Shots didn't fall tonight. Turnovers and sloppy ball handling will get you beat most nights. Hope they got it out of the system and come to play against Alabama.
Illinois 66, Oakland 54 Postgame
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Boswell. He was called Bam Bam when a kid. Maybe after the Flintstones.
Boricua Illini
- Puerto Rico
Fair point on the pronunciation! Bardo definitely isn’t known for being a pro announcer, and he might not nail every name, especially the tricky ones. But as a color analyst, his job is all about breaking down the game, sharing insights, and giving viewers a deeper understanding of what's happening on the court. And in that department, I think he does a solid job. Let’s cut him a little slack on the names and appreciate the expertise he brings to the game!
Didn't Boise beat Oakland by 40?
Buckle in, the first half of this season may be tough if not brutal, but by the second half they will start to gel and be a tough out in the tournament.
Buckle in, the first half of this season may be tough if not brutal, but by the second half they will start to gel and be a tough out in the tournament.
I wish they had started with a game like this right after the charity game. This was far more educational for the team than the cupcake walks.
The good: A win is a win, even if it is ugly.
- DGL with another great effort.
- Boswell played some nice defense.
- Tomi demonstrated that any team playing him soft will pay.
The bad: A number of the mistakes from the first two games continue
1) KJ has to protect the ball more out front. Good guards are going to pick him clean. He doesn't have the handles for fancy spin dribbles yet.
2) Boswell needs to stop trying the ultra tight passes between two defenders to a teammate that still doesn't have a clear path to the basket. It is a high risk pass for very little gain.
3) Riley got another lesson that he wants to be a threat driving, he needs better handles. Almost every drive attempt had the ball out of control and a defensive hand poking at it.
4) Tre: Protecting the ball comes first, second, and third. Then think about what else to do.
5) When someone picks up the dribble, go help them. This may mean running all the way to them for a 1' hand off.
As a team, or more accurately, as a coach, they need to figure out what to do when the ball handling guard is pressured. The offense just dies at the moment. People wait for the ball handler "to take care of it."
Keep going guys. The potential is there.
The good: A win is a win, even if it is ugly.
- DGL with another great effort.
- Boswell played some nice defense.
- Tomi demonstrated that any team playing him soft will pay.
The bad: A number of the mistakes from the first two games continue
1) KJ has to protect the ball more out front. Good guards are going to pick him clean. He doesn't have the handles for fancy spin dribbles yet.
2) Boswell needs to stop trying the ultra tight passes between two defenders to a teammate that still doesn't have a clear path to the basket. It is a high risk pass for very little gain.
3) Riley got another lesson that he wants to be a threat driving, he needs better handles. Almost every drive attempt had the ball out of control and a defensive hand poking at it.
4) Tre: Protecting the ball comes first, second, and third. Then think about what else to do.
5) When someone picks up the dribble, go help them. This may mean running all the way to them for a 1' hand off.
As a team, or more accurately, as a coach, they need to figure out what to do when the ball handling guard is pressured. The offense just dies at the moment. People wait for the ball handler "to take care of it."
Keep going guys. The potential is there.
blackdog
- Champaign
Tre only played 14 minutes for exactly that reason too. BU let him sit on the bench for almost the entire second half. Meanwhile Riley was out there running his tail off chasing their 3 point shooters through their off ball screens all night long. He got caught a couple times but for the most part he did an awesome job keeping Oakland from having clean catch and shoot looks from those actions and even got a block on one play where he did get held up. I've been super impressed with his effort on the defensive and he really hasn't looked like a freshman at all in terms of his positioning and awareness.
Have a different take on this game. I think the game plan was to focus on working with the 5 out not on the final score.
Overall the offense scheme worked. There were just a lot of missed open shots.
The turn overs seemed to be learning errors that happen when trying an unfamiliar system. KJ is a high ball screen pick and roll trained guard and this is new to him.
On the few ISO’s with KJ and the few ball screen actions it was money.
Conclusion: learning something new always requires some amount of failure. I see this as a double win. Win on points and got to work on the 5 out offense.
Overall the offense scheme worked. There were just a lot of missed open shots.
The turn overs seemed to be learning errors that happen when trying an unfamiliar system. KJ is a high ball screen pick and roll trained guard and this is new to him.
On the few ISO’s with KJ and the few ball screen actions it was money.
Conclusion: learning something new always requires some amount of failure. I see this as a double win. Win on points and got to work on the 5 out offense.
Really impressed with the frosh defensive effort. Athleticism + effort = defense. KJ just seems to be in the right rebounding position every time. Poor shooting does affect assist nos. but thought it was not a good nite for KJ. Letting Kylan being the primary ball handler near the end was a good move. Getting less worried about defense with every game.
