foby
- Bonnaroo Land
Amazing job! Looking forward to accessing it over and over.
College Sports (Basketball)
Yeah. It looks worse when Tom Michael leaves for a job in U of I athletics department shortly after it gets signed.
Thanks! Much appreciated. Feel free to send me your info and I'll load you up with sandbox tokens.
Michael's son is an assistant at EIU as well.
Nepotism, you say? I am shocked.
Simmons has to go
Great breakdown of what we’re gonna face for the 4th time!
Has to? Yes. Will he? Not likely til the contract ends. At this point, I'll only watch their opening game, maybe some games against P5 (I'll for sure watch the Illini game if it's televised), and the OVC tournament but that's about it. I'm so mentally checked out on the program at this point.
I agree he won't go before, unless it gets really bad
Teams that have guys that move well without the ball are tough.
What caught me the most was how they swap roles so seamlessly where the screener becomes the shooter/slasher and vice verse. It's just non-stop misdirection and option offense (to steal some football terminology).
It's kinda sad how bad basketball (really both of them) and football are at this point when you look at how successful some of the Olympic sports are.
Something I was thinking about with guys like Trey Kaufman-Renn; he got drafted in the second round and is trying to come back and play college basketball...
If he has a great year this year, what happens? Will he just turn around and re-enter for the draft? Does this mean that the T-Wolves pretty much wasted their second-round pick? Really bizarre situation to try and wrap my head around...
If he has a great year this year, what happens? Will he just turn around and re-enter for the draft? Does this mean that the T-Wolves pretty much wasted their second-round pick? Really bizarre situation to try and wrap my head around...
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
I believe the T-Wolves still hold his draft rights.
As an EIU alum, this is an easier non conference schedule compared to last year haha. We will forever be in basketball purgatory.
Last year:
@ Notre Dame (was actually a close game at half)
@#8 Kentucky
@#1 Purdue
@#4 Iowa State
However, we need as much money as we can get.
Wasn't too happy to see it, I get it's a tough place to win but it's time to move on.
I've watched film of that 2024 team and they're zigging and zagging through screens, pin downs with hand off's, and they're often running it for 20 seconds plus.
I think the essence of their system is forcing the opponent to focus for the entire shot clock. This tires them out, and wears them out so much that it impacts them on the other side of the floor, takes teams completely out of rythym. So when you say "we got good looks", those looks are also after they gassed you on defense chasing them around for 25 seconds. I think one of his tricks to the trade is having his kids phenomenally conditioned to maintain this stuff.
There is a reason they consistently wipe the floor with all these OOC opponents. Perhaps in the BE familiarity helps, and the reffing also allows more stuff to stunt their actions (holding, grabbing). If the refs are letting you play with the holding and grabbing, it can effectively desync all the motion.
They don't shoot a lot of free throws, which makes you wonder if challenging the refs with that could actually work.
If you look at 2024, they at times would play with their food a bit in the first half, then wear down teams in the second and just run away. Last year versus Duke, Duke looked like they had nothing left in the tank in the last ten minutes. They were falling down, bouncing balls off themselves.
Pitino seems to be their kryptonite because he has his teams in unreal physical condition. I look at a kid like Tarris Reed for instance, he looked like a different human physically from Michigan to UConn. Left UM a doughy oaf, left UConn a sculpture and the best big in CBB in the tourney.
Brad with his slow pace, not sure the Illini require the type of conditioning that it takes to keep up with their scheme.
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He also took out starters for a good chunk of time in the second half from before the under 16 to after the under 12 (taking best advantage of two TV timeouts). They had built a comfortable double digit lead by then something like 47-32. And then he brought those guys back in to close out the game.
They constantly set moving screens by subtly hip checking with a wide base/stance. But we do some of that too.
Hurley’s offense does require ridiculous cardio and communication to effectively defend against. I think the trick is to make them also work on defense so they’re a bit less dynamic running their O on tired feet. Tarris slowed down a bit in the second half in the second half in the F4. Wasn’t as dynamic as the first half.
Tons of moving screens, Hurley definitely tests the limits.
It's not only effective against us is the thing. The only team out there at the moment that has found a way to neutralize it is Pitino.
Hurley had Florida by the nuts during their NC run, was up 3-4 under 5, and then shat on itself by missing some wide open looks.
They also played Michigan tight, despite being severely outmanned and with what looked like 6-7 highly lopsided calls that took Demary & Reed out of the game.
