Sounds to me like he was subtly calling out his players for lacking competitive fire; obviously the guy is walking a tightrope -- he can't say stuff like "we couldn't hit the side of a barn or make a free throw to save our lives" in public, less the "BU is too harsh on players and yells all of the time" bandwagon would start rolling again; at the same time, winning players make winning plays, and while we have a handful of good players, we clearly do not yet have winning players.
Pregame: Illinois vs Florida Atlantic, Saturday, December 29th, 2:00pm CT, BTN Plus
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This is delivered somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but your sentiment is spot on. And Underwood knows it, too. In the Misery presser, he talked about being deliberate about feeding Giorgi more, which is precisely what they need to do.
The vaunted "system" only works when we have multiple offensive threats. Even just having more than one will grant significant returns. I want defenses to collapse on Giorgi just to watch him kick it to somebody like AJ, with his feet set, ready to pop a 3. Or if they don't respect Giorgi, I want him to take it to the rim and get 2.
4 wins all at home against 100+ ranked opponents.
Swept at Maui.
0-2 in conference.
Losses in Chicago, South Bend, St. Louis, and Champaign.
Lost braggin rights.
About a B- or a B.
OK.
As we look to tomorrow's game, how would you grade the team on the following attributes:
(a) State of Program Overall
(b) Direction of Program Overall
(c) Performance on the Court this Season to Date (vs. what you expected preseason)
(d) Progress on the Court this Season to Date (e.g., last 3 games played vs. first 3 games played)
My grades would be as follows:
(a) State of Program Overall - F (The worst five year stretch I can remember from the Fighting Illini, and I can remember the Watergate hearings)
(b) Direction of Program Overall - C (Think we have more pieces to be successful now than 2 or 3 years ago)
(c) Performance on the Court (vs. Preseason expectations) - D (Thought we would be better at winning, hovering around .500 -- and should have won at least 1 of 3 in Maui and 2 of 3 against (Georgetown, ND, Missouri)
(d) Progress on the Court this Season to Date - C (We are better at defense than at the start of the year, but our offensive production seems worse)
(a) State of Program Overall
(b) Direction of Program Overall
(c) Performance on the Court this Season to Date (vs. what you expected preseason)
(d) Progress on the Court this Season to Date (e.g., last 3 games played vs. first 3 games played)
My grades would be as follows:
(a) State of Program Overall - F (The worst five year stretch I can remember from the Fighting Illini, and I can remember the Watergate hearings)
(b) Direction of Program Overall - C (Think we have more pieces to be successful now than 2 or 3 years ago)
(c) Performance on the Court (vs. Preseason expectations) - D (Thought we would be better at winning, hovering around .500 -- and should have won at least 1 of 3 in Maui and 2 of 3 against (Georgetown, ND, Missouri)
(d) Progress on the Court this Season to Date - C (We are better at defense than at the start of the year, but our offensive production seems worse)
Likes:
RML
- Champaign
That is the same picture that is on the game ticket. I’m sure they do that for every game.We are officially set for tomorrow...
Why so glum, we get Tev back soon, if he's been working hard, he might be a little surprise, Griffin will have decent minutes, I believe Samba will get some more good minutes also, add good games by our guards and GB and Kipper,and Monte plus AJ's gonna be the difference, sorry should have been in orange. That's all I want.
I'm less concerned with the offensive system, we missed too many open shots and free throws last game. Kipper needs to drive again and remain assertive. AJ needs to get more shots off. Need more offense from Damonte as well.
I'll be more optimistic when I actually see Samba, Griffin and Jones get some playing time.
I was interested in opponent scores by half.....every team has scored right around 40 at least one of the halves. I’m looking for a full game defensive effort. Around 30 each half.
Georgetown and Iowa state scored around 50 in one of halves, worst def by points scored so far, Iowa state was at least obvious.
Also interesting, Ohio state and Gonzaga outscored us in 2nd half, and those were rallies where I assumed we would have scored more.
Georgetown and Iowa state scored around 50 in one of halves, worst def by points scored so far, Iowa state was at least obvious.
Also interesting, Ohio state and Gonzaga outscored us in 2nd half, and those were rallies where I assumed we would have scored more.
I don't see much to be happy about other than things made up by optimistic posters. We battled Rutgers for last place in a 14 team conference last year, and are set to do so again this year. I accept there are mitigating circumstances, and we're a young team, but a coach has got to do better than 4 wins in the BIG. The fact that we're already worried about more turnover is a really bad sign IMO, and offsets the positive spin (assuming you believe it) that some are peddling here.
Assuming we win today, I'm not sure when we'll see another. Could be a very, very long stretch of excuse filled losses. Really hope I look back and think what a pessimist I was, but looking at independent stats and analytics, I think we'll be underdogs with the lone exception of Rutgers, and the coaching in the most recent winnable game was just baaad.
Time to watch bowl games....
Assuming we win today, I'm not sure when we'll see another. Could be a very, very long stretch of excuse filled losses. Really hope I look back and think what a pessimist I was, but looking at independent stats and analytics, I think we'll be underdogs with the lone exception of Rutgers, and the coaching in the most recent winnable game was just baaad.
Time to watch bowl games....
Likes:
STLflyinIllini
AJ, thanks for sticking around and congrats on your degree. You have a bright future and have represented the university well.
Seems to me as a result of our our lack of size, our comparative lack of talent, and our lack of experienced bench, we just get worn down. The last five minutes of the Missouri games seemed pretty indicative of that. Many believe it is the BU defensive system. Given comparative talent, size and bench, I think the system would likely be effective.
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