Pregame: Illinois vs Iowa, Thursday, January 11th, 7:00pm CT, FS1

[clusterbuster75]

The part that hurts is that he doesn't mention Illinois at all.

An article about a "down B1G" and they don't even mention us. This is the level that national media thinks we belong at right now.

I've thought espn biased for awhile now. Follow the money. They promote the conferences they televise the most. We have BTN.

 

[bert1991]

Cracks me up, no matter what the title of a thread is here on the board, we end up talking about whatever is on our minds....almost as if it is therapy.

 

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

Battle for the basement of the Big Ten. I look forward to the slap fight.

 

[LBZ]

Iowa is probably the worst team in the B1G honestly. Their offense sucks, their defense sucks. If their shots aren’t falling they’re honestly no better than your average Summit League team. I think our pressure is going to give them fits. If Cook gets into foul trouble early and they’re unable to hit shots, this could be a 20 point Illini W. Not that we should overlook Iowa because we are in no position to overlook any team right now, but this should be one of the easier wins on the B1G schedule. I’m predicting a double digit victory for the orange and blue.

IA hung with MD last night even though it seemed the refs were MD paid staffers at times. Fran McCaffery, in my opinion was justifiably livid prior to getting ejected. The final score is not indicative of how the game flowed throughout.

Do agree IL defensive pressure will cause them fits. But IL has to start making shots as well. IL is still missing lay ups due to youth, inexperience & pressure. Once those start falling at a much higher percentage, hoping it will boost confidence in the rest of the shots the team takes.

 

[RML]

But IL has to start making shots as well. IL is still missing lay ups due to youth, inexperience & pressure.

I'm a little surprised by how many of our sometimes wild-looking lay-ups are actually going in.

 

[illini62707]

I'm going to get blasted, but here goes. I'm not impressed by Underwood's defense nor do I think the Illini are it that well. Take a look at the stats against Power 5 teams. You'll find turnovers, but you'll also find a fair amount of games where the shooting percentages for both categories are high.
Why is that? Because once you beat or adjust to the pressure there are a lot of open shots available which has happened over and over. Where? Back line lay-ups and dunks. Back cuts and open 3'. You beat the pressure and swing the ball and you will find open 3's. Not to mention when the intensity isn't there which BU alluded to in the second half you really find your defense in trouble. And I haven't seen a full game of pressure, yet
One other thing. There are teams all over the country with faster and more athletic players year in and out. Yet, they don't utilize this type of defense. West Virginia, is the only team I can think of and they utilize full court pressure. Why is that? For all the reasons I stated above. This is hard to pull off against good teams. Why do you think nobody else uses it?
And you can tell me about OKST last year, but look at the numbers. They gave up a lot of points! Their offense was what carried them.
Tell me defense is carrying us? Look at the numbers and wins and losses.

 

[bobbob]

I'm going to get blasted, but here goes. I'm not impressed by Underwood's defense nor do I think the Illini are it that well. Take a look at the stats against Power 5 teams. You'll find turnovers, but you'll also find a fair amount of games where the shooting percentages for both categories are high.
Why is that? Because once you beat or adjust to the pressure there are a lot of open shots available which has happened over and over. Where? Back line lay-ups and dunks. Back cuts and open 3'. You beat the pressure and swing the ball and you will find open 3's. Not to mention when the intensity isn't there which BU alluded to in the second half you really find your defense in trouble. And I haven't seen a full game of pressure, yet
One other thing. There are teams all over the country with faster and more athletic players year in and out. Yet, they don't utilize this type of defense. West Virginia, is the only team I can think of and they utilize full court pressure. Why is that? For all the reasons I stated above. This is hard to pull off against good teams. Why do you think nobody else uses it?
And you can tell me about OKST last year, but look at the numbers. They gave up a lot of points! Their offense was what carried them.
Tell me defense is carrying us? Look at the numbers and wins and losses.

What numbers do you want us to look at?

Kenpom has us 47th in Adjusted D. That's not great, but it is not bad. The offense is 158. That is bad.

Our in conference 3PT defense seems fine. It is middle of the road % (35.8) and I don't think people are taking an excessive number of attempts against us (i.e. we aren't leaving them more open than anyone else).

