Illinois 98, Florida Atlantic 89 Postgame

#476      

Frank

Frank
Frank
Chillinini said:
“FAU was definitely not at their ceiling. Goldin played only ~20 min (and still killed it during those minutes)”. - It’s called foul trouble. Why was Goldin in foul trouble? Going after Goldin aggressively. Give credit to the Illini defense on the big guy.
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Very good point about our game plan to neutralize Goldin. It worked, not going to argue that. But you also left out the second part about a top player being out...which, when assessing a team's CEILING, is a valid thing to flag. Laughable is ignoring what's right in front of you.

And again, just so we're clear, I feel it's necessary to re-state that I don't think Boyd being out takes anything away from this win. We beat a really, really good team that played a great game. My comment was responding to somebody else's claim that FAU was at their ceiling tonight. As good as we played when we took down #2 Michigan without Ayo a few years back, I don't think anybody would've said we were at our ceiling. We still had a higher level to theoretically hit with him in the fold. Same concept here.
 
#477      

Guest

Guest
Guest
Sorry if this has already been mentioned. I got through 6 pages in this thread and then decided to check out how the big sports websites (ESPN, CBSSports, FoxSports. Just guessing they are the bigger ones around) covered the game, ok, I really wanted to just bask in the glory of the articles extolling this excellent Illini victory over FAU. Nothing on all three. No mention of the Illini game on each one's respective basketball home pages. Plenty of "ink" for the NC/UCON game. Also articles about PU's win over Iowa. ESPN even had an article about Grand Canyon's first win over a ranked opponent (which, I guess, is fairly newsworthy). Nothing, nada, zilch, nichts on the Illini win. ?
 
#478      

Boskydell

B
Boskydell
so illini said:
As an Illini and Saluki alum, we were so glad he stayed 4 years at SIU and so very happy for him to have this opportunity to showcase his talents on the big stage. Well done sir!
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Did you watch Xavier Johnson last night vs OSU? Salukis look like a better team this season without Domask and Jones who are both tearing it up in the B1G.
 
#479      

Bigtex

Bigtex
DFW
Bigtex
Illini IndyCar Fan said:
I guess the advantage of being underestimated is that our guys will play with a chip on their shoulder and be able to surprise other teams
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The whole chip on the shoulder bit gets old. If I had a dollar for every time that was said last year - my bank account would be larger. Coaches can use that a handful of time then it is no longer effective.
 
#480      

Second place is 1st loser

S
Second place is 1st loser
Get yourself a new map said:
Actually they said Wisconsin is the second best team and we MIGHT be the third best team. Goodman is the absolute worst.
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Let's take our O & B glasses off for a QUICK second. Mine will be going back on shortly. Have to give Wisconsin credit. They've had a very good preconference. They've played a tougher schedule and steamrolled a team that we lost to. As we sit here TODAY, there's no reason to take issue with that. Let's see how everything plays out. Glasses back on.
 
#481      

BalloonsTheElephant

B
BalloonsTheElephant
illini0440 said:
You want to play Dain so he doesn't transfer or do you want to play our best lineup to win games?
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Dain can be used to exploit offensive matchups, but his defense was atrocious. He was always caught in the middle and not closing out on shooters. If Dain is engaged and gets touches early, he can be a monster down low.

Amani looks like Ty did last year. 110% effort, solid defense, but just going too fast on offense. It will slow down for him with more minutes, which I expect to come at the expense of Dain.

Dain was rumored to be leaving last year and if his minutes are being taken by a freshman, I expect he will be gone anyways. We still need a 5 for next year though, unless that's Amani or freshman Morez.
 
#482      

I-L-L

I
I-L-L
Illiniindian said:
My only concern is the lack of playing time for Dani Dainja. I do see him potentially transferring out
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Can't worry about that these days. Put together your best "team" and build and sustain the culture. Every team will have a 6th man, 7th man, 8th man, etc. If they don't want to play the roll, then unfortunately we'll say goodbye.
That being said, I was encouraged that despite not seeing the floor in the second half Dain was jumping up and down on the sidelines down the stretch and totally pumped in the locker room. I want Dain here. As long as Brad and his staff don't make promises such as "you'll be our go-to guy" or "I can promise you'll start" or "I'll make sure you get X amount of minutes" then it depends on if the kid wants to buy into Brad's awesome culture, which is defense, work your butt off, and be there for your teammates. I have a feeling his pitch to these incoming freshmen and portal players is something like..."We really like you. We think you're a very good player with great potential. It's going to be a lot of hard work, but if you commit to the the hard work, we're building something special in Champaign that we want you to be a part of. You have my word that if you commit to us, we'll commit to you to get you in great shape/condition and improve your skills. Again, it's going to be a lot of hard work and there are certain things we can't promise, but we want a guy like you on this team b/c we think you can help us win."
Now, I have no idea if that's what is really said, but I could see something like that from Brad.
 
