Coleman Hawkins….said he needed to mature with his attitude and his play. Neither has happened. Dude might be the most frustrating person to watch on this team. Game after game the announcers at least once say, “Not sure why Hawkins didn’t just shoot that layup instead of passing it out…”
Missouri 93, Illinois 71 Postgame
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CoHawk thrived last year when given the assignment of shutting down the other team's top player and it is too bad the current scheme didn't allow for him to take on Kobe Brown.
Our defense is killing everything. Our inability to get stops is a direct correlation to a lack of slashing to the hoop. We have to get stops. Then stops lead to transition slashing, which leads to us setting up the press. Defense is our problem.
Re-watched a lot of the game, and just wanted to share a couple of observations.
Epps and Sencire are going to be really really good players here throughout their career. They did not quit at all, and that was very evident on the tape. Defense had a ton of breakdowns-but there were at least 6 times where Mizzou made miracle shots. Having such a young team, that can rattle a lot of our guys. Once we lost momentum, the game was over with 30 minutes left. We have to do a better job of keeping composure. I still believe in this team. I know it is hard for some of you guys right now, but don't give up on them. When this team clicks, it will be special. Have a good Christmas everyone, and keep the faith.
Epps and Sencire are going to be really really good players here throughout their career. They did not quit at all, and that was very evident on the tape. Defense had a ton of breakdowns-but there were at least 6 times where Mizzou made miracle shots. Having such a young team, that can rattle a lot of our guys. Once we lost momentum, the game was over with 30 minutes left. We have to do a better job of keeping composure. I still believe in this team. I know it is hard for some of you guys right now, but don't give up on them. When this team clicks, it will be special. Have a good Christmas everyone, and keep the faith.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I sincerely hope that every one who braved the elements to go to the game have or will make it home safely..................it's still -3 * here in paducah and no traffic at all that I can see..................I said it yesterday , but to all who went to the game , you have my respect totally and unconditionally.......stay safe.......
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
same back at you bro.............................
NASchamp
- Atlanta
I agree. Was waiting after every Kobe Brown 3 pointer that went down for coach to put someone on him man-to-man. Never happened. Not sure why we thought we could turn the game around by doing the same stuff.
This is something I’ve been thinking about. I just wonder if having your PF/C being the trigger man doesn’t mess with offensive flow because it puts people in positions they haven’t been in before. He’s also not much of a threat to drive and dish. And certainly isn’t a threat from 3. Seems like the 3s he does hit are of the catch and shoot variety. I just think they might be better off having the PGs actually play PG.
As an older timer as well, I agree 100% on this, it was really disappointing and shocking. It's either what this team needed to pull them together and figure things out, or it's going to be a long season.
Hopefully the coaches and team learns from this and makes some positive changes, and they do not let this cause any bigger issues. I used to say the coaches get paid the big bucks to figure things out, but now I can say many of the guys are getting paid big bucks to figure it out. Things are never, ever easy as I've come to learn, but that is what keeps life interesting!
Happy Holidays everyone!
How much do I love that Trent and Harris seem to have a specific bond? A ton.
Merry Christmas to you as well.
I believe (as painful to watch as last night was).
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Yeah we all try to have this savvy journalistic perspective on everything, but at the end of the day we're fans and seeing Mizzou's guys charged up for a rivalry game and really special tradition and big event whereas our guys looked like wearing an Illinois jersey was a chore and embarrassing themselves really really sucks. We wouldn't be doing our jobs as fans if we weren't mad at the way they played last night.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Yeah but for who?Brad needs to not f*** around with that:
We can rhapsodize about Harris' effort all we like, but he is an extremely limited player at this stage in his development. Rodgers is the definition of a lost freshman. Dainja's getting all the minutes his conditioning can handle. Epps plays a ton. You really want Lieb and Paxton Warden out there?
We need Shannon, Mayer and Hawkins to decide they enjoy being the alpha dogs of Illinois Basketball. Send them on a skiing trip together or something, I dunno, it looks like those guys don't even talk to each other.
Bigtex
- DFW
It is like telling someone they are “sorry” but keep defending their position. Just words not really sorry.
Common theme. We overestimate the amount of talent at the beginning of every year. All fan bases do it. People talking up Melendez and Hawkins as guys the NBA would want at the end of the year. People talking about Clark as one and done and Rodgers as someone we hope lasts for 2 years before the NBA. I don't know how this team beat UCLA and Texas and gave Virginia such a great game. This team now is brutal. Underwood needs to start earning that $3.4 million salary really soon. Buck stops with him.
