Houston 68, Illinois 53 Postgame

HailtotheChief · Mar 20, 2022

I appreciate our seniors and wish them the best.

I also think it's clear after watching Houston and others and not having Ayo this season that we need a finisher at the r k. We didn't have that this year. We need someone with a midrange too like Ayo or Malcolm Hill that's athletic. I think RJ can be that guy and hopefully Harris can be Nunn like going to the rim . I hope Kofi stays and hluf we get some if those thinks and Hawk and others work on the shooting and improving too we will be good and maybe better especually if Kofi is back.

chrisRunner7 · Mar 20, 2022

The Galloping Ghost said:
I think everyone has to process this loss their own way. For me, as emotional as I am, I will forever be an optimist.

I see the energy and skills the freshmen showed today. I see the improvement Hawk made throughout the season. I see a good class coming in next season. I see how BU was able to grab Plummer from the transfer portal and the names already showing up there. I see a player of Dainja's quality getting a half year of learning the system and getting fit. I see two banners. I see two four-star recruits becoming first-team All-Americans. I see hope.

I like how you think

Keisersose · Mar 20, 2022

Not having Grandi today hasn’t been discussed much. Early in the game when Houston was not guarding Coleman from 3, that woulda been Grandison before his injury.

Stevegarbs · Mar 20, 2022

sdfidaho said:
I’m certainly not saying Brad is blameless for this loss, but BU will take more of the blame on himself than I’m willing to give him for this loss, because he did make adjustments this game. Those adjustments allowed the team to come back and tie the game.
In the end though, he wasn’t the one missing wide open shots and he wasn’t the one inexplicably making passes directly to the opposing team.
The Loyola loss last year, now that’s a different story in my mind.

Fair points. Thanks.

CubsIlliniFan · Mar 20, 2022

DMWSuperFan said:
Everyone who is thinking this season was a disappointment needs to look at the fact that Houston is very good and a 4/5 matchup can go either way. Could we have won? Yes. But this is not some massive underachieving season. It was a very tough matchup. Houston pulled away at the end but it was close for a long time today. Always sucks to lose, but let’s see how BU and the team adjust for next year.

We were projected to be 6th in the conference and a 10 seed. We won the conference and got a 4 seed. I cannot complain as next year we will be more athletic with guys who can drive and score.

jason88cubs · Mar 20, 2022

Melendez is gonna be stud. Loved what he brought today

BBIQ · Mar 20, 2022

FromTheLogo said:
I am frustrated at Underwood's lack of adjustments. He said in a press conference that he is a creature of habit and likes to keep things the same. By contrary Eric Musselman from Arkansas says he changes defense every TV timeout to keep opponents guessing. You can give me all the stats you want, but to see no adjustment to stop the mid-range jumpers, only adding a soft press towards the end of the season, not playing Curbelo, Jake, etc. the whole second half, delayed shaking it up in the first half, bringing the same starting five out in the second half. His pride just gets in the way sometimes.

Not playing Curbelo was obviously correct and an adjustment from previous games. He has tried to give Curbelo every chance to learn how to be a PG, okay under control and value the basketball and he hasn't gotten better at it.

He had to bench him, he's trying to win the game.

80'sIllini · Mar 20, 2022

schnaurt said:
Last year, YES. This years team was not as good as you think. Bad shooting week with a horrible matchup.

Getting bounced in the second round of the NCAA 2 years in a row while having first Team All Americans is not a good look for the coaching staff.

GBIllini · Mar 20, 2022

727ill said:
Grandison was clearly not healthy. He gutted it out because its his last ride but given the injury he sustained he normally would not have been playing this early.

Yes I think the high pass to him that he couldn't bring in was an indicator of that. Wasn't a good pass but he normally handles it. I thought it looked like he was wincing after that.