#483      

Second place is 1st loser

S
Second place is 1st loser
Guest said:
Sorry if this has already been mentioned. I got through 6 pages in this thread and then decided to check out how the big sports websites (ESPN, CBSSports, FoxSports. Just guessing they are the bigger ones around) covered the game, ok, I really wanted to just bask in the glory of the articles extolling this excellent Illini victory over FAU. Nothing on all three. No mention of the Illini game on each one's respective basketball home pages. Plenty of "ink" for the NC/UCON game. Also articles about PU's win over Iowa. ESPN even had an article about Grand Canyon's first win over a ranked opponent (which, I guess, is fairly newsworthy). Nothing, nada, zilch, nichts on the Illini win. ?
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O & B colored glasses off again. Of those games that you noted above, all things being equal and our boys not involved....which story were we better than? Two blue bloods, a top 5 team(Purdue) and a significant upset.....vs 20 beating 11 on two, non household names. That doesn't take away from our win, but as business people, we have to take the 10,000 foot approach.
 
#484      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
Can't wait for the next episode....

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#485      

Illiniindian

I
Illiniindian
I-L-L said:
Can't worry about that these days. Put together your best "team" and build and sustain the culture. Every team will have a 6th man, 7th man, 8th man, etc. If they don't want to play the roll, then unfortunately we'll say goodbye.
That being said, I was encouraged that despite not seeing the floor in the second half Dain was jumping up and down on the sidelines down the stretch and totally pumped in the locker room. I want Dain here. As long as Brad and his staff don't make promises such as "you'll be our go-to guy" or "I can promise you'll start" or "I'll make sure you get X amount of minutes" then it depends on if the kid wants to buy into Brad's awesome culture, which is defense, work your butt off, and be there for your teammates. I have a feeling his pitch to these incoming freshmen and portal players is something like..."We really like you. We think you're a very good player with great potential. It's going to be a lot of hard work, but if you commit to the the hard work, we're building something special in Champaign that we want you to be a part of. You have my word that if you commit to us, we'll commit to you to get you in great shape/condition and improve your skills. Again, it's going to be a lot of hard work and there are certain things we can't promise, but we want a guy like you on this team b/c we think you can help us win."
Now, I have no idea if that's what is really said, but I could see something like that from Brad.
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Yes, to everything you said, but we all have our favorites and Dainja is mine. If he can improve on his defense, I do think he can be outstanding player for us. I hope he can get through his head.
 
#486      

alexander58

A
alexander58
PepeSilvia said:
Difficult to get many assists when you're offense is just Domask repeatedly backing down his defender and scoring.

FAU never made an adjustment to stop him or sent help to the point where it would create open looks for someone else.
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I was surprised by the lack of an adjustment. You would think at some point, they’d make Domask and Shannon give it up and let someone else beat you. We don’t shoot 3s well as a team, so you only need to account for Goode (usually). I was also surprised how sure handed Domask was with the ball. I’m sure moving forward, there’ll be adjustments made by opponents .
 
#489      

aaeismacgychel

A
aaeismacgychel
alexander58 said:
I was surprised by the lack of an adjustment. You would think at some point, they’d make Domask and Shannon give it up and let someone else beat you. We don’t shoot 3s well as a team, so you only need to account for Goode (usually). I was also surprised how sure handed Domask was with the ball. I’m sure moving forward, there’ll be adjustments made by opponents .
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I think the reason why FAU couldn't make adjustments starts with Goldin/their bigs. Goldin was the most important player on the floor for them last night, but from what I saw, if there is an area where he struggles, it's help defense. He's just a bit slow to shift over and make size and length count. As well, none of the FAU guards were quick enough to slow down TSJ or physical and tall enough to stop Marcus from bullying them. So because you aren't getting that imposing rim protection from Goldin, and because you can't stop either TSJ or Marcus 1 on 1, you're really in a bind. You can start trying to pull doubles on them, but both can distribute the ball, and all that's going to happen is you're going to give up wide open threes or clear paths to the lane putting Goldin who can be foul prone at a severe risk of fouling out.

In general this game had to feel for them like Penn State felt for us last year. No matter what you choose to do with Pickett, someone is getting easy buckets unless you have a guy physical and fast enough to defend him 1 on 1. This time though we had 2 Pickett 's on the floor. Best of luck...
 
#490      

Guest

Guest
Guest
Second place is 1st loser said:
O & B colored glasses off again. Of those games that you noted above, all things being equal and our boys not involved....which story were we better than? Two blue bloods, a top 5 team(Purdue) and a significant upset.....vs 20 beating 11 on two, non household names. That doesn't take away from our win, but as business people, we have to take the 10,000 foot approach.
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I didn't expect it to be the main story anymore or at the top of the home page (time marches on) but I would expect it to be somewhere on the home page. I scrolled down a long way and nothing. There were many articles that were older than this game. You would think that at 9 a.m. CST the morning after there would still be at least a mention of the game. After all, even though the NC/UCONN game was the top story it was played just after the Illini game. Again, you would think some mention would still be up on the site this soon after the game was played.
 
