Illinois 81, Rutgers 55 Postgame
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Wow.
Looking at that chart gives a pretty clear picture of what's being emphasized during practice!
Petro reminds me of Nico....which is slightly disappointing because I anticipated more, but we have a strong backcourt as is. Maybe he'll have some good minutes vs Iowa like Nico.
Talk about game-plan executed to a tee.
I don't think we lose a single game this year where that's the shot chart.
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Likewise, Michigan was up 30 against Villanova and lost the 2nd half. Also, after being up 13 against Wake Forest, they lost the 2nd half by 13 and needed OT to eventually beat them.
Just this week, Purdue was up 18 at the half vs Washington and then lost the second half by 9. Arizona, up by 19 at the half, tied the second half vs. Utah (KP #129). Vandy lost their 6 point halftime lead entirely in the second half and needed OT to beat Memphis.
I forgot who it was.... but I remember at some point during the summer, there was a post claiming Mirkovic will be Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk and Petrovic will be Nico Morretti.
The post got plenty of backlash.
They were correct on one. But airball on the other.
Our lead was also NEVER less than 20pts at any point in 2H.
It's just life being up 27 at halftime.
Sure Mizzou was great, but when you're up by that margin, you're significantly likelier to not come out with the same focus and energy.
Tennessee beat Rutgers by 25. Second half score: 30-29 Rutgers. I don't think anyone was claiming Tennessee's team was cooked.
I don’t wanna play the compare game … And I certainly am not saying this team is cooked ?? I’m trying to get this team to take that next step … Great teams demolish teams like Rutgers for 40 minutes …
The standard is the standard … All out effort … Didn’t happen in the 2H …
That’s not meeting my expectations … Not meeting Brad’s expectations … Not meeting the expectations this team set for itself in preparation for this season …
The Petro experiment needs to be over unless we’re up 25 …
To help me get over the fact he is an absolute bust I have to remind myself we have this kid named Keaton Wagler who’s absolutely taken on the role I had envisioned for Petro and surpassed my expectations …
You don't have to squint hard to realize certain folks here watch little to none college basketball outside of their team. Which is fine.... it's just why they seem to believe all is wrong with our team.
I thought the entire game was extremely physical. No sense risking an injury, when you’re up 20 points. I think KW getting smacked in the head was enough for me to think, take it a little easier, and finish them off.
Also did not anticipate Jake carving out a role for himself. Hats off to him. Ty going down opened the door for him and he seized that moment.
I certainly hope the team doesn’t come up with this answer when Brad asks why Rutgers had more fire than us in the 2H last night …
It’s not about other programs … It’s about the Illini standard … EDGs … All out effort …
That corner 3 is nearly automatic from him …
We also won the second half of our football game at #1Oregon 6-3.
madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
If the first 10 minutes had gone the way the first half went I would agree, but our main guys need to know how to finish what they started. UCONN didn’t win back to back national titles taking it easy. Learn how to kill.
Since the beginning of the year (Alabama and UConn for sure, even Tennessee a bit) their defense has gotten much, much better. They still don't have great on-ball defenders. However, in the Alabama game they couldn't stay in front of anyone and the help just wasn't coming. Now, while they still have some trouble staying in front of guys, their help defense has gotten waaay better. They have also been mixing in some zone, and it seems to work every time they do it. I'd like to see more of that. Finally, they aren't ALWAYS doing drop coverage on ball screens now and sometimes do the aggressive hedge. Mixing it up is much better, although I personally prefer to see the aggressive hedge become the norm and the drop coverage become the exception.
Offensively, they have played well primarily because we have very good offensive players. Wagler, Stojakovic, Boswell (especially since his shot selection has been better this year) are all very good 1on1 players. Tomi and Mirkovic are also good offensive players (Tomi is likely still banged up or he'd be better). I think their pro-style, over-reliance on exploiting matchups compared with running more motion may make their efficiency numbers better in total, but I think it makes them much more likely to beat teams they are better than and less likely to beat teams they are worse than. In other words, when they don't have a good matchup to exploit they have trouble creating easy buckets in the face of really tough defense. I think their history proves that out, as for the last several years they have been "upset" pretty infrequently and also beat a team that is "better" than them infrequently.
Overall, I like the way the coaching has looked lately. Sometimes Underwood is slow to make adjustments that "fix" issues. However, he does eventually make those adjustments (less drop coverage, some zone, better help on d). It seems he makes the adjustments on defense moreso than on offense. If they could adopt more motion (which would be a heavy lift since they have built everything around pick and roll) they could get to the next level. If not, it is going to be hard for them to beat the UConns/Dukes of the world that are very well coached and athletic.
Offensively, they have played well primarily because we have very good offensive players. Wagler, Stojakovic, Boswell (especially since his shot selection has been better this year) are all very good 1on1 players. Tomi and Mirkovic are also good offensive players (Tomi is likely still banged up or he'd be better). I think their pro-style, over-reliance on exploiting matchups compared with running more motion may make their efficiency numbers better in total, but I think it makes them much more likely to beat teams they are better than and less likely to beat teams they are worse than. In other words, when they don't have a good matchup to exploit they have trouble creating easy buckets in the face of really tough defense. I think their history proves that out, as for the last several years they have been "upset" pretty infrequently and also beat a team that is "better" than them infrequently.
