Penn State 79, Illinois 76 Postgame

[ejam21]

This team was picked second in The Athletic's preseason Big Ten poll. They scratched and clawed to finish seventh and got embarrassed by Penn State three times. That's a trainwreck

The difference between 7th and 2nd was a whopping 1 game

 

[Manual3for4peat]

Maybe, but keeping Podz and making Melendez the go to guy would have made the future brighter. Instead, Melendez development was hampered by not getting that role that MM/TS took, and you lose Podz from recruiting over him

Ok. Everyone is pissed at a 20-12 safely making the tournament. But, they’d have been cool with the scenario you’re talking about where we are likely a NIT team? Yeah, why didn’t Brad go for that?

 

[spillini]

6 would be my guess

We’ll know for sure when the body language experts complete their film review later tonight

 

[Illini in Indiana]

BTW & IMO, we win 2-3 more games with Skyy Clark. He was a true PG, and we could have used that this year.

I'm OK with player & coach making a tough decision, but if he would have stayed it most likely would have been a "win - win"

 

[Illini in Italy]

If you've been watching this team this year through wine fogged glasses on your Tuscan veranda, I can understand. But as an Ill Die hard and Alumni, I see what this team is. Not that good.

I would agree that they are not what we hoped they were, but that was never a realistic expectation anyway

 

[altgeld88]

That’s fine. I just look at is a year where we lost

A two time all American center and probably the most dominant player we’ve ever had.

A fan favorite guard that many, not me, but many liked as much as dee brown.

One of the best shooters I’ve ever seen

The son of a legend here, that won a crap ton of games

And 85 percent of our scoring.

For 90 percent of college basketball fan bases that means you have a terrible season.

We really didn’t have as good as year as we thought we might, but we don’t have much shooting and we don’t have a true point guard on the roster.

Brad squeezed out a lot out of this roster and I enjoyed it.

The years I didn’t enjoy were when we were playing the first day, we’re missing on every recruit, and it felt like maybe we’d never get back to Illinois basketball.

Thank you, my friend, for sparing me the effort of making a nearly identical post when I get home from watching the game in a few minutes.

Absolutely spot on.

I love no other so let my motto be…

 

[CleverHandle1]

I'd say that you're not too far off. No need to calm down.

Thank U. After the second PSU loss, I suggested UI a 8/9th seed and was told to calm down, inferring Illinois will be a better seed. Ironic thing is they may not be an 8/9th seed but actually worse. Lol

 

[Jimbo]

Agree 100%. Need a PG/Floor General. Hard to believe we can make a run no matter what seed we are. No PG and no leadership. Wish Rogers and Harris would've played more to be honest. They bring EFFORT. Next year is a lot more exciting with those guys having experience under their belt having played together. I feel like Rogers, Harris, and Goode can be leaders and will build chemistry. I sure hope we make a run. But I don't have much for expectations at this point.
Did anyone else notice that Underwood wasn't typical Underwood? Wasn't in people's face, yelling, super pissed off. He sat down a lot. He chewed his gum. Wondering what's on his mind. Don't get me wrong, I really like him as our coach. Just wondering what's up.

I think at this point he figures we are what we are. No reason to chase off thefreshmen,

 

[blife]

Surface level, that seems like a problem that leads to another year like this one.

Yep and better hope for some giant sophomore leaps, cause that is a rebuild not reload job

 

[727ill]

I honestly don’t think we played that poorly.

Lundy and Wynter hit tough 2s in the first half and Funk was pretty much perfect shooting NBA range threes in the second.

There is absolutely no team we will see in the tourney that will shoot like this

 

[ejam21]

I’m struggling to think of any team seeded 7-9 we could beat. We may slip to a 10 seed. Hell we might Even skip to first 4 depending on how the other teams do.

Maybe Auburn , or FAU. Pray for that draw I guess.

We've are 2-1 against hte current 7 seeds on bracketmatrix. We CAN beat any of the 7-9s on a neutral court IMHO. Not saying i would be overly confident that we DO, but we beat a 7 seed a week or two ago so i dont see why we would just assume we cant beat anyone now

 

[Fr8trn16]

I think part of the issue with our roster construction and ability to go ISO is we don’t space the floor well enough and don’t have the same shooting threat that they do. Guys like Ty, Harris and RJ just aren’t serious threats from range, and you can sag off and double the post without putting yourself in real danger. Also, having Dain AND Hawkins in at the same time kind of takes away from the true ISO advantage that Hawkins had at the end of the first half. I don’t think Illinois should have them on the floor at the same time. PSU was able to collapse on Hawkins and make his shots tough in the final 12 or so minutes because Dain is kinda just there in the painted area. On the flip side, you go through Dain in the post, and Hawkins is kind of in no-man’s land and not really a threat from the outside. Pick your poison. Not having guards and not being even a decent three point shooting team has KILLED us.

We took the lead with that lineup in though. And then just stop going to that bread and butter. If you watch it again you'll see we just stopped going to what was working. If it's not broke, don't fix it! We should have kept running that play until they proved they could stop it continuously. Like Underwood said, make them guard us! It's so frustrating!