#491      

I-L-L

I
I-L-L
Illiniindian said:
Yes, to everything you said, but we all have our favorites and Dainja is mine. If he can improve on his defense, I do think he can be outstanding player for us. I hope he can get through his head.
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I like that he's your favorite player. I like him a lot too. Great footwork and hands! Needs to quit putting the ball on the ground, especially against feisty and good help defense teams. I think he can put a good Illinois career together. I liked him even more when he was totally into the game cheering on his teammates even though he wasn't playing. I'm with you! I hope he thrives, really like him!
 
#493      

Battle89

Battle89
Battle89
Ill in Cols said:
I was thinking last night about the best wins I've seen, and Wake came up. Best win ever, though, for a number of reasons, might be the Ayo-less win at michigan. Even more dominant than this one.
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Hear, hear! {avatar pic}. Not just for the score but for the togetherness (real, not just a throwaway slogan) at mid-court. And the opponent. And HD.

And for the '89 team, Georgia Tech.

Edit for @pruman91 , just thinking regular season in my post. Postseason everything is ramped up (and nothing can touch AZ 2005)
 
#494      

Frank

Frank
Frank
BalloonsTheElephant said:
Dain can be used to exploit offensive matchups, but his defense was atrocious. He was always caught in the middle and not closing out on shooters. If Dain is engaged and gets touches early, he can be a monster down low.

Amani looks like Ty did last year. 110% effort, solid defense, but just going too fast on offense. It will slow down for him with more minutes, which I expect to come at the expense of Dain.

Dain was rumored to be leaving last year and if his minutes are being taken by a freshman, I expect he will be gone anyways. We still need a 5 for next year though, unless that's Amani or freshman Morez.
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I think both Amani and Morez are college 5s, so I'm good with that plus another experienced transfer big if Dain does leave.

I'm more concerned about a potential transfer out amongst our young guards (DGL, Moretti). Hopefully both see that even if they play less than desired this year, the opportunity will be wide open next year.

Next year's team will be younnngggg. Primary transfer portal need is going to be an older guard and wing. Our wing depth is going to get crushed. Ty will hopefully be able to slide back to his more natural position.
 
#496      

Scoregasm

S
Scoregasm
Emerson Bigguns said:
Domask has spent the last 4 years wishing someone would try to check him with a 6’3” guard. You must put your best defensive player on TSJ. Marcus has never had this type of luxury.
It says a lot about the makeup of this team that Domask has been so willing to settle into a role when he is capable of what we witnessed tonight.

If there is a better player in the country than TSJ this year, I haven’t seen him yet. He should be in any POY conversation moving forward. Edey is massive, but Terrence is a basketball player.

The last two games we have simply worn out the opposition. We just keep throwing grown men at you until you buckle. Our bench would have whipped our squad of 6 years ago.

Toughness, baby. We got it.

This program is just hitting its stride. Plenty of room still on the bandwagon for the naysayers. We are position-less…and it’s working.
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I hope Shannon and Domask eat Purdue's guards alive when we play them. Should be an epic game.
 
#497      

Bacon Butkus Swanson

B
Bacon Butkus Swanson
DICKnaggie said:
The coaching staff has made some great adjustments, both over the course of time/between seasons, and within game. I have criticized BU for this in the past but kudos to he and his coaching staff for their ability to be dynamic!
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I too have been critical of BU and his staff. Something clicked starting with the Western Illinois game. This FAU game was a thing of beauty.

Well done BU!! Well done Illini!!!!
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#498      

Get yourself a new map

G
Get yourself a new map
A couple things bug me about the discourse surrounding last night’s game. First - Wisconsin:
(1) There has been some revisionist recollection of their performances against Providence and Tennessee; I forget if it was Fo68 or just Dauster with Werner who were overly effusive of their battle with Tennessee. Tenn was comfortable. In Madison.
(2) They haven’t beaten us this decade. That’s (on average) 5 games for Wahl-Klesmit-Crowl-Hepburn.
(3) I remain adamant that we defended Kolek properly. He hit 4-5 shots that I would gladly give him again. He went 4/11 on Saturday. Foul discrepancy was a real hoot.
UW deserves praise, but to point out how impressive they’ve been while implying IL is displaying some anomaly is just poor. Both wins on this trip were game-plan wins. FAU got like 16 points on jump shots from their 5 position. THAT’S the anomaly from last night.

Secondly, I want to wipe that smug little grin off Goodman’s face because he acts like he watches the games but he simply doesn’t. If you cannot formulate a take on how Coleman has positively impacted these games, other than to say he hit a late three, you aren’t a serious analyst.
 
#500      

Chad Fleck

Chad Fleck
Eureka, IL
Chad Fleck