Miami 81, Illinois 79 POSTGAME

#226      
During every Illini game that Dakitch covers, I write ESPN about what a complete tool he is and can't they schedule someone else that half the people (at least) don't hate.

A announcer should never distract the viewer from the game. Dakitch offers an occasional good insight, but he never ever shuts up, he makes it more difficult to focus on the game. I would almost prefer Bill Walton, and clearly his brain is scrambled on divergent fronts.

billwalton.jpg
 
#227      
Silly. Dakich knows basketball and speaks honestly. He’s the best college basketball analyst in the game.

No he is not. He is egotistical, repetitive, and redundant. He is in love with his own voice. He does not enhance the telecast he distracts from it.. He sounds like a broken Chatty Cathy doll where you no longer need to pull the string-he just keeps talking, talking, and talking. When he checks his ego at the door, we might be able to appreciate his insight.
 
#229      
Did Ayo already go to the NBA? He seems disinterested most of the time; on the court and in press conferences. I see few leadership qualities in him on the court. We should not have lost that game with a 1st rd NBA pick. That said, there is plenty of blame to go around but Ayo needs to be the leader. The season is not over and my optimism has not been dampened. We must/will improve.
 
#230      
That's really what it was. Anybody who's been following this team could have predicted a flat first half. Combine that with lights out shooting from an actual opponent and voilà.

It's on the staff to get them better prepared for this scenario, but the silver lining is this won't happen again this year.



I along with others here will hold you to this
 
#231      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
No he is not. He is egotistical, repetitive, and redundant. He is in love with his own voice. He does not enhance the telecast he distracts from it.. He sounds like a broken Chatty Cathy doll where you no longer need to pull the string-he just keeps talking, talking, and talking. When he checks his ego at the door, we might be able to appreciate his insight.

Dakich is a Loosier to the bone....Played and coached there....therefore he is dead to me.....I felt the same about last nites game as I did during the football game Saturday..no fire , no want, no effort.....burning 4 timeouts in the first half didn't work out for the last 15.4 seconds did it ?

The last play of the game should have been getting the ball to Kofi down low with about 7-8 seconds left and crashing the boards for a rebound if necessary..what we saw was Ayo trying to force his way thru a double team to the basket with little chance of success..

Miami was unconscious in the first half..draining shot after shot...we changed to a zone and that stopped the flood for a while, but face it, we are not a good man defense...having our rim protector's AWAY from the rim is counter productive to a sound D....many times last nite and in a lot of games previously we have left the paint open to drives by opponents resulting in bunnies and 1's..

I have no answers for how to fix our poor starts to a game or second havles, but we need to solve these problems now or it's going to be another selection Sunday that we get passed on...I'm tired of waiting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#232      
Did Ayo already go to the NBA? He seems disinterested most of the time; on the court and in press conferences. I see few leadership qualities in him on the court. We should not have lost that game with a 1st rd NBA pick. That said, there is plenty of blame to go around but Ayo needs to be the leader. The season is not over and my optimism has not been dampened. We must/will improve.

If only the politics of recruiting, and especially Chicago recruiting, weren't so fraught, I'd say he is the guy that deserves to be our sixth man and keep Feliz as the starting PG. That's an especially dicey proposition with another Chicago prospect watching and waiting on the wings, but Ayo needs a good swift kick in the you know what. Hopefully the prospect of falling off draft boards will do that, but he shouldn't need that to happen if he's meant to be (and wants to be) great.
 
#234      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
Ayo said preseason, with the big guy back there, they didn't have to be as aggressive on defense and it shows.

The problem is that the big guy is not "back there" because he's getting blown past 18 feet from the basket.
 
#236      

The Sprouting Divot

Invisible and Bulletproof
Miracle Mile
It's been a while since I've still been pissed about a loss the following morning. So I guess the team is making progress?

Dakich and Benetti are an outstanding broadcast team.
 
#238      

Flight#33

Flight#33
I mean I get you’re down in the dumps, as am I, but that’s not a fair assessment in any way shape or form. No one saw Nunn as an NBA player in his time at ILL, just got to grow and learn. Just hope it happens sooner than later.

Nunn never said he was heading to the NBA after 1 or 2 years either. Ayo is a fine player, but guys going to the league are killers and have the will to win games like this one. Ayo is a nice kid, which is not a compliment in this case. Ayo needs to be the catalyst and lead , this team needs that terribly.
 
#239      
There were 15 seconds on the clock when Ayo got the ball in the backcourt, down 79-80. WHY did he wait until 4 seconds left to do anything? We were losing!!!
He didn't, he waited 7 seconds. If my memory is correct he waited until the clock hit 8 and change.
 
#240      

SampsonRelpenk

Edwardsville, IL
At this point in year three I just feel like I have no understanding of what Brad Underwood wants to accomplish. Scheme-wise, roster-wise, schedule-wise, I am lost.
 
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#241      
Why is there no answer for a team that rotates around one man? How do you let a player go off for 28 and a team shoot 60% on your own floor? Defense is sorely lacking with this team. Had Lykes not gotten in to foul trouble, I doubt the come back happens. This team need to look in the mirror, create an identity, and put their egos aside. This is not the Illinois basketball identity of our most successful teams nor fitting of the B1G in general. Without a hard-nosed defense, this team is going nowhere.
 
