I was way more numb after Loyola. That team was built to go places. This team was inconsistent all year and nothing shocking with this outcome.
Arkansas 73, Illinois 63 Postgame
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I’d like to thank all of you for sharing the season with me, and with each other.
Amid all the poisonous feelings that are flowing through all of our bloodstreams, and now leaking across the pages of this thread, I’ma try to hold on to a remembrance of the good.
To be a part of a fan base is to participate in such a chaotic, senseless, and volatile collective mind + heart. You see that more and more clearly - how crazy and even emotionally violent it really is - as you get older. The season ends, in every league of every sport, and all across the world, with the *vast* majority of fans feeling disgust, discomfort, disappointment. After the Ayo and Kofi team lost to Loyola, I couldn’t face this forum for several months.
Despite the last chapter of the season being largely filled with disappointment, this basketball season brought us a lot of joyful and flavorful moments. And the forum, with the sincere, courageous sharing of such friends as Pruman and Skyldub, showed itself to be much more personal and much more important than just a space for discussing games.
The pain will fade. And rather quickly. But our opportunity to share together in the color, enthusiasm, and joy of Illini athletics will remain with us for the rest of our lives.
Wishing all of you and your loved ones enduring good health and the absolute best of what the world has to offer.
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Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
The paradox of the portal.
The everyday guys beat us 3x this year
For those who need a 20-second recap of today’s game...the following quotes:
Brian Barnhart:
“The Illini got off to a slow start...”
“This is a beatable team (Arkansas) we’re playing here...”
“They (Illini) just got to play better...”
“Matt Meyer, two points. Needed more from him today...”
“It might be a short stay in Des Moines...”
“A lot of things in this game reflected the season.”
Deon Thomas
“We are playing like we’ve NOT been here before...”
“We gotta get back to playing a lot tougher...”
“It seems like sometimes we push the panic button...”
“A lack of intensity. We need to play hard...”
“This has been the hardest year for Brad Underwood...”
“So many high expectations. This is a really tough way to end the season.”
There are some movies you like to watch over and over. Maybe a holiday classic like, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. Or TV shows like the original Star Trek. No matter how many times you see them... you can still enjoy watching them all over again.
And then there are the horror shows. No, not the scary kind that you don’t want your little kids watching at night. Other horror shows... like March Madness Tournament contests that look and end the same bitter way year after year after year.
To Illini Nation... nothing will make this feel good or place a good face on this thing. But we could see it coming. It’s not your fault or mine. We weren’t out there on the floor. We did our part... giving this Team again a piece of our heart. And most of us will do all this again after a great Summer ahead.
One of the beauties of Basketball is that it’s a meritocracy. You do it (or not) on the court. And if you fall short... you shake the hands of the guys who bested you because they earned it. And you had your chance.
And then you ask yourself what you need to do better. And then you DO IT.
Side Note: I still wonder if there was something going on below the surface this season that we aren’t aware of. There seems to be a piece of the story missing.
We may never find out.
To whom, or what, does one make such variety of prayers?
At the end of the day, mM proved what Scott drew knew the whole time. He wasn't a feature player due to poor decision making and inconsistent play.
Curbelo, Miller, Kofi, etc. all left
Ahhh pre-Braggin' Rights ... the oncoming snap of November and early December in the air. Nationwide talk of being one of 8 teams that could get to the final four. Those were the days.
Who knew losing Braggin' Rights meant we lost the right to brag about anything for the rest of the season?
Who knew losing Braggin' Rights meant we lost the right to brag about anything for the rest of the season?
It is kind of nice to look forward to football season again!I’m just exhausted from this season. It was exhausting. The highs were enormous but much too infrequent. The lows came almost every game. I like a lot of these guys, especially the ones coming back. Hope CH stays too. Can’t wait to get Amani and Dravyn.
Looking forward to posting incessantly with you guys this off-season, and looking forward to football season.
As always; ILL!
Wow this thread is crazy. Went to the tournament for 4 years straight. Cobbled together a 20’win season out of what Have been a complete rebuilding yr. Team got rocked by our only pg leaving in the middle of the season. (Who does that?) Just because some people said this team should be great doesn’t mean it will happen. We had no pg play, bad free throw shooting and turnover issues all yr. that’s a recipe for not going far We did well with what we had. More on the players than Brad. Mayer (our 2nd best player) was 0-6 with 3 turnovers. Coleman had 6 turnovers!!!! It was on the players and they never jelled. Need shooting and good pg play to come in next yr. what we don’t need is to fire Brad and have staff turnover. Guy has won 20 plus games 4 yrs straight and won the Big Ten twice. Illinois has only been to 2 final 4’s since 1989. Brad will get players that will get us there! Give him a little more time. We are a top program in the BIG. He’ll break through.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
What Barkley said about the Illinois being casual with the ball is 100 percent true and what drove me crazy with Hawkins and TSJ running the offense, Epps usually wasn't and him getting hurt and Mayer shooting slump killed our teams chances,
Careless lazy or foolish dribbling and poor passes killed us
Careless lazy or foolish dribbling and poor passes killed us
You’re Welcome!
I swam in my sweat and bit my nails.I pouted and cried like a little girl when we lost on occasion. I yelled like a schizo sometimes when no one was there.
On the upside, I tried to stay informed. I offered my crackpot theories rather willingly. I told a lot of lame, dry jokes; and stayed lubricated by drinking a lot of Miller Lite. Other times I switched it up and went with Rolling Rock. Lol
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This team created a new movie genre “horror-comedy-tear jerker “. But hey, they were great entertainment!
The main issue today was no PG IMO.
I guess we can’t hold that against them bc we had Skyy but it turns out he wasn’t near a top 40 player or whatever his ranking was.
I mean we’ve seen previous Illini teams lacking a Pg and they didn’t even do as well as this one did. So maybe Brad gets credit for taking a team without a PG to the tourney?
Assistant. Need someone who has a clue on how to run an offense and adjust on the fly.
Offense kept regressing game after game.
Making the tournament is better than not, but it's really disappointing that we're now in year 18 of not getting out of the first weekend.
The constant phrase in so many threads is "this team is so talented". No they are not. Talented people handle and pass the ball. Talented people can make a layup. Talented people can make a free throw. Talented people don't throw up stupid shots.
Hawkins 34 min 10 pts multiple turnovers.
Mayer 22 min 2 pts
Harris 23 min 2 pts
Rogers 23 min 6 pts
Goode 23 min 6 pts
Dainja 23 mi 5 pts
You just simply can't win with so many unproductive players. Somebody has to put the ball in the hole. Arky uglied up this game in a big way but we could never respond cause we can't shoot.
On to next year. Find a point guard. Find some shooters.
Hawkins 34 min 10 pts multiple turnovers.
Mayer 22 min 2 pts
Harris 23 min 2 pts
Rogers 23 min 6 pts
Goode 23 min 6 pts
Dainja 23 mi 5 pts
You just simply can't win with so many unproductive players. Somebody has to put the ball in the hole. Arky uglied up this game in a big way but we could never respond cause we can't shoot.
On to next year. Find a point guard. Find some shooters.
This. Everyone can complain all they want about Brad. But Mayer fell off of a cliff after the IU game. He just had to be better. Can't miss 5 wide open shots a game
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