Early Illini v. UConn @ MSG Thread

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#1      

altgeld88

altgeld88
Arlington, Virginia
altgeld88
Thought I'd get this goin' early since basketball is humming and this game should be a beast. We're heading to the Garden from DC bright and early Friday morning in hopes of erasing the nightmare memory of Duke last February and getting back to an MSG Illini victory vibe that I last enjoyed v. Maryland in Jan 2019.

Resolved: the boys will avenge the '24 squad on these Huskies.

Discuss.
 
#3      
NarrowJ
UConn plays Bryant in about 5 minutes, and it’s televised on truTV if anyone wants to tune in (I will be)

UConn only shoots 69% from the free throw line as a team, so should be an easy win for us on Friday 😉
 
#4      
PasadenaIllini
If we're a healthy, focused basketball team, there's hope for win. If we're as Charmin soft as we were against Alabama, UConn will dog-walk us back and forth in front of the MSG crowd.
 
#5      
altgeld88
NarrowJ said:
UConn plays Bryant in about 5 minutes, and it’s televised on truTV if anyone wants to tune in (I will be)

UConn only shoots 69% from the free throw line as a team, so should be an easy win for us on Friday 😉
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... because were shooting 75.4% on the season even with the Alabama abomination? ;)
 
#6      
Fighter of the Nightman
Anyone have any idea if there are "Illini sections" for this game? I was not expecting that many Illini fans at MSG last year vs. Duke, and instead we had a very clear "Illini side" of the arena, ala Braggin' Rights. I'm sure the overall crowd was still like 65/35 Duke in a 2-way split, but I was very impressed by our turnout. I believe UConn moved a home game here ala our game vs. Alabama at the UC, so I am unaware if tickets follow a different pattern.

Either way, it looks like this event will be well attended when I looked at the tickets site, and I hope we have a good contingent there!!
 
#7      
NarrowJ
I hope truTV changes this score overlay prior to the tourney this year… I dislike the gradient background in particular. Admittedly it seems like a weird thing to care about, but I’m not a fan lol.
 
#11      
JDL70
I went to the Duke game last year as I live now only an hour and 10 minutes away by commuter train from Grand Central Station in New Canaan, CT. However, my seats were so far away from the floor at MSG that half the time I watched the TV screen to see the action on the floor. Since my daughter who lives in New Canaan, why we moved here from Illinois, is having a late Thanksgiving at her house, we have decided to watch from her house.
 
#12      
2qtslow
altgeld88 said:
Thought I'd get this goin' early since basketball is humming and this game should be a beast. We're heading to the Garden from DC bright and early Friday morning in hopes of erasing the nightmare memory of Duke last February and getting back to an MSG Illini victory vibe that I last enjoyed v. Maryland in Jan 2019.

Resolved: the boys will avenge the '24 squad on these Huskies.

Discuss.
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The Duke game was my first and only game in the Garden. Walked past a million times, but never made it in.

Just thinking about going back gives me the shakes.
 
#13      
Illinisnake
Se Il Illini said:
On the defensive get ready to fight through a bunch of screens.
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We will be in severe trouble if this team is betting on their ability to get through screens. This isn't Trent Frazier, Ayo Dosunmu, and Damonte Williams on defense. We have one main guy that can really get through screens well, Kylan, because he has the strength and quickness. That is why we should be playing more zone, most of our guys are seen going under screens. Just can't do that against great teams.
 
#14      
NarrowJ
Get ready to fight through a bunch of screens? As opposed to offenses that do not utilize screens?

After viewing them last night for what was the umpteenth time in the last few years: UConn's offense is motion foundation and some set plays. Most common actions seem to be staggers, zoom actions and pin downs.

Kylan gets through screens, Wagler actually does it surprisingly well for a freshman (and he is long and wiry strong), Stoj is wiry strong and athletic and gets through them fine. Petro struggled with some communication things, which is understandable, but he certainly has the quickness to navigate ball screens.

Highly doubt UConn shoots 5-25 from three again, however. Going to be a great game, and I expect Reed to be back for them (and I'd rather play them at full strength anyhow).
 
#15      
21ChampaignSt
Illinisnake said:
We will be in severe trouble if this team is betting on their ability to get through screens. This isn't Trent Frazier, Ayo Dosunmu, and Damonte Williams on defense. We have one main guy that can really get through screens well, Kylan, because he has the strength and quickness. That is why we should be playing more zone, most of our guys are seen going under screens. Just can't do that against great teams.
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I kind of disagree. We haven't had a great defense since we adopted the switch everything approach. I want to see more fighting through screens and for switches to be more matchup dependent.

I think the switching just leads to blown assignments and a little bit less accountability on that end of the court.

Between Kylan, Wagler, Stoj, and Lee I do think we have dudes who can fight through screens. I think the question i would have is are our fives mobile enough to hedge and recover?

My general feeling about zones are that it's not something you do halfway. It's either your primary defense that you practice every day or something you only pull out to steal a possession or two.

But even if we could install it as our primary defense over the next few weeks, would we really want to? Perhaps our biggest strength is rebounding and playing zone would neuter that strength.
 
#16      
FloridaMan
21ChampaignSt said:
I kind of disagree. We haven't had a great defense since we adopted the switch everything approach. I want to see more fighting through screens and for switches to be more matchup dependent.

I think the switching just leads to blown assignments and a little bit less accountability on that end of the court.

Between Kylan, Wagler, Stoj, and Lee I do think we have dudes who can fight through screens. I think the question i would have is are our fives mobile enough to hedge and recover?

