Inferior teams bring all their energy in first halves, then get worn down for the second.
Pregame: Illinois vs Houston, Thursday, March 26th, 9:05pm CT, TBS
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80'sIllini
- Arizona
1. Match their toughness
2. Avoid excessive turnovers
3. Don't rely too much on the high ball screen pick and pop- not enough player movement in that set which plays to their defensive strength
4. Tomi needs to keep the ball high and avoid getting stripped when receiving a pass in low post action
5. Z needs to rebound( yes-with 2 hands) in a crowd and intimidate( alter) shots and block some- without getting in foul trouble
6. AS needs to avoid forcing up 1 on 2 or 1 on 3 drives at the rim and getting stripped while dribbling and to play solid D
7. Keaton needs to take ( and make) a solid number of 3's.
Yes, this is a lot but all are achievable. I'd like nothing more than to exact revenge on the cheater Sampson.
2. Avoid excessive turnovers
3. Don't rely too much on the high ball screen pick and pop- not enough player movement in that set which plays to their defensive strength
4. Tomi needs to keep the ball high and avoid getting stripped when receiving a pass in low post action
5. Z needs to rebound( yes-with 2 hands) in a crowd and intimidate( alter) shots and block some- without getting in foul trouble
6. AS needs to avoid forcing up 1 on 2 or 1 on 3 drives at the rim and getting stripped while dribbling and to play solid D
7. Keaton needs to take ( and make) a solid number of 3's.
Yes, this is a lot but all are achievable. I'd like nothing more than to exact revenge on the cheater Sampson.
NCAA slap in face to Illini-Houston home game, game televised on back networks at 9:00 BULL !!!!! We should be a primetime game!
10:05 for us east coasters.....
Houston hasn't faced an offense as good as ours (132.5) this year. The best they faced were Arkansas (128.2) and Arizona (127.3)
We haven't faced a defense as good as theirs (91.8) this year. The best we faced were Michigan (92.5) and Nebraska (93.3).
Sample sizes are very small, but our offense has performed about the same as our season avg (on an adjusted basis) against better defenses. Our defense has performed worse against better offenses (or better defenses). Houston's offense has performed better against better defenses (or better offenses). Their defense has performed worse against better offenses (or better defenses).
I probably wouldn't read too much into any of this since style of play is a major factor in all of this, not just efficiency.
The line has moved to 3.5, so that's now 1-2pts more than Torvik or KenPom would predict, although EvanMiya might even say it should be more (but those ratings seem to have changed in unexpected ways in the last day or two, so I'm not sure what's going on there).
Over the season as a whole, we've been a much stronger first half team according to TeamRankings (+15.2 and #2 in the country vs +10.3 and #13). Houston is also somewhat of a first-half team (+13.6 and #6 vs +11.1 and #11)
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Rest assured for those of us in EDT, the Corn Bowl will probably go to 3OT and we'll tip with Houston at 11 p.m.
He's got to be MUCH stronger with the ball and much more physical on defense. He hit some jumpers in the second half, but he was clearly a target.
If he struggled with VCU's athleticism and physicality.... Houston is VCU x 5. This is one of those games where everyone has to play really well for 40 full minutes. That goes beyond just shooting it well. Those guys are unrelenting beasts....that get an NCAA Tournament home game.
We can't complain because the entire field knew that this was going to be the case with them and we caused our own problems by our BTT mess. We could have/should have been a 2 seed and this would have had been Purdue's problem. This is very similar to two years ago, when we flat out gave away games and playing UCONN in the Elite 8 would have been Marquette's path, though they gagged in the Sweet 16(I think).
We made our bed and now we have to go on the road and play a near flawless against a team that feasts on teams that can't match them physically or athletically.
band camp
- STL City
Gotta get some naps in my man. Works for me.
Illinois 2nd nationally averaging 13 personal fouls per game, and 1st nationally in opponent free throw attempts (12.5)
Houston 206th nationally averaging 18 personal fouls per game, and 172nd nationally in opponent free throw attempts (20.2)
Just thought this was worth noting that Houston is very physical and racks up foul counts
In 5 of their 6 losses they committed 21 or more personal fouls
Houston 206th nationally averaging 18 personal fouls per game, and 172nd nationally in opponent free throw attempts (20.2)
Just thought this was worth noting that Houston is very physical and racks up foul counts
In 5 of their 6 losses they committed 21 or more personal fouls
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
We’ve beat 4/9 teams we played who are now in the S16 (44%) and now we play a team in the S16 that Torvik gives us a 46% chance to beat. Seems about right.
Houston, we are a problem!
Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but he will be a key. His size and athleticism significantly help on the glass. He's also a guy that will get his nose dirty and fight under the glass. Too many people focus on his three point shooting. That's only part of his value.I’m calling it now. Ben Humrichous will win this game
We CANNOT let them have a field day with 2nd, 3rd or even 4th chances. The run that they put Texas A &M to bed was purely due to A & M not being able to handle the defensive glass. We've had our issues on that side, which has costed us games. That simply cannot happen. That and our guards being able to handle intense ball pressure will decide this one.
THIS is a game where the refs matter. If they call a tight game and there are a lot of whistles, that helps us. If they take the "let the players play" approach....that's a problem. For our board members who always scream "That's not a foul!!!" and get upset ....we had better hope for whistle happy refs. That would be a good thing.
Not sure I’d completely agree with this. Michigan State, Gonzaga, Virginia are all examples of 3seeds that wouldn’t have had to play a road game in the S16 against the 2seed.
Why didn’t they “make their bed” ?
P.S. I do understand FLA lost; if you get passed this game, you don’t even see a 1seed. So, I do think it KINDA evens out.
We've had some big wins on the road. I almost think this team enjoys playing the villain.
He's right... These games have always put Illini Nation in the best light.
I remember the national media being somewhat stunned by the Illinois representation in Boston for the S16 and E8 games. Even the Bama in Chicago game got some national buzz, and TSJ talking about the Vegas game against UCLA a few years ago too.
Looking forward to hearing Illinois fans through the screen and another "woah" moment. Norlander alludes to at 4:15 in the video
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I do think that Purdue jumped us by winning the BTT and us not winning a game. I THINK that was specifically mentioned when they broke out how the seeds played out. We might have been the final #2 seed going into the BTT, tournament, then got hurdled, which is what put Purdue in St. Louis and us in SC. Prior to Purdue winning, I believe the reverse would have been true. Please correct me if I'm wrong with that. I could be TOTALLY off base and we were going to be stuck regardless.
CBS guy picked Illinois to win. Reasoning was that Houston has a lot of trouble with the other team's offensive rebounding (one of our strengths). We generate more shots that way and they turn teams over to generate more shots for them. If we don't turn it over much and rebound we'll, we can win this one. It makes some sense for sure.
7:05 for us West coasters
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
Just came on to note that there are 345 posts in the pre-game thread FOUR DAYS before the game. You guys are crazy. And I love you for it! Go ILLINI!
Turnovers so key... Houston sits at 327 in pace. We can send to the glass without fear (atleast initially) of getting toasted in transition.
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