Illinois 68, Alabama A&M 47 Postgame

[WizardBill]

Seems odd. Break the game into 10 minute segments, we won 1, 2 and 4.

We won the game by 21, were never behind, but, just feels like something is off.

We got blasted the first half of the 2nd half, but thumped them the rest of the game…

 

[Snoopy]

True. They WERE… tacky/inappropriate and kinda bizarre.

It honestly felt out of the blue; when you consider the contrast to the softball questions they usually ask. (That are are seldom in the form of an actual question btw.)
So now we’ve got oddly worded AND inappropriate. (The Coleman interview seemed like it went on forever.)


*After watching enough of these pressers I feel like I’ve get a pretty good idea which writers annoy Brad the most/least. Lol

Many of the local press hangers on, all ”know” the story they plan to write going into the interview. They then ask leading questions trying to get a quote or two to support their story and create controversy for hits. Was disappointed Dan gave them front page loyalty space this time around. More impressed with the national writers, The Athletic, that at least seem to let the responses drive their articles. (Or maybe they aren’t just as obvious and that is what got them the national gigs.). Wish the athletic department would release a YouTube recording of the football and basketball press conferences so I didn’t so often end up supporting writers I really disagree with much of the time.

 

[chudaman]

Mayer kinda needs the game to come his way, he's not one to grab it by the scruff of the neck.

Looked to me like he grabbed Alabama A&M's scruff and won the game for the Illini. Great game Matt!

 

[USAFILLINI]

This is BS - he took three SFU teams to the tourney as 12,12, and 14 seeds and won 2 out of three first round games against a 3 and 5 seed. At Ok State they were a 10 seed and lost by 1 point to a 7 seed Michigan. he has had two shots at IL and lost to two very good underseeded teams in the second game. Not exactly a history of collapse in March

 

[alaskaillini]

But I know the facts.

 

[OrangeAndBlueBlooded]

Myanmar? I thought it was Burma

Istanbul, not Constantinople

 

[Point-Illinois]

I’d suggest the only collapse was his one seed team that lost to the 8 seed. (Or were they 9?)

That was a true let down.

Other than that, his teams have been fine and performed up to expectations.

But if you base his ability to coach ONLY on his tourney success, you’d be wrongly over emphasizing that one aspect of a college b-ball coach.

Jay Wright didn’t make it to the 2nd weekend (or the round of 32) until his 11th year of coaching. BU made the round of 32 in his first year coaching D1. Jay Wright also didn’t even make the tourney until his 6th year as a Div 1 HC. BU did it in each of his first 4.

Tourney success does not always paint the full picture.

 

[Manual3for4peat]

I’d suggest the only collapse was his one seed team that lost to the 8 seed. (Or were they 9?)

That was a true let down.

Other than that, his teams have been fine and performed up to expectations.

But if you base his ability to coach ONLY on his tourney success, you’d be wrongly over emphasizing that one aspect of a college b-ball coach.

Jay Wright didn’t make it to the 2nd weekend (or the round of 32) until his 11th year of coaching. BU made the round of 32 in his first year coaching D1. Jay Wright also didn’t even make the tourney until his 6th year as a Div 1 HC. BU did it in each of his first 4.

Tourney success does not always paint the full picture.

They were a 9 seed that every ranking had in the top ten of America. That should have been a regional final game that the committee had to have in round two.

Then the next year we were the higher seed again facing a top ten ranked team in the second round in Houston.

It’s almost like someone has an axe to grind with our program. I get that stuff can happen once in awhile, but in consecutive seasons….

 

[dbeverly26]

I love this place. Folks think that Underwood’s offense is just “stand around and randomly drive to the hoop” which is bad, but the guy who just stood around and randomly drove to the hoop is the hero because he bumslayed against one of the worst teams in basketball.

They’re not running the offense, and Mayer is a prime culprit. You could run literally anything you wanted to instead of having five guys out there freelancing and be better off. If we keep doing this we’re going to get clobbered by respectable competition.

 

[USAFILLINI]

I’d suggest the only collapse was his one seed team that lost to the 8 seed. (Or were they 9?)

That was a true let down.

Other than that, his teams have been fine and performed up to expectations.

But if you base his ability to coach ONLY on his tourney success, you’d be wrongly over emphasizing that one aspect of a college b-ball coach.

Jay Wright didn’t make it to the 2nd weekend (or the round of 32) until his 11th year of coaching. BU made the round of 32 in his first year coaching D1. Jay Wright also didn’t even make the tourney until his 6th year as a Div 1 HC. BU did it in each of his first 4.

Tourney success does not always paint the full picture.

Fair point that tourney success doesn’t paint the full picture. We will have to see how he does the next few years with the talent he has.

That being said, would we be ok with winning the Big and never making it past the sweet 16? What would be the bar we set for success?

For the record again, I like BU and I want him to succeed but I don’t think it’s out of line to question some of his antics. Board seems to be pretty harsh on 18-22 year old kids but give BU a pass on a lot.

Subordinates are a direct reflection of their leadership.

 

[Illini92and96]

I have two thoughts I want to share which hopefully will come across as neutral amongst all the strong opinions in this thread.

First is that it's extremely hard for anyone outside of the program to actually assess the team relationships and dynamics. The team is so close by the time and effort they spend together, and we only see a sliver of it. I give 0 credence to body language analysis or attempts to speculate on the team's reactions, supposed inferences, hidden subtext, etc...

Second, every single good basketball team is going to need to navigate uncertainty and challenges. The real teams can do it. Teams that can't will fall to the wayside. There's no template and it's not pretty. My point is, strife is necessary and we should acknowledge and accept that some ugliness will come with it.

So to understand this team, think about what it’s like to be married?