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
As far as Boswell being a leader on the team , there was one instance where he was shooting FT's and after he made the first one he leaned in to get touches from the 2 Illini on the lanes for congrats and nobody moved .....He stood there and extended his hands again and as that happened the screen cut away to something else........I'm sure he got the touches or he would still be standing there waiting.......
To me , he already is a leader on the court.....It's up the the players to follow him.........JMHO............
To me , he already is a leader on the court.....It's up the the players to follow him.........JMHO............
I wish he would quit talking about guys bags, that and I see you big fella
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
I didn’t get a chance to watch this live, but I’m actually interested in watching it. Yes, I know it will be an ugly experience, but good teams figure out how to win games like this and also learn from them. Maybe I’m too much of a junkie, but games like this are weirdly fascinating to me.Happy for the W but I’m not sure there’s an amount of $$$ you could pay me to re-watch this game
MDchicago
- Lake Norman NC
He's making my case for me. Wish that we scheduled accordingly and cut out the 300+ KP teams altogether. Focus on teams that are more likely to provide real opportunities for growth and gain meaningful experience.
Alabama's schedule appears well designed to me:
- 3 bran muffins (KP 211, 106, 108) to kick off the season:
- 7 straight challenging games vs KP 1-78 teams, including 5 games against KP top 30 teams (with 2 true road games at Purdue and UNC) leading up to final exams and the holidays;
- 3 more bran muffins (KP 265, 132, 174) in the last half of December leading up to conference play.
Alabama has 0 games vs. KP 275+ teams, while Illini play 4 vs. 300+ cupcakes with extra frosting.
As do the vast majority of college coaches.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
Brad seemed pretty happy. I like when Brad is happy, it means that things are going well. The team is putting forth great effort. I am very much looking forward to the big test next week.
A bunch of nicknames just stick from being a kid. Family nicknames, friends, etc.
We still call a friend of mine Toaster Strudel or some variation of it because he went on a rant about how they were better than pop tarts in 5th grade.
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
Gibbs-Lawhorn is morphing into version 2 of Trent. loving his trajectory
A couple things I noticed:
1) There needed to be more drives to the basket. And, when they did drive they tended to stop short favoring those difficult floaters instead of taking the ball all the way to the basket where they would likely have drawn a foul.
2) They need to push the ball up the court more aggressively especially after rebounds.
If I'm reading or watching BU's statements on 5 Out as the opposing coach, I'm playing D much like Oakland.
No driving lanes and tough 3's. Make Illini beat you in the mid-range, where BU has advertised he does not want. I guess I have trouble with telling your opponent that we want to be 2 dimensional on offense.
Thankfully, Tomi feasted in the mid-range on a night when some open 3's did not fall.
No driving lanes and tough 3's. Make Illini beat you in the mid-range, where BU has advertised he does not want. I guess I have trouble with telling your opponent that we want to be 2 dimensional on offense.
Thankfully, Tomi feasted in the mid-range on a night when some open 3's did not fall.
I'm not an expert, but I always thought this was the whole point of playing a zone defense? That it's hard to driver the lane. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.
Cuz he’s not KJ or Kylan. I think DGL will be a 12 to 15 minute guy most of the season other than foul trouble by one of the starters or DGL goes on a heater. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by him and feel much better about him as basically the third guard than I did going into the season. Maybe later in season he might be up to 20 minutes a game, but right now BU needs to get the two starters time together and with the other main guys.
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pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
Tomislav Ivisic scores 20 and Illinois overcomes 18 turnovers to beat Oakland
Tomislav Ivisic scored 20 points, Ben Humrichous added 10 and Illinois overcame 18 turnovers to beat Oakland 66-54. Illinois has started a season 3-0 for the fourth time under Brad
I thought we'd win more handily but in hindsight this wasn't too surprising. How do you beat a zone? Ball movement. Ball movement requires you to know and trust your teammates. On a team where no two players have ever played together before, it checks out that we would struggle to move the ball and break the zone. Beating a zone also requires patience which isn't typically a strength of younger teams. We'll get there.
I do agree with some of the other thoughts on TW. Haven't been impressed with his feel for the game. He wants to be a scorer but I don't think that's what we need from him.
And here's my hot take. I think Rez will end up getting the Dain treatment this year. Spot minutes here and there to spell Tomi. But rarely more than 10 minutes. Brad has recently said something to the effect of he doesn't want to put guys out there who can't shoot. That kept Dain off the court (well that and defense) and I'm thinking it might have the same effect on Morez.
I do agree with some of the other thoughts on TW. Haven't been impressed with his feel for the game. He wants to be a scorer but I don't think that's what we need from him.
And here's my hot take. I think Rez will end up getting the Dain treatment this year. Spot minutes here and there to spell Tomi. But rarely more than 10 minutes. Brad has recently said something to the effect of he doesn't want to put guys out there who can't shoot. That kept Dain off the court (well that and defense) and I'm thinking it might have the same effect on Morez.
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