Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Penn State 79, Illinois 76 Postgame
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Not that Texas Tech big?
? We could be returning 6 guys who played a good amount this year. That will be more than most teams in the country by a large margin
I think I am like most fans here, in that this season has been a disappointment...simply because everyone around the program was talking of expectations and the great additions to the team ... either by the portal or adding freshmen....adding the freshmen class of Clark, Epps, Rogers, and Harris many considered this to be a great haul, and I think for the most part it has been....then adding Dain who had given Kofi good competition in practice at the end of last season seemed to give us hope of strength on the boards and a presence in the paint....bringing in Mayer and TJ through the portal added experience and depth as well as scoring....the return of CH and his inspired play in practice had people at the next level taking notice.....on top of that, returning players like Goode and Melindez, who both showed promise last season .....dare I say it......we were throwing around the "E" (elite) word when it came to shooting, rebounding, defense, etc....raising expectations to challenging for a B10 title and a legitimate chance of National Championship....well....we never reached that Elite level imo...we were close after early season wins against UCLA and Texas and played a good Virginia team close....but, we didn't build off those early season games....seems like we leveled off and played well at times and poorly at other times....why...that is being debated by many with various analysis ......but....., we are still going to the ncaa tourney which is always a goal and a positive for the program....will we make a deep run in the tourney....certainly possible.....will we....not likely with our level of play the last few weeks....but my expectations are none....if we make the elite 8 or final 4 I'll be ecstatic ......if we get bumped in the first round that won't surprise me at all....I'm really not expecting anything with this team....just play hard and play smart....O & B forever
The Illini sorely missed having a reliable 3 point sharpshooter on this team like Plummer, to help open up the offense and score in bunches when hot. It is painful to watch a variety of our players jack up multiple 3s each game that either clang off the front rim, or sail wide as air balls. It's not our game, but the coaches cannot get the players to see that and be more disciplined about consistently playing to our strength by going inside
We finished tied for 5th place, one game out of 2nd place. Not a train wreck!
Did he? He looked right past Myles Dread, then up at the ceiling, and then swings his head forward and down into the shorter Dread's head. Heck, I like Dainja, but dumb, aggressive moves that deserve a T, and Dain earned one there. I want Dain to play smarter than that. Keep your eyes open (although I think his actually were open), looking straight ahead (so you know where you are going), and celebrate your great plays (he had bunch tonight) away from the defender, not into his head. Also, who collides with a guy after a play and turns away and continues to celebrate? Not Kofi Cockburn. Dainja needs to remember what Kofi taught him about not losing your cool. Kofi took on all those double teams last year, and I don't remember a single headbutt.
I loved the dominate-with-our-bigs (Dainja/Hawkins) strategy. The 46 pts in the 2nd half was great. Giving up 48 points in the 2nd half to Penn State is what killed us though. Regarding that, I saw Mayer getting beat on defense way too often. When Matt plays defense out of position (not between his man and the basket or not even marking his man), then it means PS got layups or open shots after a drive or pass or two. Defense is a team thing Matt! You can't be going for shot blocks and steals on every play and screwing your team when you get beat. This happens too often for Mayer. Stay home on defense unless you are certain you have the block/steal. The same can be said on Matt's 3-pt shooting. He was 0-5 tonight. That worse than anyone in this game. How about if he doesn't have an open 3, then don't shoot it? Matt's percentage on 3s this season would go up from around 34% (where it is now), if he shot only open 3s. I did like the way Mayer attacked the basket on the plays and his rebounding.
I remember the fans and “insiders” then pinning the hopes of next season on finally getting the right players to fix the current season‘s problems. Never seemed to work out that way.
See my comment on this on the last page. I didn't Dain technical one bit. A felt Kofi never would makes Dain's mistake there, and I saw the lead up to too many Funk 3s came from bad defense where we got out of position and got burned. Many of those didn't need to happen.
I'm all for a better performance in the real tournament, but need the Illini to player smarter/better basketball. I thought the 46 2nd-half points was pretty darn good. But a agree with Underward. You can't give up 48 points in the 2nd half to anyone and expect to win. We made too many defense mistakes in that half!
I really hope Coleman, Sencire, Ty, RJ, Luke, Dain and Jayden keep this thing going next year but as a fan in this day and age, will not be surprised to see two of them move on in some fashion. BLieb, you need to stick around too, big fella. 
We're now in one and done world. I like the fight and physicality they've shown the last 3.5 games of basketball against a pretty loaded set of opponents. That's all I really want to see them bring, no matter what, against whoever our next opponent is. '
I've really enjoyed what's been a weird wonderful ride watching this team from start to finish. As insane as it's been, I needed it.
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We're now in one and done world. I like the fight and physicality they've shown the last 3.5 games of basketball against a pretty loaded set of opponents. That's all I really want to see them bring, no matter what, against whoever our next opponent is. '
I've really enjoyed what's been a weird wonderful ride watching this team from start to finish. As insane as it's been, I needed it.
