At the end of the day they got the win, however, this is two games in a row this team has faded in the second half, I'm thinking they may want to not do that against Rutgers. And for all his flash, I literally hold my breath every time Curbello has the ball, for better or worse it's never a dull moment with that kid.
Illinois 73, Northwestern 66 Postgame
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I have said this to friends and on here, BU, god love him, glad he is here, but he has completely missed the ball on the freshmen. When Belo, was out, Podz should have been given they back up PG spot and not Williams. Williams and Grandy needed to see more pine and more of the trio of Goode, Podz and RJ. Maybe BU sees something in the two SRs like experience, but we see Fr mistakes, game in and game out. Where has Goode been? He was playing solid and now he cant get off the bench? I would love to see RJ and Goode get inside the head of Mulcahy’s head. I believe we are better with RJ and Luke in the game than Grady and Williams. We are more athletic and faster. But, I am not the coach and cannot see practices but we are a much better team with Luke and RJ on the floor.
Basketball is a game of intensity and focus. It is a grueling, long season. Not just in terms of the physical nature of the sport, but more so in terms of the mental fortitude required every minute of every game. The experts say that the need for sleep is more about re-booting our internal computer we call our brain than it is giving our muscles a rest. I believe it's the same with basketball and the coaches work hard at providing the guys with mental "re-boots" in order for them to maintain their intensity and focus. It is much more difficult to condition one's brain to maintain intensity and focus than it is to condition your muscles to go above and beyond what the general population is capable of. This is why some teams can have an up and down season but seem to peak toward tournament time. I believe we'll see BU do that this year. Anyway, that's my hope. JMO.
Bigtex
- DFW
NCAA tourney doesn't start this week. If Illinois continues to have huge lapses, they won't be a 3 or 4 seed because their upcoming schedule is tough. Time to address and fix the problems and win the Big 10 title. Not all of the games are going to have the result of destroying Indiana. It is nice that the Indiana win and both Northwestern wins all have the same value = 1 win. Look at the big picture and Underwood results over 3 years. Northwestern win wasn't pretty or easy but still a start to finish win!
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Guess I have a different take on several things:
-maybe the worst officiated game we played. Many of the turnovers were a result of getting hacked. At least ten fouls at the end on the inbounds play. Trent pushed down, etc. Young had hands on Kofi every time.
-Hawk needs to shoot the ten footer when he takes it inside. Don’t know if it is confidence, skill, or coaching but he always looks to pass and it is on opponents scouting report.
-Defense wins and they played great defense in the second half when we were missing shots but NW was taking advantage of the officiating and had a lot to do with our offense.
-Jake has made the scouting reports and he just isn’t getting many open looks.
-maybe the worst officiated game we played. Many of the turnovers were a result of getting hacked. At least ten fouls at the end on the inbounds play. Trent pushed down, etc. Young had hands on Kofi every time.
-Hawk needs to shoot the ten footer when he takes it inside. Don’t know if it is confidence, skill, or coaching but he always looks to pass and it is on opponents scouting report.
-Defense wins and they played great defense in the second half when we were missing shots but NW was taking advantage of the officiating and had a lot to do with our offense.
-Jake has made the scouting reports and he just isn’t getting many open looks.
Certainly something can be said for competition. If there are no consequences for a player's lack of execution, it's doubtful there will be much change. A little competition for playing time may bring positive results.
That's why I promoted adding to the Freshmen's playing time from the beginning; make the veterans more hungry.
With that said, we're going to need the veterans to step up, as they have all year except in the second half of the Purdue road game, if we are going to get past the first weekend in the NCAA.
Bigtex
- DFW
I believe this is the first year (very unique year with Super seniors) that we don't have Freshman significantly contributing with Underwood as coach. I will stick with the coach and the best record in Big10 over past 3 years for substituting and playing time. Each of the Freshman have made contributions this year...
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
I'm old school, of course, but I'll take a regular season title over the BTT title any day. The former is a much more rigorous achievement and lasts longer in memory, IMO. Often (I'd have to go back and see just how often) the team that can take title outright will lose the BTT to the team (or one of the teams if more than one shared 2nd place) it bested in the regular season. They have slightly less to play for in the BTT, perhaps, and look ahead to the Dance. I recall we did that with Wisconsin back in the early '00s, trading regular season titles and BTT titles a couple times at least.
