My thought to that is playing the right guys the right amount of minutes... Underwood can't mess this up for next year too
Rutgers 82, Illinois 73 Postgame
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Like 30 minutes into the game though. That and just basic effort are my gripes tonight. Just a stinker minus a great and a couple of ok grades, I'm guessing when advanced analytics are out. Losing Tomi always hurts but Morez is no joke on the move. It just seemed to be a priority way too late to make this an easy win.
I agree. We have a freshman who is a beast but gets in foul trouble every game and Tomi who can’t catch a break. We are definitely thin in the front court
On the flipside....as a huge college bball fan, it was pretty entertaining to see Rutgers play so hard and have an incredible home environment. That's what college basketball is all about. Just sucked that we couldn't finish the game and come out with a W. Harper and a Bailey could both quit on this season, and look ahead to the NBA but they aren't. It looks like they are fully locked in.
FWIW, in the past 7 games Rutgers is 33rd on Torvik. I would love to see them make a run in the BTT.
FWIW, in the past 7 games Rutgers is 33rd on Torvik. I would love to see them make a run in the BTT.
I know this thread is full negative, but Rutgers has been on the verge of a big win. They almost got Sparty and Michigan w/o Dylan Harper. It’s a talented team.
That said we should win that game. Really have to go 3-1 over the next 4 to feel better about March.
Also with all that said, stop listening to Indy Illini Fan about anything. He’s in every lose thread talking about anything negative with the program. Clearly Brad has rubbed him the wrong way at some point bc it feels personal. Never shows up in the win threads, always posting a storm in the lose. Stop taking his words seriously.
That said we should win that game. Really have to go 3-1 over the next 4 to feel better about March.
Also with all that said, stop listening to Indy Illini Fan about anything. He’s in every lose thread talking about anything negative with the program. Clearly Brad has rubbed him the wrong way at some point bc it feels personal. Never shows up in the win threads, always posting a storm in the lose. Stop taking his words seriously.
He had the best perimeter player in the country that could create instant offense from nothing and the Marcus Domask switch to point guard and backing people down was credited to a conversation with Jay Wright.
This team needs Ty… and I don’t mean just on the court. Culture and leadership is lacking.
I think it would be different if Hamer had played the game at a very high level in college or professionally. However, Hamer does not check those boxes.If I was a player and walked out to warm up and the coach had leggings on ... I would never take him seriously again ... But that's just me ...
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With all due respect to those that want to go overseas to bring players in, unless they're going to be here for 2+ years, forget it. We're not a program that can withstand one and some situation, mostly because of transfers. Four of our top five rotational pieces are freshmen, which is great.....as long as they come back as sophomores.
This total roster overhaul situation is what has us here and it can't happen again. They need to keep, at minimum, 6 core guys together, then SUPPLEMENT through the portal. Don't live in it.
I'm ready to punch Denzel Washington in the face after all of the big basketball recruiting news.
I get what you're saying about building a program and getting guys in the building for multiple years but recruiting from all over the map is not the issue.
Gonzaga has consistently recruited international guys extremely well and have been going to the sweet 16 every year for a decade plus at this point.
The Trent, Damonte, Ayo team before NIL that stuck around and bought in.
You kind of just repeated my whole point. He hasn't had as much success in the NIL era because he can't build a culture.
Someone asked me what my expectations were for this season - especially after all the November/December hype on this board.
Well, with Brad being one of the highest paid coaches in the country, it certainly wasn't this.
And can we quit bringing up the John Groce era, please? Just because your first wife was a loser doesn't automatically make your next one a super model (even if she's paid like one.)
I know with Brad's extension he's going to be here forever, but it doesn't mean Illinois basketball will see a Final Four anytime soon.
I honestly think he's lost the team...culture or no culture.
Well, with Brad being one of the highest paid coaches in the country, it certainly wasn't this.
And can we quit bringing up the John Groce era, please? Just because your first wife was a loser doesn't automatically make your next one a super model (even if she's paid like one.)
I know with Brad's extension he's going to be here forever, but it doesn't mean Illinois basketball will see a Final Four anytime soon.
I honestly think he's lost the team...culture or no culture.
Team.is young, inexperienced, have to go with the flow. Sometimes good , sometimes frustrating. Just have to deal with it.
Just hope they get on a heater when it counts.
Just hope they get on a heater when it counts.
I mean, this is just personal beef at this point. Laughable.
The blueprint for how to beat this Illini team is really clear. Pack it in the paint and bait them into shooting too many 3's.
Kasparis has been outright bad for nearly a month at this point. Usually mock drafts and the like are slow to update but I wonder if he's legitimately played himself out of the lottery at this point.
This roster is also alarmingly unathletic on the perimeter. That needs to addressed next season. Kasparis, Boswell, Riley, Humrichous, Davis, and even White aren't very explosive. DGL is the only plus athlete on the perimeter and he's only 6 ft tall.
Kasparis has been outright bad for nearly a month at this point. Usually mock drafts and the like are slow to update but I wonder if he's legitimately played himself out of the lottery at this point.
This roster is also alarmingly unathletic on the perimeter. That needs to addressed next season. Kasparis, Boswell, Riley, Humrichous, Davis, and even White aren't very explosive. DGL is the only plus athlete on the perimeter and he's only 6 ft tall.
Last year was the most success he’s ever had. Riding the coattails of a TSJ who was number in the transfer portal.
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May be a natural reason we’re getting those great looks from 3. When we only shoot 20% from 3 (worst in BIG), we’re gonna get those looks until we start hitting…meanwhile, it’s also gonna get tougher to go inside.
Are we talented? Yes.
Are our top 4 rotational pieces freshman? Yes
Did we(and the media) overrate KJ? Yes
Are we wildly inconsistent? Yes
Are we struggling on the road? Yes
Do we have a floor leader? No
None of this should be unexpected. None of it. We rebuilt an entire roster coming off of an elite 8 appearance.
The only way to take any positive out of this is to make SURE that we bring a core back so that we can reverse some of the above.
Desperately need more athleticism. Don't know if I would necessarily even want both Boswell and Will back to share the floor together.
Morez and Tomi should be the foundation. If Will comes back, I'd rather cut bait on Boswell(unless he wants to play a bench role) and get two very athletic guards to play next to him and offset his limitations.
If Will leaves then you can keep Boswell and just go get an athletic guard and wing to pair with him.
I strongly do not recommend that course of action.
Exactly. Illinois beat Ohio State because the staff scrapped the 3 point line in the second half and took the ball inside. Then they come out tonight and go something like 3-17 from beyond the arc in the first half. Their offense ( and they are not the only ones) is based on analytics developed by people who can crunch numbers but never played the game. The eyeballs tell you to go inside first and see what happens.
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