My general feeling about zones are that it's not something you do halfway. It's either your primary defense that you practice every day or something you only pull out to steal a possession or two.

But even if we could install it as our primary defense over the next few weeks, would we really want to? Perhaps our biggest strength is rebounding and playing zone would neuter that strength.
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Not in my mind, we would not. In today's game, a zone team is gonna get killed by three pointers more often than not. Too many good shooters these days. I can't think of any other B10 team, or any top team outside of Syracuse, Baylor & Mizzou, who use it more than maybe 10% of their defensive trips? I may be missing some others who do but I just don't see it or hear of it when I'm watching other programs. But I am not watching as many other games as some so I could be wrong.

But I do agree that it can be effective in a few possessions here and there as a change of pace or to try to stop a team - like Alabama, for instance - who gets on a streak of beating us off the dribble to the hoop. Maybe it could help slow down some teams in those instances and help us get a stop here or there.
 
#17      
Illinisnake
21ChampaignSt said:
I kind of disagree. We haven't had a great defense since we adopted the switch everything approach. I want to see more fighting through screens and for switches to be more matchup dependent.

I think the switching just leads to blown assignments and a little bit less accountability on that end of the court.

Between Kylan, Wagler, Stoj, and Lee I do think we have dudes who can fight through screens. I think the question i would have is are our fives mobile enough to hedge and recover?

My general feeling about zones are that it's not something you do halfway. It's either your primary defense that you practice every day or something you only pull out to steal a possession or two.

But even if we could install it as our primary defense over the next few weeks, would we really want to? Perhaps our biggest strength is rebounding and playing zone would neuter that strength.
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That’s just it, they aren’t mobile enough to hedge and cover. This team is huge and long, that screams a zone. Our defense has been problematic thus far, we also hired a guy that knows what to run for defense but we are still playing a similar defense to last year. Stoj isn’t fighting through screens like Ayo or Trent and Lee isn’t going to get enough minutes to impact the defense like that. Maybe this group willl gel more on the current defense but underwood has been stubborn with not changing defensive scheme here and there and it has hurt the teams ability to win. Only last year and this year did we change to a double team to stop a player (Purdue and Texas Tech). I hope it works out whatever they decide to do.
 
#18      
Illini in Italy
Illinisnake said:
That’s just it, they aren’t mobile enough to hedge and cover. This team is huge and long, that screams a zone. Our defense has been problematic thus far, we also hired a guy that knows what to run for defense but we are still playing a similar defense to last year. Stoj isn’t fighting through screens like Ayo or Trent and Lee isn’t going to get enough minutes to impact the defense like that. Maybe this group willl gel more on the current defense but underwood has been stubborn with not changing defensive scheme here and there and it has hurt the teams ability to win. Only last year and this year did we change to a double team to stop a player (Purdue and Texas Tech). I hope it works out whatever they decide to do.
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We play a zone more than a few minutes a game and we will lose 20 games. Too many teams can shoot the three at very high levels (25 teams shot the 3 at 40% or higher last year - including 3 from the B1G). It’s early, and defense always takes longer than offense to put a team together, and we’ve not had a complete team that is 100% healthy ( and I’m not including Ty in this). Brad will get the defense tighter as he has more time to work with the players.
 
#19      
NarrowJ
Illini in Italy said:
We play a zone more than a few minutes a game and we will lose 20 games. Too many teams can shoot the three at very high levels (25 teams shot the 3 at 40% or higher last year - including 3 from the B1G). It’s early, and defense always takes longer than offense to put a team together, and we’ve not had a complete team that is 100% healthy ( and I’m not including Ty in this). Brad will get the defense tighter as he has more time to work with the players.
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I also really like our defense A LOT more in general so far this year, just eye test so far obviously... it's very early but our opponent-adjusted metrics look pretty good so far
 
#20      
Illini in Italy
NarrowJ said:
I also really like our defense A LOT more in general so far this year, just eye test so far obviously... it's very early but our opponent-adjusted metrics look pretty good so far
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Agreed. Bam is doing Bam things, Walker is a very pleasant surprise on both ends of the court, AS, Mirk and PM are all showing some great effort (at times) on the defensive side of the court and Ben is more than holding his own. Once Toni and Z are completely healthy, this season looks bright for the Illini.
 
#21      
Illinisnake
Illini in Italy said:
We play a zone more than a few minutes a game and we will lose 20 games. Too many teams can shoot the three at very high levels (25 teams shot the 3 at 40% or higher last year - including 3 from the B1G). It’s early, and defense always takes longer than offense to put a team together, and we’ve not had a complete team that is 100% healthy ( and I’m not including Ty in this). Brad will get the defense tighter as he has more time to work with the players.
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Playing a 2-3 zone is the only thing that led to more stops in the Alabama game and they shoot the 3 ball very well. They killed us with the three literally because we went under screens and couldn’t get through. I hope whatever they do works, im not saying play zone the entire game, im saying adjustments matter.
 
#22      
NarrowJ
Illinisnake said:
Playing a 2-3 zone is the only thing that led to more stops in the Alabama game and they shoot the 3 ball very well. They killed us with the three literally because we went under screens and couldn’t get through. I hope whatever they do works, im not saying play zone the entire game, im saying adjustments matter.
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Sounds like they did what you’re suggesting?

They shot 36% from three, I don’t think they “killed us” at that percentage.

We actually allowed less PPM than Purdue did, we play fast and people tend to forget that. Purdue made more free throws and shot the 3 extremely well.
 
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