 

[Point-Illinois]

Fair point that tourney success doesn’t paint the full picture. We will have to see how he does the next few years with the talent he has.

That being said, would we be ok with winning the Big and never making it past the sweet 16? What would be the bar we set for success?

For the record again, I like BU and I want him to succeed but I don’t think it’s out of line to question some of his antics. Board seems to be pretty harsh on 18-22 year old kids but give BU a pass on a lot.

Subordinates are a direct reflection of their leadership.

I’m not every other fan, but I definitely don’t give BU a pass.

Every loss belongs to him as much as it does the players. It’s all an equal share of the blame/success.

I’m guessing it’s rare to have a game fall squarely on the players (open shots that just don’t drop) or squarely on the coach (poor game plan or something like that).

In the end, though, BU has proven he’s a winner. Other than his first few years here where he was digging us out of a decade of mediocrity and failure, he’s shown that he knows what he’s doing.

Which is why (at least initially) I won’t worry about his coaching even if it can seem aggressive. It got us back to relevance. If he begins to fail, then I’ll probably start to question it.

 

[USAFILLINI]

I’m not every other fan, but I definitely don’t give BU a pass.

Every loss belongs to him as much as it does the players. It’s all an equal share of the blame/success.

I’m guessing it’s rare to have a game fall squarely on the players (open shots that just don’t drop) or squarely on the coach (poor game plan or something like that).

In the end, though, BU has proven he’s a winner. Other than his first few years here where he was digging us out of a decade of mediocrity and failure, he’s shown that he knows what he’s doing.

Which is why (at least initially) I won’t worry about his coaching even if it can seem aggressive. It got us back to relevance. If he begins to fail, then I’ll probably start to question it.

Post wasn’t meant to be a shot at you, my apologies if it came across that way

 

[GBIllini]

I love this place. Folks think that Underwood’s offense is just “stand around and randomly drive to the hoop” which is bad, but the guy who just stood around and randomly drove to the hoop is the hero because he bumslayed against one of the worst teams in basketball.

They’re not running the offense, and Mayer is a prime culprit. You could run literally anything you wanted to instead of having five guys out there freelancing and be better off. If we keep doing this we’re going to get clobbered by respectable competition.

Yes I agree, it too often ends up with one guy trying to get a shot while the others are just standing and watching, like they have no basketball IQ. The teams that run their offense efficiently seem to always have 2 to 3 guys moving without the ball making cuts or setting picks. We look like we are running an old school motion offense without the motion. As a fan it drives me crazy as it always has. I can't imagine how it would be being the coach and watching it unfold like that in front of you.

 

[Point-Illinois]

Post wasn’t meant to be a shot at you, my apologies if it came across that way

Oh no apology needed. I was trying to say I’m not like many fans that will give BU a COMPLETE pass.

I’m guessing I didn’t word it very well.

 

[pruman91]

So to understand this team, think about what it’s like to be married?

No thanks
Been there
Done that
Never again

 

[BRucks]

Yes I agree, it too often ends up with one guy trying to get a shot while the others are just standing and watching, like they have no basketball IQ. The teams that run their offense efficiently seem to always have 2 to 3 guys moving without the ball making cuts or setting picks. We look like we are running an old school motion offense without the motion. As a fan it drives me crazy as it always has. I can't imagine how it would be being the coach and watching it unfold like that in front of you.

We have 159 assists to 166 turnovers on the season. Not a winning formula.

 

[Redbull]

Boy how much easier it would be if we still had Trent and DaMonte around teaching the new guys what it means to be “Every day Guys”

 

[Illini92and96]

No thanks
Been there
Done that
Never again

Mary Jane helps my marriage Pru

 

[FrankNitty30]

True. They WERE… tacky/inappropriate and kinda bizarre.

It honestly felt out of the blue; when you consider the contrast to the softball questions they usually ask. (That are are seldom in the form of an actual question btw.)
So now we’ve got oddly worded AND inappropriate. (The Coleman interview seemed like it went on forever.)


*After watching enough of these pressers I feel like I’ve get a pretty good idea which writers annoy Brad the most/least. Lol

Agreed. He does not like Piper

 

[illinitiger]

I find it appalling that our beat writers seem to be trying to fan the flames of strife. The interviews with Coleman and Terrence before the game were awful.

Honestly when BU public challenges players in PSU postgame,...I think the obvious next question to players is "....player x, what is your reaction and response to your coach?"

 

[InDaAZ]

This team isn't playing with any urgency. No edge to their game.
They aren't Every Day Guys yet.

Every (Other) Day Guys?
Doesn’t have the same ring to it…

Put together a nice little winning streak, and we’ll all be smiling - even Daddy Brad.

 

[doowink]

We have 159 assists to 166 turnovers on the season. Not a winning formula.

Damn that's a lot of TO's....< elite

 

[Oldskoolkoach]

I was at the game sitting more or less (way, way, way) behind the Illini bench. The body language of a couple of players (mostly Hawkins) was bad all afternoon. The Illini didn't enter this game with intensity and didn't find that intensity until they were in peril of losing a lead to a team that started the game at KenPom 334.

And FWIW, AAMU's KenPom improved by 7 with their loss.

The Hawkins body language has been around for 3 years. Every year we talk about him transferring. Every year his dad tweets about Brad making him tougher.

CoHawk could go average a double double, but im not sure he wants to. He is so unsure of himself and is it because he's afraid of Brad yelling at him, or is it because he has always been this way....inconsistent.

He will have to make a choice sooner than later. Do I want to bust my derriere and become a household name, or do I want to finish my career and move onto the work force.

 

[Oldskoolkoach]

Agreed. was just saying the same thing to my wife.

Perhaps a reason that Baylor tried to stick it to him when leaving. They didn't want him to stay, but wanted to make sure he didn't get on campus until the end of summer.