Overall, I like the way the coaching has looked lately. Sometimes Underwood is slow to make adjustments that "fix" issues. However, he does eventually make those adjustments (less drop coverage, some zone, better help on d). It seems he makes the adjustments on defense moreso than on offense. If they could adopt more motion (which would be a heavy lift since they have built everything around pick and roll) they could get to the next level. If not, it is going to be hard for them to beat the UConns/Dukes of the world that are very well coached and athletic.
One person is approaching this discussion with a coach's mindset while others are approaching it with a fan/analyst's mindset
I'm sure Brad is telling his players today that the 2H effort was unacceptable and we should never have Rutgers outscore us in a half, ever... requires Brad to completely block out reality, but that's just how its done... that's how you coach
If you approach this very same subject as a fan/analyst, the conversation is vastly different and there's no need to block out reality to get a response from a set of individuals or persuade them to perform better... you can see 2H results from equivalent teams and know that this sort of thing happens A LOT
That said, there are plenty who show up on message boards with a "coach's mindset" and we see that in the overall theme of the board over a period of 4 games where we are the #1 team in the entire nation efficiency-wise (Torvik), yet if you read this board you'd think we were a bubble team
I'm sure Brad is telling his players today that the 2H effort was unacceptable and we should never have Rutgers outscore us in a half, ever... requires Brad to completely block out reality, but that's just how its done... that's how you coach
If you approach this very same subject as a fan/analyst, the conversation is vastly different and there's no need to block out reality to get a response from a set of individuals or persuade them to perform better... you can see 2H results from equivalent teams and know that this sort of thing happens A LOT
That said, there are plenty who show up on message boards with a "coach's mindset" and we see that in the overall theme of the board over a period of 4 games where we are the #1 team in the entire nation efficiency-wise (Torvik), yet if you read this board you'd think we were a bubble team
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Then there no great teams. The 04-05 team was up 38-23 against #101 KP Missouri, but lost the second half 41-32 and won the game by just 6 points.
I would be surprised if that is anyone's answer, and that's not the point. Obviously the way the team approaches the competition is going to be different from the way fans do. I would certainly hope the players have a different mentality than the fans on this website. Otherwise they probably would have packed their bags and gone home after beating Penn St. by only 8.
The point is that it's fine to argue about some imaginary standard about what the team should be, but there's value in zooming out a little to see how the world actually works. I'd love for the Illini to win every game 150-0 and shoot 100% from the field. But that's not a realistic expectation, so why work myself up about it? When a game is 100% in-hand players are going to play a little looser. And sometimes a team that's down finds adopts a 'nothing to lose' mentality and it results in better play on their end. That's just human nature, and you see it all over basketball results from every level. That's how this sport works sometimes.
And it's not necessarily a bad thing. There are things you would never try in a close game that you can workshop in a blowout. Maybe that helps you down the line. Or maybe there's value in seeing things that don't work and can be called out in film study and practice, so they don't happen in a closer game.
Not that anything I say will change any of this. If this team fails to make a Final Four I am sure there will be fans on here calling for BU's head, and I eagerly await to see who the flavor-of-the month replacement choices will be. Probably not the same ones as this past offseason!
Jake reminds me so much of Sean Harrington (definitely not looks wise, lol) just gives me that feeling the balls going in every time he shoots!
I love hearing how connected this team is, but watching warmups last night, it just feels like Petro is excluded from that. May not be the case at all, and I know there’s a lot of factors there (personality, cultural differences) but even in layup lines, something felt off. Hope I’m wrong on that. Feels like he’s got a couple months left to be an Illini and then on to other things.
the “striving for perfection” stuff is a fine line.
It always sounds good to say, put on a banner, etc. but I always felt our groups under Brad who have performed best look joyous out there.
If you’re constantly harping on everything wrong when you’re still improving and winning, that can be a real turn off. Again, a fine line.
It always sounds good to say, put on a banner, etc. but I always felt our groups under Brad who have performed best look joyous out there.
If you’re constantly harping on everything wrong when you’re still improving and winning, that can be a real turn off. Again, a fine line.
He looks like a guy searching for his confidence right now. There is a good player in there somewhere, I'm just not sure he's going to find it here, at least not this season. He looks like a ball-dominant PG, and we just don't play like that. The offense gets wonky when he is on the court. He passed up a layup last night, and then left another short. Tough to break out of a confidence spiral when you are getting limited minutes, but you won't get minutes until you break out of the spiral.
Not ideal for him.
Considering the circumstances, it would be weird if he didn't seem a bit off. He was billed a starter and can't get off the bench. If he was skipping around looking like the cat that ate the canary, you'd worry about his competitive spirit.
I'll keep beating this drum until it comes true
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