UConn 74, Illinois 61 Postgame

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#201      
FloridaMan
…INI said:
It’s already been called out in this thread several times but I’m calling it again.

Boswell is our Gamer. He steps up in big games and late game situations. It’s great to have him on the team. I was hoping that AS and Tomi would be the others but consistency is definitely not there.
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Agree. But he needs to bring it from the tip. Set the example from the start and get on guys' asses if they don't follow suit in the effort department.
 
#202      
STLini25
Indy Illini Fan said:
Coaches are going to find out the hard way … They don’t run this 💩 anymore …

If you’ve got a booster paying a kid millions … You will do what that booster says …

Otherwise … You won’t have those millions next year …
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I agree. It creates a bad situation when you go ask a booster big money because “you really needs this player” and then the player doesn’t pan out. Tough to go back to booster for more money the next year. College sports are a weird and possibly unsustainable business model.

However, with all that said, I can’t see Underwood playing a player who doesn’t hustle, play defense, rebound, etc. Might be an early red flag.
 
#203      
rmlsr
STLini25 said:
0% you can allow a player play bad defense, not rebound, not pass, not play hard just because you are paying him.

Underwood is not going to allow a kid getting paid to allow him to play bad basketball. One example is Skyy Clark. He thought making money gave him privileges and Underwood sent him packing by Christmas.
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Underwood should have gotten his attention about those areas and been preparing the players in games leading up to this game. He should not be just trying to correct the problems now. Brad approach to the season has been poor and getting players attention to play defense has been not very demanding of the players except maybe today benching him
 
#204      
Bucktown
They need really need some toughness, and the ability to shoot when the other team is pushing the envelope on defense. Maybe some hard practices where no fouls are called.
 
#205      
Sedino
NarrowJ said:
Top 10 teams are difficult to win against

Duke is 3-5 against top 10 teams over the same time period, for instance
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Didn’t say it wasn’t difficult but it’s 6-12 is still bad. Agaisnt teams that were top 10 at the time of the game in the same time frame Hurley is 13-10, Sampson is 10-9, Oats is 11-9, Painter is 10-7, Beard is 8-9.

Before anyone says I’m just cherry picking the best, I’m actually picking coaches that are in the same pay grade as Brad (minus Hurley). The only two around their same pay I didn’t include are Pope because of small sample size and Hoiberg.
 
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#206      
Rebounding Dog
Relax folks… it is early! We had a very bad shooting day. 32% from the field, 21% for 3’s and a -5 in rebounding.
We missed a lot of shots that are normally going to fall!
Gonzaga got beat by 40… it could have worse for us!
We will get better as this group gets clicking and our rotation is figured out!
Move on to the next one! It will be ok! Just one game… one loss that we all knew was likely!
 
#207      
Second place is 1st loser
NashvILLe05 said:
If you’re going to prioritize positional size and skill (shot creation and making) over athleticism, you better have good Off/Def systems to support that strategy because when you inevitably run into a team with size, skill, and higher levels of athleticism, you need to execute flawlessly and make shots. Think of some of the Team USA upsets over the years to less athletic teams that played highly disciplined and made shots. That’s our only chance against top level talent and size.

This is all on coaching. Seems like we’re throwing sh*t at the wall to see what sticks. I’ll be at the ILL-TENN next Saturday. Living in SEC country, I’d certainly appreciate not dropping to 0-3 against these guys (let alone the 2 losses to Alabama) in consecutive years.
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That's insane. I know you're frustrated, but that's an absolute lazy take to an obvious answer.

This is a Euro built team. When you go down that path, which is fine, you have to understand that you're exchanging explosiveness, athleticism and probably tenacity (the three marry)....for a ton of height, immense skill and probably a more savvy roster.

I don't like Euro ball because you just have less ways to win and you are truly relying on skill. With that, if you can't hit the three.....it looks ugly. We look like a slow, unathletic team and if we don't shoot well, the optics are terrible.

