This Iowa loss had me in pain, yo. Not a physical pain, like the kind you get when you unexpectedly sit down on something oddly shaped and it makes forceful contact with the region of your body that doctor's term the "Sacks". (Or 'der Knutsachs', as German doctors call'em). Nah, my pain from last night's Iowa game was the kind that makes you feel like your soul has been slowly bled out of you.
But you know what ended up making me feel better, though? Watching Underwood's post-game conference. Before Dan posted it, I was reading through all of the angry, emotional, my-mama-don't-love-me and it-burns-when-I-pee comments on the state of Illinois basketball. And, you know, as you read one complaint post after another and start to sink into the worldview of people's cynical interpretations, it's real easy to forget that a message board/forum is an *extreme* distortion of reality. In fact, the sh-t that we say in a forum is at best, what, 15-20% accurate in its reflection of the actuality of the teams we are discussing? Let's be real. Most of us don't really know sh-t about what's going on with the squad, and we tell extraordinary lies to ourselves about how much we understand the development of a basketball team.
If you really listen to Underwood, you'll know that he recognizes exactly what's goin on. He's not churning out coach-speak. If you listen to the way he gives nuanced breakdowns of what each player is going through, it makes you realize how firmly he understands what he's doing. Like, when he talked about Alstork's psychology, how he struggles with emotional control, and the way this relates to him picking up extra fouls. Or the way he gives engineering-like explanations contrasting the leadership dynamics of his old team vs this Illini team. Underwood understands the machine that is a college basketball team - and this, above all things, gives me confidence for the future. Coach knows how the parts really work, and therefore knows what to fix. That's the massive difference between Underwood and Groce. Underwood understands the engineering of the car he's driving, and what to fine tune in order to improve performance. Groce - God bless his peanut head and his cartoonish physical mannerisms - was driving on the wrong side of the road while pouring hot coffee on his own head, with a big mouth-open smile on his face, putting it all in the hands of the Good Lord to guide him safely.
- 0n3
