Penn State 74, Illinois 52 POSTGAME

[ChuckM]

BU has a proven track record with his stye of play before coming to the Illini. So the only variable that is different is the players. I think Underwood is as shocked as we are.

I guess I don't see this like others do.

I look at RPI ratings and probably too much, but here is what I see.

2016-17 Okie State

vs. RPI TOP 50 3-10
vs. RPI TOP 100 6-11

2015-16 SFA

vs. RPI TOP 50 0-1
vs. RPI TOP 100 3-4

2014 - 15 SFA

vs. RPI TOP 50 0-3
vs. RPI TOP 100 4-3

2013 - 14 SFA

vs. RPI TOP 50 0-1
vs. RPI TOP 100 1-1

I keep hearing about his track record, and yes he has gotten his teams to the tournament. But against top talented teams he actually hasn't been very impressive has he?

 

[Obelix]

BU has a proven track record with his stye of play before coming to the Illini. So the only variable that is different is the players. I think Underwood is as shocked as we are.

I think BU is a good coach but the above point has been greatly exaggerated. There are many coaches who had succeeded at mid-major or low-major (e.g., SFA) but failed at the HM level. There are many good coaches out there, in every conference. Success will depend on whether BU will be able to get the talent at UI. To succeed at UI, a coach has to prove a great recruiter, and the same is true for Underwood.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I think BU is a good coach but the above point has been greatly exaggerated. There are many coaches who had succeeded at mid-major or low-major (e.g., SFA) but failed at the HM level. There are many good coaches out there, in every conference. Success will depend on whether BU will be able to get the talent at UI. To succeed at UI, a coach has to prove a great recruiter, and the same is true for Underwood.

Agree with all the above. I think with the right talent, BU could take us to great heights. I hope the early fails at recruiting turns around quickly because beat downs at home against Penn State should not happen at Illinois.

 

[ChuckM]

In Okie State it was 39, in SFA it was 57, 35 and 71 his final year.

 

[DB11Headband]

Can anyone give me a spark notes version of what the heck happened after about the 10 minute mark in the first half? Had somewhere to go and it seems I was spared watching some not great basketball..

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

We were, like, really, really bad.

 

[Goldtop]

I think BU is a good coach but the above point has been greatly exaggerated. There are many coaches who had succeeded at mid-major or low-major (e.g., SFA) but failed at the HM level. There are many good coaches out there, in every conference. Success will depend on whether BU will be able to get the talent at UI. To succeed at UI, a coach has to prove a great recruiter, and the same is true for Underwood.

I totally agree. I hope he is able to get better players to buy in and decide to commit to Illinois. I have not been encouraged on that front so far, considering that we only have a one person class on a team that is wide open for playing time.

But so many are already questioning his coaching ability, and I think this needs to play out longer than a few months. The players he had last year ran the same system and led the NCAA in scoring.

 

[MadSeason]

I say this without any sense that it's hyperbole (but I'll let others decide if it is): next season is the most pivotal season Illinois basketball has had in decades.

We are way way past that. This ship sank to the bottom of the ocean years ago. I'd say the 2010-2011 season was the most important failure that drove the final nail into a once proud program.

If we fail next year again, no one will notice because that is the expectation.

 

[Ken]

BU has a proven track record with his stye of play before coming to the Illini. So the only variable that is different is the players. I think Underwood is as shocked as we are.

This is misleading simply because hes had most of his success with upper classmen and a pro player. hes never implemented his play style with a team where the most talented players are the freshmen.

IMO he overstepped in regards to installing his offense and his ego hurt him and the team this year. Sometimes as a coach you have temper your expectations and take things slowly and I personally always believed the goal for this year should've always been to bring these freshmen up to speed as quickly as possible and tailor whatever you are doing to them and then expand it next year with them as your core as to how you will play going forward.

It will be interesting how this off season plays out and how he adjusts.

 

[Davo79]

I guess I don't see this like others do.

I look at RPI ratings and probably too much, but here is what I see.

2016-17 Okie State

vs. RPI TOP 50 3-10
vs. RPI TOP 100 6-11

2015-16 SFA

vs. RPI TOP 50 0-1
vs. RPI TOP 100 3-4

2014 - 15 SFA

vs. RPI TOP 50 0-3
vs. RPI TOP 100 4-3

2013 - 14 SFA

vs. RPI TOP 50 0-1
vs. RPI TOP 100 1-1

I keep hearing about his track record, and yes he has gotten his teams to the tournament. But against top talented teams he actually hasn't been very impressive has he?