Having said that, we got rooked out of a regular season title last year and that BTT title win over OSU was pretty sweet. I'll remember that title fondly for many years, as fondly as I recall seasons when we won or shared the regular season championship.
We think all turnovers are avoidable. some are physical. Lob was late or two low .Some are just dumb. If you have picked up your dribble near the top of the circle with pressure on you and the person you're passing to is someone standing still with a defender on his hip and his arm out, the pass has to be perfect or its asking to be picked off. If your man is in trouble make a cut so you have space and he as an angle to pass you the ball. if you have to go over and take it out of his hands.
These empty trips while the opposition runs it up are baffling. I mostly thought Curbelo would break up those streaks when he gets it going and still do.
Somewhere Boo Buie just protested a call by the officials.
Yes and there could be three more years of players still playing when normally their eligibility would be over.
InDaAZ
- Eugene, Oregon
User name
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
I agree Brad has relied a little too much on Trent, DaMonte, and Jacob. They are proven so he goes to the well. If Brad had played RJ, Luke and Pods more earlier in the season he would have more confidence in them now.
They are critical for our last 6 BT games, BTT and NCAA run as our starters look exhausted. We have depth this year - Brad needs to learn to use it. Also with transfer portal if players don't see the court then transfer. I hope we see more of the freshman and Omar in our last 6 games.
I like so many things about Jake’s game;
but there’s a couple parts of his game I’m just not that crazy about.
These are just my opinions BUT:
1. Like you said…(one handed passes)
one handed passes do have a place occasionally. But, they’re SO overused and dangerous. IF you get that second hand up there and ready you might actually have a chance to stop it from leaving your hand at the last split second. (If need be) A one handed push-pass or a one handed hook pass you’re screwed unless it’s right on the money. It’s Very often way too predictable….pretty much everybody on court knows where it’s going If you don’t whip that sucker fast enough… He should save the push-pass for easy smart open court pass ahead situations and the one handed hook pass for bouncing it into the post as a last resort.
It’s a fundamental thing really. (DMV guilty of this a lot too.)
2. His shot pocket is way too low. His mechanics are usually kinda off to the side, jerky-jerky and pretty weird. Good shooters usually miss long or short…he very often he does not. Don’t get me wrong he has good enough command over it to shoot 40 percent or something like that. But the purist in me really cringes when he lights it up.
With suspensions, illness, and injuries like no other team. Let’s replace Underwood!!!
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Oh good, this again. This is such a bad take, after every bad game. 'Ignore experience and give the freshmen a chance'.
You really....really...need to spend some time actually listening to BU instead of second guessing him. He has explained this in detail and I guarantee you he understands this so much better than you that it is silly that I'm even mentioning it.
The second half in the NW was not the same as the second half against Purdue, where we were had a truly bad half and were outplayed. Against NW we had a huge, almost insurmountable lead and relaxed. We got sloppy. Once NW started to come back, it was difficult for us to get going again. But when they got it to 5, we woke up and put the game away. NW's defense (hacking) had something to do with our inability to get going again, but we are a veteran team and managed. This doesn't worry me going forward. If you reversed the halves, we would be talking about what heart our team had to come back and win. No reason for the handwringing over the NW game. We won.
I may not necessarily agree with your assessment, but I love the fact that you so clearly delineate what bugs you about a player. That’s so much more productive than “xxx should never see the court. He should be hitting the transfer portal this off season.”
Whether its the super seniors or the freshman I think Brad is putting the players on the floor that he feels can get the job done. We are in the middle of the fight for first in the big10 and a high seed in the ncaa tourney. If we were obviously not going to make the tourney I could see him playing underclassmen more looking for devopment towards the future. Every win is critical right now so he has to go with who he trusts.
You must have missed the part where they got within one.
Thanks. I appreciate that.
I wanna reiterate I really do like a lot of things Grandy has to offer. He’s a high IQ guy and is very often a stabilizing force out there. He’s predominately a finesse player that has shown the ability to be a scorer; albeit with some limitations.
That's one of the many reasons they call it March Madness. It's far too often the secretary who knows very little about basketball that wins the office pool.
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