New Mexico State 74, Illinois 69 POSTGAME

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#76      
Deleted member 651864
How did we get to be the worst team in football and basketball in the Big 10? How did it get to the point where the United Center was basically empty? I have a closet full of Illini gear I have acquired over the last 30-35 years. I want to feel good about wearing it again. I honestly believe there is a direct correlation with the Chief going away and us losing.

As bad as this loss was, I've learned to accept and expect losing at Illinois.

I'm 100% frustrated.
 
#77      
jrichisamazing
winthiscentury said:
We have beaten absolutely nobody of any value. We haven't won a game away from SFC. We're already 0-2 in conference. I see 5 conference wins....max.

After Missou pulls our pants down on National TV....the first two months of embarrassment will be complete
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If you're embarrassed to be a fan of this team then I feel sorry for you. They make some silly mistakes but they play hard and they're trying to learn a new system that is very exciting. No matter what our record is, this season will be very important in establishing a culture of what BU and Illini basketball is all about. So far I'm encouraged at how hard these guys are trying to establish that culture.
 
#78      
RickBB
In the game thread someone mentioned Smith's body language being pretty poor and I have to agree. But he's been invisible out there and he almost turned it over without much pressure in the last possession before we called timeout...I'm not blaming him...I just thought he'd have a bigger impact.

That "go up and get it" inbounds play would be fine if we had athletes. We don't.
 
#79      
CasualObserver05
JoeyIllini said:
How did we get to be the worst team in football and basketball in the Big 10? How did it get to the point where the United Center was basically empty? I have a closet full of Illini gear I have acquired over the last 30-35 years. I want to feel good about wearing it again. I honestly believe there is a direct correlation with the Chief going away and us losing.

As bad as this loss was, I've learned to accept and expect losing at Illinois.

I'm 100% frustrated.
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X1000 .... #wewillwin #when
 
#80      
EJ33
Dear Josh,

Please stop having games in Chicago until we're good.

Thanks,

The voice of reason
 
#82      
Obelix
People slowly come to realization that our frontcourt is very thin and lacks talent. Our low-post game, around the basket, and game in the paint is almost non-existent. We simply do not have the players/skills in that area. I know, I know... potisionless this and positionless that, 1-5 are interachangeable, etc. etc.

What we noticed today was that we really have one player, Black, right now who really has the skillset combined with some size around the basket. And Black really played out of his mind in the second half. He had a tremendous game in the second half, way above what we should expect from him every game, and he was really the main reason we got back in the game. Without Black playing an incredible game, it would not have been close. JMO.

Underwood is a good coach IMO but we lack the horses in the frontcourt, much of his success will depend on recruiting. We need some immediate help (besides Ayo) in the frontcourt this recruiting class and obviously play for all marbles with the '19 top frontcourt players (i.e., Liddell, Okoro, etc.).

On the positive side, kudos again to Leron Black in the second half, and I also liked the combination of TJL and Frazier in the same lineup at the end, something we had seen less of previously (they usually come in for each other).

As I've said in the past, if satisfaction is just solely based on making the tournament, some people may get disappointed. Personally, I still enjoy watching this team develop, it is fun competitive basketball regardless of making the tournament this year. The young players will get better and better as the season progresses. I would also like to see a little more playing time for Ebo, despite not being ready.
 
#84      
EJ33
Obelix said:
As I've said in the past, if satisfaction is just solely based on making the tournament, some people may get disappointed. Personally, I still enjoy watching this team develop, it is fun competitive basketball regardless of making the tournament this year. The young players will get better and better as the season progresses. I would also like to see a little more playing time for Ebo, despite not being ready.
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Agree and well said.
 
#85      
idoc13
Not really sure what people were expecting this year... It doesn’t seem realistic to expect a tournament appearance after years of not getting there, especially when some key players transferred.

Our freshman guards are very talented. They are young and are going to make mistakes. We allow opponents to get to the rim at will. No upperclassman are taking leadership roles, which is disappointing. Alstork and Finke need to be way more consistent. Gotta recruit more talent, especially bigs.

I hate saying wait a couple years, but that’s really what we need to do. This is a rebuild.

Year 1: play the young guys, deal with the frustration, maybe go .500
Year 2: squeak into the tournament, at least get on the bubble and be competitive
Year 3: make the tournament easily, hopefully win a few games
 
#86      
Ol Dirty Gamer
idoc13 said:
Not really sure what people were expecting this year... It doesn’t seem realistic to expect a tournament appearance after years of not getting there, especially when some key players transferred.

Our freshman guards are very talented. They are young and are going to make mistakes. We allow opponents to get to the rim at will. No upperclassman are taking leadership roles, which is disappointing. Alstork and Finke need to be way more consistent. Gotta recruit more talent, especially bigs.

