Penn State 79, Illinois 76 Postgame

[ILLINI IN NE]

I am not convinced he did it on purpose, but in any case it was incredibly stupid and likely cost us the game. The and one put us up 6, then they hit the two free throws for the technical and a three for a five point swing. We had incredible momentum and it vanished with that one play. They looked like a team on the verge of being overwhelmed by the moment. Dain has incredible potential, I was very disappointed with the lack of discipline and his behavior. Maybe this will motivate him for the NCAA.

Not trying to argue but it wasn't really a 5 point swing on that possession. After they made the free throws to make it 46-42 they missed a 3 and we got the ball back. We could have increased the lead again but Goode missed a good look from 3 and then Funk hit a 3 on their next possession to cut our lead to one.

The free throws from the flagrant didn't help our cause but those 2 points were all they got from that possession.

 

[RabidDawgClassic]

Without the portal -- specifically TSJ and MM -- this year's team would have been similar to the 1998-99 team. In both years, we had some really nice freshmen coming in who were forced to carry a heavy load after the previous year's senior-laden team graduated. The gaps were filled with Cleotis Brown and Arias Davis (hardly portal-era level transfers), but ultimately the record was dismal. You could see help was coming the following year with Frank Williams, Marcus Griffin and Brian Cook, but in that moment, that team was what it was. TSJ and MM, for all their warts, got us enough wins where we feel comfortably (?) in the tournament. I just hope incoming freshmen and/or portal players elevate us to Frank/Marcus/Cook level play next year.

 

[Illini8420]

Without the portal -- specifically TSJ and MM -- this year's team would have been similar to the 1998-99 team. In both years, we had some really nice freshmen coming in who were forced to carry a heavy load after the previous year's senior-laden team graduated. The gaps were filled with Cleotis Brown and Arias Davis (hardly portal-era level transfers), but ultimately the record was dismal. You could see help was coming the following year with Frank Williams, Marcus Griffin and Brian Cook, but in that moment, that team was what it was. TSJ and MM, for all their warts, got us enough wins where we feel comfortably (?) in the tournament. I just hope incoming freshmen and/or portal players elevate us to Frank/Marcus/Cook level play next year.

It would help a lot if we got someone who could handle the ball like Frank.

 

[812Jamie]

Without the portal -- specifically TSJ and MM -- this year's team would have been similar to the 1998-99 team. In both years, we had some really nice freshmen coming in who were forced to carry a heavy load after the previous year's senior-laden team graduated. The gaps were filled with Cleotis Brown and Arias Davis (hardly portal-era level transfers), but ultimately the record was dismal. You could see help was coming the following year with Frank Williams, Marcus Griffin and Brian Cook, but in that moment, that team was what it was. TSJ and MM, for all their warts, got us enough wins where we feel comfortably (?) in the tournament. I just hope incoming freshmen and/or portal players elevate us to Frank/Marcus/Cook level play next year.

That last-place team took FF Michigan State to the BTT final, right? I remember feeling pretty good over those few days!

 

[Dee_4_Three_83]

Without the portal -- specifically TSJ and MM -- this year's team would have been similar to the 1998-99 team. In both years, we had some really nice freshmen coming in who were forced to carry a heavy load after the previous year's senior-laden team graduated. The gaps were filled with Cleotis Brown and Arias Davis (hardly portal-era level transfers), but ultimately the record was dismal. You could see help was coming the following year with Frank Williams, Marcus Griffin and Brian Cook, but in that moment, that team was what it was. TSJ and MM, for all their warts, got us enough wins where we feel comfortably (?) in the tournament. I just hope incoming freshmen and/or portal players elevate us to Frank/Marcus/Cook level play next year.

That's a healthy way to look at it. Can you imagine where this team would be without TSJ and MM? Rather than talking to recruits about making the tourney 4 consecutive years with 20+ wins each season, we would most likely be talking about a 13-15 win team. I realize the inconsistency is frustrating, but I got exactly what I expected out of this group once the roster was constructed. If even one of the two games between UCLA and Texas didn't go our way. Our expectations for the season wouldn't have elevated IMO.

Beyond this season though, this team surprisingly provides our program with a level of consistency from a long term perspective. The cupboard is not bare, it just needs some new pieces in it and the pieces that are most useful need to stay.

 

[OrangeLife]

Not trying to argue but it wasn't really a 5 point swing on that possession. After they made the free throws to make it 46-42 they missed a 3 and we got the ball back. We could have increased the lead again but Goode missed a good look from 3 and then Funk hit a 3 on their next possession to cut our lead to one.

