As I posted above, they are more long than quick. A bunch of 6'4" - 6'8" guys plus the big man Thompson.
Pregame: Illinois vs Ohio State, Sunday, January 1st, 6:00pm CT, BTN
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As I posted above, they are more long than quick. A bunch of 6'4" - 6'8" guys plus the big man Thompson.
Bad habits are hard to break. It's ridiculous that we have that identity despite our age but our players haven't really learned to win regularly since their high school days. I think our weakness at defense is correlated with our athleticism, which makes it look like we might play good defense in practice. We might be the least athletic/slowest team in conference. A win here wouldn't change the fact that we are unpredictable and have serious weaknesses, but it would prevent a snowball effect. A team full of seniors cannot afford to lose hope but that might have happen if we lose a few in a row in conference play.
GortTheRobot
- North Bethesda, Maryland
I hate to be in this position already, but it feels like every game is a must win at this point. If we can't handle tOSU at home, it may be the start of a really bad run. How much confidence can these guys muster if things go south? It's not like they have a track record of reversing their fortunes.
I will still hope for the best, but I don't feel confident after seeing us get beat at home already this season.
I will still hope for the best, but I don't feel confident after seeing us get beat at home already this season.
We're the definition of a volatile, inconsistent, middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team. Offensively, we've got four above-average outside shooters in the rotation (Hill, JCL, Abrams, and Finke), but to varying degrees they're all streaky. Black and Hill are both excellent from mid-range, but that's an inherently inefficient way to play offense - mid-range shooting should be a complement to your inside scoring and 3pt shooting. Mav and Thorne are above-average inside scorers at the 4/5. We have plenty of scoring pieces, but no one who can consistently create points late in the shot clock (Hill is our best bet, but we don't have a guy like Melo Trimble or Jawun Evans who can get downhill in a nanosecond and collapse the defense).
We are horrible defensively, below average athletically, and our perennial point guard issues have not gone away. We have a few shooters who can go nuclear from time to time, a few skilled bigs who can reliably put up points and draw fouls, and two mid-range assassins who can help keep teams honest if they try to extend the perimeter D. We lack an explosive penetrator. We're predictable schematically and don't usually adjust well. We lose the hustle war too often. We're going to win several games based on our scoring ability. When we're cold from the field, we have nothing else to buoy us. Prepare for lots of highs and lows. Anywhere from 6 to 11 wins is firmly in the realm of possibility.
We are horrible defensively, below average athletically, and our perennial point guard issues have not gone away. We have a few shooters who can go nuclear from time to time, a few skilled bigs who can reliably put up points and draw fouls, and two mid-range assassins who can help keep teams honest if they try to extend the perimeter D. We lack an explosive penetrator. We're predictable schematically and don't usually adjust well. We lose the hustle war too often. We're going to win several games based on our scoring ability. When we're cold from the field, we have nothing else to buoy us. Prepare for lots of highs and lows. Anywhere from 6 to 11 wins is firmly in the realm of possibility.
I hope so. The way we lost to Maryland is giving me a sinking feeling. After watching a few of the games around the BIG I got a panicky feeling that we could be in the bottom tier.
I hope I am way off base
I have no confidence that this team can do anything in the B1G at this juncture and am ready for another January swoon. I hate it but that is how I feel, having been disappointed at this juncture so many times before. They may get it figured out but it will probably be too late at that point to save the season. This kills me because I am usually pretty optimistic about the team and coach. I hope I am wrong this time but I just don't feel like this team is ready for any kind of Big 10 run. Last years legitimate excuses have turned into general incompetence. You would think that with some of the experience these guys have, that they could field a better more cohesive team than what we have seen thus far. Someone please pull me from the edge.
Soxfreak64
- Bloomington
A win against OSU does nothing for me unless the Illini grind them into absolute dust. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying this team has a massive hole to climb out before I start believing. Ideally, Tejon gets some good time and the team defends like they care. It'd be a start.
Illini1221
Peru,IL
They arent really in a massive hole right now though.
Soxfreak64
- Bloomington
Record-wise? Not yet. They've got a long way to go before I start believing the tournament is a realistic possibility.
Illini1221
Peru,IL
This is true
danielb927
Orange Krush Class of 2013
- Rochester, MN
danielb927
Orange Krush Class of 2013
- Rochester, MN
Last game felt different than any of our other losses. FSU was a competitive game for 30 minutes. WVU was likely not to be a close game unless we'd played very very well. Winthrop was comparable, but I'd argue a November egg against a mid-major opponent is different than a conference road blowout. Admittedly, I didn't get to watch that game I don't know how it felt in real-time. I'd love to be undefeated too, but losses and bad games happen. A team can have a good tournament-level season that includes a surprise blowout loss.
From a how they played stand point, I'd argue the West Virginia game was the worst game that I've ever watched in the hundreds of games I've seen of Illinois basketball. It was that bad.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
If you subscribe to the ideas:
1) Groce needs to make the tourney to keep his job
2) We weren't going to be given any consideration for favorable ranking/seeding coming into this season
3) We have done nothing to this point that proves any doubters wrong
Then the hole we need to dig out of feels pretty big.
I agree with the athleticism comment. I've noticed the difference between our on-ball screen defense vs other good teams. When we defend the screen, their ball handler often gets an open look. When we get screened on offense, our ball handler still has a guy in his face. At first I thought it was just sloppy screening but I think it's more about lack of quickness and handles.
But I don't think that's an excuse. Weber's teams were not much more athletically-blessed by comparison but I think his defensive schemes were pretty effective.
I think he needs to chill a little and expect those questions. His team plays deplorably and those questions come. Answer politely and move on. He isn't helping himself with a little mini-tantrum. Coaches that win a lot can get away with objecting to critical questions. Not coaches of teams that get embarrassed by every competitive team.
Or maybe the fanbase needs to chill a little and let Groce and the team bounce back and prove that they can get to the tournament. There is no need to put this kind of pressure on the team. Fans get pissed off when we lose like this but the players/coaches are even more dissapointed than we are. They are the ones working their butts off to try and win games. Why not just support them and see where we end up in March?
And I now the counter-argument to this post is we've seen this story for the past 4 years...but that isn't true. This is a different team so we have no idea how they will play the rest of the year. The past few years Groce has had excuses and has had very little flexibility. This year there are no excuses and plenty of flexibility. Let the team progress and see how far we go.
I really hope we can play well against OSU, because if we fall behind by double digits the boo-birds will come out.
This team is the Chicago Bulls of NCAA basketball
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