#242      
That's really what it was. Anybody who's been following this team could have predicted a flat first half. Combine that with lights out shooting from an actual opponent and voilà.

It's on the staff to get them better prepared for this scenario, but the silver lining is this won't happen again this year.
Of course it will happen again. It's at least the third time this season we have come out to start a game completely flat. If I had to guess, I'd say it'll happen another 5 times before it's over unless some big changes are made.
 
#243      
Of course it will happen again. It's at least the third time this season we have come out to start a game completely flat. If I had to guess, I'd say it'll happen another 5 times before it's over unless some big changes are made.

At this point, I actually expect them to play poorly for the first 10-15 minutes. Also have come to expect really lazy turnovers. It's who they are as a team unfortunately. I can probably just watch the second half of the game from now on. The first half is usually too ugly to watch.
 
#244      
There are too many concerns to list, so I'll focus on a few;
1) The lack of urgency and killer instinct in this team will always limit its ceiling & floor. In the Big Ten, every team is capable of punching you. That swag/toughness is missing in this team and it doesn't magically come (aka, we won't have it)

2) Getting down by 27 at home to a mediocre team illustrates a lack of leadership from the coaches to the players (though especially the players). At some point a few player leaders would make it unacceptable to have this little of pride on the defensive end.

3) Underwood is failing at getting one of his best players involved (Giorgi). Either recruit the right players for your system or change the system to match your players. Giorgi is out of position at the 4 in Underwood's offense (that won't change over night). I think we should run more high/low action with Giorgi & Kofi on the floor at the same time.

This team has tournament level talent but isn't a tournament level TEAM. I don't foresee that changing unfortunately.
 
#245      
Kofi finishes 8/8 and was largely ignored by everyone but Giorgi. It's not rocket science. Get the effin ball to Kofi!
So true. I keep scratching my head over this. We have a 7 foot player under the basket who doesn't miss a whole lot and really can't be stopped physically so why in the world isn't play #1, #2, #3 just get the ball to that guy?
 
#246      

JFGsCoffeeMug

BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
So true. I keep scratching my head over this. We have a 7 foot player under the basket who doesn't miss a whole lot and really can't be stopped physically so why in the world isn't play #1, #2, #3 just get the ball to that guy?
From what I've seen so far, at least part of the answer is that someone is overly focused on improving his draft stock.
 
#247      
Benetti is one of my favorite announcers, sucks he does Sox games. I'm in awe any time Dakich can fit both his head and his ego into a stadium, even if it fits 25k+.

If Dakich could shut up for about 5 to 10 more minutes of the broadcast and let the play by play guy do his job, he'd be at least a mediocre color commentator. If he could not bring up how great of a coach he was every single broadcast, he might not make my ears bleed.

That being said, he provides good insight, you just gotta wade through a few feet of crap to get to it. I was very surprised BU didn't turn the pressure up early, which was what Dakich was asking for.

Also, I am forever scarred and if we ever play any team with a guard 5'8" or shorter, I just assume he's dropping 30+ on us.
 
#248      
As bad as our first half was. Miami played as bad in the second half. Except for two points the point switched. It was a tale of two halves in this game. See what making two free throws would have meant.
 
#249      
This loss really really hurts. The reason I know we were so superior is because even when down around 14 points with ten minutes left, I felt like a comeback was very likely.
 
#250      
Either recruit the right players for your system or change the system to match your players.

Issues at Hand: Stats per ESPN

DaMonte and his offense are not one of them, Griffin or whomever off the bench in place of anyone else is not one of them....simply put the stats don't lie! Through 8 games played:

Illinois Steals as a team...tied with such powerhouses as Tennessee Tech, Northern Arizona, South Carolina Upstate @ 6.0 per game- 241 Nationally
Illinois Blocks as a team... tied with such powerhouses as Purdue Ft Wayne, S. Illinois, Clemson, Appl. St. @ 20 total -256 Nationally
Illinois Assists as a team...tied with such powerhouses as Utah St., Iowa St. Richmond, ahead of Gonzaga @ 17 per game - 24 Nationally
Illinois FG% as a team...following right behind Indiana and Louisville @ 512% and 8th Nationally
Illinois PtsGame...Tied with Arizona for 2-4 Nationally

Our issue as discussed @ nauseam....defense is killing us. We over commit trying to pressure and create steals, we just are bad at creating them. Without fouling, the steals are minimal when giving up layups/short jumpers or leaving best opposing players wide open time and again. Blocks are extremely low for us having, what one could argue would be a top notch front court if used effectively?

Offensively, BU has gotten this team to the exact point that he wanted and we wanted...88 Pts per game. Now that said, we may not like the way we get to 88 Pts per game, and that number is inflated against inferior opponents, BUT we are still scoring nearly 88 Pts per game. Someone else HAS to get a defense that works?

Zone I am afraid is the best option for us....hell Syracuse makes it work every single year, one or two years for us should not be an issue until better athletes can start playing for us to play havoc ball the way he wants to do on defense as well?

Man to Man is killing us, quit over committing BU, play sound defense and push offense from there. Kofi and Giorgi stay down low then and our chances for success will go up short term at least.