Arizona 90, Illinois 69 POSTGAME
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
This is why BU is a great coach. He recognizes the problems, and they will be fixed. I'm still very excited about this season.
Their 90 to our 69 says they are 21 points better...period.
However, instead of flipping out at a singular road game beat down in the third game of the season(which is all that it was)...look at the schedule, get better, rack up some wins and get ready for conference play.
Good coaches get these tough games on the schedule ASAP so that they can diagnose and treat the problems they have before they get worse.
I figured 2-1 after the first three was just about right.
We're going to be fine!
We’ve had these problems for 3 years.....
IllFanInMi
I
Guest
An OT loss to a supposedly nobody team, and a not so convincing win to a definitely bad team might have something to do with it. Not only that, it’s the pattern of sloppiness of BU’s teams in his tenure so far that period, end of story will not get this team to the level most of us believe could be achieved with the talent on the roster. I hope he cleans it up and gets the train rolling smoothly down the tracks, it’s time he coaches better than ever. This ain’t Stephen A. Austin anymore.
So, far away from being a top 10 offense! Need to able to shoot the ball from 3 for one which hasn't happened except for the other team thus far. This team is going to win a lot of games? Really, just flunked first big test. I hope they do but will believe it when it happens.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
We played a team with three McD's All Americans...on their court....in the first week of the season....and we were beaten badly for about 10-15 minutes. Did you really think they wouldn't make a run at us?
I see reason for optimism...and pessimism. Our problem right now is execution. Period. You can have the most solid and sound schemes in the game.....they still have to be executed well to succeed.
Players played tonight. Theirs played better. They guarded better and they made their shots. You generally are going to win if you do that.
Onward and upward Illini!
#gingerguardlotterypick
I see reason for optimism...and pessimism. Our problem right now is execution. Period. You can have the most solid and sound schemes in the game.....they still have to be executed well to succeed.
Players played tonight. Theirs played better. They guarded better and they made their shots. You generally are going to win if you do that.
Onward and upward Illini!
#gingerguardlotterypick
AZ has TALENT, we have not had for years.
IF we meet AZ again, I would not be surprised to see a similar result.
Nothing to be ashamed about.
The only thing I would like is for BU to take a closer look at AZ's D. And maybe adopt it.
IF we meet AZ again, I would not be surprised to see a similar result.
Nothing to be ashamed about.
The only thing I would like is for BU to take a closer look at AZ's D. And maybe adopt it.
Deleted member 652751
D
Guest
Agree, no shame. Just disappointment that we are not closer at this point as a program. Still time, for sure. But I was hoping we were a sure-thing tournament team at the start of the season knocking on the top tier of Big10 by season's end. Clearly not there yet.
IllFanInMi
I
Guest
Putting Giorgi on the perimeter is like asking your center to also throw passes. He made some great post entry passes, but he simply does not have perimeter skills. He can’t dribble, can’t shoot it nearly well enough. I’m shocked we all see it, but the staff has tried to force this experiment, very head scratching
Think we need to look at our rotations also. One of our starting guards needs to go to the bench to start once Tevian returns. Don't really care which one and don't think their total minutes need to be cut, just want to have more size out there. I think that's part of the 3 point defense problem. It's a lot easier to make 3s when your wings are both being defended by guys that are 6'1".
Still think playing Giorgi and Kofi together for at least 10-15 minutes is our best option. Can't keep either off the floor with our current roster.
sacraig
- The desert
I said that. He has a bunch of highly-rated freshman with incredible baseline ability. It tends to cover up for other issues. In the past, his teams have been able to skate by based on talent in a weak conference, then tend to stumble in the tournament. If you look at some of the articles about Ayton's NBA evaluations, there was legitimate concern that him playing in Sean Miller's outdated offense would hurt his draft stock.
The bottom line is that more horses than we do and we haven't stitched everything together as a team enough yet to cover for that.
I'll agree AZ played better D and shot better. But don't think that the schemes aren't part of the problem and only need to be executed better by players. Player execution helps what your doing on O and D, but the "schemes" aren't that good or players aren't especially when it comes to defense. I think many of you are over playing how good this team is going to be. This team has huge issues with defense at the top of the list and getting GB involved on offense and an ungodly amount of to' so far.
201154JC
- Rockford, IL
Thanks for the laugh. Brought back memories of the Dildozer. Hilarious movie.
It's extremely entertaining seeing an Illinois fan base freak out after 3 games of a 31 game season. Because we all know teams can't turn it around. What we're seeing is what we're going to get. Just like the football team. We all knew how the season would go after the EMU game. Oh wait......
Tacomallini
- Washington State
We didn't see a ton of it tonight, but Kofi Cockburn makes this team better than the last two years.
201154JC
- Rockford, IL
I believe the half hour possession they had really killed any momentum we had at that point. We played them even up until
then. Seems like our boys got down on themselves a bit after that and we got beat to every loose ball and rebound.
Truth is we don't have a stellar distributor on our team. That is why I am very excited about Curbello. Down the line I know.
then. Seems like our boys got down on themselves a bit after that and we got beat to every loose ball and rebound.
Truth is we don't have a stellar distributor on our team. That is why I am very excited about Curbello. Down the line I know.
Deleted member 746273
D
Guest
Seasons young. Gotta learn from our mistakes tonight.
Of the 2 road games, much better to lose to Zona. Try to limit the bad losses on the resume.
Of the 2 road games, much better to lose to Zona. Try to limit the bad losses on the resume.
Deleted member 649710
D
Guest
The defense is terrible. Still. This is the biggest problem by far.
Don't think this is a time to panic. We played a rested team on their home court on a short turnaround. Makes sense that we could not match their intensity in the second half. Really don't think it was turnovers that beat us. They had about the same number we did in the 2nd half. Instead, in addition to shooting poorly, we were outrebounded something like 22-12 in the second half. If we were rested and we play the game on a neutral floor, I don't think they pull away in the second half.
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100% agree with you. No distributor currently. Frazier had hit his first 3 or 4 shots and Feliz comes down and decides it is his turn to shoot rather than feeding the hot hand. Ayo get three baskets in a row and, having found a rhythm, Feliz again decides it's his turn to shoot it. Even in the game's final minute, rather than sharing the ball with the subs, he is still shooting it. Yes, he can score but, he is also taking others' shots away and probably needs to be put exclusively on the wing or brought in with the subs when you know you want him to be ball dominant. Currently, he mostly passes the ball when he can't get his shot off. Five guys aren't going to get 15 to 20 shots a game if they are all starting. As much as he is looking for his shot, let him come in off the bench. I have also seen too many times where he misses GB. I suppose that's enough of my complaining about him.
Pointing out glaring deficiencies at this point is not panicking. Defense has been bad under BU so far that is not panic, but an analysis that doesn't take much expertise. So many really bad entry passes in games thus far and to's in general is what has been displayed on the court. That's not panic. You just can't scheme your way out of poor defense, doesn't work that way. TF, man D has not been good. I'm surprised by that. He shot the ball well tonite, though. I think some posters have been reading too many paper clippings, this team has proven nothing on the court and i didn't like what i saw tonight. Oh, i forgot they played well for 3/4 of the game i hear and got tired and were on the road and there mommy didn't tuck them in last night. I am for every player and coach on the team but i don't drink cool-aid (orange)