It's not a given but we tend to play home games better this year except for the Indiana game and a couple poor showings in Dec.
Pregame: Illinois vs Michigan, Thursday, March 2nd, 6:00pm CT, ESPN
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Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
I am wondering if she has a younger brother with open growth plates
i guess this belongs in the recruiting thread
That was genuinely funny. Thank you for the laugh.
Question: what is going on with Meyer? He looks clutch when he needs to be, but misses a lot of good looks from 3 *badly*. I didn't mean that rhetorically, so here is my guess: his 3pt% at Baylor was higher because Baylor had a solid backcourt that could get him looks he was more comfortable with. He also doesn't seem to have adapted well to Big10-style play. I need two hands to count the number of times he has looked befuddled after a no-call on a mugging.
That said, I don't think he's broken and really do hope that NBA teams don't sleep on him. We have *young* guards who are playing out of position. Repeating myself, but surrounded by the right talent, I think he could be deadly on both sides of the arc.
Yes Clark would be nice. She is shooting 38% on the year. Or, Brad could wander over to the other side of Ubben and get Bryant who is shooting 42% or Peebles at 46% or Shoup-Hill at 41%. Clark, of course, shoots a lot more of them and typically from Coleman Hawkins range.
He's a football player: https://cyclones.com/sports/football/roster/blake-clark/11868
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Hope he's ready for his career high!
Seriously, I love college hoops but I was a baseball guy growing up, and I am no Xs and Os expert when it comes to basketball. With that said, can anyone shine a light on what exactly has changed with our offense since the UCLA and Texas games?! Even if you make Shannon's ridiculous performance vs. UCLA an "average" shooting night, our offense was so much better back then. Now it seems even our defense has unraveled, at least when it comes to keeping one guy in check.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
It would be an absolutely hilarious and even more depressing exercise if someone tried to analyze what our record would be if we hit a normal percentage of our wide open threes this year, lol. Forget the contested ones we take, we seem to miss all of the good shots, too!
His first 3 years at Baylor he came off the bench and didn't play a lot more than 10-15 minutes. He was often on a short leash. Last year saw his percentages plummet due to increased usage. I think his unwavering belief he will make the next shot is both his superpower and his kryptonite. Earlier in his career he was a microwave off the bench for some really good teams, that played very disciplined basketball. He shot a lot more wide-open threes with Butler, Flagler, and Mitchell also spreading the floor.
Last year, he took to freelancing a lot more, which may be why he was looking for a new home. I don't think he took many of those step-back 3's when they were the best team in the country.
He's the kind of guy who can win you a game by himself if he's hot and shoot you right out of one when he's not. That said, if we are going to do anything this March, he is going to be a big part of it. If he doesn't play well, the team really struggles to score.
Baseball guy here too, so take this for what it's worth. I was at the UCLA game and I feel like, other than Shannon being on fire from three, the defense generated a lot of our offense during the comeback. When pressuring, we got some turnovers and easy baskets in transition. I really wish we'd push the ball in the open floor more at any possible opportunity. I honestly can't remember much of the Texas game, other than having a feeling like we got away with something. I did not feel good about how we played in that game and couldn't believe we pulled it out, but I do remember Shannon having a great OT after a rough first 40 minutes.Hope he's ready for his career high!
Seriously, I love college hoops but I was a baseball guy growing up, and I am no Xs and Os expert when it comes to basketball. With that said, can anyone shine a light on what exactly has changed with our offense since the UCLA and Texas games?! Even if you make Shannon's ridiculous performance vs. UCLA an "average" shooting night, our offense was so much better back then. Now it seems even our defense has unraveled, at least when it comes to keeping one guy in check.
Since he used a Doc Fauci meme to admonish you, he lost all credibility..... Carry on Young Stallion!!
Statistically, we've played better away from home this year. Especially in conference play.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
The difference to my old eyes is there was a streak of games in Nov/Dec where the team was running the actual offense that Brad wanted to run. Lots of movement and a lot of screening which led to either good open looks from distance, or open driving lanes to the hoop. While UCLA and Texas were both in this category, I think the game where the gameplan was followed best was Syracuse. We busted their zone, spread the floor well, and had a solid all-around game.Hope he's ready for his career high!
Seriously, I love college hoops but I was a baseball guy growing up, and I am no Xs and Os expert when it comes to basketball. With that said, can anyone shine a light on what exactly has changed with our offense since the UCLA and Texas games?! Even if you make Shannon's ridiculous performance vs. UCLA an "average" shooting night, our offense was so much better back then. Now it seems even our defense has unraveled, at least when it comes to keeping one guy in check.
The flip side is what AZ said--we're a team where our defense can generate offense for us as well. Follow the gameplan, play solid D, and try to set your teammates up for success and we're a tough out. Iso, 3-pointers in transition, and crappy passing and we'll be playing catch up.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
I'd like you to expand on that, because we've only lost 2 home conference games against 7 away losses.
