Illinois 77, Nebraska 72 OT Postgame

[lstewart53x3]

Technically no, but the NET matters and it's a rating system similar to Kenpom. We probably took a hit there last night too.

Net is used more to determine the strength of the teams you played, than it is to determine your actual ranking.

 

[MoCoMdIllini]

Technically no, but the NET matters and it's a rating system similar to Kenpom. We probably took a hit there last night too.

Currently sitting at #4 in the NET https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings
and #6 at kenpom through last night.

 

[IllinoisFan1967]

Curbelo is a 6' tall teenager, (19) playing with and against some of the largest and best collegiate talent in the world for the first time in his life. He has special skills. Good grief give him a chance to develop. I can't believe the critisism from people who probably never played the game. At least not at this level.
I'm ready now for the responses about how good you all were in high school. Yea. OK.

So by your logic, I would have to be a gourmet chef before I am qualified to tell you the food tastes bad? It doesn't work that way. Curbelo has a great chance to develop, but that doesn't give him immunity from criticism for some very bad plays (and games). That said, I'm glad he's an Illini.

 

[ILFaninFL]

This board cracks me up with all the reffing conspiracies. Like there’s a daily call with the refs and the league to say, “Ok, here’s who you’re going to favor tonight ...”

I KNEW IT! Thanks for the confermation.

 

[Deleted member 747903]

I'm not convinced the distinction is that important. Are you learning from your turnovers? Are your teammates? That you notice Curbelo's but not Ayo's really says more about you than the turnovers.

Deron had a different type of court vision, in my opinion. He just knew how to find guys in simple positions where they could score. The classic "2 inches beyond the reach of the defender and perfect for my guy" pass.

I guess the reason why I notice curbelo more on the turnovers is because we need him to be good, not great. On the other hand we need guys like Ayo and Trent to be elite if we want to go deep in the tourney.

having Curbelo be elite is a cherry on top but right now that equates to him making some boneheaded plays as well. Again, we will find ourselves in the final four if Ayo, Trent and Kofi are elite and guys like Curbelo and Miller play their role and don’t try to be a hero.

 

[TheFameProtector]

having Curbelo be elite is a cherry on top but right now that equates to him making some boneheaded plays as well.

I did love the words of encouragement he received from Trent and DMW after dribbling wildly out of bounds. True leaders right there. They know how important he is and that they need Curbelo to play well -- in his role -- to help their chances this year and next.

Curbelo's unwillingness to shoot the 3 was a glaring issue last night. Until he can punish defenses for slacking off him, his offense and everybody else's suffers. He needs to get over that mental hurdle and start shooting it. Only way to get better is reps.

 

[Deleted member 747903]

I did love the words of encouragement he received from Trent and DMW after dribbling wildly out of bounds. True leaders right there. They know how important he is and that they need Curbelo to play well -- in his role -- to help their chances this year and next.

Curbelo's unwillingness to shoot the 3 was a glaring issue last night. Until he can punish defenses for slacking off him, his offense and everybody else's suffers. He needs to get over that mental hurdle and start shooting it. Only way to get better is reps.

Unfortunately for us, that’s gotta come in the off-season. In the meantime we need to figure out how to keep him effective while not necessarily getting baited into shooting threes. Not sure how but I’m sure coaching staff will address it

 

[EyeoftheIllini]

Didn’t watch the game. Why did granionson (sp) only play 5 minutes?

He picked up a quick foul in first half that sent him to the bench, and then Hawkins played well and ate into his minutes. Last half of second half and OT, BU went with who he trusts — DMW and Miller.

 

[BoJack Underwoo]

Didn’t watch the game. Why did granionson (sp) only play 5 minutes?

Well, at least you know he's not your grandson

 

[Calvin]

Net is used more to determine the strength of the teams you played, than it is to determine your actual ranking.

I just want to echo this. NET is a tool for answering the question, "who did you beat?"

When it comes down to seeding, the committee is going to lean on NET for answering that question as they need to compare wins (and bad losses) between teams with different schedules. They've always used these kinds of tools, but actual seeding can be quite different.

The important thing is to get the wins, not move up in NET.

