Game Thread: Illinois vs Minnesota

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#251      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
InDaAZ said:
Perhaps it escapes your notice, but we won four of those last six…
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Do you want to keep this up in March? If so, WHY?! We’re allowing every opponent to score above their average and messing around in close games that shouldn’t be close … that’s begging for an early loss in March Madness. And the reason a lot of us are frustrated is because all it would take to give this elite offense a FANTASTIC shot at a Final Four is for us to even have a mildly average defense.

The defense of this defense (heh heh) always amounts to, “Well, we’re a good team so quit complaining!” This team can be great. And it’ll be a total waste if it’s not.
 
#255      

grantlab

G
grantlab
Kingo24 said:
I don't think our defensive scheme is a good fit for our personnel.
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It unfortunately starts with Coleman Hawkins, a 4, playing the 5, and us not really having an alternate look to throw at the Payne’s and Edey’s of the world. It gives us A TON offensively and an enormous mismatch, but he’s not big enough to defend Big Ten 5s and I just don’t think he’s been active enough in drop since the Michigan game where he got 6 steals.
 
#256      

aaeismacgychel

A
aaeismacgychel
Battle89 said:
I will disagree. This paragraph has been written by various posters every game for the last two months. You think teams aren’t coming in with extra confidence due to this defense?
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Go ahead and disagree. I'm talking about tonight, not the past month. And by the way, this is our 3pt defense the past month:

Iowa 33%
PSU 44%
MD 22%
Mich 10%
MSU 63%
Neb 43%
OSU 33%
Ind 0%

Really, you're saying teams are coming in against us thinking they're going to hit over 60% from 3? That's certainly a new narrative.
 
#257      

hoopsfan47

H
hoopsfan47
And I really like the way Hawkins is playing. He is becoming a complete player and moving up his draft stock. If he ever learns to keep his mouth shut and use that energy to reduce turnovers, he will be extremely valuable to some NBA team.

And did anyone notice, TSJr. has 13 pts. while missing two of 3 FTs and working his !!! off on defense? Both those guys are NBA bound IMHO.

As for MD, teams are focusing on shutting him down and he is not quick enough to make them pay..........but.........he has skills that will always be a threat as long as he is looking for open teammates. Sure glad he is on our side.

And Ty showed some aggressive offense while being his usual, tenacious self on the glass.

Not too worried about the defense as I have seen no mindless blunders, just Minny creating miracle shots that go in. Expect that to change.
 
#258      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
Flyin' Illini said:
Yes, but who would you feel better about coaching your team during the game? Weber had his flaws, but getting the most out of the talent he had wasn't one of them
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Eh, let’s just say he was EXCEPTIONAL at coaching the specific makeup of talent he inherited … but there was quite a bit of talent on his 2010-2012 teams that should have kept us off the Bubble during those years.
 
#259      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
Flyin' Illini said:
Yes, but who would you feel better about coaching your team during the game? Weber had his flaws, but getting the most out of the talent he had wasn't one of them
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Uh, it was absolutely one of them, and having Underwood rather than Weber as the coach is one of the only reasons I wouldn't rather be back in college.
 
#261      

IllinialuminAZ

IllinialuminAZ
IllinialuminAZ
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Do you want to keep this up in March? If so, WHY?! We’re allowing every opponent to score above their average and messing around in close games that shouldn’t be close … that’s begging for an early loss in March Madness. And the reason a lot of us are frustrated is because all it would take to give this elite offense a FANTASTIC shot at a Final Four is for us to even have a mildly average defense.

The defense of this defense (heh heh) always amounts to, “Well, we’re a good team so quit complaining!” This team can be great. And it’ll be a total waste if it’s not.
Click to expand...

Excited Lets Go GIF
 
#265      

hoopsfan47

H
hoopsfan47
So how many posters were certain that our Illini would be down at the half knowing the Gophers would be 7 of 12 from the arc and 53% overall?
 
#268      

Illinifinn

I
Illinifinn
I just don’t understand how you can consistently get caught in between on picks that you know are coming. We end up with two guys guarding (and I use the word guarding very loosely) the ballhandler and no one guarding the screener. Step up and switch onto the guard to stop penetration and let his defender move to the big OR stunt the screen and allow the guard to recover before dropping back to the post. It’s not rocket science. And I’m the furthest thing from a D-1 basketball coach but I thought the whole upside to Coleman at the 5 is his versatility of him being able to effectively switch onto guards. IIRC “that’s what makes it worth it” to sacrifice the physicality and rim protection at the position. Why aren’t we utilizing it?
 
#270      

CDRUSN

CDRUSN
CDRUSN
The Illini continue to play at the same level of their competition. This was supposed to be the easy home game on our remaining schedule. Would like to see us pull away this half for a comfortable win.
 
#272      

TriangleIL

T
TriangleIL
It's just analytics. Illinois would rather outscore you than out limit you. The D is there if they want it.
 
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