Tennessee 66, Illinois 64 Postgame

[21ChampaignSt]

Some final thoughts:

Crowd was electric last night from tip off til that sad final buzzer. That we were able to sustain that kind of atmosphere amidst so many whistles is doubly impressive.

I think someone mentioned this already but I love how we have started bringing in some marquee non-con teams on a regular basis - #11 AZ, #4 Marquette, #1 TN. Would be nice to win one of them though.

In this age, when you shoot 17% from three, you're not supposed to beat anyone. We shot 17% and took the #1 team all the way to the wire (and really should've beat them). No moral victories here but that makes me reconsider how I view this team. We aren't strictly a live and die by the three team. That said- just one more three would've won the game.

I know Ben is leaving a lot to be desired. But if this team is going to go far this year, we need him more than we need Morez. Can't give up on him.

Finally, the Morez rumors are concerning. The staff needs to manage these personalities and keep recruiting these guys even after they're on the team. It is so so hard to reach the top when you have a new roster every year. A core of Boswell, Riley, Morez, and Tomi would be favored to win the B1G and then some.

 

[Jimmy Naysmith]

Coach Underwood wasn't even in the huddle prior to the turnover where we threw the ball away. It appears that referee Earl Walton moves Orlando Antiqua away and tells him "we're good" before he gets in Brad's face and tells him "don't you ever yell at me again ... that's twice ... don't ever get in my face or I'll eject you". I'm not the best lip reader, but that is what it appears to me.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1868096949817159885

 

[alexander58]

Anyone else wonder why Boswell was not on Gainey when he went off for 18 second half points? BH has no rebounding instincts at all,tries to box out when he has prime position to get the ball,very frustrating.

Screens make switching unavoidable.

 

[whatahack]

Irony that the last time we beat a #1 was on an Inbounds play which worked to perfection for us. We have to "copy some genius" sometimes. Who has the best plays coming out of a time out?? Lets Copy!

I've wondered why we don't copy other teams either. Just watch Kansas and selfish. They run great plays.

Hell even go back and watch tape of weber. Say what you will about him, but was very good as well

 

[FloridaMan]

Coach Underwood wasn't even in the huddle prior to the turnover where we threw the ball away. It appears that referee Earl Walton moves Orlando Antiqua away and tells him "we're good" before he gets in Brad's face and tells him "don't you ever yell at me again ... that's twice ... don't ever get in my face or I'll eject you". I'm not the best lip reader, but that is what it appears to me.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1868096949817159885

Another ref who believes he is the show. All too common especially in the B10. Explain what you saw/didn't see and move away from the coach. He made a point to get the assistants out of the way so he could get in BU's face.

Referee Earl Walton, barred from Big East Tournament, officiates in Big Ten quarterfinals

It didn’t take long for referee Earl Walton, who withdrew from the rest of the Big East Tournament – at the conference’s urging as part of the crew involved in the controversial ending to the St.…

www.nydailynews.com

 

[BoiseBaller]

lol Earl. Do your job worth a tinker's damn and maybe the coach won't be chewing your rear.

 

[illiniwil]

underwood is not a good late game coach.(at least not this year) Tyler either has to get out of his ear or coach this team.
draw up an in bounds play, stop the ball, make a few more free throws, get Morez on the floor, we win by 8 and beat
northwestern by 12.

 

[Gregjacksonfan]

I've wondered why we don't copy other teams either. Just watch Kansas and selfish. They run great plays.

Hell even go back and watch tape of weber. Say what you will about him, but was very good as well

Izzo is another who has great sets especially coming out of a time out. We have pretty much just settled in on spacing the floor and running a high ball screen. Not much variety to our offense.

 

[PasadenaIllini]

Another ref who believes he is the show. All too common especially in the B10. Explain what you saw/didn't see and move away from the coach. He made a point to get the assistants out of the way so he could get in BU's face.

Referee Earl Walton, barred from Big East Tournament, officiates in Big Ten quarterfinals

It didn’t take long for referee Earl Walton, who withdrew from the rest of the Big East Tournament – at the conference’s urging as part of the crew involved in the controversial ending to the St.…

www.nydailynews.com

Regardless of who believes they are the show, Brad should have been in the huddle focusing our guys on the play to come. This was nothing but a huge potential distraction to the team ahead of the key play in the game. The subsequent results speak for themselves.