The free throws from the flagrant didn't help our cause but those 2 points were all they got from that possession.

Well, I am old and it kind of all fused into one play lol. I stand corrected on that, but stand by the assertion that it was a momentum killing play that changed the flow of the game. (It also pissed me off, but I still think Dain can be a great player for us. He is just in a mental time-out for me the next day or two.)

 

[redwingillini11]

6 would be my guess

Harris
Rodgers
Goode
Lieb
Moretti
Some guy on the end of the bench?

This is going to be ugly next year....

EDIT: I saw later LvilleILL said these 6 were people who contributed this year, and seemed to suggest Epps and Dainja and RJ should be back.

Do we think things with Epps have cooled over?

 

[The Sprouting Divot]

At least our loss has provided fodder for some quality highbrow humor.

 

[RockfordIllini]

Just read Robert’s most recent article. I think I agree with him that at the end of the day we can’t shoot (but boy PSU can!). And I’m wondering why?

It may be a function of our offense or lack thereof so we wind up forcing a lot of out of rhythm 3’s.

It may be a shot selection problem. We definitely jack up more than our fair share of bad shots with 20+ seconds on the shot clock.

Or maybe we just don’t have good shooters.

All of those reasons are maybe true but I also feel like we miss more than our fair share of open, in rhythm 3’s. So do we just have a collective case of the yips? I keep thinking we are due for a positive reversion but then I look up and we are 28% last night. I felt like we shot the ball well at Purdue but only finished at 32%.

I just feel like we are a better shooting team than we are but maybe we aren’t.

 

[21ChampaignSt]

Harris
Rodgers
Goode
Lieb
Moretti
Some guy on the end of the bench?

This is going to be ugly next year....

Guessing he meant:
Harris
Rodgers
Goode
Lieb
Epps
Dain

I'd be ecstatic if they all stayed but I now expect at least one player per year to leave for no good reason at all.

 

[GallopingGhost]

Curbelo‘s St John stint seems to have been a total mess. Multiple coaches decision DNPs to end the year.

I thought he was still concussed. He tweeted about that a couple times

 

[One Man Fast Break]

Ideally you'd get

Goode
Melendez
Dainja
Epps
Rodgers
Harris

Lieb
Moretti

8 scholarship players returning, I know Hawkins and Shannon are both eligible to return, but I highly doubt either is playing college next year.

Add in two Freshmen - Hansberry who should be a rotation player right away, and Gibbs-Lawhorn whose recruiting rating indicates he should take some time, but we'll see

And wow, still 3 scholarships left. Yikes. So if Melendez also leaves, that's 4 open scholarships, if Epps leaves, that's 5. Epps leaving would be a Code Red situation for sure.

Hate how continuously reliant on the Portal we need to be. They may throw another incoming recruit a scholarship, but those late takes are pretty much always going to be longshot recruits, and they seldom turn into anything.

A true Point Guard and a pure shooter are must haves from the portal. Guys at Mid-Majors that can shoot are pretty dime a dozen, and even if they struggle defensively they can still be really good contributors (see Andrew Funk, who Penn State brought in from the Patriot League murder us with 3's yesterday).

 

[LvilleILL]

Guessing he meant:
Harris
Rodgers
Goode
Lieb
Epps
Dain

I'd be ecstatic if they all stayed but I now expect at least one player per year to leave for no good reason at all.

Harris
Ty
RJ (most likely imo)
Goode
Dain
Epps (some things to shake out hereo)
Coleman/Shannon (either could come back but who knows)
Moretti
2 freshman
2-3 transfers

 

[STATS GUY]

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I recall Kofi ko’ing a ref. Just sayin’…

Also Filipowski was accidentally punched by Virginia Tech player at end of a game recently and there was no Flagrant called (even though Hummel mentioned it and said a flagrant was called). Different Refs, Different Outcome. If they would have granted a flagrant in the Duke game, game may have been decided on the call. With Dain, much easier to make the call.

 

[One Man Fast Break]

Underwood has his strengths and weaknesses. I think he's very strong at identifying talent and he's a good recruiter. He has also shown that he is very willing to adapt and won't stick with something that doesn't work out of stubborn-ness. His biggest issues are running an offense, we struggle at manufacturing points by generating quality looks and are too reliant on individual talent to pull through and player retention. We need to recruit our own house better. Too many Alan Griffins, Adam Millers, Andre Curbelos, Brandin Podziemskis, Skyy Clarks leaving the team early (debatably Kofi Cockburn passing up NIL and being a POTY candidate to not make the NBA applies as well), that does not happen at Purdue.

