Kentucky 84, Illinois 75 Postgame

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#451      
BashCtIllini
Illiniindian said:
Based on this team being entirely new and young, do you think Illini fans overrated them? I mean imagine how could they would be if KJ and Will stayed through their junior years.
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We just weren't that young.

Boswell - Jr
White - Jr
Humrichous - super Sr
Ivisic - may be a Fr but he is a 21 yo w/ 3 years pro experience
KJ - 18 but a year of pro ball
Riley and Morez are the only 2 that came straight from the prep ranks
 
#453      
Yes33
Second place is 1st loser said:
Off-season Evaluation- The whole staff underachieved. Went way too young with our resources.

Brad- Overachieved given everything that went wrong dealing with things that were completely out of his control. Replaced 10 guys, got to the tournament, got a W and ran into a buzzsaw. Kentucky was really good today. Answered the bell every time we made a run.
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What things were out of Brad’s control? He’s the captain of the ship.
 
#455      
MULEDOG35
Yes33 said:
What things were out of Brad’s control? He’s the captain of the ship.
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Dog Gif GIF
 
#458      
IlliniFan42
Ryllini said:
The way I understand it, TA sat out because of money. Color me shocked if TA gets OA money going into next season from any school. I think he would've been best served coaching another tournament bound team with a couple of NBA players and parlayed that into a bigger payday either here or elsewhere. But hey, he still collected illinois money and got to do his clinics. I like TA a great deal, wish it would've worked out. Him, OA, and GA would be pretty electric on the trail.
Chester is another story.
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Frankly there's not many schools that pay their assistants better than us and of those I'm not sure who would be willing and able to take him. I mean it's not a great sell to a potential new team to say "I quit on my old team when it was too late to hire a replacement because I wanted more money."
 
#459      
SCillini
Oracle21 said:
1-9 vs Top 15 net teams this year. Simply not at the level we wanted.

I hope Morez/Boswell/Tomi all return next year. Good luck KJ/Riley with the draft. It’d be great to get both these guys back but doubt it happens.

Portal opens Monday.
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If the NBA draft was results driven, KJ and Riley would have to come back. Unfortunately, and many times irrationally, it’s based on potential and metrics instead of actual results of performance. They would both improve physically, and presumably mentally, if they came back. However, it’s very questionable to pass up a first round guaranteed contract.
 
#462      
I-L-L
HensonHall71 said:
One thing that is stuck in my craw is that we get blown out EVERY single tournament. Why can’t we play well and be prepared?

It seems every year we play a team that is well prepared against us and we simply have no answer , Loyola, Houston , Arkansas, UConn and now Kentucky. We excuse it by saying “that was a really good team” or “bad matchup” but in reality we just weren’t prepared. Any 2 day turnaround game our staff is completely unprepared for. That just has to change- we need a staff that can get a team prepared in one practice- other teams do it and we can’t
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I’d pump the brakes a bit here. With the exception of Loyola which let’s admit was a Cinderella that’s a pretty impressive list of opponents. Sure I’m frustrated but every year we’re in the discussion of potential to win the big ten and maybe make a tournament run. This year was tough for many reasons but most importantly DGL being the only returning player. Remember when we brought Hawkins and Shannon and Goode and a few others back. We were an elite 8 and maybe a top 3-4 team in the country but ran into the buzz saw UConn. If we can bring 4+ guys back and add serious talent we could be right back in the same spot. I love Tomi Boz and morez returning as a core and would take white as well.
 
#463      
IlliniFan42
SCillini said:
If the NBA draft was results driven, KJ and Riley would have to come back. Unfortunately, and many times irrationally, it’s based on potential and metrics instead of actual results of performance. They would both improve physically, and presumably mentally, if they came back. However, it’s very questionable to pass up a first round guaranteed contract.
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Yeah there's no way they're coming back. It used to be more common to consider coming back but there are enough horror stories of guys who came back and ruined their draft position.

I mean it was nice for us Ayo came back, but it definitely hurt his position.
 
#466      
JD76
This is the mentality that prevents us from being great. Demand excellence, insist on it, and be prepared to make tough decisions when it is not achieved. The Ron Guenther era has been over for a long time.
 