I hate saying wait a couple years, but that’s really what we need to do. This is a rebuild.

Year 1: play the young guys, deal with the frustration, maybe go .500
Year 2: squeak into the tournament, at least get on the bubble and be competitive
Year 3: make the tournament easily, hopefully win a few games
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I approve this message.
 
#87      
Second and Chalmers
Obelix said:
Personally, I still enjoy watching this team develop
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#88      
CasualObserver05
BlindLoyalty said:
My prediction of:

(16-16) Overall
(11-2) NonCon
(5-13) B10
(0-1) BTT
No true road wins & no tournament of any type.


...might have been too optimistic. Looks like about 95% of the posters in that thread didn’t have much of a grasp on Illini reality.
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I get prediction threads and all. Fun way to get ready for the season, but why on earth would any fan of a team come on and gloat about being right about a lack of success?
 
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#89      
Deleted member 51
The two best players tonight and neither were on the home team. Some of you are getting way ahead of yourselves blaming the coaching.
 
#90      
Obelix
fxstbi said:
The two best players tonight and neither were on the home team. Some of you are getting way ahead of yourselves blaming the coaching.
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Lofton is clearly more talented than anyone we have and AJ Harris is very fast, composed, and under control but I thought Black also had a fantastic game in the second half.
 
#91      
whovous
Obelix said:
Lofton is clearly more talented than anyone we have and AJ Harris is very fast, composed, and under control but I thought Black also had a fantastic game in the second half.
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What is the story with Lofton? Five schools in six years and he wears Sponge Bob socks during the game.

There must be a great backstory here.
 
#92      
Dan
[youtube]-uOoRYEPLyY[/youtube]
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[youtube]fHGq9ierEx4[/youtube]
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[youtube]Jx1FSmnwWHA[/youtube]
Underwood: I'd like to sit up here and say I saw something new tonight. Unfortunately, seen it before. Same chapter.

Underwood: Disappointed because we had a really good week of practice. Destroyed us in the post.

Underwood: I've got to do a better job. There's no doubt about that. To get guys to execute late-game, that's on me.

Underwood: Same out-of-bounds plays that I've run for a long time. I've got to help them.

Underwood: It's my job to put them in areas to succeed and be successful. It's obvious I'm not doing that.

Underwood on halftime turnaround: That was all Te'Jon Lucas. I've done it before. At some point, there has to be some leadership.

Underwood: We work on out-of-bounds plays every single day. We spend a lot of time on em.

Underwood: Losing is unacceptable. There's winning and losing in life. You've got to learn to compete. Gotta learn how to fight. Need someone in that locker room to be confrontational.

https://twitter.com/DPiper247
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#94      
EJ33
BlindLoyalty said:
My prediction of:

(16-16) Overall
(11-2) NonCon
(5-13) B10
(0-1) BTT
No true road wins & no tournament of any type.


...might have been too optimistic. Looks like about 95% of the posters in that thread didn’t have much of a grasp on Illini reality.

http://www.illinoisloyalty.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=24045&highlight=Prediction&page=3
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Yeah, and the people with the fantasyland predictions are now ready to jump out the window. Same thing happened in football this year.

I'm disappointed we blew it in a couple games, but also encouraged by the fact that we've actually made the games close. I don't care about being a bubble team this year. I care about being a threat to make the Final Four in 4-5 years.
 
#95      
t7nich
Derek Piper
@DPiper247
NMSU coach Chris Jans said Illini ran a similar in-bounds play all game long.. His players made an instinctive play to sniff it out at the end. Steal won the game.
9:35 PM · Dec 16, 2017
 
#97      
GoIllini23
I don’t think anyone is going to blow us out, cause when we get behind we olay loose and much better, but as soon as all the chips get pushed in the middle of the table, they pucker up and take stupid pills, got to finish a game
 
#98      
aluma
I don't mean to bash on Finke, but man is he slow and a soft. He is the epitome of what I got use to under Groce. Ironically, he is now the result of recruiting misses as he really should be a 7 or 8th guy in a lineup and should only play the stretch 4. Unfortunately, we haven't recruited post players in the past and he has to play more than he should and out of position.
 
#100      
BananaShampoo
aluma said:
I don't mean to bash on Finke, but man is he slow and a soft. He is the epitome of what I got use to under Groce. Ironically, he is now the result of recruiting misses as he really should be a 7 or 8th guy in a lineup and should only play the stretch 4. Unfortunately, we haven't recruited post players in the past and he has to play more than he should and out of position.
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Yeah Groces inability to recruit a single legit big man besides Black (who is really an undersized PF) is really coming back to haunt us now. Not sure why it was so difficult for so long to do so (along with PG which he FINALLY solved just as he was being shown the door). I sure do hope BU and co do better, though the '17 and '18 class have not been a particularly good start.
 
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