After Brad clearly communicates what he wants the team to do and gets them focused on THAT, then a point can be communicated to the officials, but coaching our team needs to come first.

 

[phats22]

Another ref who believes he is the show. All too common especially in the B10. Explain what you saw/didn't see and move away from the coach. He made a point to get the assistants out of the way so he could get in BU's face.

Referee Earl Walton, barred from Big East Tournament, officiates in Big Ten quarterfinals

It didn’t take long for referee Earl Walton, who withdrew from the rest of the Big East Tournament – at the conference’s urging as part of the crew involved in the controversial ending to the St.…

www.nydailynews.com

seriously but good thing he made a point to warn Brad not to yell at him again as im sure that will never happen now....

 

[Iamgroot]

Brad’s coaching Achilles heel is the inbound play. He has been terrible throughout his entire tenure here. We totally should have won this game.

I agree with you on the inbounds plays from brad.when you think of it as illini fans we seen 1 of the best in the game in bounds play caller in bill self dial them up.i swear everytime I watch Kansas play they at least get 2 or 3 easy dunks off of inbounds plays.it makes wonder if it's execution problems from Brad or if he just doesn't put a emphasis on inbounds plays. it's truly crazy how little dunks or layups we have gotten in his tenure off the inbounds hopefully that changes going forward maybe this game could open brads eyes

 

[illiniguy24]

Brad knows my thoughts on what the staff should like ...

Hamer out ... Yaklich or anyone who can actually coach in ...

Kwa back to his old job ... Rod Clark / P Murph in ...

Our OOTO and OOB stuff has been absolutely atrocious since Gentry left ...

Is Brad really that inept in the X’s and O’s department?

 

[BashCtIllini]

Is Brad really that inept in the X’s and O’s department?

well what have you seen on the court when Gentry wasn't a part of the staff?

 

[Peoriapipeline]

Can’t find the post but i seen someone compare Ben to monte and i think that’s ridiculous… monte played above average defense and was a great rebounder, he also hit some huge shots for us

 

[Kenny67]

Brad has now had 2 games where he admitted he’s screwed up big time. Is he getting worse? He’s been around the game long enough - not sure what’s going on. Of course It helps when players execute better.

What is going is this group of players are not coming together as a team yet.

 

[Kenny67]

Exactly. I'm a firm believer in Bobby Knight's policy of not calling time outs at the end of the game. The better you're coached, the bigger your advantage.

I'd say with this young team it's a good idea to call them on defense for sure, and possibly even offense, at least until mid-February.

Agree

 

[SescIllini]

Our two final inbounds play had no screens. Either we missed the screens or play was designed this way.

Either way poorly prepared.

If fans and the media are calling for more Morez, imagine what his close support group are saying.

 

[Combo]

Some final thoughts:

Crowd was electric last night from tip off til that sad final buzzer. That we were able to sustain that kind of atmosphere amidst so many whistles is doubly impressive.

I think someone mentioned this already but I love how we have started bringing in some marquee non-con teams on a regular basis - #11 AZ, #4 Marquette, #1 TN. Would be nice to win one of them though.

In this age, when you shoot 17% from three, you're not supposed to beat anyone. We shot 17% and took the #1 team all the way to the wire (and really should've beat them). No moral victories here but that makes me reconsider how I view this team. We aren't strictly a live and die by the three team. That said- just one more three would've won the game.

I know Ben is leaving a lot to be desired. But if this team is going to go far this year, we need him more than we need Morez. Can't give up on him.

Finally, the Morez rumors are concerning. The staff needs to manage these personalities and keep recruiting these guys even after they're on the team. It is so so hard to reach the top when you have a new roster every year. A core of Boswell, Riley, Morez, and Tomi would be favored to win the B1G and then some.

I don't think we should give up on him. Just give 6-8 of his minutes to Morez. We basically have an 8-man rotation. There are enough minutes for both Ben and Morez to get significant PT.

 

[sacraig]

Am puzzled by the placing of blame on BU for the two inbounding pays in the final 2 mins. The first one was rote and failed simply because KJ made an incredibly lazy, telegraphed, slow bounce pass that was easily picked off. (KJ giveth big time yesterday, and KJ taketh away.) The second failed, and ended up deep in the backcourt, because of the utter lack of anyone going to the ball explosively. I can kinda see criticizing BU for the second; however, I saw it as evidence that these guys just haven't played together often enough in a tight, late situation like that and don't know where each other are going to be. I'm old-school and don't understand why BU doesn't just have them stack and split; however, I also haven't played or coached in 30+ years so I might be missing something.