Couldn't agree more
Thanks.
Earlier post called our talent "incredible". It's good talent. Enough to challenge for the league title. If things are clicking with good coaching, who knows.
Earlier this season I jokingly called someone a hater because they said we had 5 future NBA players on the team. I mean, just 5?
Stunning how bad this team has been since the impressive win over Texas. As many have said, the talent is there as shown by wins over UCLA & Texas and a strong game against Virginia. But the defensive effort has been lacking in the last three games and combined with sloppy ballhandling and bad shooting has led to dramatically worse overall play.
All we heard from Underwood prior to season was how this team's length and quickness would be really tough on opponents defensively and how many good shooters we had. There were flashes earlier but that has largely disappeared lately. Three-point shooting, so increasingly important today, has been awful. 1-15 to start last night? Might as well have been shooting blindfolded.
Don't know if this mess can be resolved quickly, but here are two moves that would seem to be necessary:
1. Get Hawkins away from the perimeter on offense, put him inside to take advantage of his height and keep reminding him to be more aggressive on offense. I've lost count of how many good shots he's passed up in recent games. He has no business bringing the ball upcourt nearly half the time! How many 6-10 guys do you see playing that role? He is not a good ballhandler (6 turnovers last night!) or 3-point shooter. He should not have most of his shots from beyond the arc in any game (2-8 last night, 0-6 on treys).
2. Replace Clark at point guard with Epps. Clark doesn't run the half-court offense well, way too much dribbling and indecision and has shot poorly. He has been disappointing, struggling at bot ends of the court to adapt to the faster college game against better players. All the talk preseason was how this 5-star guard would give Illinois a true point guard and could be one-and-done. That hype seems way overblown now.. Epps and Harris have both outplayed him & deserve more minutes than him. Potential is there but seems to be lacking confidence, which hopefully he will gain in a backup role.
Finally, don't know what's going on with Melendez, who I thought would really step up in his second season after such a strong finish last year. Know his right shoulder has been bothering him last couple of games, but he has been strangely passive. Need to get him going because kid has too much talent to be playing such a small role.
Because they have a very high level of talent.
You can be very talented and not play well, just like you can be untalented and play very well. It is about playing as a team, being prepared, and giving the effort on the court.
This team does not play well together. They have too many individual agendas, and it sounds like some of them don't like each other. Underwood needs to get the under control, and make some changes or we are going to have the most talented crappy team in the nation.
Yes, absolutely %100…I want Warden and Lieb both out there. (Temporarily at least)
Hell, why not Connor Serven?( I’d bring back Zima if it was possible…he would deserve some PT now too.)
They’ve more than earned it!
Why not play ‘em? Because we’d lose? We’re losing now…And we’re not just losing. We’re getting shellacked. #fullnormandale
We’d be better off in the long run. Our brand is supposed to be “Everyday Guys”
This ain’t it. Prove to the prima-donna(s) on this team that EDGs isn’t just something we put on a T-shirt here at the University of Illinois.
I agree with you that our defense is the problem. But Brad said at the beginning of the postgame conference that bad execution on the offensive end is leading to horrible defense.
I think good offense will come from good defense and getting stops, not the other way around.
We’ve got work to do on both sides though that’s for sure.
The most glaring issue right now is our defensive system and Skyy. I feel bad saying it because I know he's the top recruit and maybe he still has rust from the injury and he's only a freshman, but it's not working with him right now. Skyy is just not a capable defender in the switch everything defense. The whole thing breaks down when he's in the game. Opponents know they can easily hunt him on the switches. I don't know what the plus/minus is when he's out there, but I'm sure it's extremely bad. It's not a coincidence that we won the Texas game after we benched him. He is flat out unplayable right now unless something changes.
Either we scrap the switch everything defense and go back to regular man to man, or Skyy needs to have his minutes replaced by Harris, who actually does make it work when he's in there.
Either we scrap the switch everything defense and go back to regular man to man, or Skyy needs to have his minutes replaced by Harris, who actually does make it work when he's in there.
Pretty simple. Coleman is our best defender, probably aside from Sencire, Melendez is up there for worst. He’s looked slow on the ball this year and lost off of it.
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