Penn State 79, Illinois 76 Postgame

[STL Illini]

To all the brilliant minds that don’t want BU to use the portal…..um…..you do realize that you have to have a roster, don’t you?
Kids are gonna transfer. Gotta fill out your roster.
Without the portal, the season would have been SH, JE, TR, RJ, and CH. (With BL and CS off the bench)
Goode - out for the season with the injury
Dain, MM, TJ - no portal allowed.
Yeah…..how would that have gone.

 

[AyoDos11]

The team should be much better next year with what is coming back. We just need to add some shooting. The lack of a consistent three point threat is killing this team. Goode can be that and he's shown more recently but we need more. Good news is shooting will be coming via the portal along with a veteran point

And then the year after that with Morez...I can't wait!

 

[Illini2010-11]

We NEED to poll: Rebuild or Reload

I prefer to Rebuild.

There really is an option in between...which is what we will/should do: maintain some of the young talent and reloading with transfer pieces as a complement along with a talented recruiting class.

A rebuild in college would be along the lines of coaching change, and I want no part of that.

 

[zentrails]

Well, Dra is quite the scorer! Amani ain’t too bad for a big.

Nobody mentions Nicco, he's still with us, isn't he?

 

[pruman91]

Great insight

Stop it bro ......you're making me lol so hard tonight ......enfuego , you are ................you really really are.........

 

[alaskaillini]

As a parent would say, "I'm not mad, just disappointed."

Less talented teams have gone on March runs, so hoping for some excitement still.

You could of stopped right there........Anyone with a basic concept of BB knows that the illini this year had their flaws and it would take a masterful job by BU to get all the pieces to mesh into a consistent highly productive unit........it's real easy to enjoy the comeback's against texas and ucla , and northwestern ........easy as can be to support the team when they win.....

But , so much of this season certain so called fans took the easy way out when times got tough and the funny thing is , all the easy way out posters wanted the Illini to be tougher and smarter and play better , but no one taking the easy way out did that themselves and toughed it out and supported the Illini through thick AND thin......That is called being a bandwagon fan .......
I'm not calling ANYONE out at all..........All you have to do is browse the game threads this yeart and they out themselves out with such nonsense .....remember when you think up a post and hit reply it's there for all to see .............

There are a lot of posters who think they are cute by the level and volume of there negative posts , but in reality they are just showing mhow weak they are and I would NOT want to take the court or be in a fox hole or so many other examples of real courage , to expect these bandwagon fans to have to rely on them for anything.............

I have lived through many a down period cheering for the Illini......the slush fund fiasco was tough for me but I saw a university muddle and get through that.........too many other examples to list , but the Illini are my choice as my favorite team and i just can;t see how anyone can lower themselves to the level of hate for the team they supposedly root for......

it's another head scratching thing in life that i can't understand , but to each their own..............This place used to be a lot of fun to come and share ideas with other die hard Illini fans.........the snarkyness of our present day society has leaked into even this sanctuary of fandom and I think everyone should look in the mirror and ask themselves "" did I embarrass myself in any of my posts today........it's called a conscience (sp) and being responsible in your actions......

hey , I'm just another poster spending time here cause I want to........but the want to gets harder every day reading some of the nonsense being shoveled around these threads now.......

Everything is fine ................goodnight.............................

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Amen, pru.
If the team was as weak-minded as some of the posters, we wouldn't have come back to beat UCLA, or Texas or Northwestern. The game threads and post-game threads after a loss on "Illinois Loyalty" make the name of these forums an oxymoron. I can now look forward to the NCAA tourney, and if tradition holds, Illinois will lose its last game and I will be disappointed (as will the fans of about 352 other schools).
But hey. Things could always be worse. You could be a Michigan fan.

 

[danbor]

Well that was actually the best we played against PSU all year. Really the difference in that game was just shooting percentage.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

Well that was actually the best we played against PSU all year. Really the difference in that game was just shooting percentage.

Free throws. Killer

 

[blife]

I think what it is is that we’re a pretty emotional team. We live and die on momentum, and feeling, and crowd noise, etc.

Agreed. We seem to not be mature enough to handle the moment, either positive or negative. Epps and Goode seem like the only 2 that don't get affected in the moment for the most part. Hopefully that maturity and poise will come with more experience for all.

 

[One Man Fast Break]

Just my two cents... Illinois "Loyalty" does not mean Illinois "Homerism"

In my personal opinion, this team just isn't that good. I mean, they're not awful. You can go see DePaul Basketball to see what rock bottom looks like, it's just... "OK" at best, they do a good job of not losing to bad teams, they rebound well and play "pretty good" defense.

I dunno what it's it like to follow a team all season that just barely scrapes into the Tournament and then goes to like the Elite Eight or even Sweet Sixteen, Illinois straight up had never had a team in its history fit that pattern. So my conditioning tells me that won't be us, although plausibly with the lack of great teams throughout College Basketball, I suppose it's theoretically possible.

 

[OrangeLife]

Am I the only one that hopes the only ones that come back are the freshmen and sophomore’s?