I think the biggest problem is that we just don't have an identity on offense. What is the go-to play when we need a bucket? Who is the MAN? When our offense has worked, it's because someone (Typically Shannon or Meyer) goes off. If those guys are both off, how do we manufacture points? Who else can and will score consistently? Going into the season, I thought RJ or Skyy could provide scoring... It looked for awhile that Dain and/or Epps might, but the last two games have shown otherwise. Hawkins is starting to show up there, but it took him a long time to look for his own shot. He's still a bit too passive down low IMO.Hope he's ready for his career high!
Seriously, I love college hoops but I was a baseball guy growing up, and I am no Xs and Os expert when it comes to basketball. With that said, can anyone shine a light on what exactly has changed with our offense since the UCLA and Texas games?! Even if you make Shannon's ridiculous performance vs. UCLA an "average" shooting night, our offense was so much better back then. Now it seems even our defense has unraveled, at least when it comes to keeping one guy in check.
We won big games early utilizing depth, talent, and effort. I don't think the half-court offense was ever very pretty.
Consistent teams have a gameplan in which everyone knows and embraces their role. We are still searching. I don't know if that is because coach hasn't figured it out, or people aren't buying in. We have settled for way too many 3's. I have a hard time imagining Brad in practice saying, "Try to take your man one on one for 8-10 seconds and if that doesn't work, let it fly from deep!", but that's what's happening...
Re posting from another thread.
I read with interest all the comments about us being terrible 3 point shooters. My take as former coach is the offense not the shooting. We have shooters - Mayer, TSJ, RJ, Goode and Epps (still not convinced on Harris with his form yet someone is going to tell me his % is good). Who do you want to shoot and how best to put them in a position to excel? What did Damonte shoot the year he was off the charts?
I want an offense that can score at all 3 levels. I am looking for 3s as a result of penetration where you force a guy into helping off the ball. I want a Mayer type that can slip a ball screen and have a shorter man forced to guard him. I do not like pass a few times and then CH shooting from a distance where he feels comfortable not getting blocked and/or a step back 3 which is not something you can live on.
The spread while providing opportunity at times does not really play to a conventional 4 out 1 in mindset. Everyone floods one side of the floor and you live or die with one guy down hill and relying on speed. I always would like to see defense rotations to the ball and leaving an outside shooter open for time to set and shoot. In the spread, the rotation may come yet there is no where to pass the ball. as everyone is on the strong side to big with and penetration is the other side.
Rules
1) Force the Defense to make a decision and rotate.
2) Reverse the basketball thru back screens and screen the screener action (my favorite or is that Micheal Jordan's favorite, I guess it does not matter). The more times the ball is reversed and defense has to rotate the higher probability of an open 3 or lanes to penetrate.
3) Make helpside be helpside. ( We got this with Kofi so that is not always there)
4) High/Low works to force someone opposite side of ball to help as well.
Currently, we look to get downhill at the risk of nothing else available. Indiana system has multiple options when JHS penetrates.
Let's be honest though, BU has been at this longer than any of us at this level. I do not want to go back to the days of Weber as our talent level is so much better. We have lost at least 3 players in 2 years whose number will hang in the rafters. We have been blessed and thank you BU. They want to succeed most likely more than we do. I trust where we are and would not want to be faced with replacing the numbers we had to replace. Then in mid season having to adjust. I think we all underestimate how much time it takes to create unity and keep it intact. A game here or there is doable. We only have one basketball and guys trying to get to the next level and a paycheck beyond NIL. This is not an easy task. BU and company can recruit and will put a great product in place. Our future is bright and very few teams will ever be '05 or '89. Let's live and die with our group. If it was easy, then anyone could do it. ILL
I’m not getting why so many people are down on this team. We should have beat OSU but we didn’t. However we finished last week with a 2-1 record with a win over a top 25 team
scUM is going to be tough. They are playing well and they have 3 players capable of a 25+ point game
We either need to make 3s or stop shooting 20+ when we are shooting below 30%. For us to win it will be if our players are engaged play with energy and understand the scouting report
scUM is going to be tough. They are playing well and they have 3 players capable of a 25+ point game
We either need to make 3s or stop shooting 20+ when we are shooting below 30%. For us to win it will be if our players are engaged play with energy and understand the scouting report
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Eh, it's less about the overall picture and more about the "how" of the whole thing. We NEEDED to beat OSU to ensure the type of NCAAT seed that makes a run more realistic and OSU is a bad team with nothing to play for ... and we just didn't even show up in the first half? It rightfully has fans afraid of a similar first half crapfest vs. Michigan and a deficit that we cannot overcome, giving Hunter Dickhead and Juwan their first ever wins over the Illini? That would be REALLY hard to take.
