I will never understand all of the negativity for Damonte here. Is this some holdover from Peoria days or something? He gets criticized for taking shots and missing and criticized for not taking shots, while ignoring the many amazing rebounds and passes he has made. The refs have had a target on his back for as long as he's played and if he makes a move, he gets called - sometimes justified, more often not. He's been a terrific asset to Illinois basketball. Read the stats. I have often hoped he never reads the comments here because he gets an awful lot of mud thrown at him, unfairly.
Houston 68, Illinois 53 Postgame
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madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
Are you kidding? Did you watch the game?
We had too many things working against this team and lack of gel is right. No one owned the team all season. No alpha when in battle won’t win too many wars. Someone had to be “the guy” in the huddle. Underwood always said it. Goode is the closest thing we have to that guy.
I don’t know if we’ll be a better team next year but I’m definitely going to enjoy watching us more next year with RJ and Goode and how they play
Also, what happened to Curbelo? Why was he on the bench most (or all?) of the second half?
I think he is a net positive for the team. A great spark and positive influence on and off the court. I hope he comes back
I disagree BU is fine with Belo shooting multiple 3s and he hit less than 20,percent on the year. One every now and then to see if you can hit it maybe but not early in a clock. Plus how many poor inbounds passes do you need to see from DMW or Belo to make a change? Even at the end throwing it in the corner to Goode and also Kofi which lead to turnovers. Sure the coach didn't make the passes or take the shots but he does have some control over it.
danielb927
Orange Krush Class of 2013
- Rochester, MN
Just tough luck to draw a top-10 opponent and then a top-3 opponent in the 2nd round the last two years. Not an excuse—we were good both years too—but you can’t ignore that we basically bowed out to a 3 seed equivalent and 1 seed equivalent in the past two tourneys.
Roughly the same time frame and this just kills me. Last year was worse, but still just frustrating as hell.
Disappointed but not surprised. We all could see this game coming a mile away. We have a good team but not a great one. Every one of our weaknesses was exposed today, from bad in -game coaching to dumb turnovers to inability to create shots to inability to drive the lane to inability to inbound a ball.
A huge thank you to all of our guys that are leaving us for the time and effort you gave to the Illini basketball program. You brought this program back from the brink and brought respectability back to Illinois Basketball. Now let's hope that the teams to come, starting with next year's team, can build on that and get us back to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
Thanks for a fun and entertaining season guys!
A huge thank you to all of our guys that are leaving us for the time and effort you gave to the Illini basketball program. You brought this program back from the brink and brought respectability back to Illinois Basketball. Now let's hope that the teams to come, starting with next year's team, can build on that and get us back to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
Thanks for a fun and entertaining season guys!
Thank you to the seniors & players who plan to move on!!!! We should be back in the dance next season. There is enough talent coming back next year. Houston will be going to their third straight sweet 16 & they looked like the higher seed. They defended better & had less turnovers. Jamal Shead & Taze Moore had great games.
We had as many field goals made as turnovers, 17. We shot 34% from the field. In the last six halves (Loyola-Chicago, Chattanooga, & Houston) in the NCAA tournament we have only lead 25 seconds if I'm not mistaken. All the kids coming back need to execute better earlier in these games & learn from these last two seasons.
The program is still building & looking forward to the future of Fighting Illini basketball. Thank you coaches & players for the last three seasons!!!!
We had as many field goals made as turnovers, 17. We shot 34% from the field. In the last six halves (Loyola-Chicago, Chattanooga, & Houston) in the NCAA tournament we have only lead 25 seconds if I'm not mistaken. All the kids coming back need to execute better earlier in these games & learn from these last two seasons.
The program is still building & looking forward to the future of Fighting Illini basketball. Thank you coaches & players for the last three seasons!!!!
Seeing a shirtless Sampson jumping around getting doused with water bottles is not what I wanted to see. Anytime.
Thanks for coming back, Illini. Man, what this season could have been if the whole team had gotten to play together more.
But hey, we got to see RJ play REALLY GOOD basketball. And CoHawk and Goode will be for real with starter's minutes.
Playing close, fundamental, team defense is on the way out in college basketball. Pushing, shoving, and slapping are now considered good and rewarded. Brad's young guys play clean and well-behaved. He has some big decisions to make on whether to push them and their team in a different direction.
But hey, we got to see RJ play REALLY GOOD basketball. And CoHawk and Goode will be for real with starter's minutes.
Playing close, fundamental, team defense is on the way out in college basketball. Pushing, shoving, and slapping are now considered good and rewarded. Brad's young guys play clean and well-behaved. He has some big decisions to make on whether to push them and their team in a different direction.
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It’s Trent’s shooting unfortunately. 1-10 against Loyola, 2-13 in these past two games. He has to be out there for defense but where is the scoring going to come from when Kofi is game-planned out?
Because we have freshmen who played better. He did nothing of value in the first half. Giving up on him? I say trying to win.
OK, let me have it...
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Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Yeah they really shouldn’t have been a 5 seed winning both their regular season and conference tournament titles. That’s sustained success and you can really see how strong they were.
Be careful what you wish for . . . We are coming out of the two of the best years of Illini basketball in the last 20 . . .
Kofi got hammered as usual with not many calls and the technical on RJ's dunk was especially bad - killed the momentum that play had given us.
Stevegarbs
- Mokena, IL
Makes me wonder if Curbelo did something specifically against what Underwood asked him to do. Some form of insubordination that warranted a harsh penalty. That or an injury we didn't recognize?
you seem to not understand just how hard it is to win in March. A lot of the best teams in college basketball don’t win it all.
Let’s not forget that we did all of this while using recruits that we pulled in BEFORE we started getting good (with a few minor exceptions). Winning leads to better recruiting leads to more winning. It’s a process and most teams don’t go from bottom of the conference to a final four trip in 3 years. So let’s keep our heads up and hope the guys remember this experience and take it into next year and work on our weaknesses.
Yeah I don't usually buy the silver linings that are spammed here after every letdown
Whitmans Sampler
- Eastern Iowa
Michigan made the S16 and we didn’t. That is sickening.
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