Xavier 83, Illinois 74 POSTGAME

#101      

IllFanInMi

I
Guest
It’s just so difficult to believe the vision will come to fruition when BU’s history here, albeit short, has seen a high amount of deflections, and poor at best fall recruiting. If this staff doesn’t get the talent and balance in hete for 2028 and we lose key players, we will here this sentiment again and again.

It may be easier to simply enjoy the small victories, development, growth and improvements, along with recruiting wins and hope for a much better next year.
 
#102      
We are averaging 75 ppg vs big boy competition.

We are giving up 85. Our offense is scoring enough points to win, and that is crazy because:

1) we take some terrible shots in transition offense. I want to shoot my tv every time we take a long pull-up 2.

That leads to...

2) we’re not super efficient to my naked eye (actual stats could prove me wrong but I have no way of checking). We never seem to hit a good rhythm cause we take a lot of quick, bad shots, and then don’t hit enough of the good ones we get.

But again, we’re scoring fine. The defense is a disaster. We suck at man, 1-3-1 and 2-3. And i will give BU some minor props for effort. We switched from a 1-3-1 to a 2-3 a couple times mid possession to try to throw X off. Yet they still took layups cause our defense is that bad.
 
#104      

foby

Bonnaroo Land
Zero patience from so many posters. The ones who make their predictions about a losing season continue to be outraged because of the various reasons a super-young team that is loaded with talent that must be developed cannot win now against more experienced teams with higher ranked recruits. Boggles my mind, but of course, this board is made for endless and circular discussions, so well done.
 
#105      
Defense has to improve to be competitive. The current pressure scheme doesn’t produce enough turnovers to make up for the easy dribble penetration and free ball movement the other team enjoys. This is especially true without a shot blocker or even enough beef to box out. A bit surprised that BU is not adjusting his defensive scheme to his roster. That reminds me of Bruce’s stubbornness. But BU did adjust defense at OSU, so there is hope.

Samba should redshirt. By all accounts he’s not even close to understanding the fundamantals or having the strength to be effective. He makes Ebo look like Dwight Howard.

To me, Kipper is the biggest disappointment. Thought he’d pick up where he left off last year. But is clearly confused about what to do with the ball on the pinch post. Foul trouble has kept him from getting in the flow.

Last year’s roster is slightly better than this year’s. Finke and Black would dominate the glass, and improve upon our only interior scoring presence, who is Georgi. TJL and Feliz feel like a wash. Smith is better than Griffin (Smith is having a very solid season at Miznoz- 12, 6 and 2). Ebo and Adonis provide about the same level of post depth. Ayo is the big improvement for this year’s squad.

I predicted 10 - 12 wins. Still hope to be wrong. To get above that, BU has to change the defensive scheme. Looking to see how BU makes strategic adjustments over the season, how players respond to losing a ton (chemistry v moping), and improvements on offensive execution.
 
#106      

IllFanInMi

I
Guest
Zero patience from so many posters. The ones who make their predictions about a losing season continue to be outraged because of the various reasons a super-young team that is loaded with talent that must be developed cannot win now against more experienced teams with higher ranked recruits. Boggles my mind, but of course, this board is made for endless and circular discussions, so well done.
Did you know Xavier had the 8th ranked class in the Big E with 3, 3*’s and only 1 saw minutes vs us? They also lost the majority of their talent from last year and have a coach who was hired 8 months ago. Do your homework please.
 
#107      

foby

Bonnaroo Land
Did you know Xavier had the 8th ranked class in the Big E with 3, 3*’s and only 1 saw minutes vs us? They also lost the majority of their talent from last year and have a coach who was hired 8 months ago. Do your homework please.
Naw, you're kind of right. I already know about the coach. 2017 recruits there are higher ranked. So a mixed bag.
 
Last edited:
#108      
Our defense is our Achilles heel and will prevent any positive movement forward this year if we continue to pressure 30 feet from the basket....After watching most of the games at Maui I saw many different defenses but the majority of teams played 3 feet off their man until reaching the 3 point line...Is that considered a pack line defense ? If it is then i vote for that as we don't have the backcourt to stop the dribble drive plays that attack the basket after beating the pressure D and our help D down low is non existent....

We have better talent and chemistry this year but the tougher schedule means something has to change on our D or we won't be seeing any post season again this year at all...

Kipper looks as lost as any player I have followed in the past 20 years ......Glad BU started Alan G. and hope he continues this course of action as I would rather see AG on the court learning after his mistakes and Kipper has had enough time on the court to not be making the mistakes he is making....

Looks like it's going to be a long season but any streak starts with the first win and the effort we had against Gonzaga still instills hope for me in the Illini...

JMHO

I’ve watched a lot of Huggy at WVU living many years in the b12 footprint. His teams always have a good mix of plus athletes and skilled players. It’s a mix we are far from.

Watching yesterday I actually thought about how that super athletic big on X (number 3 or 0 if iirc) was totally a Huggins type player. Moved so well for a big guy, great rebounder, string hands. I can’t remember the last time we had a guy like that who played with that kind of edge. We certainly don’t have one now. Giorgi has the edge but not the bounce. Kipper has the bounce but not the edge.

Underwood is going to have to find guys like that for his system to have any chance to succeed here. Long ways to go as of now.
 
#111      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
The ones who make their predictions about a losing season continue to be outraged because of the various reasons a super-young team that is loaded with talent that must be developed cannot win now against more experienced teams with higher ranked recruits.

It's annoying, but there's a certain consistency in predicting a bad season and then complaining about it throughout anyway.

What I can't understand is blowing nonsense smoke about us making the tournament and then yelling at people who are upset about losing to bad teams.
 