#467      
Mobi
Indy Illini Fan said:
Changes need to be made … This team didn’t meet expectations … 7th in the Big Ten … Beating an 11 seed ??? Not good enough …

Hamer fired … Tyler demoted … Kwa demoted …

Kylan, Rez, Tomi and Tre back … Everyone else can go … And for crying out loud … BRING ME A VETERAN POINT GUARD WHO CAN HANDLE THE BALL !!!!!!

Portal opens tomorrow … Get to work …
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This is a disappointing team that barely met my expectations though. Why? Cause I typically don't trust players who has never played a day of college basketball. With that being said, we need to upgrade our staff.
 
#469      
Mobi
SCillini said:
If the NBA draft was results driven, KJ and Riley would have to come back. Unfortunately, and many times irrationally, it’s based on potential and metrics instead of actual results of performance. They would both improve physically, and presumably mentally, if they came back. However, it’s very questionable to pass up a first round guaranteed contract.
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LoL! They are not. NBA drafts on potential. That's why I don't like using 5 star freshmen as your 1st or 2nd options. They lack experiences but will leave in a year.
 
#471      
BashCtIllini
Illiniindian said:
Our key starters were young. Also, the entire team had never played together.
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never playing together is an entirely different thing. It is a drum I've been beating for years, really ever since the transfer portal started.

But we just weren't that young. Our starters were Boswell, KJ, White, Humrichous, and Ivisic. Thats Jr, Fr, Jr, Super Sr, 21 yo 3 year pro. When we switched out Humrichous for Riley, we certainly got younger, but highly rated Fr. play all across the country. It's not special.

The new to each other is the key. That's why I think our first 4 recruits for next year need to be Boswell, Morez, Ivisic, and White.
 
#472      
NarrowJ
BashCtIllini said:
We just weren't that young.

Boswell - Jr
White - Jr
Humrichous - super Sr
Ivisic - may be a Fr but he is a 21 yo w/ 3 years pro experience
KJ - 18 but a year of pro ball
Riley and Morez are the only 2 that came straight from the prep ranks
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I believe the 7th youngest in all of college basketball (350+ teams)

Average college basketball team this season had 30 seasons of DI experience (about 2.5 per player)

In comparison to that average, we had 10 total seasons of DI experience (less than 1 per player)
 
#473      
aaeismacgychel
ginabackes00 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1903976805633237309
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It needs to be said but one of the absolute toughest things to do is come into a brand new locker room and be the leader of the team. Generally you don't want to step on other people's toes, you simply want to build camaraderie and trust first and foremost. You simply want to come in and be a good teammate. It's something TSJ struggled with too in his first season here. There was a huge leadership void that someone needed to fill and it's hard to be the new guy and take command of that role.

As the season wore on, I felt Kylan trying to take ownership of that more and more. In the tourney he was that guy for us, that defacto leader. He played his heart out, he led by example, he communicated. He did everything that guy does. And if there's one good thing about losing in the playoffs, it's that you learn to absolutely despise that feeling. To recognize all that went wrong, and swear it won't happen again. And even better if you play well but see your team struggle, as you come back better next year with a renewed focus on being that leader, being that guy, making sure your team is prepared and ready, and also have the confidence that you can lead the way.

Sometimes you need to lose to win. I personally see Kylan as that guy ready to take that leap to captain and leader of men next year. Bring back Morez and Tomi, and you've got yourself a core you can build around with hungry guys who want nothing more than to win. While this year stings, I see Kylan leading us far next year, I really do. Combine that with a year of strength and conditioning on Morez and Ivisic, a senior pure as the driven snow shooter and an experienced slashing wing and that's a team that will make a run.
 
#474      
mysterio2525
I'm not understanding why people are saying this season was a success. I can understand not calling it a failure but a success is measured by more than this.

Win big ten regular season - miss
Finish top 3 in big ten regular season - miss
Exceed preseason ranking - miss
Win big ten tourney - miss
Make NCAA to tourney - hit
Get top 4 seed in NCAA tourney - miss
Make second weekend - miss
 
#475      
Oracle21
At the end of the day, Brad Underwood has been at Illinois for 7 possible tourney seasons (throwing out Covid).

He’s made it to the 2nd weekend one time. 1/7 years. Now before him, we were 0/12… It simply feels like we’ve plateaud with Underwood. We are Georgia football under Mark Richt. Is that good enough or do you want more?
 
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