No, but it is a pretty small group.

 

[Rudd21]

To all the brilliant minds that don’t want BU to use the portal…..um…..you do realize that you have to have a roster, don’t you?
Kids are gonna transfer. Gotta fill out your roster.
Without the portal, the season would have been SH, JE, TR, RJ, and CH. (With BL and CS off the bench)
Goode - out for the season with the injury
Dain, MM, TJ - no portal allowed.
Yeah…..how would that have gone.

Players generally transfer if they are being recruited over or aren’t good enough. But with IL, they’ve had far too many guys leave who are good enough for this level:

Adam Miller
Andre Curbelo
Brandon Podzemski

That’s 3 guys who could all be 3-4 year starters. Gotta keep your future foundational guys happy. That’s part of coaching. If you are constantly rebuilding with 1 year portal free agents, you aren’t gonna build any chemistry

 

[STATS GUY]

yep. can't expect us to go far in March being ranked 335 of 350 teams in the nation in 3 point %. not having legit consistent three point shooters (Mayer leads team at sub 34%) really hurts our offense and makes us a lot easier to defend. all of those misses are essentially turnovers save for a few offensive boards. hopefully we can find some complimentary perimeter shooting pieces in the portal for next season. a full season of Goode would have helped I agree

And we still shoot. One shot away from a streak I guess. And Monster set Mayer back the last 2 games.

 

[Deep]

The team should be much better next year with what is coming back. We just need to add some shooting. The lack of a consistent three point threat is killing this team. Goode can be that and he's shown more recently but we need more. Good news is shooting will be coming via the portal along with a veteran point

Appreciate you brother but I heard a lot of the same last year when our season ended. Something always seems to be off with BU led illini teams.

Please don't take that out of context because I like BU but something is always missing

 

[New Creation]

Really lost momentum when they stopped going down to Dainja and Cohawk...Dainja tech also says goodbye momentum...So Illinois...

0-4 this year now when a 7-0 or more run is stop by a technically foul for some type of percieved celebration.

 

[Deep]

I would love to have COHAWK back

 

[Julie Meinart]

The last 3 teams dominate B1G then fart and fall down in the NCAA.

So I guess this team farts and falls down in the B1G....and wins it all?

We are 100% going to the Sweet 16 now.

You lost me on that comment.

 

[Eternal Optimist]

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"

If the trade off for winning 2-3 more games and having Skyy Clark means less chemistry as it was when he was on the team then I am for all saving the headache and poisoning for multiple seasons and will gladly take 2-3 less wins this season.

 

[Grandpa]

Not a loaded question.

Go back to last summer, knowing what you know now, and pick a trio to be on this team

Group a
Podz
Omar Payne
Jacob Grandison

Group B
TJ
Mayer
Skyy Clark

That said, we get a good draw and win a few in the tourney it changes everything.

Group A. Podz talent + Grandison skill and leadership > group B. It's not really close IMHO. Grandison has what Underwood needed.

 

[Battle89]

The take does not match the username

Honestly it is such a complete 180 from all his prior posts it makes you wonder.

 

[nyc_illini]

Rewatching the game. This was right before the dagger three from Funk that sealed the game for PSU. Clearly a complete defense breakdown. How could you leave Funk that open when he hit a three just a moment ago. Gotta give it to Shrewsberry, very well designed play and floor spacing.

 

[racinghoss]

I was actually thinking this is the least fun I've ever had following a sports team.

I can't see this. Was UCLA, TX, a comeback vs NW, scUM, or Purdue not fun?? Heck, I was full-throated cheering during this game at times. This team has been disappointing, but also entertaining and even endearing.

I'm a life long Bears fan. That organization has been hard to root for, for years and years. This Illini team is different. They are safely in the dance. They have big moments. They could certainly be better. They are kids. Not professionals.

Lots of you need to reconsider things. You don't pull your entire self-assessment from Illini results. If you do...get a life. If you expect Nattys every year, you're wrong. Go root for Kansas if that is your thing. The bandwagon awaits. I root for my school, and the brothers and sisters that wear the cloth of my people, orange and navy blue.

Negative naysayers...bah! The Illini aren't perfect. They may not be a 2nd weekend team. But they are worthy of our support. What have you done to represent the O&B today?

 

[MustangWally]

yes him as well

Can he shoot the three?

 

[Illini2010-11]

Honestly it is such a complete 180 from all his prior posts it makes you wonder.

I really think his/her loyalty login got hacked. Not sure how this game is the tipping point.

 

[Ransom Stoddard]

View attachment 24006

Rewatching the game. This was right before the dagger three from Funk that sealed the game for PSU. Clearly a complete defense breakdown. How could you leave Funk that open when he hit a three just a moment ago. Gotta give it to Shrewsberry, very well designed play and floor spacing.

Is that Harris that's completely out of position? I know they ran the double screen just before this, but there's no reason at all for Harris not to have switched back to Rodgers's man so Rodgers could rotate back to Funk.