Illinois 78, Maryland 72 Postgame

[EmeraldCityIllini]

I love these. Would like to draw attention to the yellow circles. One is not like the other. When the threes ain't falling, please, please start going inside more when we have such an obvious advantage (e.g. Maryland, or say, I don't know - WISCONSIN). Now, that strategy probably doesn't work against Michigan. But we've got to recognize when the shots are not going in that we should get the ball to the rim, at least for stretches. It seems so obvious, IMO.

It was the difference in this game. They missed some bunnies, we by and large did not.

we shot 16 threes in the first half, and 8 in the second half. We shot 5 free throws in the first half, and 21 in the second - so it seems like we certainly did go inside more.

As for the "bunnies" idk. Both teams shot basically identical from 2 point range. And if they missed bunnies, they more than made up for it with some incredibly difficult midrange shots.

As a note, our 24 3-point attempts today would rank on a per game average - 147th in the country.

 

[Illinois_in_MD]

The poor 3 point shooting seems to be the trend for this team. This team is on the struggle bus.

Yep, the shooting in recent weeks has been uncomfortably reminiscent of last season.

 

[Piotyr]

Someone gave Tomi a video camera...

 

[aaeismacgychel]

I love these. Would like to draw attention to the yellow circles. One is not like the other. When the threes ain't falling, please, please start going inside more when we have such an obvious advantage (e.g. Maryland, or say, I don't know - WISCONSIN). Now, that strategy probably doesn't work against Michigan. But we've got to recognize when the shots are not going in that we should get the ball to the rim, at least for stretches. It seems so obvious, IMO.

It was the difference in this game. They missed some bunnies, we by and large did not.

View attachment 48094

I agree that we need to go inside more, however, I'll also say we need more production from our 5s to help in that regard. Tomi for whatever reason this year isn't even looking to post up inside. And Z, while electric on the 'oops has been more an outside presence. So really most of our interior presence has been either Mirk or one on one drives by Keaton, Andrej, or Boz.

I'd like to see us have a couple set alleyoop plays we can call anytime for Z as he does cut well off the ball and can jump 5 feet in the air until they stop it, but outside of that, with Tomi unwilling to post up, we almost need to make our wide open in rhythm threes to open things up inside and we're just struggling to do that right now outside of Jake and Ben

 

[Keisersose]

Busch League on BU's part.

Not great vibes if he feels the need to respond in this manner.

Also, if it was soo patently untrue it would not have warranted such disdain...
I felt the same way with him coming after Piper and his shooting after a question last year. You're paid millions of dollars to answer questions and be available to the media.

And Mathew Mayer isn’t even on this team for us to justify it.

 

[Geno33]

Brad said Andrjej had the flu this week and lost 10 pounds, no doubt wasn't feeling great but at least he went. Hitting those free throws was huge at the end of the game. He also said Keaton had some back issues, nothing serious but it's bothered him a bit.

As someone who's had back issues since the military, nothing worse, even walking vibrates up your entire back.

 

[EmeraldCityIllini]

we really got fans this bothered by the brad question response, huh?

I gotta say im surprised by this haha

 

[DICKnaggie]

I’d almost bet Wagler. He looked real gassed.

I said this in the game thread, but it was really apparent. He was slower than normal, couldn't elevate, and all his free throws hit the front of the rim first. Something was off.

 

[Poe's Law]

Okay super random question, but did one of the announcers say that we would likely be a 3-5 seed? Did I hear that correctly?
Cause that is the most “they’re ranked 11th” type of lazy analysis

Might have been talking about the conference tournament?

 

[Indy Illini Fan]

The Ivisic's with another 0 fer on 3's.
One of Tomi's shots was about 5 feet short.
Don't know whether to laugh or cry.

For the money they're making this year … ROI isn’t there …

And they want MORE next year …

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

Okay super random question, but did one of the announcers say that we would likely be a 3-5 seed? Did I hear that correctly?
Cause that is the most “they’re ranked 11th” type of lazy analysis

I THINK he meant the Big Ten Tournament, which was 100% true.

 

[fatboyslim]

Where did I say he didn't answer the question?

I commented on the manner in which he responded to the question.

You didn't. You said that it was bush league and it wasn't. My response to that is that he answered the question what more do you want from him. Not bush league, He doesn't have to answer it in the manner you want him to, he answered the question move on.

 

[Indy Illini Fan]

I’d almost bet Wagler. He looked real gassed.

