Marquette 67, Illinois 66 Postgame

[BretMyBeachHouse]

Loyola Postgame

I started tracking this Tuesday morning, wondering if we might surpass the posts from the Loyola game. For a few hours yesterday, the Ty Rodgers signing looked like it might bury this thread, but no.

So the 593 (now 594) posts on this thread have exceeded the 590 on the Loyola postgame thread, perhaps the most disappointing loss in three decades for the Illini.

Not really trying to be critical, just found it interesting.

 

[TheFameProtector]

This is very true. It was a poorly officiated game. Having said that, our players need to SHUT UP AND PLAY!

 

[illini 67]

Loyola Postgame

I started tracking this Tuesday morning, wondering if we might surpass the posts from the Loyola game. For a few hours yesterday, the Ty Rodgers signing looked like it might bury this thread, but no.

So the 593 (now 594) posts on this thread have exceeded the 590 on the Loyola postgame thread, perhaps the most disappointing loss in three decades for the Illini.

Not really trying to be critical, just found it interesting.

Well on the bright side Missouri Lost to University of Missouri Kansas City on Monday 80-66 and Michigan lost to Seton Hall 67-65.

 

[Aldy1955]

I'm sorry only thing I'm going to say on this game... Bench Curbelo against Cincy.. ball hogging thinking he's the man and can do it all. Give me a f'n break.

Never seen a ball player make 3 errors in a row
One can get you benched -two for sure .
As far as the duration it’s up to the coach.
A couple of those shots were very close -basketball can be a crazy game .

 

[1970 John]

I havent read all the posts, of course, so if this has been said a million times, please forgive me. When Illinois got to 65 points there were 8 garbage fouls called on them vs ONE foul called on Marquette for the rest of the game.

It gave Marquette free points without having to beat the defense and then made Illinois score in the half court without any transition points because of missed Marquette shots. Obviously a very poor performance turnover wise for Illinois, but this game was taken over by the refs at the end.

So many fouls called I lost track. Were the calls/non-calls appropriate? Perhaps...but how they seemed be begin when we hit 12 ahead--the TV guys said we had the game well in hand--is a real head scratcher. Well, they got their Loyola 2.0.

 

[1970 John]

Well on the bright side Missouri Lost to University of Missouri Kansas City on Monday 80-66 and Michigan lost to Seton Hall 67-65.

Mizzou lost to UMKC? Wow, that's a shocker. And not even close. (I took a course at UMKC about 1978. Let's me say I have a masters-plus. )

 

[illinitiger]

To be fair, Coach Underwood has accepted blame for a couple of games. He's said things along the line of, "that's on me". I would have to dig which games, but I'm pretty confident he's said it before. He knows more about their game plan, personnel, and execution than we ever would so I'm guessing his decision was made for a reason.

At the same time, you will have camps of people who will say, "I'm tired of hearing the coach just say that's on me! Fix it!" (e.g. Bret).I'd rather a coach just be honest. We have 0 idea of who's to blame and often times it's more complicated than pointing a finger at one person. For all we know, they did practice this several times and the players did not execute.

Me personally, I don't want coaches saying, "that's on me" just to say it. If they genuinely feel it's something they've gone over before, than it becomes a question of are they practicing it incorrectly or is execution off. Regardless, it brings everyone closer to a solution.

I agree on your take...and dont want coaches saying anything without sincerity.

We know that BU has improved our status significantly...he deserves our admiration. Also I may get frustrated with a player is out of synch, but I will generally place most overall success and failure on coach. I will avoid pinning a loss on a single player...on Marquette loss I pin it on a coach for not recognizing appropriate adjustments during the last 10 minutes.

We have been very successful under BU, although several "scratch your head" losses along the way.

I think our coach has many amazing qualities....but I also believe all coaches that are successful should analyze their own tactics and strategies and strive for improvement. BU, like every other coach, has areas of improvement.

I'm glad we have BU, but I would be disappointed if he wasn't striving to continuously improve his coaching,.... including in-game analysis/ adjustments.

 

[KevinC]

Yes I can. Basketball is not a zero sum game. They can play absolutely putrid the last 5 mins AND not call a Timeout on the last possession.

A time out should have been called as soon as BU recognized that AC was trying to win the game all by himself. He had earlier taken the ball out of AC's hands. In the last two minutes when AC started his selfish ways again, BU should have called another TO or substituted AC.

 

[Bogey99]

Glad we have so many coaches on this board!

 

[FrankNitty30]

A time out should have been called as soon as BU recognized that AC was trying to win the game all by himself. He had earlier taken the ball out of AC's hands. In the last two minutes when AC started his selfish ways again, BU should have called another TO or substituted AC.