The shots were there. You can't argue with the scheme. If they make a reasonable percentage, it's ultra tight down the stretch. This team was built for the shots they got.

With UConn, they're not overly skilled, they shoot the ball and you know they're going to be playing above the rim. We'll see it again with Tennessee.

The reality is, if we make free throws vs Bama and shoot the ball semi decently today..... we're probably undefeated or at worst 7-1.

We can blame the coaches for choosing this style and recruiting for it, but can't blame them for the outcomes because the plays were there to be made.
 
#210      
skyIdub
CoachHooleyHoo said:
Did you watch the game? Mirk, Petro and Andrej were not just bad, they were absolutely horrendous. I legitimately don’t think you can play Mirk against high level competition. He makes so many bad decisions and is possibly the worst defender on the team. Triple doubles against Podunk U doesn’t impress me.
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I stepped away at halftime, but a quick look at the stats say Mirk had 8 rebounds in 18 minutes.

If he hasn't impressed you yet....as a 19 year old freshman...vs a 23 year old seasoned college basketball player, there's not much more to say then.

He absolutely has to be on the floor to grow against this level of competition because we already know what BH brings vs this level.
 
#211      
IlliniCC16
LvilleILL1 said:
This team will be totally fine. Some stuff to work out and things to improve but they will get there. Much more confident than last year.
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In your opinion, how connected is this team compared to years past? Losses always make us assume the worst, but I know that’s not always the case…
 
#213      
CoachHooleyHoo
NarrowJ said:
I didn’t think we looked overmatched at all, we just shot extremely poorly (again)

Hurley is a guy that says what he thinks, he’s already proven once he will bash our coaching staff and team if he thinks it’s warranted. He didn’t do that this time, said we have high a ceiling as any team they’ve faced (they just played Arizona btw).

Make shots and this is a ball game, and that’s not a controversial statement whatsoever.
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Fair points but we’ll just agree to disagree. If UConn hadn’t gone through a stretch where they missed shots (most were exactly the shots they were looking for), they would have won by 25 or 30. In my opinion we looked overmatched at almost every position.
 
#214      
BatteredWifeSchwartz
LvilleILL1 said:
This team will be totally fine. Some stuff to work out and things to improve but they will get there. Much more confident than last year.
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Thank God for an insider with some optimism and I’m totally with you. An E8 run and everyone forgets about this loss. Y’all remember the Marquette loss in 2023? Yeah me neither.

That said, we can still be disappointed in today’s performance. Just felt like the guys aren’t playing as a team yet. It also just felt like a continuation of last year which I know is frustrating for many.
 
#216      
zentrails
ILL-Intentions said:
Anyone else catch Andrej being taken out and walking right past Brad as he’s yelling at him, straight to the bench. Completely ignoring him
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It's why (IMO) Jake was playing the the last few minutes, destroying any chance of a come-back.
Hopefully this is a lesson that takes
 
#219      
NarrowJ
CoachHooleyHoo said:
Fair points but we’ll just agree to disagree. If UConn hadn’t gone through a stretch where they missed shots (most were exactly the shots they were looking for), they would have won by 25 or 30. In my opinion we looked overmatched at almost every position.
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So if UConn would’ve played an absolutely perfect game they would’ve won by more points

I agree with that 🤷‍♂️
 
#221      
NarrowJ
Sedino said:
Didn’t say it wasn’t difficult but it’s 6-12 is still bad. Agaisnt teams that were top 10 at the time of the game in the same time frame Hurley is 13-10, Sampson is 10-9, Oats is 11-9, Painter is 10-7, Beard is 8-9.

Before anyone says I’m just cherry picking the best, I’m actually picking coaches that are in the same pay grade as Brad (minus Hurley). The only two around their same pay I didn’t include are Pope because of small sample size and Hoiberg.
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All of those samples are small
 
#223      
PNWIllini
Full bandwagon, early test against a possible F4 means we grow and mature.

Full cynical, look at those soft Euroboys melt under American bright lights. Won’t be the last time.
 
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