Baylor 95, Illinois 91 (Exhibition) Postgame
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
Exhibition game, lets pump the brakes
Potential #1 team on the road without our best player. I don't like the sound of that.
I am surprised he didn’t go all out Herb Brooks and make them run the court
In exhibitions, we pump the brakes when we see something we don't like and we hit the gas when we see flashes of good play.
Last night's game was like driving inbound on Lake Shore Drive at 8am on a cold, rainy Tuesday in 2019.
What you want out of high level exhibition games and non con power conference games is to be exposed before conference and tournament play. As a coach, you want to be able to fix big things early so all you need is refinement and gameplan tweaks as the season and post season go on.
Our defense and rebounding was exposed tonight. If we want to be national champion, we can not have those weaknesses. Strong, physical, athletic bigs like Baylor’s are also on the roster at Florida, Duke, and in our own conference, Michigan State. Brad can now point to this game every time we see a team like that remind them what happened and drive it home from the first day of prep.
Vaaks had a couple crazy pull up 3s in the first half that felt like “my turn” kinda shots. People compare him to Andrej but I don’t think it’s similar. I think Andrej truly lacks vision with the ball in his hands. I don’t think Vaaks does. One is a skill issue, one is a choice issue. It could be habitual because he had to save providence last year, but he honestly had some possessions where he looked like Matthew Mayer out there. If he’s gonna take those shots and be a negative defender and rebounder, his role will be bench mob bandit and nothing more. That would be a waste of incredible offensive talent.
Brad usually gets guys right, so Vaaks will probably get right too. I’d pay full game ticket price for admission to the next full practice after getting manhandled like that. Ice tub is gonna be full afterward lol.
Our defense and rebounding was exposed tonight. If we want to be national champion, we can not have those weaknesses. Strong, physical, athletic bigs like Baylor’s are also on the roster at Florida, Duke, and in our own conference, Michigan State. Brad can now point to this game every time we see a team like that remind them what happened and drive it home from the first day of prep.
Vaaks had a couple crazy pull up 3s in the first half that felt like “my turn” kinda shots. People compare him to Andrej but I don’t think it’s similar. I think Andrej truly lacks vision with the ball in his hands. I don’t think Vaaks does. One is a skill issue, one is a choice issue. It could be habitual because he had to save providence last year, but he honestly had some possessions where he looked like Matthew Mayer out there. If he’s gonna take those shots and be a negative defender and rebounder, his role will be bench mob bandit and nothing more. That would be a waste of incredible offensive talent.
Brad usually gets guys right, so Vaaks will probably get right too. I’d pay full game ticket price for admission to the next full practice after getting manhandled like that. Ice tub is gonna be full afterward lol.
good to use brakes a little in the rain, but pump them too hard and you may lose traction
illinoisgrad1990
- Bloomington, IL
On the plus side ... the crowd and Krush were pretty solid last night. I will note, however, that there were Nuggets opportunities but no announcement of Nuggets - wonder if McDonald's dropped that promotion. Awkward Hype Guy is still there, unfortunately.
The problem is we're going to get eaten up without him. We're going to get blasted on the glass.
Im so glad you can come to this conclusion based on a whopping 2 exhibition games. I wonder what you were saying about andrej early last season..or even keaton after the UCONN game. Trust the staff as evaluators and trust the process
Idk if its premature. Every year we expect Tommy to break out of his shell , but he doesnt. The twins summer "issues" didn't help either. They didnt seem to be on the Mirk plan for readiness this summer, and it shows. To win that championship, we need them, they will be the key, all else being consistent.
I take that to mean we won’t see him until January
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When there was some talk during the pre-season that he was a potential 1st round draft pick after season and the coaches spoke very high on him during his first few practices, it is a disappointment. He ain't no NBA 1st rounder..He's a work in process..
Lincoln Williams is showing potential of being able to D up quick guards. Too bad Chester Frazier isn't around to coach him up.
It would be nice to feed Tomi in the post once in a while like we did on that final four run to let him get to that left handed jump hook he likes.
DICKnaggie
- Champaign
I get that our offense is based on spacing and having shooting bigs, but having post scoring as a once in a while change-up would be super valuable in keeping defenses guessing.
Just because you are capable of playing 5 out doesn't mean that you always have to. If you can score inside, take them in occasionally, then drift out and pop a 3.
Sure but the majority of the board would lose their minds if your last sentence happened. I'm with you. Use this to see what you're going to get from players that you don't play against every day in practice and learn tendencies from. Separate the pretenders and contenders.
Personally, I hope this year we just get more consistency from the twins. Seems like every year we have a stretch we will go from "If we get that Z or T, we're unstoppable" to "Do Z and T even want to play tonight?"
Out of all our players offensive skills sets his ability around the basket is the best of all. I dont know if we are an overall better team with him always in the lane, but it would sure be nice to go to that well a lot more than last year.
At times our spacing wasn't good. We were to close together at times clogging it up for our drives resulting in a lot of early turnovers.
In my opinion he should post up at least 10 times a game to keep defenders honest. Even if he doesn't look to score it from down there it gives him opportunities to kick it out for threes.
A positive from last night is our lineups in the second half won’t be seen much at all this year outplayed Baylor starters/regulars
Baylor didn’t make a three the second half, we held them to 32 points and out rebounded them by 1.
The unwatchable part of this game was the last 8 min of the first half. Outside of that stretch there was plenty of good to be excited about
Baylor didn’t make a three the second half, we held them to 32 points and out rebounded them by 1.
The unwatchable part of this game was the last 8 min of the first half. Outside of that stretch there was plenty of good to be excited about
I'm not very concerned with losing this exhibition game (but I am concerned about how long Mirk will be out.) It seemed to me that this was more of an individual test for what each player could do. I didn't see much run of the 5-8 guys who will be in the rotation playing together. I guess I expected to see a bit more of team chemistry building. Many of those lineup combinations will never be seen in the regular season. I was most pleased by JJ's play - he didn't look overwhelmed, and rebounded well. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up being the mysterious 9th man that has been talked about. The defense looked a lot better after halftime, and I'm not sure what to think about that, as a lot of minutes were given to players lower on the pecking order.