Ben? 1-4 with only 1 rebound and multiple missed assignments
UConn 74, Illinois 61 Postgame
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I agree but you cant recruit bad defenders to begin with and expect them to be good/great defenders. They dont make up for it with shooting either so it looms worse. If we could hit shots the defense wouldnt look as bad.
Ryllini
- Lombard
We will find out how coachable he is. Hopefully Peja gets on his !!! a little bit.
Gonna start calling him big game Brad... and not as a compliment.. Is Brad Underwood Illinois's version of James Franklin??? Oh gosh... I think I just vomit in my mouth a little because that feels all too right and yet oh so wrong.
He missed a ton of bunnies he usually finishes, got timid and taken out of the game for a long stretch. When he isnt at his best our wing play is bad.
Will see if the Bears can pick me up again. I get that losing to Quad 1 teams on "neutral" courts doesn't hurt. But traveling East every year to give the blue bloods of the world an essentially guaranteed Quad 1 victory in MSG every year is getting old. Brad wants to be elite his coaching needs to show out and he needs to win these games. Part of coaching now is keeping players around, sophomore Morez and super senior Tre and this is better team than what he can put on the court now.
No other dawgs. Our Europeans have the IQ and finesse, but no bite.
It helps keep my expectations low for the postseason knowing we won't show up when it counts.
Over Hyped, Overpowered, Overrated, Out coached again, Out played again, Out hustled again, Out muscled again, Out rebounded, out shot, embarrassed again, didn't show up again, Only 1 division 1 player [Boswell] on the team.
I have heard all the excuses that Brad makes, I am sick and tired of it. Time to get a coach that can teach and coach high school kids and not semi pro players from Europe that can't play!
I have heard all the excuses that Brad makes, I am sick and tired of it. Time to get a coach that can teach and coach high school kids and not semi pro players from Europe that can't play!
I 100% agree. It is ridiculous that they would go back TWO shots to look for a reason to add hypothetical seconds to the shot clock.
Did he not want to be back in, or did Underwood not want him back in? Or a bit of both?
The offense is simply not a good or well run offense despite what everyone constantly citing kenpom will tell you(it was not good last year either).
They run an offense you'd expect out of an AAU or travel team. Everything is one on one or occasionally a two man game. One guy has the ball and everyone else simply stands around watching, no off ball movement or screens and nobody is really cutting.The offense simply doesn't create easy looks and doesn't put much pressure on the defense because basically everything comes off of a guy trying to create their own shot off the dribble.
At this point I think Brad is what he is. He's a good recruiter and a mediocre coach. If Whitman is serious about wanting final four runs and competing for a national championship but it's a risky move. Brad keeps you competitive and in the national conversation, he's elevated the program but I think at this point it's clear he's never going to take the next step. I think he would need overwhelming talent to make a serious run and Illinois isn't Duke so I don't think that amount of talent is walking through the door in the modern era and he flat out missed his chance for a final four run with the Shannon team.
They run an offense you'd expect out of an AAU or travel team. Everything is one on one or occasionally a two man game. One guy has the ball and everyone else simply stands around watching, no off ball movement or screens and nobody is really cutting.The offense simply doesn't create easy looks and doesn't put much pressure on the defense because basically everything comes off of a guy trying to create their own shot off the dribble.
At this point I think Brad is what he is. He's a good recruiter and a mediocre coach. If Whitman is serious about wanting final four runs and competing for a national championship but it's a risky move. Brad keeps you competitive and in the national conversation, he's elevated the program but I think at this point it's clear he's never going to take the next step. I think he would need overwhelming talent to make a serious run and Illinois isn't Duke so I don't think that amount of talent is walking through the door in the modern era and he flat out missed his chance for a final four run with the Shannon team.
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blackdog
- Champaign
The problem this staff has is that the offense "works" in that it generates good looks but the players cant make the shots they are getting. Its been so consistent for a long enough period of time they have to recognize that they aren't really putting their guys in positions to be successful.
We just missed 2 more 3's.
Great question for someone to ask in the press conference …
If it’s the first … We’ve got MAJOR problems …
The way he defends, I didn’t want him back in. Better hope we don’t face athletic teams because that’s why we lost two games so far. We can’t guard them.
It was on the play where Big Z hustled his as* back to make a great block on a fast break. He was jogging back and bc of it gave up the ORB. Glad Brad saw it as so did I and said bench him.
If either one of Stojakovic or Tomi show up today we would have been in it right till the end. If they both show up we win. Gotta figure out how to get the best out of our players when it matters most. It would be nice to hit 45%+ on threes vs some top teams instead of doing it against someone we beat by 50.
Top 10 teams are difficult to win against
Duke is 3-5 against top 10 teams over the same time period, for instance
I'm sorry but Mirk shouldn't be attempting 10 three pointers, that's not his game. Whether it's his inexperience/immaturity as a freshman or the coaching staff allowing him to take that many threes either way it can't happen.
Edit: My mistake his field was 3-10 and his threes was 0-4. But yeah, his volume of threes shouldn't go any higher at least 2 in a game.
Edit: My mistake his field was 3-10 and his threes was 0-4. But yeah, his volume of threes shouldn't go any higher at least 2 in a game.
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I get that guys are struggling. But you aren't going to win playing guys like Ben and Jake extended minutes and/or in crunch time. Brad likes to "make a point" with the bench but I'm not sure what that point actually is other than to watch those guys miss shots/rebounds/defensive assignments.
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