 

[Rainier Wolfcastle]

he's a different player this year. Huge development on Kofi

Absolutely. His high screen and roll defense has dramatically improved as the year has gone on. He’s been forcing the opposing teams to adjust a lot of shots if he isn’t swatting them away. Probably had 3-4 blocks last night.

While it’s awesome to see him dunking and scoring the way he is, I think his defensive improvement has been excellent.

 

[ChocolateThunder]

If Ayo is SO DAMN GOOD, and he has a whole team around him, how the hell is this team not better than this?

Thanks for the win, but I am so puzzled. What would have Nebraska have done to us if they had an Ayo?

It is pretty clear that in crunch time, the team puts themselves in position to let Ayo do his thing. Ok, the last two minutes, not the last 7 minutes.

Offensively the game was pretty even, mediocre 3 point shooting by both teams. Lack of intense defense resulting in easy baskets allowed Neb to be competitive Typical B10 road game. Illini have certainly beaten a lot of good teams when playing at home. over the years.

 

[Deleted member 11228]

Okay, yeah, take out the "if". Should be an obvious "yes" to any reader, but it looks like most people read it the, um, normal way as I did not intend.

Essentially:
Damn, Ayo is good. Good enough to carry the entire team. So, how is this team not nearly unstoppable with all of the talent around him? Ayo is very good in teammate mode, too, and the team is way above average on the defensive end. I don't see the missing piece that so often leads to the Illini stuck in close games. Free throws attempted? Turnovers? Grabbing rebounds is worse spots than the other team?

Only five scorers tonight, but also only seven shooters and we badly outshot Nebby. Maybe the team is just deferring to Ayo and I'm too much of a fan to see it.

Still makes no sense. You act like we have 5 Ayos on the court and an entire team full of Ayos. We don't. We have talent around him which do in some places and some places we don't. Talent doesn't mean you are unstoppable either. We also have young inexperienced players (Miller and Belo) who are part of the rotation. You aren't looking at this realistically you are looking at it from fantasy land and that's no good. Also we are the number 6 team in the country and lastly every team outside of Gonzaga and Baylor has struggled and some lost in games like this with equal or more talent than us.

 

[fulton steamer]

So by your logic, I would have to be a gourmet chef before I am qualified to tell you the food tastes bad? It doesn't work that way. Curbelo has a great chance to develop, but that doesn't give him immunity from criticism for some very bad plays (and games). That said, I'm glad he's an Illini.

No. I'm not saying he's above criticism. And I've heard that overused analogy many, many times. It's foolish. I'm saying criticizing him the way some on here do, without giving him a chance for development is unfair and may very well be made by people who don't know what the hell they're talking about.

 

[dbeverly26]

Ayo hit six of his last seven shots and got to the line, what, three times during that stretch? At a certain point, being unselfish is a mistake. Nebraska couldn't stop him and he was right to take shots until they proved otherwise.

Norman Dale isn't available, kids. We're stuck with Brad Underwood.

 

[SescIllini]

This is why I wear dark underwear.

You beat us to it

 

[SescIllini]

Game is moving way too fast for him. He's rushing everything. I think when he settles down his FG% will go up.

Believe the good lucks Curbelo had have disappeared the last couple of games. Either by scouting or circumstances his straight line drives for lay ups are not there recently.

 

[illini80]

Did anybody get the sense that Miller was pretty frustrated last night? Saw what *appeared* to be some tough talk coming his way from Ayo late in the game too. Can't tell if it was just heat of the game stuff, if he was down on himself for missing plays/shots, if that's just how they communicate and push each other, or if there was a bit of internal strife. I've always thought it might be tough for him to feel like he's back to being Ayo's little brother after stepping outside his shadow at MP the last two years, but perhaps I am reading into things that don't -- and hopefully don't -- exist.

I see it more as guys pushing each other and holding each other accountable.

 

[SescIllini]

I feel like all of Giorgi's time is full of frustration. He clearly hasn't accepted his role, IMO

Giorgi had a bad game, Nebraska collapsed around the bucket. Giorgi didn't have much of a chance. Gkiorgi accepted his role, if he hadn't he would be playing elsewhere and Kofi wouldn't be his roommate.