 

[LvilleILL]

Hate how continuously reliant on the Portal we need to be. They may throw another incoming recruit a scholarship, but those late takes are pretty much always going to be longshot recruits, and they seldom turn into anything.

Not sure you guys understand we will be returning more than pretty much anyone else in conference next year

 

[ugottabjoshinme]

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!

Kofi literally punched a ref in the face doing pretty much the same thing.

 

[One Man Fast Break]

Not sure you guys understand we will be returning more than pretty much anyone else in conference next year

I hope you are right, but we are still losing our three most impactful players, so I don't think that's necessarily "pretty much anyone else",

 

[HailtotheChief]

Kofi literally punched a ref in the face doing pretty much the same thing.

I was thinking about that last night because that’s not a T! Kind of amusing you can contact the ref accidentally and it’s ok but not a player

 

[Indy Illini Fan]

Harris
Ty
RJ (most likely imo)
Goode
Dain
Epps (some things to shake out hereo)
Coleman/Shannon (either could come back but who knows)
Moretti
2 freshman
2-3 transfers

Agree with everything here ... Brad needs to work on the Epps situation ... I also think there is a scenario where Coleman and TJ both come back ...

As for the 2 transfers ... Point guard and a big wing who can play the 4 ... But can also really score it from all 3 levels ... Someone like say a Chris Ledlum type (not saying it's him)

 

[USAFILLINI]

Harris
Ty
RJ (most likely imo)
Goode
Dain
Epps (some things to shake out hereo)
Coleman/Shannon (either could come back but who knows)
Moretti
2 freshman
2-3 transfers

Epps worries me the most.

 

[IlliniShelt]

Underwood has his strengths and weaknesses. I think he's very strong at identifying talent and he's a good recruiter. He has also shown that he is very willing to adapt and won't stick with something that doesn't work out of stubborn-ness. His biggest issues are running an offense, we struggle at manufacturing points by generating quality looks and are too reliant on individual talent to pull through and player retention. We need to recruit our own house better. Too many Alan Griffins, Adam Millers, Andre Curbelos, Brandin Podziemskis, Skyy Clarks leaving the team early (debatably Kofi Cockburn passing up NIL and being a POTY candidate to not make the NBA applies as well), that does not happen at Purdue.

I think there's some flawed logic here. Kofi wanted to pursue a dream, even if his NBA chances were slim. We've had some talented guys transfer out - and by the way who hasn't? I feel like podz is the only guy who's have a much better season once he left us (hopefully we can leave it at that, I don't want another podz discussion).

We will have to keep doing well in the portal but that's a huge part of college sports now.

I have nothing against Purdue (it's where I met my lovely wife) but as frustrated as we are with how our season has gone, Purdue fans are just as frustrated with their outcomes over the last few years. Sure they won the conference this year but that's not a program I aspire us to be.

 

[The Galloping Ghost]

Agree with everything here ... Brad needs to work on the Epps situation ... I also think there is a scenario where Coleman and TJ both come back ...

As for the 2 transfers ... Point guard and a big wing who can play the 4 ... But can also really score it from all 3 levels ... Someone like say a Chris Ledlum type (not saying it's him)

Losing Epps would suck. Just really, really suck. Whatever is happening there, please let it get figured out.

 

[ChiefIllinois]

Not sure you guys understand we will be returning more than pretty much anyone else in conference next year

I think this will be an interesting dynamic across the ncaa. I think some teams have gotten by with having super old teams due to Covid and that’s pushed them over a normal team ability.

Now that number of Covid year eligible players is dwindling. Don’t know if we come out better or worse because of this but it’s definitely a thing.

 

[BashCtIllini]

Agree with everything here ... Brad needs to work on the Epps situation ... I also think there is a scenario where Coleman and TJ both come back ...

As for the 2 transfers ... Point guard and a big wing who can play the 4 ... But can also really score it from all 3 levels ... Someone like say a Chris Ledlum type (not saying it's him)

We've had a Georgian, Italian, Frenchmen (shortly), Slovenian, Belgian, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, etc we could really use a German, Tristan Da Silva.

Though with his numbers I could see him NBA bound.