#112      
Defense and rebounding. Simple as that. If that can’t be improved then we’re in trouble.
Coaches need to keep working with rotations too.

Also, i’ve been disappointed with how selfish ayo and trent have been. They need to play more like point guards and make the team game work. Watching two guys on the court together play hero ball doesn’t win games.
 
#113      
What became obvious to me is that you can't play pressure defense when you are playing back to back to back games.
 
#114      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
The entry passes to Giorgi during the first half of the Gonzaga game were some of the best I’ve seen here in years. Why in the world we decided to start lobbing it up into triple coverage is beyond me.

It’s not “hero ball” if you are one of the only three shooters that have shown any consistency in the first four games. Somebody has to take and make shots.

Our defense is a combination of confusion and lack of effort accounting for ridiculous opp. shooting %.
It’s going to take time and the kind of effort we had vs Gonzaga every night to even sniff .500.
I’m sticking with them, but I’m not screaming at the tv.
 
#115      

GortTheRobot

North Bethesda, Maryland
When we looked at the schedule early on, I think most of us realistically saw a high probability of going 0-3 in Maui. Losing at home to G-Town (minus Trent) hurts. But after 12 hours have passed now, and I've been able to look at it a little more objectively, how many teams with this many new guys, many boarder line 3/4 Star freshman are going to have a lot of early success in College B-Ball, esp. in the tournament we just played in?

Give it time, as Trent said, stick with them (which I know most all will), it's going to come together and we're all going to appreciate it that much more when it finally does! IMO, most important thing from this season is BU doesn't lose the locker room, has to keep these guys believing and here for the long haul.

I appreciate you helping with a bit more perspective
 
#116      
Frank, you are obviously a loyal fan, but it’s okay if you don’t find a rebuttal for every post you feel diminishes the teams status.

Ummmmmm...... I have posted 4, maybe 5 times, in the last couple of years. Plus, I was responding back to him. But thanks for letting me know what I can and can’t do on here.
 
#117      
Defense and rebounding. Simple as that. If that can’t be improved then we’re in trouble.
Coaches need to keep working with rotations too.

Also, i’ve been disappointed with how selfish ayo and trent have been. They need to play more like point guards and make the team game work. Watching two guys on the court together play hero ball doesn’t win games.

Agreed. Have to get other involved.
 
#118      
Illinois played some zone last night in the second half, which was not very effective.

No, it certainly wasn’t. Guys were wide open all over the place. I swear there were possessions where some guys were in man and others in zone. It was not good at all.
 
#119      

hooraybeer

Pittsburgh, PA
i for one enjoyed (for the most part) watching the games the past couple days, something that i haven’t been able to say for a couple of years. good tournament, stacked field, wish it had been next year for us though. ILL
 
#120      
What became obvious to me is that you can't play pressure defense when you are playing back to back to back games.

I think we have the depth to do it, but as the games went on the rotations actually shortened. I bet the game against the Zags had the best distribution of minutes across several players. Last night Kipper didn’t play much and it seemed like Damonte and Feliz had less minutes too.
 
#121      
Not really. The point is to not let teams be comfortable running their offense and to speed them up and take them out of their game. And we do. But because all that ball pressure is always going to result in a lot of guys driving to the rim against a stretched-out defense, you need to have the ability to contest stuff at the rim without fouling. We don't have that.



It wasn't pack line at all (which is a whole different defensive philosophy) and still involved a lot of trapping and ball pressure, just more selectively and not as high up the court. Kinda Bruce Weber-ish.

Interesting. I’ve heard underwood himself say it was pack line.
 
#122      
I think most of us realistically saw a high probability of going 0-3 in Maui.

Yes. This was always going to be a 10 win team max. Anyone paying any attention for the last year should not be surprised. The reaction on here is crazy. Did people really think we were going to roll through this tough a schedule with 8 new players and no frontcourt?

I'm actually pleasantly surprised that Giorgi looks like a serviceable player and that Adonis can play already.
I absolutely did not think that was going to be the case.
So, the team is already exceeding my expectations at this point.

But they still aren't winning more than 10 games. The wins just aren't there on the schedule.
 
#123      
Illinois played some zone last night in the second half, which was not very effective.

With about four minutes left in the game we played zone and let them dribble for about 20-25 seconds to run the clock out. Then, of course, they cashed in a two or a three.
 
#125      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Interesting. I’ve heard underwood himself say it was pack line.

This is what I'm basing that on:

"Underwood and his staff decided that the answer was to dial back the pressure, pull back the point of confrontation to just above the 3-point arc, and reign in the ball-denial aggressiveness. They’d also continue to mix in some zone. This wasn’t an overhaul; it was a slight tweak, and one to which the players bought in when it was presented to them the following day."

I obviously didn't watch all of their games during that period, but I did see a couple and it definitely wasn't my impression that it was a pack line style, which is a total philosophic reversal from what Underwood does. Press teams want to deny passes around the perimeter whereas pack line teams try to encourage them.

I'm no basketball coaching expert though, maybe there's more to the terminology than that. They were certainly not playing a Virginia style, it was a frenetic pace.

Yes. This was always going to be a 10 win team max. Anyone paying any attention for the last year should not be surprised. The reaction on here is crazy.

the team is already exceeding my expectations at this point.

But they still aren't winning more than 10 games.

I think the folks who are combining a forecast of this being the losingest team in the history of the program with a dead certain, resolute optimism about this staff and this system are really kinda fooling themselves.

That kinda goes for the Lovie dead-enders in football too.

You don't just put your loose tooth under your pillow and the Rebuild Fairy comes and rewards you for being good little fans. There are signposts all along the way. The way to get better is by getting better.