You can't tell me "look at the numbers" and not tell me what numbers you want me to look at.

 

[ChiefIllini]

Not a bad point, we do give up a lot of easy baskets. But we also take away a solid half of the shot clock on a lot of possessions. That's a vastly underrated aspect of pressure D. Michigan is probably a top 25 team and beilein is always offensively focused.

Absolutely right about when the spark and will aren't there, the D is much less potent. BU has to light that fire.

You cannot pin the teams performance on how we are playing defensively.

 

[Deleted member 4333]

Iowa is probably the worst team in the B1G honestly. Their offense sucks, their defense sucks. If their shots aren’t falling they’re honestly no better than your average Summit League team. I think our pressure is going to give them fits. If Cook gets into foul trouble early and they’re unable to hit shots, this could be a 20 point Illini W. Not that we should overlook Iowa because we are in no position to overlook any team right now, but this should be one of the easier wins on the B1G schedule. I’m predicting a double digit victory for the orange and blue.

Nor will we be for the foreseeable future. We're just not good enough.

 

[brillinian]

Iowa is probably the worst team in the B1G honestly. Their offense sucks, their defense sucks. If their shots aren’t falling they’re honestly no better than your average Summit League team. I think our pressure is going to give them fits. If Cook gets into foul trouble early and they’re unable to hit shots, this could be a 20 point Illini W. Not that we should overlook Iowa because we are in no position to overlook any team right now, but this should be one of the FEW wins on the B1G schedule. I’m predicting a double digit victory for the orange and blue.

Fixed your post for you. I don't see any of our wins in the B1G this year being "easy".

Battle for the basement of the Big Ten. I look forward to the slap fight.

First team to resort to hair pulling and get away with it wins?

 

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

First team to resort to hair pulling and get away with it wins?

Good point. The haircuts might have been strategic.

 

[illini62707]

Look at the field goal percentages for 2's and 3's against Power 5 teams. Not all bad, but take a look.

 

[illini62707]

My main points are these. There are reasons why teams all over the country much more athletic don't employ this defense year after year. And I love to see pressure defense. And I hope what Underwood is doing works. Looks good when it does. But I've yet to see this team have the energy and execution necessary for the majority of a Power 5 game , yet.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

I am both very superstitious and an optimist ... I posted our record vs. Missouri before that game, and we got a big win! Here are our results in Iowa's last 22 trips to Champaign, aka my lifetime:

2017 - Illinois 76, Iowa 64
2016 - #5 Iowa 77, Illinois 65
2014 - #15 Iowa 81, Illinois 74
2012 - Illinois 65, Iowa 54
2011 - Illinois 81, Iowa 68
2010 - Illinois 59, Iowa 42
2009 - #19 Illinois 62, Iowa 54
2007 - Illinois 74, Iowa 70
2006 - #8 Illinois 71, #20 Iowa 59
2005 - #1 Illinois 73, #23 Iowa 68 (OT)
2004 - #25 Illinois 88, Iowa 82
2002 - #11 Illinois 77, #17 Iowa 66
2001 - #3 Illinois 89, Iowa 63
2000 - Illinois 78, Iowa 50
1999 - #20 Iowa 78, Illinois 72
1998 - #23 Illinois 79, Iowa 72
1997 - Illinois 66, #25 Iowa 51
1996 - Illinois 91, #18 Iowa 86
1995 - Illinois 104, Iowa 97 (OT)
1994 - Illinois 105, Iowa 90
1993 - Illinois 78, #9 Iowa 77 ... I'm sure we'll have a few who remember this one. :thumb:
1992 - Illinois 77, Iowa 72 (OT)

That's 19-3. Let's get win #20!

 

[LBZ]

My main points are these. There are reasons why teams all over the country much more athletic don't employ this defense year after year. And I love to see pressure defense. And I hope what Underwood is doing works. Looks good when it does. But I've yet to see this team have the energy and execution necessary for the majority of a Power 5 game , yet.

I seem to remember when it was painfully good against us last year.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=400914951

 

[DCIllini2001]

Fixed your post for you. I don't see any of our wins in the B1G this year being "easy".

