better and quicker teams
GortTheRobot
- North Bethesda, Maryland
I was getting nervous watching the game, and unhappy it was so close, but afterwards I put in context: First, we still won, which I don't think happened much in these type of games in the recent past, and we are playing many underclassmen who are just getting their feet wet. I still think we at least flirt with the tourney this year; The offense will get smoother, and we will be more consistent on threes.
Doc Awesome
- YOU
To be fair, UT Martin was a pretty good team last year. Had they played us at the end of the year, IDK if we would have beaten them.
blackdog
- Champaign
That's more what I meant, the spacing was awkward as well as the movement. Multiple players in the same spot just kind of standing there looking unsure what to do. Just need more reps.
Deleted member 29907
D
Guest
A bit of a struggle - but remember - Freshman are slow to pick up the defensive schemes usually - I am actually somewhat pleased at where they are already. Under previous regimes, our Frosh did not know how to rotate down and where to be to help. So far, these guys seem to be getting there much of the time, and close on others.
I don't see the same slowness - Alstork, AJ, TJL and DWill all seem to cover pretty well. And the trap on the pick has had some success when we don't let the dribbler split the trap.