Any team that has players named “Funk” and “Dread” should be extremely beatable.
Funk, Dread hot from 3 as Penn State beats No. 17 Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Andrew Funk and Myles Dread combined for 11 3-pointers to give Penn State a 74-59 win over No. 17 Illinois on Saturday.www.stltoday.com
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Andrew Funk and Myles Dread combined for 11 3-pointers to give Penn State a 74-59 win over No. 17 Illinois on Saturday.
Penn State 74, Illinois 59 Postgame
So, Coach Underwood read the team an ‘expletive-rich’ text from Trent Frazier who’s playing pro ball in Serbia.
Coach: ‘(Frazier) is leading from Serbia. Every day guys, every day. It's not about having the media and everyone else kiss their butt when you play in Madison Square Garden and beat a good team.’
Ayo and Trent and Damonte and Kofi worked their rears off to build something special with the Illini. They do not want to see anyone blemish the great rep that Illini ball has reclaimed once again.
Raw ball talent is one thing. Leadership is another. The Illini have lots of ball talent on the floor. But with Ayo and Trent and Kofi and DMW gone there is a big leadership gap.
Coach can provide some of that. But not in the heat of battle out on the floor when the other team is challenging you and you’ve got to react in the moment and match and beat the opponent’s intensity.
Though it’s unpleasant to admit this... Penn State deserves a lot of credit for what they did. They were not awed by the high ranking and big-time New York performance of The Orange and they walked right into the home team’s den and took them to school. That’s what teams are supposed to do – play fearless and loose and show the other team what you’ve got. You can’t hide anything out on floor.
The Illini can learn from this game not only what they did wrong in ‘ball’ areas that they need to improve upon... but also even more from Penn State’s approach in how to play on enemy grounds and impose your will.
Because there is nothing more pleasant that when the Illini impose THEIR will on the game.
Coach: ‘(Frazier) is leading from Serbia. Every day guys, every day. It's not about having the media and everyone else kiss their butt when you play in Madison Square Garden and beat a good team.’
Ayo and Trent and Damonte and Kofi worked their rears off to build something special with the Illini. They do not want to see anyone blemish the great rep that Illini ball has reclaimed once again.
Raw ball talent is one thing. Leadership is another. The Illini have lots of ball talent on the floor. But with Ayo and Trent and Kofi and DMW gone there is a big leadership gap.
Coach can provide some of that. But not in the heat of battle out on the floor when the other team is challenging you and you’ve got to react in the moment and match and beat the opponent’s intensity.
Though it’s unpleasant to admit this... Penn State deserves a lot of credit for what they did. They were not awed by the high ranking and big-time New York performance of The Orange and they walked right into the home team’s den and took them to school. That’s what teams are supposed to do – play fearless and loose and show the other team what you’ve got. You can’t hide anything out on floor.
The Illini can learn from this game not only what they did wrong in ‘ball’ areas that they need to improve upon... but also even more from Penn State’s approach in how to play on enemy grounds and impose your will.
Because there is nothing more pleasant that when the Illini impose THEIR will on the game.
I disagree. He’s a culture guy. He stood out last year for his leadership and I think that will translate to pushing others to also step up. That stuff is contagious!
Love to see this. This is the response we need from our team. I’m glad it isn’t the “hang our head because coach is mad” response. This is leadership. Let’s get back after it!
With tomorrow appearance in the AP poll we will be one week behind Michigan State on the All-time AP votes list. Currently we have 488 weekly votes, to Michigan State's 490. Michigan State is very unlikely to make it. Hopefully in next week's poll we will be tied for 10th all-time.
Total AP Men's BB Poll Appearances Summary | College Poll Archive
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pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I'm having flashbacks or nightmares of the defensive play of BU's first two years with easy drives by the opponents for layups or dump offs running a spread offense......we need to tighten up the paint defense and make a team beat up from the outside...
Sounds silly after psu's deadly shooting 3's against us , but watching that little guard Pickett posting up was so irritating.....
In my HS days there would have been a flagrant 5 doled out or even back then they called the 3 seconds in the lane......
I was trying to remember when we were so out of a game like that and the Cincinnati game stands out to me
I'm glad we don't play again till Saturday as I'm still mad as h*ll
Sounds silly after psu's deadly shooting 3's against us , but watching that little guard Pickett posting up was so irritating.....
In my HS days there would have been a flagrant 5 doled out or even back then they called the 3 seconds in the lane......