Very small sample size it's only his second year at high D1 level. I believe in the system and it takes time. WV struggled it's first couples years when Huggins took over and same goes for South Carolina with Martin. We run the same system you even glimpses of it right now when they execute. One thing everyone needs to keep in mind is neither of those teams ever has a top class they build for fit and Underwood is doing the same here. Patience people we are still riding the storm but it will be over soon. Im excited about this team just like I was the first year Lon Kruger's took over. Maybe not next year but by year three we will be seeing a damn good team out there we can all be proud of. The brand of basketball is changing at Illinois and you all are gonna love it. So hang tight and keep supporting our Orange and Blue.

 

[Tacomallini]

Can anyone give me a spark notes version of what the heck happened after about the 10 minute mark in the first half? Had somewhere to go and it seems I was spared watching some not great basketball..

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

Illini blew a lead late in first half. Were up by 4 with less than 4 seconds left and went to halftime down 1. Had a gazillion minute scoring drought to start the 2nd half and put up as bad or worse a half as they did earlier this year at Wisconsin. Gave up. Black was the only one that had a decent game without any bonehead plays, from what I can recall. TJL shot okay but missed some key FTs. Alstork benched 2nd half. Kipper looked good in the first half nosedived and seemed to diss BU during a timeout. Illini nation pissed. Other than that all went well while you were gone...

 

[breadman]

Anyone can fill me in on why Finke didn't play at all this game?

Suffered a concussion in practice the day before.
In fact I was looking for him on the bench and did not see him. Anybody else see him in the building?

 

[Illiini]

Suffered a concussion in practice the day before.
In fact I was looking for him on the bench and did not see him. Anybody else see him in the building?

I heard on the radio that he was watching the game in the locker room.

 

[pruman91]

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/coll...cle_07436c57-22eb-551f-af0e-3e809f96a3fd.html

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. • Of the many things Illinois has done poorly this disappointing basketball season, the two that rank highest on the list might be end-of-half or end-of-game in-bounds plays or prolonged scoring droughts.

When Illinois crams both of them into the same game, as happened Sunday night against Penn State, a close game can turn into a runaway.


Penn State, which trailed by four with just seconds to go in the first half, cashed in on an Illini mistake to take a one-point halftime lead, then sped ahead as Illinois suffered a scoring drought of 7:17 to open the second half. The result was a 74-52 victory that kept alive the Nittany Lions’ NCAA Tournament hopes.

it wasn’t until the 12:43 mark that Black scored on a hook shot to break a drought that stretched for 8:34 back to the first half. Just seven days ago, Illinois went more than 11 1/2 minutes without a point at Ohio State.


woke up this morning thinking I had a bad dream about Illini bb.....

:hurl::hurl::hurl:

 

[Deleted member 631370]

Agree with all the above. I think with the right talent, BU could take us to great heights. I hope the early fails at recruiting turns around quickly because beat downs at home against Penn State should not happen at Illinois.

My concern is that recruiting only gets more difficult as time goes on and losing becomes the norm.

Brad Underwood is not a great recruiter. I think he can be "good enough", but now he's really up against a wall. It's easy to sell a kid on joining a brand new system with a lot of hope and optimism ahead of us. It's tougher when the team implodes and a full-blown rebuild is ahead of us. The elite recruits usually don't want to be a part of a total rebuild. They want to come in and win right away.

I'm really, really worried about recruiting. And as such, I'm really, really worried about the future of this program.

 

[Dbell1981]

I'm ready for some players with some fight. These guys hang their heads when they face adversity. Without a doubt it's effort and communication. The game plan is solid when they execute. Maybe it takes alot of energy to keep up that frantic defensive pace and we just don't have enough horses yet. I believe in coach and hope this thing gets turned around within the next couple years. Recruits, there's plenty of playing time here! Let's right this ship Ayo, Okoro, and Liddell. Jacobs looks like the kind of uber athletes this team is in desperate need for.

 

[Kathy]

I just don’t buy that this is the least talented Illini team in Big Ten history. Go read the preseason prediction page.

For example, Kathy, who just summarized my criticism with “that’s bull” predicted a 24-9 season (11-7 Big Ten) and let us all know we could praise her at the end of the season.

I really hope that BUs change in style and system is just too much to combine with freshmen, roster turn, and mediocre talent. If that’s the case, we can hope for a record that is better than our talent next year. I firmly believe our bottom-feeder record is below our mediocre talent this year.