In essence, the OSU loss put a ton of pressure on this team. Lose to Michigan, and we are legitimately in full-on meltdown mode and would need a deep run in the BTT just to get a semi-decent seed. Even if we beat Michigan, we likely need to win in West Lafayette or win two in the BTT just to get off the 8/9 line. It was such a wasted opportunity, and to essentially lose because we just looked lost and bored in the first half made it really hard to take. I think it's also still left a sour taste in people's mouths that our of our two wins last week, one was vs. one of the worst Big Ten teams I have seen in several years, and the other featured the same problem as OSU - not showing up in the first half. Against NU, of course, we had the crazy comeback ... against OSU, we didn't. It's a really scary thought to think of this team needing to rely on comebacks from here on out.
With that said, we are all passionate Illini fans, and we've seen what this group can do. If we beat Michigan and don't have any ridiculous cold streaks where we dig ourselves in a hole, we can all get right back to dreaming of a shocker in West Lafayette!
I'm referring to performance in terms of efficiency. A team can play great and lose or play average and win. For example, the performances in the losses at Indiana and at Iowa were better than the performances in the wins vs. Minnesota and vs. Northwestern.
Torvik's efficiency stats allow filtering by site, which yields these rankings:
full season, at home:
#52 overall, #140 offense, #24 defense
full season, away from home:
#40 overall, #59 offense, #50 defense
conference games, at home:
#90 overall, #123 offense, #74 defense
conference games, away from home:
#32 overall, #78 offense, #33 defense
Note that while our full season home defense looks pretty good, it's largely propped up by the half-dozen sub-300 teams we played in the non-conference.
JMO.
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. The early season 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.
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. We just made a team that, from many accounts has quit on the season and will be looking for a new head coach, look absolutely great. The players play, at times, like they cannot wait for the season to end. Low energy, bad decisions, untimely mental lapses and turnovers.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I posted this in the B$G discussion thread , but should have posted here also so everyone who doesn't know of my
scUM hatred can see it again.......
JMHO......and GO ILLINI !!!!!!!!!!
scUM hatred can see it again.......
This is just one more pebble of sand in the beachfront property known as " condemned scUMland villages , a cesspool of cheaply priced immorally driven wasteland of moronic entitled pieces of scUM "............proceed at your own risk and be prepared for decisions made based on falsehoods and WWE handshake lines , with the leader's having a history of payoffs , bribery and a total lack of anything that even pretends to be moral and just ..............prices are cheap , based on the regular prevailing value of similarly priced beaches in other parts of the college sports world that are free of scUM's terrible past.......Please call 1-800-scUMbums and leave a message if you dare...............
JMHO......and GO ILLINI !!!!!!!!!!
AyoDos11
- Southern Illinois
Maybe the players can teleport between SFC and the opponent's venue after every change of possession.
You kinda answered the question you posed in the first sentence in your second sentence.
We lose games we should win. Consistency matters. I certainly hope the challenge/thrill of March awakens a newfound fire in this team and we see the team that beat UCA/Texas — it certainly could. But when you start the season off beating some of the best teams in the country, then lose twice to Penn State, once to Ohio State etc., it’s obviously disappointing given the potential the team has shown it has.
This is exactly right. The offense looks like a bad YMCA game. It is each person taking their turn rather than trying to play as a team. The three guys literally standing in one spot on the weak side drives me up the wall. It is way easier to double when you can turn your back on the guy and know that when the pass goes that way he'll be in almost exactly the same spot as he was when yous stopped looking.
Mayer is a big part of the problem the way he dribbles around, then gets trapped, passes it to someone to bail him out, then immediately asks for the ball back.
It is also in the coaching though as the offense has looked like this for years. I like the bball iq of the three freshman, but i'm afraid underwood is going to ruin them.
Hor$se$hit.
BU has already won more games this year that the prior coaches won in any of the previous 8 years before he got here, and you are afraid BU is going to ruin the freshmen, lol.
Re the OSU loss, stuff happens in the B1G. How do you think no. 14 Maryland and No. 9 MSU felt in Jan/Feb 2019 when we beat them, despite being a team that didn't even make the NIT? OSU has been in all their home games that they lost this year except 1 - they deserve some credit for trying to salvage some respect like we did in 2019.
Yes, our team has a Seabisquit complex and likes to play from behind, a habit they need to get rid of in the tournament. Yes, they are streaky, both good and bad. It is a team of talented kids that were basically thrown together this year, and four of the rotation are first year guys. We also changed our offensive approach midway through the season - chemistry takes time. We may or may not get there.
A B1G basketball season is a grind - it has taken its toll on other teams as well, especially those with several freshmen - like Purdue. It is hard to keep your focus for an entire season and play every game to your full potential. But consider that we are 10-5 in our last 15 games - not great but pretty good. The only team we are behind during this time is Purdue (11-4). We are even with Maryland, Indiana, and Iowa, and ahead of Northwestern, Michigan, Rutgers and the rest.
I am growing tired of the negativity - it seems like half the people on here can't be happy unless they get the perfect season of a B1G championship followed by a BTT championship, followed by a Final Four if not a National Championship.
We are a very good but not perfect team. Enjoy it.
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