But my comment wasn't about that game. It was,about whether I'd rather face duke or uconn. I think an argument can be made for duke based on Hurley being a superior coach.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
English teachers across the country are standing by with red pens in hand.....
For your oblivious argument, yes?
For Hurley's resume, no?
1. we were saying the Duke final play had more to do with luck than Scheyer's awful coaching or Hurley's divine, godly coaching
2. you were claiming the opposite, and said Hurley's made a routine of "pulling off these wins in the tourney."
3. I'm saying he hasn't, because on his decorated tournament resume, he hasn't won a single game in the manner we're talking about (outside of the Duke game itself).
There's probably only been 3 or 4 games in the history of basketball that have been decided on that kind of sequence. It takes an immense amount of luck for a coach to fall into one of them (let alone multiple).
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I still hold a slight belief he and UConn in general made a deal with the devil in the early 2000s. There’s dark magic somewhere in that program I’m convinced.
But yeah Hurley can coach, as painful as it is to admit
But yeah Hurley can coach, as painful as it is to admit
He gets his shot off quick!
Brown got a little wiggle in his game too.
Dare I say… sneaky athletic?
Dare I say… sneaky athletic?
I hereby, decree that hither and yon: Ethan Brown shall be known as “ Downtown Ethan Brown” for evermore. (I really like this Lincoln-kid too; btw.)
No lie:
Either this or Kansas--TCU was the worst choke job from last season (from what I remember).
The problem with Brown is that he's a lower-quality redundant piece of what we already have. He doesn't give us something we're missing.
That'd be Lincoln Williams. The question is if he's ready to play at this level, and can crack the rotation. The SKILL SET is valuable.
That'd be Lincoln Williams. The question is if he's ready to play at this level, and can crack the rotation. The SKILL SET is valuable.
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Quick release
Well, my point was not what you claim.
I was discussing which team you'd rather face. Duke or UConn. I said an argument could be made that you'd pick UConn because Hurley is superior in post season coaching.
You haven't convinced me that he's not.
Vaaks was not good in his two games against UCONN
You forget about matchups - which are important in sports. UConn plays a glacial pace, forces you to defend actions for 30 second and grinds you down on D. Wasn't there some stat that our three lowest offensive outputs over the last three years were to them? Two lowest last year and then that massacre in 2024. Bad matchup, clearly. Michigan was averaging around 95/game in the tourney and UConn locked them down in the 60's.
Great to see that clip. Last clip we saw showed him lacking in physicality and a tad hesitant instead of doing his thing quickly and confidently.
Brown is obviously progressing physically (thanks Adam Fletcher) which he badly needed. In addition, he appears to be confident and doing what he needs to do to contribute. Could become a solid cog in the Illini wheel and/or a starter/rotational player in a couple of years....not just a guy that plays due to experience, but a B1G warrior who hits shots every night, low turnovers, and defends. Can't have enough of those guys.
He will have 4 and maybe 5 classmates ahead of him in playing time, but he has value at that spot that we have not had previously from similarly rated frosh. Hope he is willing to work hard and be patient. He has B1G level skills but not the body....yet. That should come with time and work...along with confidence.
This is all true- but the most satisfying win by a wide margin for me would be UConn, not the most important, that would be Michigan, nor the best win, that would be Duke.
But the most satisfying is UConn, need to get past the Hurley demons if we are going to take the next step and we have the team to do it this year
Somewhat unrelated. I'm always skeptical of coaching "luck".
Their job is to put the right player in the right position to succeed. "Lucky" bounces are a byproduct of someone being in the position to take advantage.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
My brother and I tossed this question around. We both said Kofi with Plummer’s shooting because that’s a bigger marginal gain and impact.
His comp for Wagler with TSJ’s athleticism is Jaylen Brown, while his comp for Kofi was a poor man’s Joel Embiid.
I agree, generally. Though in this specific scenario, being down 2 with seconds left and also not having possession of the ball wasn't "in the right position to succeed".
You could attribute coaching to breaking down 19 point deficit against the overall one to having all momentum at that point. Sometimes good things happen when you team develops a mentality.
So one team has a 2 point lead with seconds left, and also has the ball (other team has no timeouts).
Momentum? lol mkay
Lot of bending over backwards to give Hurley credit for a 0.01% chance of winning that game. The guy has enough on his resume that we already must consider him a great coach, do we really have to work this hard to make him the divine cause of the completely improbable turnover + desperation heave? I mean what's next? Are we going to argue he actually made that play happen somehow? Wasn't aware there were so many Hurley fanboys on here...
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I mean, yeah there is some luck attached to it but it was a tipped pass (a bad pass) but still defense caused that decision, Hurley coaches his guys to never give up. Lately he has landed two of the best Illini teams in program history a loss in the tourney, his players believe they are always going to win. That is why I didn't want this team to play UCONN and would rather them play DUKE because of coaching.
I can't stand Hurley but let's not pretend luck won him that game, it was a tipped pass, great defense, that led to a shot from a stud shooter.