West Virginia 89, Illinois 57 POSTGAME

#26      

IlliniRon

IlliniRon
Illini Basketball Fan Forever
Ft Worth, Texas
IlliniRon
That was really one of the worst Illini basketball games I have seen in my life. We showed no preparation for the press, very little toughness, passive approach to offensive end, could hardly even hit free throws. I don't really like our zone defense much, and I think it must contribute to horrible box out and defensive rebounding. How did Malcolm Hill manage to disappear in a big game like this one?

With the seniors on this team, I thought we could at least be competitive in the conference again, and have a chance for returning to the tournament. But the wheels have come off, not sure we can turn it around, but this is a serious problem. Either the players didn't listen to the coaching staff in practice, or the coaching staff really did not try to prepare the team for WVU's press. Will see what Groce says in the presser.

It will be interesting to see what we do tomorrow. Worst case will be players stop playing for coach Groce and the team goes into a downward spiral. Hope not, but this is a serious problem when we cannot compete.
 
#29      

Rad

R
Nashville, TN
Rad
have been saying this for 2 years, but we are not being coached/taught. We have no offensive system to fall back on when we are not hitting our 3s or when the other team is dialed in defensively (ie good defensive team or late in game when playing hardest). Would love to hear from someone who has seen our team practice. Pretty sure we are not competing at a high level (we look very out of sync in these situations) and would guess mostly compliments and encouraging words. I had a lot of hope for coach Groce early on but have seen nothing to make me believe he can coach up his players.
 
#32      

Deleted member 4960

D
Guest
Deleted member 4960
Here I am thinking at least this year we will make the tournament again and I'll be able to have fun watching it. After this Debacle we won't make the tournament. I have to put up with another year of below mediocre basketball and then have another 3-5 year rebuild with a new coach. If I was Groce I don't know how you defend this? How do you take a team with, 5 top 100 players and get to this point? Plus 6 seniors?
 
#33      

JIllini

J
JIllini
Good news is we'll never have to face a team like that again. WVU plays very different than other teams, and I think they're better than their ranking. I'm not saying what happened today was excusable, but I think tomorrow's game will be much more telling about how the season will go.
 
#34      

Bear8287

B
Bear8287
alexander58 said:
I was disappointed the Illini didn't try to attack after they got the ball past half court. They were very passive. WVU keeps coming at you. You have to match their intensity.
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That's why Coach Groce preaches "attack mode" basketball.
 
#35      

westms77

W
Gilbert, AZ
westms77
JIllini said:
Good news is we'll never have to face a team like that again. WVU plays very different than other teams, and I think they're better than their ranking. I'm not saying what happened today was excusable, but I think tomorrow's game will be much more telling about how the season will go.
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Yeah...they'll probably be playing Winthrop in the Final 4.
 
#36      

barchetta6

B
barchetta6
Did WV just invent the press? Help me find something coaching wise Coach Charisma is decent at. Totally unprepared today. Their is no hope for this program while he's in charge. Take off the blinkers folks.
 
#37      

BlabDunkAnd1

BlabDunkAnd1
BlabDunkAnd1
The fact of the matter is that this program is going backwards--just when we thought the bottom had been reached--and at the end of the day that's the coach's responsibility. To those who point to his bad luck, I say Groce is the luckiest person alive. Any other coach would and should have been gone between the on the court failures and off the court issues. Whitman had the football mess to clean up, otherwise, he surely would have been gone. Sorry, but I'm with the poster from the other day who said he won't attend the UC game after many years of loyal support. Feel bad for the players, because they're clearly getting out-coached, I'm done with this dumpster fire.
 
#38      

Bear8287

B
Bear8287
FinalFour88 said:
Not sure. Our talent in BB isn't great. "Solid" at best.
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Yeah, well that's the way it looks in the hands of a mediocre Div I coach. Put the same "solid" players under a coach like Bo Ryan and they probably look "great".

If only Coach Groce knew ahead of time that WVU would apply full court pressure then the team could've been prepared for it.
 
#39      

barchetta6

B
barchetta6
Coach Charisma strikes again. So prepared. Oh wait. WV just invented the press. A team with 3 star talent and an over his skis Coach....add it up. Blowout.
 
#41      

GoIllini40

G
GoIllini40
BlabDunkAnd1 said:
The fact of the matter is that this program is going backwards--just when we thought the bottom had been reached--and at the end of the day that's the coach's responsibility. To those who point to his bad luck, I say Groce is the luckiest person alive. Any other coach would and should have been gone between the on the court failures and off the court issues. Whitman had the football mess to clean up, otherwise, he surely would have been gone. Sorry, but I'm with the poster from the other day who said he won't attend the UC game after many years of loyal support. Feel bad for the players, because they're clearly getting out-coached, I'm done with this dumpster fire.
Click to expand...

Groce has been unlucky in the past with injuries, etc but this is a fully healthy team now with Mike Thorne and Tracy Abrams in their SIXTH YEAR! How lucky can one person get?
 
#43      

Illininer

I
Illininer
It's sad that I've gotten to the point of indifference after Illinois losses. I used to be fired up for a day or two after losses a few years ago.Now, I don't even expect them to be competitive against good teams anymore. Seems like we've had quite a few blow out losses on ESPN the last 2 years also. The oldest team in the nation, but we lack so many of the basic fundamentals that should be learned early in high school. Perception of the program has to be near the all time low of its history.
 
#45      

Calvin

C
Calvin
Don't think there's anything to be done at this point either. Whitman went another year with Groce, and in many folks eyes that was a reasonable course. I suppose it depends on how bad it gets --at some point, if no one's going to the games, you could name an interim guy. Seems very unlikely though. This unit is going to have to represent us for the rest of the season.

I've been criticized plenty for saying we've looked poorly coached. It started more than 2 years ago. Last year looked terrible to me, even accounting for a a depleted roster. I get that we didn't have talent to compete in the upper half of the BIG, but that doesn't mean you should be disorganized and have bad habits. The majority said give him more time. I didn't have faith in Groce, but quieted down a bit when it was clear Whitman would back him.

Now, my fear is that someone believes it's a player or talent issue or it's not worth a change because of the risk to the recruiting class. I don't think I can stomach watching a chicken-!@#$ team for a full season. :hurl:
 
#46      

WVUMANIAC

W
WVUMANIAC
Good game guys. Yall have a senor heavy team and should win some games in the Big Ten. Making the tourney is a Def possibility. Give FSU hell tomorrow
 
#47      

GortTheRobot

G
North Bethesda, Maryland
GortTheRobot
Took a break for the big meal, and just caught up with the commentary. I don't feel upset about the loss, because that's where the program has taken me. My expectations are very low...and yet the game today lowered that bar.

We will have to deal with this all season. There will be some bright spots, where we knock off someone we weren't meant to, but it well end the same way. No tourney...reset.

I can't even say I hope I'm wrong anymore, because the word "hope" connected with Illinois basketball is now an oxymoron until the next coach comes in.
 
#49      

BlindLoyalty

B
FartNoiseMotivation
BlindLoyalty
Undefeated in the press conference. Who could have imagined we were the tomato can tune up on WVU's schedule.