Anyway, I don't see either one of these problems as chronic ones. Both easily can be fixed.

We controlled the No. 1 team in the country for most of 40 minutes, got them in serious foul trouble, and had them on the ropes, all with a group of guys still learning to play together. We have a crazy amount of talent on the floor. We just need another month or so for it fully to jell.

Seriously: when was the last time any of us felt this good about our team's March prospects in mid-December, other than a year ago? I'm struggling... 2005 maybe. Probably 2004. People should chill IMO. I was delighted for 38 of 40 mins yesterday about how we played.

Now go crush Miznoz.

Probably less about the specifics of last night and more about the long history of fumbling these plays in the BU era.

 

[sacraig]

underwood is not a good late game coach.(at least not this year) Tyler either has to get out of his ear or coach this team.
draw up an in bounds play, stop the ball, make a few more free throws, get Morez on the floor, we win by 8 and beat
northwestern by 12.

Our late game escapades this season are more about our inexperience.

 

[illinitiger]

So much to unpack here. Nobody is "Blame(ing) Ben." People are blaming Brad for burying one of the top recruits in the country behind a player who has proven he isn't talented enough to play defense or rebound at the B1G level. And ruining our program's relationship with this recruit while likely poisoning its relationship with other potential recruits in the process.

And it doesn't matter if Antigua were Tony freaking Robbins. Denying Morez PT when he clearly merits it is going to trump anything Antigua might be able to do.

On MJ..assumption you make as that he has been aiming to stay. However, could be that he already decided to look elsewhere when the staff overhaul ensued.

I want Morez to stay, and would like to see him start ..., but the staff would need to change their mindset I believe. If the staff aspires to be an elite 3p offense, as TU and BU do, MJ doesnt fit that mold yet.

 

[NashvILLe05]

I don't think we should give up on him. Just give 6-8 of his minutes to Morez. We basically have an 8-man rotation. There are enough minutes for both Ben and Morez to get significant PT.

I don’t disagree but based on KenPom, we have the 11th best defense and 29th best offense. I didn’t see that one coming. I hear Brad talk a lot more about needing offense than D. It’s why I don’t see things changing even with a close loss where Morez could’ve been the difference.

 

[Vinegarben]

It's funny how in the preseason recruiting how everyone was bragging about how Brad went out and brought in some studs to build this team but all of a sudden he doesn't know how to coach. I grant you he should have called time and set the defense but in the end he didn't miss the free throws, throw the ball away on an in bounds pass, he didn't let the opposition drive the length of the floor in 5 seconds untouched and lay the ball in the basket. That guys was ALL on the team!

 

[OrangeBlue98]

I said it earlier here, and I'll say it again. Get Lon Kruger in here to consult on this. His teams were always really good in late-game situations.

 

[illinitiger]

I’m sure I have a lot of psychological flaws, but I think this is just called “being a passionate fan”- when you see something your team is doing that is just flat out wrong in your mind, you need to vent.

I honestly can’t think of a player on a really good team adding less value then Ben and getting so many minutes when there are extremely talented players on the bench that could be getting those minutes and developing and making us better in March

I’m a fan of Brad and I’m glad he’s our coach- I don’t think it makes us a bad fan to question some of his decisions- it just makes us a fan. I honestly think he’s adjusting to having such a young team vs a very old team last year. Most coaches would have called a timeout after tying the game with 5 seconds left and would have played your best rebounder when you couldn’t get a rebound against NW and TN, Brad has admitted as much

I love how honest Brad is in his pressers but I would love for him to just make better decisions with this team and stop admitting all the mistakes afterwards- I also fear he doesn’t have the assistants in his ear enough- Brad has a lot to think about during a game. Where are the bench coaches telling him to call timeout or to get someone in the game that can rebound or that Ben is getting toasted- that’s almost as bad to me they aren’t doing that

Agree....I just think the Ben (and Damonte during his day) receive an exaggerated share of critical backlash, while many other significant stat sheet issues go unmentioned.. (like Wil 1/9 fgs and KJ 7 tos).