I’ve struggled to articulate this.
Hurley could legit be 4 for 4. His Xs and Os and how his personnel execute it is chef’s kiss.
Yaxel was a bit hobbled. But so was Solo Ball. And Karaban is a winning player but no one would call him a plus athlete or a top 2 offensive option. Mullins had a very topsy turvy year with his injury. Silas was also just back from injury. Reed was almost poetically cast off from Michigan.
To go toe to toe for as long as they did with Boozer-led Duke and lottery frontcourt-led Michigan (none of whom ironically weren’t even MOP F4) is just an absolute coaching masterclass by Hurley.
He’s already landed Bowman Jr and is in the running for more Burger Boys like Henry. Like May, I really wish he had taken that NBA job.
Hurley plays the refs better than anyone I’ve seen.
In our game, he threw Malachi Smith out there to literally foul as the logo to disrupt our offensive rhythm. Same with Reibe. He sets a very high bar of what constitutes a foul. This allowed Mullins and Karaban to hand check all game long. They were also OK giving up a free throw or two in the first half. Sadly Dre bricked a few including the front end of a 1-and-1 that could have helped put us up 27-22.
In the second half, when they were turning the screw and inducing an offensive dry spell, they actively avoided giving up free throws. I remember one play Tomi got position and Tarris basically put both hands up and back and backed off getting drawn into a foul.
It’s almost like UConn’s objectives in the first half aren’t even necessarily to score. They want to set a high foul bar, tire out the other team, etc. That first 4min coming out of the half is when Hurley throws that first haymaker.
P.S. I should add I’m so interested in the topic because I’m booked for the United Center. We’re in our mid to late 30s and grew up in CU. We were in high school during the 2005 run.
Ball was playing with a torn shooting wrist.
The only kid that was playing at a plus level for them was Reed, and he was generally neutralized against the UM bigs, and they still had it at 4 with a wide open Karaban 3 missed, under a minute to play. Michigan was like 25-28 from the FT line in that one, and there was a massive foul disparity.
Anyone that plays them needs to watch St John's tape. I think what Pitino does, and May did it a bit (May is a really good coach), is pressure them full court, take them out of their relaxed actions and grab/pull as much as the refs allow. Thing is, you have to be in shape to do this. May did it for 5-6 minutes in the second half and it really worked.
Hurley has essentially found a system that has evolved past the standard template in CBB that requires complete focus, exceptional conditioning and squeezing of the rules. It's very Belichikian. I'm fairly convinced he can squeeze a lot of good, not great players and still win. The one primary key to the system is a dual set of highly effective centers. The primary center needs to be able to lay picks effectively and rim protect. It's one of the reasons that their 25 teams underachieved as their starter was the Johnson kid and Reed wasn't ready, at all.
If he starts beefing up on the talent, I honestly think the only guy that will be able to beat him is Scheyer. As is, he's put a ton of kids in the draft the last few years. He seems to be going for it this year. My gut tells me he's got a few more years and then he's off to the NBA, or if he grabs another title or two. Not sure who steps in. Murray could be ready by then.
Yeah not much to add. Beating UConn in a Final Four and National Title game would honestly feel more satisfying at this point than a Duke or Michigan State/Michigan.
100% on the first 4 minutes. It was clockwork in their 04 run. It was like a fighter coming out after the 6th round and throwing uppercuts.
The guy has a template mapped out that attacks a game in stages. It's not vanilla. He makes adjustments. It's not like Brad in 24 when he was interviewed at the half and said they were going to keep going at Clingan. This is why I said in an earlier post, you have to have twists when you play Hurley. It cannot be one size fits all, too easy to plan for. That dude is a savant and grew up with a Dad who is the best HS coach of all time. He's seen everything out there.
You're not going to beat him unless you severely outman him, your have a neutralizing game plan/roster or you have a few tricks up your sleeve. May had 1 and 3. Pitino had 2.
Trying to take Clingan out with fouls was honestly not a bad strategy, it's just that when you realize it's not happening you have to shift. Ultimately I think it was the only way that 24 team was going to lose anyway. Their only real loss that year was when Clingan went out early with two fouls and McDermott's squad baraged them with threes.
Theory on his 25 team roster, which was pretty bad, was him getting caught up in all the Laker stuff and taking every interview on the planet. He lost focus. I wouldn't expect it again as long as he's in CBB. I also don't expect him to ever have a team as good as 2024 - that felt like lightning in a bottle.