I know of 3 guys that it was really impacting today …

Get this out of the system now …

People can disagree but I’m not worried about the Big Ten Tournament … If we win … Great … If we lose … Fine …

Focus needs to be on the Big Dance … Second weekend …

 

[Indy Illini Fan]

Busch League on BU's part.

Not great vibes if he feels the need to respond in this manner.

Also, if it was soo patently untrue it would not have warranted such disdain...
I felt the same way with him coming after Piper and his shooting after a question last year. You're paid millions of dollars to answer questions and be available to the media.

Couldn’t agree more … And Brad spent most of the game sitting on his …

No fire … No adjustments … Just keep chucking 3s and let Mills score at will …

 

[DICKnaggie]

Busch League on BU's part.

Not great vibes if he feels the need to respond in this manner.

Also, if it was soo patently untrue it would not have warranted such disdain...
I felt the same way with him coming after Piper and his shooting after a question last year. You're paid millions of dollars to answer questions and be available to the media.

It really feels like the halftime interview of the UConn game in the tourney when he doubled down on continuing to do what we were doing when we were getting killed. Not a good look.

 

[DICKnaggie]

For the money they're making this year … ROI isn’t there …

And they want MORE next year …

I'm fine with letting Tomi go. I'd love to keep Z, but the expense has to meet the performance.

 

[MidwesternCowboy]

I didn't see much of the game, but it looked much closer than it should have been. Were there any particular reasons for that? Poor offense? Bad rebounding? Focusing more on the B10 Tournament and MM than this game?

Regardless, a win is a win, and we were able to end the season on a high note and keep our triple bye.

 

[SkyysNotFalling]

I love these. Would like to draw attention to the yellow circles. One is not like the other. When the threes ain't falling, please, please start going inside more when we have such an obvious advantage (e.g. Maryland, or say, I don't know - WISCONSIN). Now, that strategy probably doesn't work against Michigan. But we've got to recognize when the shots are not going in that we should get the ball to the rim, at least for stretches. It seems so obvious, IMO.

It was the difference in this game. They missed some bunnies, we by and large did not.

View attachment 48094

Maryland went 5/6 on long 2’s. Most contested.

 

[FloridaMan]

we shot 16 threes in the first half, and 8 in the second half. We shot 5 free throws in the first half, and 21 in the second - so it seems like we certainly did go inside more.

As for the "bunnies" idk. Both teams shot basically identical from 2 point range. And if they missed bunnies, they more than made up for it with some incredibly difficult midrange shots.

As a note, our 24 3-point attempts today would rank on a per game average - 147th in the country.

Yes, I don't disagree. We seem slow to go inside when threes are not falling though. One glaring example is that we were up 6 I think (??) after the flagrant free throws. We had been scoring inside, so what do we do with the bonus possession? Missed a three.

I'm not saying abandon threes. Or shoot well below an average NCAA team. All I'm saying is recognize when you have the advantage down low and try to take advantage of it instead of continuing to shoot shots you are not successfully making at particular points during games.

 

[Juju]

I REALLY wish Nebraska had lost so that we'd be the 3 seed. Oh well, though. Just gotta play the hand we've been dealt. When our guys are on, they're virtually unstoppable. Hopefully, now that every game from here on out will be win or go home, that killer mentality we saw for so much of the season fully returns. I believe! GO ILLINI!!!

 

[ILL-Intentions]

Hopefully a lot of recovery now, no treadmills, and some shooting practice.

 

[Altgeld's Bells]

For the money they're making this year … ROI isn’t there …

And they want MORE next year …

I'm going to play devil's advocate - will the asking price be in line with other post players next year? I hope we don't underestimate the market like it seems to have happened for the D line in football.

 

[NashvILLe05]

For the money they're making this year … ROI isn’t there …

And they want MORE next year …

Would Mirk stay if the other Balkans leave? Not that we couldn’t add more from Eastern Europe. I know money talks but cultural familiarity matters when far from home.

 

[TonyClifton]

For the money they're making this year … ROI isn’t there …

And they want MORE next year …

Tomi is down a bit this year compared to last. Around 300th overall in D1 on Torvik. Not that this captures everything, but for the cost, should we be expecting more like top 100?

 

[Illini-Rule]

We shoot 3's better when we go inside and then kick it out. It feels like we have gotten away from that in these recent games that we aren't shooting well.