Not necessarily. He could have. But he made the decision to let his players try and win it.

 

[the national]

Tough loss that should’ve been a W.
Made the trip to Fiserv - good place to catch a game, except it’s weird that they seemingly don’t sell food in the upper level, just beer. Loud arena, 2 good fan bases, without any stupid fisticuffs. Hope we don’t wait another 28 years to play again. No reason not to root for Marquette IMO going forward this season and maybe make this loss look like less of the dumpster fire that it was.
Also I N I - think that was still hanging from several posts back.

We had some fisticuffs in our section. It was almost like they forgot how to be a spectator for the last 5 minutes. To be fair, everyone was shocked how it was playing out so I give them a pass. The guy behind me smacked me in the head as Frazier had his pocket picked. I yelled foul and he apparently didn’t agree. Meanwhile my brother had his neighbor to the left of him get right in his face, spitting, yelling all kinds of unrepeatable things. My neighbor to the right kept talking about how much he respects Illinois and apologized for the whole chaos as I got hit in the head, and the guy two down to the left apologized to my brother saying his buddy got carried away. It was all very confusing.

 

[illiniguy]

We had some fisticuffs in our section. It was almost like they forgot how to be a spectator for the last 5 minutes. To be fair, everyone was shocked how it was playing out so I give them a pass. The guy behind me smacked me in the head as Frazier had his pocket picked. I yelled foul and he apparently didn’t agree. Meanwhile my brother had his neighbor to the left of him get right in his face, spitting, yelling all kinds of unrepeatable things. My neighbor to the right kept talking about how much he respects Illinois and apologized for the whole chaos as I got hit in the head, and the guy two down to the left apologized to my brother saying his buddy got carried away. It was all very confusing.

Sound like a little too much High Life consumed to me.

 

[the national]

Some numbers for the collective:

81.2 - The win probability % Ohio (not Ohio State) had with 7 seconds left in our game against them last year in Champaign. After a layup put them up one, the refs bailed us out and Ayo iced the game away with 2 made free throws. We shot 24 free throws to Ohio's 9. Sometimes the reffing is lopsided on your behalf. And sometimes things just don't go your way. That was a top 10 team that almost got beat by Ohio.

6 - The amount of turnovers Ayo had in our loss to Miznoz last year. After a furious comeback, in which he hung 36 points on those idiots, Ayo was responsible for 5 empty possessions out of our last 8 to end the game. (1. Ayo Off foul / 2. Ayo made jumper / 3. DMW missed 3 / 4. Ayo missed layup / 5. Ayo Turnover / 6. Ayo Off foul / 7. Kofi Dunk-Belo Assist / 8. Ayo missed 3) #BENCHAYO

1 - The seed of that team come tourney time.

100,000+ - The amount of Illini fans whos @##hole puckered up tight every time Belo had to go out last year because the offense flowed so well with him on the court. (me included) Try to remember all the good he did for us and that players can have bad games. Especially when asked to step up into a new role.

293 - The amount of replies to the post-game thread for our win against Ohio State to win the B1G tourney and secure a 1 seed. This thread is at 560 and counting. For those of you who created an account or jumped on for the first time in a long time just to bash Belo/the team, get a grip. If you don't want to come and celebrate the incredible wins with us, we don't need to see you for the tough losses. Take a break, collect yourself, and come back with a clear and rational post. Critiques are fine, but some of these posts are ridiculous.

2 - The amount Michigan lost by tonight against Seton Hall...at home. (Just to make us all feel better)

 

[Tacomallini]

We had some fisticuffs in our section. It was almost like they forgot how to be a spectator for the last 5 minutes. To be fair, everyone was shocked how it was playing out so I give them a pass. The guy behind me smacked me in the head as Frazier had his pocket picked. I yelled foul and he apparently didn’t agree. Meanwhile my brother had his neighbor to the left of him get right in his face, spitting, yelling all kinds of unrepeatable things. My neighbor to the right kept talking about how much he respects Illinois and apologized for the whole chaos as I got hit in the head, and the guy two down to the left apologized to my brother saying his buddy got carried away. It was all very confusing.

Wow. A smack to the head for yelling foul?! Wonder what the going punishment rate is for a mama joke.