 

[SescIllini]

Kofi had a play where he basically caught the ball with one hand and jamned it hard on someone. Looked very NBA, very Shaq

Believe Ayo has risen his stock tremendously since Iowa. His size, length, speed on display. Best all around play from Ayo since he arrived.

 

[Calvin]

I was too young to watch his team but were his turnovers like mind boggling or more like Ayo where he can turn it over 5 times and nobody even notices? I think the distinction is important

I followed those teams. AC is pretty different from Deron IMO, despite both being excellent facilitators and floor generals. Deron did the freshman things you'd expect, some bad passes from decision-making, poor execution, misreads, or adjusting to the college game. Deron was solid right out of the gate, and had an exceptional feel for the flow of the game. He didn't look out of control like AC does. Deron was downright chubby as a freshman and could drive using his body more than AC has (I'd argue the game allowed more physicality as you go back in time). Deron was also better at creating space both from his physicality and his outside shot. Statistically, Deron was more efficient, but in AC's defense, the competition and schedule are really rough.

All that said, AC is special. In the world of coaching, there are mistakes [good], and then there are mistakes [stupid or lazy]. AC makes plenty of the former, and very few of the latter. He has moments he looks worse than he is, because he attempts things that most guys can't pull off. This is cherry-picking a bit, but AC's first 5 games he had 13 Assists on 16 TOs, which is miserable for a PG* where the benchmark is probably 2. Since then, he's had 70 assists and 33 TO.

I'm really glad he's been given the leash to develop. It's already paying off and will only snowball. I think BU has gotten some criticism at times on this message board because there's some that don't think he lets guys play. But the fact is he's played lots of freshman, so that's complete crap. If you can play smart and contribute, you play, end of story.

*less for a scoring guard like Ayo.

 

[fulton steamer]

I followed those teams. AC is pretty different from Deron IMO, despite both being excellent facilitators and floor generals. Deron did the freshman things you'd expect, some bad passes from decision-making, poor execution, misreads, or adjusting to the college game. Deron was solid right out of the gate, and had an exceptional feel for the flow of the game. He didn't look out of control like AC does. Deron was downright chubby as a freshman and could drive using his body more than AC has (I'd argue the game allowed more physicality as you go back in time). Deron was also better at creating space both from his physicality and his outside shot. Statistically, Deron was more efficient, but in AC's defense, the competition and schedule are really rough.

All that said, AC is special. In the world of coaching, there are mistakes [good], and then there are mistakes [stupid or lazy]. AC makes plenty of the former, and very few of the latter. He has moments he looks worse than he is, because he attempts things that most guys can't pull off. This is cherry-picking a bit, but AC's first 5 games he had 13 Assists on 16 TOs, which is miserable for a PG* where the benchmark is probably 2. Since then, he's had 70 assists and 33 TO.

I'm really glad he's been given the leash to develop. It's already paying off and will only snowball. I think BU has gotten some criticism at times on this message board because there's some that don't think he lets guys play. But the fact is he's played lots of freshman, so that's complete crap. If you can play smart and contribute, you play, end of story.

*less for a scoring guard like Ayo.

Now that is an excellent analysis. A critique without being critical. A tip of the hat!

 

[skyIdub]

Let's just all agree that the only people that can "challenge" or "critique/criticize" Ayo are his coaches and peers. That's it.

Everyone else, take a seat, relax, and enjoy the show.

 

[illinitiger]

Nebraska seemed to be very similar to the Maryland game. A less talented squad but lots of length. We continue to struggle against teams that have lots of length at the 2-4 spots and can get in passing lanes and disrupt drives, even if their big man is outmatched (though Walker played an awesome game). Sure hope we don't get a first weekend matchup against a similarly-styled team.

Yeah...Hoiberg's comments on his D strategy was front Kofi and run guys of 3p line. It worked fairly well most of game...and their length made it possible. Nebraska wll be a B10 force in the future if Hoiberg sticks around.

 

[Illini_1979]

It's a "W." That's all that matters.