Sorry in advance, but not posting any comments in the game thread have left me with things to get off my chest.
There are many very talented pieces, but this just is not a good team; and that is on both the players and staff. For whatever reason, the staff has not been able to motivate these guys to play consistently hard and smart, as a team. I'm pretty sure it has not instructed them to go out, start every game with low energy, and jack 30 3 pointers as a sub-30% shooting team. Or consistently shoot bad shots and throw the ball away after cutting deficits to 1 point late in games. BU, specifically, has proven the past 4 seasons that he knows what it takes to win.
I think this is a prime example of guys playing only for themselves. We have several who think they are NBA level players who do not understand that the appropriate mindset and decision making are part of being a professional-maybe even more so than talent alone-JMO. I've never been so frustrated watching an Illini team in my life, and I've watched a lot of them. Really disappointing results from a team that showed much promise early in the season. It has yet to put together a full game against a quality opponent. If it hasn't happened by the end of February, the likelihood it happens over the course of the next month are slim to none. The early bad halves could be explained by new guys trying to get on the same page, etc. and the comebacks against UCLA and TX have carried them all season. But this team has not passed the eye test since at least the Missouri game, and we all know what was going on around that time. They have never fully recovered. Again, JMO.
The talent is absolutely at a level to be a top 25, 3-6 seed tournament team. The results will not be anywhere near that. Maybe it is a small miracle the staff has squeezed as many wins in the B10 as they have, because we sure do not look like top half of the standings team. We just made a team that, from many accounts has quit on the season, look absolutely great. The players play like they cannot wait for the season to end, and that makes many who follower them feel the same way. They will all get that sooner rather than later I'm afraid. Go ahead a roast away, but this is how I see it from my vantage. Huge wasted opportunity by all involved so far this year.