My post didn’t need fixing. The B1G is absolute garbage this season. Of the 4 conference games we’ve played so far, we’ve had a chance to win every single one and each one has been against top half B1G teams and mostly on the road. Besides the Maryland game which I thought we should’ve won at the beginning of the year, you couldn’t reasonably expect us to do any better than we have so far in terms of conference play. This team really hasn’t even figured it out yet, and here we sit at 10-7 with arguably the toughest part of our schedule behind us. The only game left on the schedule that I’d really give us no chance to win would be against MSU in East Lansing. I’m not saying we’re gonna finish 13-5 in conference play now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole team clicks here soon and finishes with around 10 conference wins either.

 

[bobbob]

Look at the field goal percentages for 2's and 3's against Power 5 teams. Not all bad, but take a look.

Links?

I'm not going to dig up P5 splits, if you have them, share. If you don't, stop citing them.

Here's B1G conference 3pt stats:

3-POINT FG PCT DEFENSE G 3FGM 3FGA PCT.
1. Northwestern 4 19 65 .292
2. Nebraska 4 23 77 .299
3. Minnesota 4 26 86 .302
4. Purdue 4 24 78 .308
5. Michigan 4 16 50 .320
6. Ohio State 4 32 97 .330
7. Illinois 4 29 81 .358
8. Wisconsin 4 18 50 .360
9. Rutgers 4 26 72 .361
10. Penn State 4 24 64 .375
11. Iowa 5 42 106 .396
12. Indiana 4 37 93 .398
13. Michigan State 4 29 72 .403
14. Maryland 5 53 120 .442

from: http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-baskbl/mbb-confonly.html

This tells me two things. First, teams are shooting .358 against us in conference. That is 7th. Not great, but far from an issue.

Second, and more importantly is the number of attempts. That is the thing defenses can control more in 3 point defense (see https://kenpom.com/blog/offense-vs-defense-threepoint-attempts/). Teams have shot 81 against us. The average B1G team has given up 79 attempts.

Our three point defense is pretty much exactly average in conference play. It can be improved, but it is not killing us.

 

[Ramrod2010]

I am both very superstitious and an optimist ... I posted our record vs. Missouri before that game, and we got a big win! Here are our results in Iowa's last 22 trips to Champaign, aka my lifetime:

2016 - #5 Iowa 77, Illinois 65


That's 19-3. Let's get win #20!

Not that I didn't trust you, but I had to go back and look this up because I couldn't believe that Iowa was ranked #5, but sure enough...

I'm not old so it can't be dementia. I must have done a great job at blocking out the last couple of years for Illinois basketball.

 

[DCIllini2001]

Not that I didn't trust you, but I had to go back and look this up because I couldn't believe that Iowa was ranked #5, but sure enough...

I'm not old so it can't be dementia. I must have done a great job at blocking out the last couple of years for Illinois basketball.

That could’ve been a full on disaster of a season. Well for us it was, but for the Iowa hater in me it was saved when Iowa completely fell apart down the stretch and capped off their season by losing to us in the Big Ten tournament.

 

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

They've only won when ranked. Here's hoping that favorable trend continues for us.

 

[ChiefIllini]

Not that I didn't trust you, but I had to go back and look this up because I couldn't believe that Iowa was ranked #5, but sure enough...

I'm not old so it can't be dementia. I must have done a great job at blocking out the last couple of years for Illinois basketball.

Dont worry, I was literally in college when this happened and I didnt remember they were ranked 5th. Lots of repressed memories of losses during the Groce era.

 

[mattcoldagelli]

This Iowa team is bad. This is a must-win at home.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

Dont worry, I was literally in college when this happened and I didnt remember they were ranked 5th. Lots of repressed memories of losses during the Groce era.

LOL, I was the one looking this stuff up AND attended that game in person, and I had to double-check. :thumb:

 

[OrangeNBrood]

I went to the Iowa men's basketball page in search of goofy genetic-modification-gone-wrong lookin dudes to laugh at. You know, the type of Shrek of the Midwest type of players that always fill their roster. And you know what, I'm disappointed to say that I did not find any.

The only thing I found was this assistant coach who look like the turtle from Disney's Robin Hood.

 

[OrangeNBrood]

Oh, and this dude right here with the ill disproportion in his forehead dimensions.