I did predict that. I thought MS would be contending for Fpoy, I thought Finke would be shooting the lights out, I thought we'd get 15 to 20 a game from Alstork, and I thought Lucas would develop a shot, or at least hit free throws. I still think you're off base on blaming it on BU.

 

[GortTheRobot]

I did predict that. I thought MS would be contending for Fpoy, I thought Finke would be shooting the lights out, I thought we'd get 15 to 20 a game from Alstork, and I thought Lucas would develop a shot, or at least hit free throws. I still think you're off base on blaming it on BU.

Exactly. Don't damn the coach, or the poster, who thought any of this might be true about our team. We all had much bigger expectations, based on at least a couple of these coming true. The fact that none of these happened, combined with our lack of talent and size, is not all on the coach. TF can't make up for all those other factors.

 

[UofI]

I coach a 12 yr old travel basketball team 30 minutes from Champaign. There isn’t an Illini fan on the team. If you ask them if they want to play for Illinois in college they say no. I’ve got UNC fans, an Oregon fan, a freakin Michigan fan and these are Central Illinois kids. If kids in our own backyard aren’t even fans then yes recruiting is going to be tough.

 

[Deleted member 631370]

Exactly. Don't damn the coach, or the poster, who thought any of this might be true about our team. We all had much bigger expectations, based on at least a couple of these coming true. The fact that none of these happened, combined with our lack of talent and size, is not all on the coach. TF can't make up for all those other factors.

As I've said repeatedly, we needed a few things to happen: Alstork to at least replace what we lost in JCL, Mark Smith to progress over the course of the season and begin to assert himself as a high-caliber scorer, and Finke to provide us that stretch 4 outside shooting option.

None of those things have occurred.

Frazier is giving us more than we had hoped, but that doesn't compensate for our deficiencies elsewhere.

The real stunner, IMO, is how little we're getting offensively from Mark and Mark. I'll admit -- I never saw this coming.

 

[foby]

As I've said repeatedly, we needed a few things to happen: Alstork to at least replace what we lost in JCL, Mark Smith to progress over the course of the season and begin to assert himself as a high-caliber scorer, and Finke to provide us that stretch 4 outside shooting option.

None of those things have occurred.

Frazier is giving us more than we had hoped, but that doesn't compensate for our deficiencies elsewhere.

The real stunner, IMO, is how little we're getting offensively from Mark and Mark. I'll admit -- I never saw this coming.

This nails it.

 

[TCTORNADO]

This nails it.

No this nails it!!!

 

[RedRocksIllini]

Illini blew a lead late in first half. Were up by 4 with less than 4 seconds left and went to halftime down 1. Had a gazillion minute scoring drought to start the 2nd half and put up as bad or worse a half as they did earlier this year at Wisconsin. Gave up. Black was the only one that had a decent game without any bonehead plays, from what I can recall. TJL shot okay but missed some key FTs. Alstork benched 2nd half. Kipper looked good in the first half nosedived and seemed to diss BU during a timeout. Illini nation pissed. Other than that all went well while you were gone...

I'm glad you mentioned this. I noticed that when it happened and wasn't 100% sure I really saw what I thought I saw. If BU really wants to change the culture (and Kipper really did diss our Coach), that would be the last time Kipper saw the court for a very long time. We are capable of losing just as badly with Vesel on the court, thank you very much.

 

[PlayAZ]

I think BU is a good coach but the above point has been greatly exaggerated. There are many coaches who had succeeded at mid-major or low-major (e.g., SFA) but failed at the HM level. There are many good coaches out there, in every conference. Success will depend on whether BU will be able to get the talent at UI. To succeed at UI, a coach has to prove a great recruiter, and the same is true for Underwood.

I could name a couple that hit close to home...

 

[mattcoldagelli]

As I've said repeatedly, we needed a few things to happen: Alstork to at least replace what we lost in JCL, Mark Smith to progress over the course of the season and begin to assert himself as a high-caliber scorer, and Finke to provide us that stretch 4 outside shooting option.

None of those things have occurred.

Frazier is giving us more than we had hoped, but that doesn't compensate for our deficiencies elsewhere.

The real stunner, IMO, is how little we're getting offensively from Mark and Mark. I'll admit -- I never saw this coming.

Yep. I honestly thought we were gonna dance this year - none of those needs above seemed even a little bit outlandish back in November. I thought between the bump we were getting in coaching, the spike in both use and performance of Finke, and a top-heavy B1G we would be able to slot in to that middle tier.

 

[IlliniinIowa]

That would be against Alabama in the NiT a couple years ago.

Or against Michigan at the Big Ten tournament in Chicago. Far too many references here the last few years....