College Sports (Basketball)

#51      
HoopsterMan
March2TheArch said:
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.
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I think what it would mean is that Brad has the coaching chops to win a title. He'll have his chance.

I tend to agree with you, although Duke would still be pretty sweet. Right now those two are at the top of the sport and we are a tier just below. If we want to get there, we have to beat them.
 
#52      
March2TheArch
HoopsterMan said:
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.
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Same as 2026 Michigan in terms of lightning in a bottle. That roster with a May-like coach isn’t something that pops up every year.

I don’t see any god squad this year… yet. At Cameron will be our first look at the most likely candidate for one though.
 
#53      
RockfordIllini
March2TheArch said:
Same as 2026 Michigan in terms of lightning in a bottle. That roster with a May-like coach isn’t something that pops up every year.

I don’t see any god squad this year… yet. At Cameron will be our first look at the most likely candidate for one though.
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Inspire Jimmy Fallon GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

If Mirk plays up to the off-season hype and plays at AA/NPOY level.
If the Ivisic boys collectively shoot 35%+ from 3
If we get a second year leap out of Andrej and get tourney Andrej all year
If early reports hold true and Vaaks shoots the hell out of the ball.
And if QC plays up to his first round projection as a Swiss Army knife/do it all dog who shoots 35% from 3.

That team is a load.
 
#54      
RockfordIllini
HoopsterMan said:
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.
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I still maintain the 2024 UConn game was perhaps Brad’s worst as a coach, worse than Loyola.

We had to know Hurley would cross match Clingan on Ty. Purdue laid the blueprint with Edey. We should have immediately swapped in Goode and played 5 out. Make UConn do something they aren’t comfortable doing. Either Clingan has to guard in space on the perimeter, which opens up booty ball for Marcus and driving lanes for TJ, or he stays in drop and we just swing the ball around the perimeter until we find a wide open 3.

And if the goal is to get Clingan in foul trouble, fouls are usually the result a player being out of position. To me you’re much more likely to pick up fouls on Clingan if he is forced to move his feet on the perimeter than just driving at home and letting him Mosgov all night. That’s exactly what he wants to do.
 
#55      
March2TheArch
RockfordIllini said:
Inspire Jimmy Fallon GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

If Mirk plays up to the off-season hype and plays at AA/NPOY level.
If the Ivisic boys collectively shoot 35%+ from 3
If we get a second year leap out of Andrej and get tourney Andrej all year
If early reports hold true and Vaaks shoots the hell out of the ball.
And if QC plays up to his first round projection as a Swiss Army knife/do it all dog who shoots 35% from 3.

That team is a load.
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That’s before we even talk about one of the best catch-and-shoot flamethrowers in the game who never turns the ball over.

I’m with you.

Domask and Wagler really ran our offense so well. KJ was highly turnover prone and took bad shots.

Wagler was a savant. Vaaks likely follows more of a Domask arc. I expect us to drop games we shouldn’t in Nov/Dec especially with all the recent injuries (Mirk foot, Morillo back, Z hand). But I legit think we could win 17 games in the B1G.

At Minnesota days after the UConn battle scares me.

I could see us dropping the Duke and UConn games for aforementioned reasons. And starting the B1G season 0-1 with a loss to an unranked Minnesota squad could cost us a B1G title and 1 seed.

I’m therefore approaching the season with a very cautious mindset. Mirk’s foot injury has made me a lot more scared. I thought our floor was being undefeated outside neutral/away losses to 2 top-10 teams. And our ceiling was entering the Minnesota game as the #1 team in the country. Mirk’s injury has lowered my outlook on the floor and ceiling by a game each.
 
#56      
HoopsterMan
RockfordIllini said:
Inspire Jimmy Fallon GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

If Mirk plays up to the off-season hype and plays at AA/NPOY level.
If the Ivisic boys collectively shoot 35%+ from 3
If we get a second year leap out of Andrej and get tourney Andrej all year
If early reports hold true and Vaaks shoots the hell out of the ball.
And if QC plays up to his first round projection as a Swiss Army knife/do it all dog who shoots 35% from 3.

That team is a load.
Click to expand...
This Illinois team has very high upside.

Personally think there are three teams that have high upside and none are named Florida. Duke, Illinois and UConn.

The more I look back at that 25 Florida team, the more I feel like it was the guards that made them go. That backcourt was excellent. The FC is very good, but it's not Michigan last year, not even close.

Michigan last year really was lightning in a bottle. That frontcourt was other worldly. People that saw them in person said they looked like an NBA team.
 
#57      
Fly Illini Fly!
HoopsterMan said:
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.
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This is where Illinois ranked in Free Throw Rate defense:

IMG_1769.jpeg


It’s not our philosophy.
 
#58      
Fighter of the Nightman
Bored and somewhat pointless post incoming, but I just wanted to sprinkle in some Illini propaganda on this fine Thursday afternoon. This decade (i.e., the 2019-20 season to present), these are the only teams that have (A) never missed an NCAA Tournament, (B) made the Final Four, (C) won at least won regular season conference title and (D) won at least one conference tournament title.

Alabama
Gonzaga
Houston
Illinois
Kansas
Purdue
UConn

This is very elite company, and it will influence how an entire generation of young college hoops fans shapes its perception of who the "big-time programs" are. And that is invaluable to be included in that group! I get it's cherry picking stats a LITTLE bit (for example, the list goes down to just Kansas and UConn if a National Championship is required!) ... but still awesome!

GO ILLINI, let's keep this train rolling!
 
#60      
Fly Illini Fly!
HoopsterMan said:
The more I look back at that 25 Florida team, the more I feel like it was the guards that made them go. That backcourt was excellent. The FC is very good, but it's not Michigan last year, not even close.
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What made them go, was Darrion Williams’s clown show at the end of their Elite 8 game.

If he wasn’t so bad (after being pretty good for most of the game), FLA would’ve lost.
 
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#64      
HoopsterMan
Fly Illini Fly! said:
What made them go, was Darrion Williams’s clown show at the end of their Elite 8 game.

If he wasn’t so bad (after being pretty good for most of the game), FLA would’ve lost.
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True. They had three very close calls of the 6. (UConn, TT, Houston).
 
#65      
HoopsterMan
RockfordIllini said:
I still maintain the 2024 UConn game was perhaps Brad’s worst as a coach, worse than Loyola.

We had to know Hurley would cross match Clingan on Ty. Purdue laid the blueprint with Edey. We should have immediately swapped in Goode and played 5 out. Make UConn do something they aren’t comfortable doing. Either Clingan has to guard in space on the perimeter, which opens up booty ball for Marcus and driving lanes for TJ, or he stays in drop and we just swing the ball around the perimeter until we find a wide open 3.

And if the goal is to get Clingan in foul trouble, fouls are usually the result a player being out of position. To me you’re much more likely to pick up fouls on Clingan if he is forced to move his feet on the perimeter than just driving at home and letting him Mosgov all night. That’s exactly what he wants to do.
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Actually a really good call.

I'm wondering if Alabama did any of that as they were the one team to keep them close.
 
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