I like the idea of him coming off the bench. I have zero info on practice and how the team has adjusted so it's a wildly uninformed opinion on my part. The reason I like it though is the simple 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' reasoning. If AC comes off the bench, it's a chance for the team to adjust to his style of play in game situations with very little pressure. I like our current spacing with Trent and Plummer and how the offense is running. AC is a wizard, but I don't think he's as much a threat from deep, and I wonder how that could throw off what's working.
Illinois 81, Nebraska 71 Postgame
I like the idea of him coming off the bench. I have zero info on practice and how the team has adjusted so it's a wildly uninformed opinion on my part. The reason I like it though is the simple 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' reasoning. If AC comes off the bench, it's a chance for the team to adjust to his style of play in game situations with very little pressure. I like our current spacing with Trent and Plummer and how the offense is running. AC is a wizard, but I don't think he's as much a threat from deep, and I wonder how that could throw off what's working.
This is NOT a knock on Trent. It's a knock on thoughts of what numbers will be hanging. That is supposed to be an "elite" honor. An honor for Players of the Year, All Americans, etc. Kofi makes that cut.
TF has been a great ambassador for the university, he's been loyal, he's been a swiss army knife for his team....he's the kind of kid that a coach dreams about having. That said, has he ever been even mentioned for conference player of the year? How highly is he thought of when All Conference teams have been elected?
We love TF. He's earned that. Like someone said, he's an everyday, lunch pail, bring the effort daily guy. However, if you do that for him, you open the door for a LOT of numbers being up there.
Is Malcolm Hill up there yet?
That honor has to remain for the who's who of Illinois basketball. Again, not a knock on TF. Just can't start putting every number in the rafters for a fan favorite or just a really, really good player. BU seems to be a little flippant when he makes that comments, but he should be. He loves his guys.
Not sure if it was after this game or just somewhat recently, but BU said Payne has probably been the most negatively impacted by Curbelo’s absence because he is a very good (might actually have said elite
) screen and roll player. Nice to see him make that play. And his rim protection was huge.If we get that type of performance from Omar, AND Curbelo comes back and is in top form by the tournament, we could be very dangerous. But both those are big ifs. I'm worried Curbelo is out for the year.
GallopingGhost
- Denver, CO
Not looking forward to playing at Indiana this year. Last years game still haunts me…
I can hear the whistles in my nightmares
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
You're right. It's a silly thing to get hung up on in a victory thread. I agree and didn't expect to get so much push back (though I should have). My last rebuttal.
I wanted to see if the opponents we struggled against (Marquette, Cincinnati, UTRGV, AZ, Nebraska) had any shared characteristics. Except for the anomaly that is Cincinnati, they're all inside Kenpoms top 50 for AdjT. I found that interesting. But I guess I'm the only one. ATS was simply used as a quick way to objectively quantify "struggle". You can pick a different metric to do that, but I don't think it'll change the outcome. In my opinion, if you want to pick at that data, rather than taking issue with ATS, you should bring up the point that one of those games was played without our best player. Or that one of those games we actually played a really solid 38 minutes despite losing. Or that 5 games might not be a sufficient sample size. But it's not a hot take to say we have struggled against AdjT top 50 teams. If you choose to believe that's just a coincidence, that's fine.
Some people watch sports like it's a firework display or like it's their favorite sitcom and just want to be entertained. That's cool. I, like many sports fans, enjoy looking at the stats. Why? Curiosity, I suppose. Some people are naturally curious, some aren't.
I expect Illinois to win the B1G and feel they have just as much of a chance to go to the Final Four as any team in the country. That's with or without Belo. How's that for negativity?
Big Jack
- Decatur
Curious wonder why this wasn't reviewed and a technical assessed... What is the penalty
- May not distract the shooter when they have the ball and are ready to shoot.
High usage for kofi this game. Offense was having issues, a lot went through Kofi.
Defensively, Nebraska was attacking Kofi, or putting him in screen situations a lot. So, both ends of the floor, a lot of effort. I don’t think other teams have attacked him so much. Add in 2nd half from Maryland, maybe that contributed as well?
I thought he looked sluggish from the start. I dont think was 100% feeling well.
Got away with it twice. Curbelo was on it the first time but he got a lot louder about it the second time it happened.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
Why are you focused on AdjT?
So mad hes trying to strangle him. Now wait for the trolls to claim player abuse
Hes OAD
Yeah, when it comes to bookies, you pretty clearly don't.
Remember, the house always wins.
My wife, who watches no basketball, said are these announcers Nebraska fans? She said they keep praising Nebraska, are they watching the game?
She never comments on basketball games ever. But she was not wrong.
She never comments on basketball games ever. But she was not wrong.
Seemed to me that Kofi wanted to shoot over his left shoulder and turned into the double when he could have turned the other way for a largely uncontested shot. Have not noticed this in previous games but maybe Nebby did.
I for one, think this is excellent analysis. It also makes perfect sense to me that a team missing their star point guard would struggle with top AdjT teams. Exactly what advanced metrics are for - identify weaknesses that opponents may attempt to exploit. Thanks for sharing.
I don't agree with the FF - we have no one that is able to get in the lane and make things happen. If our shooters aren't having a great night, we'll have trouble against top teams. If we get Belo back and he's close to top four come Tourney time, I would agree with your statement.
I do agree we have a decent chance of winning the Conference.
It's not really that I'm focused on it. I was just looking at the profile of all the teams I mentioned, and that's the thing that stood out to me. Despite being otherwise vastly different teams , they all have a really high AdjT. It may be nothing. It may just be a coincidence or some kind of statistical oddity. But when I was looking for a common thread between all of our sluggish games, that's the first thing that caught my attention.
You would have missed the 99 BTT runWelcome. When is the best time toplant a treebegin watching Illini basketball?
20 years ago.
When is the second-best time? Today.
Ignatius Shang
5th year PhD, school of Information Sciences
- Champaign, IL
Plus, the best thing is I began watching from the beginning of 2019-20 season, and the 1st game I watched in State Farm Center was the one we got upset by Miami (FL). What is even greater than watching a powerhouse that is already very solid is to see your team spiraling up.Welcome. When is the best time toplant a treebegin watching Illini basketball?
20 years ago.
When is the second-best time? Today.
The Quakers?
And whichever way the game goes... the truly good (shall we say 'Elite'?) teams rise to the occasion when the game is tight and on the line. That's the best takeaway from what happened in Cornhusker land last night... that the Illini did just this. Good lesson for the season and Madness Time.
Magic Johnson used to call this crunch "Winnin' Time".
Good teams 'know' they are going to win when it is crunch time. Mediocre and poor teams don't believe in themselves and literally will themselves to lose. That's why so many 'good' teams win those one and two point games. They 'knew' they were going to win and did just enough to do it. As many years as hoops has been around, this never seems to change.