I was trying to remember when we were so out of a game like that and the Cincinnati game stands out to me
I'm glad we don't play again till Saturday as I'm still mad as h*ll
I guess I see it differently. Good leadership from TSJ would have been a post that stated HE would not let another result like that happen and that HE would promise to play hard 100% and hold the rest of the team up, too.
In this case, he seems content to continue letting BU lead.
We are playing primarily combinations of freshmen and transfers. Leadership is emergent. It's a process. It takes time No one just steps up and says " I am the leader of this team and I won't let this happen again." We have seen glimpses of leaderships from TJ, RJ and CH. I think wee will see it emerge on a more consistent basis as the season progressees.
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
Well, happy to see an esteemed member here speak truth to power.
I still am stuck on the premise that it is the players‘ sole responsibility to provide leadership while the well compensated CEO can sit back and fire pot shots at the employees. Never worked for me in my business career.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
Who is saying that?
Definitely understand your point. However, just positive thinking after hearing some of that can be a tough task. I mean, how many people on here couldn’t handle it by saying “oh BU went went too far”. Positive is positive (my name checks out for this post) and backing your coach after some harsh criticism is leadership. Might not always look the way we think it should. We take the wind where we can get them, right?
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
My thoughts exactly, but that has to happen
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
I see it as TSJ defending his coach who got a lot of flack in the media yesterday for the post game presser.
Something to Dread.We got Funked.....plan and simple
I agree with you that using the media in that manner might NOT be the best motivational tool to motivate some folks. But he’s a human being…AND Honestly, I think he was just plain exasperated at that point.
If those guys were acting like that for two practices in a row and then the letdown
that we all witnessed…who wouldn’t have been upset? He probably felt he had exhausted all/most remedies at that point.
I feel like Underwood is a modern, analytics-informed, pragmatic-minded, authentic coach that let’s ‘em play…but he’s also an old school guy at heart. And guys like that don’t play when it comes to effort and being mentally alert. I honestly think Brad would be way more old school if he could get away with it …but it is clearly a very different world…and he can’t be. Lol.
Btw.(I mean that in a good way…not some toxic, abusive…last days of Knight…I mean Nero…type stuff)
As far as the leadership deal…he didn’t call anyone names or anything. He just called them out for their lack of: effort, focus, and leadership…all fair criticisms. Honestly, I thought it was tame compared to what you see from a lot of coaches.
* Does anyone really think it is asking a lot to ask a couple of upper classmen who both played in the National Championship game to lead the younger guys?? These guys are winners. They have the tools to do that. They just aren’t doing it consistently…
*Not to go off on an tangent, but I think with this particular group he probably struggles at times to NOT reign them in on offense more than he does…Yet, he is pragmatic enough to know he must adapt to suit his personnel. Generally, coaches are control freaks and it probably goes against his nature at times. I can’t prove it …but I just think it is true. Lol. For ex. SpreadOffense was less freelance then the 5-out stuff we fall back on now. In other words, I think he likes to let them play…but it is also a personal challenge to relinquish SOME of that control.)
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Big Jack
- Decatur
And there in lies the problem... BU can teach them what and how they need to play, give them the game plan, but the players have to execute the plan. The coach cannot play the last I knew. All good teams have at least one alpha dog who leads and sees that the rest of the team executes the plan. However we have no leader. If I wanted to be the leader of this team I would have stepped up immediately and took the blame... As BU said in the presser there is no leader. All TSJ did was stand up for his coach not his performance!
Another, thing I forgot to mention is that Underwood DID take accountability. He said he failed them.
Tacomallini
- Washington State
Holy Crap. That’s like a therapy session.
Ritual can be important in repetitive skills.
InDaAZ
- Eugene, Oregon
I wouldn’t call Pickett little - he’s 6’4” and solidly built.
Before the game, I was wondering who we had to match up with his varied skill set. Apparently, the answer was no one…
I said this after the Texas game and i'll repeat it here....BU is an excellent coach in many respects, but his main weakness is that his offensive philosophy is too geared to having players beat their defenders 1:1. When the other team plays disciplined defense and has decent athleticism our offense gets stagnant and we have trouble getting good shots and scoring. We are more talented than PSU, but quite frankly Shrewsbury was a better coach yesterday. Until we address this we have a ceiling on how far we can go.
I would watch that movie.Trent Frazier is Macauley Culkin in Home Alone level ready for Hunter Dickinson to show up at his door in Belgrade right now.