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GallopingGhost
- Denver, CO
Funny to think about those teams now
Curbelo- St John’s 17-14, no tourney
Podz - Santa Clara 23-9, pretty good season and he killed it but: no tourney
Adam Miller- LSU 13-19 dumpster fire, no tourney
BBV- South Carolina 11-20 dumpster fire, no tourney
Omar Payne- Jacksonville 11-16 no tourney
JG- Duke 23-8, yes tourney
The only guys you could argue the transfer worked for was Podz and that’s only on a personal NBA level, as well as Grandison at Duke but that was a gimme tourney team. I also am aware that some of those guys were probably asked to move on. But imagine all of them would have been on a successful tourney team had they stayed.
I guess the grass is really greener….
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I recall Kofi ko’ing a ref. Just sayin’…
A good take and very important to success in today's game.
I was surprised and proud of the way the Illini played for most of this game, especially in the middle half. Two things were happening that we have not seen this season that I strongly feel were necessary for success.
1 The team was valuing possession far more than normal after a few ill-advised passes went to PSU instead of our guy. At one point in the second half, Illini led the turnover battle 4-8. Also, the patience to do just that was obvious...and somewhat shocking to me. But, teams revert to habit when the pressure is on...and so did the Illini. Three blunders in ball security in the last seven minutes sealed their fate but 7 for the game was really, really good. Nevertheless, maybe it made an impression on the returning players as to why they lost three times to PSU...or at least kept the margin to one MM floating/contested three pointer missed.
2. After three seasons of wondering why Hawk just passed up his 838th unguarded 6 ft. jump hook, I saw him play the offensive end the way I would coach him to do...and he was spectacular!! I don't mind him shooting 1 or 2 from the arc...but only 1 if the first shot is yet another line drive and regardless of if it goes in. But he scores so easily from the paint...and tonight we saw him give a concerted effort to get there. Kudos to CoHawk!!! That aspect of his offensive game has seen attention and success the past few games. Do it until they can stop you more than 20% of the time...and PSU simply can't. And if they try, DD and Mayer are available for a dump down (interior passing) which made the Flyin' Illini elite!! Love me the CoHawk I saw tonight.
I would also like to commend DD's efforts to improve his FT shooting through routine, focus, and hard work. If he can ever learn to keep the ball in front of his eyes and his neck on a vertical with his spine, he would eliminate much of his tendency to shoot line drives. Yes, one can make some low arc shots...and when made they tend to hit under the heel of the rim and fire straight through which looks pretty. But a much higher arc...even though it may not look as pretty on a rattle through, goes through much more often. Tonight, DD was better, not good or consistent, in keeping the ball from going behind his head and leaning his neck back which produces too low of an arc. In watching closely, his misses were predictable in that regard.
Overall, I liked the game they played tonight for many reasons and hope they can continue to build on what we saw...coaches included.
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Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Ok. I get your terminology now, but I guess i still disagree with your last paragraph.
I don't fully agree that we tried full on reload. We brought in freshman to be starting pg, etc. That is definitely playing the long game. I would agree that it swayed a bit more toward the reload side this year, and I assume it will pendulum a bit the other way next year.
I still think the middle ground is essential. I do not like these polar options.
Tacomallini
- Washington State
Skyy’s not falling. Skyy fell.
Curbelo‘s St John stint seems to have been a total mess. Multiple coaches decision DNPs to end the year.
With a dew point of 94.
This is a great take.I think this has been BU's hardest team to coach. We learned a lot about portal roster construction.
You brought 2 hired guns trying to improve draft stock into a team full of freshmen and a total player leadership void.
The older players haven't been listening to BU and the freshmen played their a$$es off at times.
Just stretch after stretch of wretched play on offense with enough defensive lapses to seal our fate.
Onward and upward.
My 2 cents. This isn't on Brad. What can any coach do with players that have so much potential, show signs of greatness, and then have games where they look like they forgot how to shoot? This team could beat anybody and also lose to anybody. I don't think there's a coach out there who could do any better. This team is so Jekyl and Hyde with there is no rhyme or reason to which one will show up. They might lose their 1st round game with everyone sorely disappointed, but they could very easily make it to the Sweet 16 with us all saying, we knew we could do it all the time. No matter what, we are in a much better place today with Underwood than we have been since Weber's 6th year. Keeping things in perspective I'm happy with our progress. Will be interesting to see how NIL and the Portal change basketball as we have known it. Im feeling optimistic with our NIL support (if what I have heard about our NIL situation is true).
Yep...it could always get worse illini fans although still very frustrating
InDaAZ
- Eugene, Oregon
Adam Miller’s journey is worse. He signed up to play for Will Wade and is left on a dumpster fire
This is pretty much my exact feeling as well. I think Underwood has done a lot of great things, but his Xs and Os weaknesses are creating a ceiling for him.
There's a lot of conversation here but the answer is simple. It's been simple all year, this team cannot shoot. We win when against quality teams when someone gets hot. If that doesn't happen in a game, we're out of luck. Very few team wins this season.
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