 

[Rudd21]

Ok. Everyone is pissed at a 20-12 safely making the tournament. But, they’d have been cool with the scenario you’re talking about where we are likely a NIT team? Yeah, why didn’t Brad go for that?

Probably bc there’s not much difference in being on either side of the bubble. It’s a mediocre team either way?

The difference comes in what you are building for the next 2 seasons. If you got a group of young guys being alphas as sophs, then it’s reasonable to assume you’ll be a top 15 team by the time they are seniors.

If you have to start from scratch each year, and you don’t have any cohesion built up, it’s a crapshoot every season. And programs can’t be good that way.

 

[Illini in Italy]

They outrebounded us.

Yeah, but how many of those rebound were long rebounds that proper rebounding position was not going to get you the rebound? A lot . . . I counted four long rebounds they gathered on one possession alone.

 

[WeWillWhen]

The poor shooting from distance is this team’s downfall. If they could just shoot 35% from behind the arc, they’d be a very tough out. None of Shannon, Clark, Melendez, Epps or Goode filled that role. Makes the departure of Podz even more aggravating. Got to fix this in the off-season.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

I honestly don’t think we played that poorly.

Lundy and Wynter hit tough 2s in the first half and Funk was pretty much perfect shooting NBA range threes in the second.

There is absolutely no team we will see in the tourney that will shoot like this

I think that we've said the same things after about 10 games this year with the added question always being...."why does some no name always have career games against us?"

We struggle covering the three point line and we can't keep guards out of the lane. That's been an issue all year long. Good teams have good players who all can make open shots. Our perimeter defense gives up a boatload of them.

 

[Manual3for4peat]

Probably bc there’s not much difference in being on either side of the bubble. It’s a mediocre team either way?

The difference comes in what you are building for the next 2 seasons. If you got a group of young guys being alphas as sophs, then it’s reasonable to assume you’ll be a top 15 team by the time they are seniors.

If you have to start from scratch each year, and you don’t have any cohesion built up, it’s a crapshoot every season. And programs can’t be good that way.

I disagree. I think in the NIL age making the tournament is huge for the program brand.

I also think keeping the three freshman is huge. They’re all very big candidates to make big leaps imo. And keeping them together is huge for continuity.

I really don’t think we are far off being where we want to be if we keep our young guys.

 

[Oldskoolkoach]

Got to thinking while taking a fully clothed cold shower, sipping on bourbon.

This was some level 30 coaching by BU! Everyone says, "even if you win the B10, won't move past 7 line," so he played us into a 10 seed and flipped the bracket! Now we get the 7/2 with hopes it is. A) UCLA who we have beaten and now down a 13ppg scorer. B) Purdont, who is prime for the taking, or C) Texas, ehhh

Regardless, that was some high level complex coaching BU! Niiiiice!

 

[Flyin' Illini]

BTW & IMO, we win 2-3 more games with Skyy Clark. He was a true PG, and we could have used that this year.

I'm OK with player & coach making a tough decision, but if he would have stayed it most likely would have been a "win - win"

I don't disagree that Skyy leaving was a big blow, but we were also in a bit of a tailspin when he left. Would we still have righted the ship if he had stayed, or dug ourselves a deeper hole?

 

[21ChampaignSt]

No coincidence that the kid who leads our team in assists and the one who actually plays like he cares about winning is the one who has been part of our team the longest.

 

[Illini2010-11]

I never felt too invested in this game, and apparently neither did the team.

Tough to lose 3 times to a "football" school, but that Penn State team is well coached and have great chemistry. Not to mention playing for tourney spot. We just seemed to lose the edge after the Dainja technical. Now every game really matters, and we need all players playing 100% effort for 40 minutes.

3 point shooting has been the Achilles heel for the team. Hopefully we get a pair of UCLA/Texas outlier performances next week; otherwise, it will end up being one of the more "disappointing" teams we have had. However, I will still take an 8-11 seed season compared to the end of Weber/Groce era teams. Fun to consistently have March games that matter again.

Unless we get a streaky hot hand game next week, we will need to have Coleman getting to the rim. We flow so much better when that happens.

 

[ORANGEANDBLUE2011]

The BIG beat the absolute !!!! out of each other this year, sans Purdue. With that, I’m excited to see us play someone out of conference.

New season starts now. And (I think we make it to the Sweet 16) if we loose early, I can say for the first time in a long time, we have football season!! ILL

 

[grantlab]

Funk was 14/24 (58.3%) from 3 against us this season. For all the talk about Pickett cooking us, Funk was unconscious. Hat tip.

 

[RickBB]

So I’m just curious why people don’t see Rodgers as a point. He seems to have a secure handle. Can create mismatches in size and strength against other 1’s. Plays elite defense against the other team’s 1-4. Played some point for Tram USA. Just give him the keys and 35 minutes and let’s go. So he can’t shoot, no one else in our team can either.

 

[PNWIllini]

I sincerely don't know what would make this trainwreck of a season worth it for me anymore. Maybe a Final Four? I came in wanting a Sweet Sixteen, but two wins is not enough to make up for the frustration anymore.

Guessing you’d find a way to be OK with a Final Four