 

[Fanview]

For the people who have the "bench Curbelo" (minority opinion) after a bad game, it reminds me all the years of people clamoring for Da'monte to not start. "He doesn't bring anything on offense". Even wanting Alan Griffin to start ahead of him. Brad showed faith in him by keeping him in the starting line up, and he ended up being a great 3 point shooter since then. How the tides have changed. My point is the staff clearly trust Curbelo, and I don't think they should do anything to suggest otherwise. Let guys figure it out

 

[MTMinded]

We had some fisticuffs in our section. It was almost like they forgot how to be a spectator for the last 5 minutes. To be fair, everyone was shocked how it was playing out so I give them a pass. The guy behind me smacked me in the head as Frazier had his pocket picked. I yelled foul and he apparently didn’t agree. Meanwhile my brother had his neighbor to the left of him get right in his face, spitting, yelling all kinds of unrepeatable things. My neighbor to the right kept talking about how much he respects Illinois and apologized for the whole chaos as I got hit in the head, and the guy two down to the left apologized to my brother saying his buddy got carried away. It was all very confusing.

It happens to the best of us...during our football win against nebraska, an overacting Nebraska fan was going absolutely bonkers when Martinez ran for the 75 yrd TD (and Nebby was still down by over 2 TDs), it got to the point where I screamed at him "SIT DOWN DOUCHE BAG!!". He didn't like that and was ready to climb over people to get to me. ALthough not completely apples to apples, sometimes people do (and say) things they regret when getting too excited about their teams. Assuming no physical harm actually occurred. I bet that guy is embarrassed about his action now.

 

[chudaman]

For the people who have the "bench Curbelo" (minority opinion) after a bad game, it reminds me all the years of people clamoring for Da'monte to not start. "He doesn't bring anything on offense". Even wanting Alan Griffin to start ahead of him. Brad showed faith in him by keeping him in the starting line up, and he ended up being a great 3 point shooter since then. How the tides have changed. My point is the staff clearly trust Curbelo, and I don't think they should do anything to suggest otherwise. Let guys figure it out

Last year Curbello said he liked coming off of the bench because it gave him a chance to read the opposing team's tendencies. That seemed to work.

 

[illiniguy]

Last year Curbello said he liked coming off of the bench because it gave him a chance to read the opposing team's tendencies. That seemed to work.

Maybe he'd like to be 6th man of the year again?

 

[ElGran]

Maybe he'd like to be 6th man of the year again?

I know you're being facetious, but it's not like we have anyone we could play ahead of him, even if we wanted to. Our only guards after Belo and Trent are Plummer and Podz. Nothing against those two, but I sure don't want either of them starting.

 

[Ga65]

I know you're being facetious, but it's not like we have anyone we could play ahead of him, even if we wanted to. Our only guards after Belo and Trent are Plummer and Podz. Nothing against those two, but I sure don't want either of them starting.

Hope we can add Hutch to that list but no one close to Belo’s skills. Just need his head in the right place and need to have confidence in our staff.

 

[IllGuardU]

But making adjustments, just to make adjustments, is a poor strategy. What if BU did not like the other options? What if BU knows that the 3rd game of the year is a chance to see how his team handles adversity? Especially in the first openly hostile environment a few of them have played at in college. Maybe he felt the experience for the long run was more important or a better option than the short term fix.
So much goes into every decision. He did what he thought was right.

Valid points, but he could have called a timeout at some point to refocus. Openly hostile environment is exactly why. He didn’t do that.

 

[WyattEarp]

Here ya go, this might actually make ya feel better. Well, maybe just a little?
It’s from a surprising source; a Marquette fan?

MSN

www.msn.com

Anyway, Brewtown Andy gets it. Whoever that is.

 

[FrankNitty30]

Valid points, but he could have called a timeout at some point to refocus. Openly hostile environment is exactly why. He didn’t do that.

Right. I am not arguing that. I would probably have called timeout. Certainly in hindsight, which is what every couch coach in this thread has the opportunity to do, it looked like a poor decision not to. One again, hindsight.
He mad a decision, it didn’t work. Move on.

 

[ILFaninFL]

I just forced myself to rewatch it. All we had to do was run out the clock. My question is why Brad didn't call time after they crossed the center court to get everyone organized? I see that this is being discussed, but in the press conference after the game, it was stated that they hadn't practiced end of game scenarios.

Run a set out of bounds play and get the ball into your best free throw shooter's hand where he isn't trapped against the center court line. This loss is on Brad's hands in my opinion. We should never have had to make an end-of-game miracle shot to win it.

 

[TheFameProtector]

Here ya go, this might actually make ya feel better. Well, maybe just a little?
It’s from a surprising source; a Marquette fan?

MSN

www.msn.com

Anyway, Brewtown Andy gets it. Whoever that is.

Great post and perspective. And welcome to the forum! Love the profile pic and Walsh's hilarious facial expressions starting right around here (particularly the one a few seconds later where it looks like he might've just his pants )