Ghost77 · Mar 20, 2022

The poor display of basketball IQ was just unbelievable today. For example, terrible execution out of the inbounds. All the turnovers on the initial pass, and then on one we throw to Kofi in the corner where he is trapped easily and turns the ball over. That's the kind of stuff I'm sure drives BU insane.

Ramrod2010 · Mar 20, 2022

Cook said:
Times a million. Where's all the folks calling out UNC and Hubert Davis yesterday? Coaches and players were absolutely putrid on simply inbounding the damn ball (and from my tv view they didn't look much like they cared, just kept doing the same thing over and over)

/Raises hand

I thought about bringing it up during the game today but I was just too sad, lol.

BBIQ · Mar 20, 2022

illini80 said:
This is a team that never gelled. We can make excuses for why but it doesn’t change the facts. The best team to never make a sweet 16?

Last years team was better and more balanced. Ayo gave us a dimension we didn't have this year and Curbelo and DaMonte were way better.

Ken · Mar 20, 2022

sdfidaho said:
I’m certainly not saying Brad is blameless for this loss, but BU will take more of the blame on himself than I’m willing to give him for this loss, because he did make adjustments this game. Those adjustments allowed the team to come back and tie the game.
In the end though, he wasn’t the one missing wide open shots and he wasn’t the one inexplicably making passes directly to the opposing team.
The Loyola loss last year, now that’s a different story in my mind.

The issue is that some of the adjustments you could see needing to be made as far back as 3 months ago . He got far too caught up in senior nostalgia instead of doing things to prepare the team for today .

I am in no way shocked with how things ended because the team just didn't seem to be well prepared . If you didn't know any better you would think that it was the first time a team double Kofi and dared them to shoot. The first 5 minutes of the game we got 5th year seniors gun shy on wide open threes .

How does that happen in game 33 and the coach not be at fault ?

Keisersose · Mar 20, 2022

Wait. I just saw the tweet about Belo getting into it with the refs before the game even started and that underwood said he wasn’t allowed to wear a piece of gear that he usually wears? What the heck is the story here???

BBIQ · Mar 20, 2022

DB11Headband said:
Waited three months too long to play the freshmen. Who knows where they would’ve been at this point if they got consistent tick all year. Disappointing.

They are too bad defensively for major tick. That's why they didn't play more. Melendez is a star in the making and Goode will be a stud but they weren't consistent enough on defense which is fine. They're freshman.

sacraig · Mar 20, 2022

Emerson Bigguns said:
Any thought that we would be better off w/o Kofi is asinine. Don’t blame the one dimension for the team being one dimensional.

But we would be so much better if we were zero dimensional.

Dbell1981 · Mar 20, 2022

80'sIllini said:
Getting bounced in the second round of the NCAA 2 years in a row while having first Team All Americans is not a good look for the coaching staff.

Neither is losing in the first round with a team full of McDs AAs. Plenty of great coaches/programs get bounced out of the tourney early with loads of talent. Terrible take.

chrisRunner7 · Mar 20, 2022

logjam said:
I'm expecting some new threads emerging.

The throwback Flying Illini blue jerseys are finally coming???? About time!

Seriously, I would appreciate an "Argue About Curbelo" thread... then I could avoid it. People are mad when he plays and mad when he doesn't play. I am willing to reserve judgment until he gets some R&R in Puerto Rico and doesn't bang his head on anything for a few months.

FlotownIllini · Mar 20, 2022

No sense in guessing at what our actual roster next year will look like. This is the Portal era, so I expect some shakeup, for better or worse.

Whatever may happen there, I hope that BU takes some lessons from this season and missing the S16 yet again. He made roster adjustments today, yes - but he needs to add some additional weapons to the arsenal. We need curveballs that can be thrown at opponents when needed to stop the bleeding.

As always, I'll be an Illini fan through thick and thin and already can't wait for next season.

BBIQ · Mar 20, 2022

Germanboxers said:
I’m sorry, but that was extremely unfair to our players. They were f@cked all game long by this officiating crew which meant every player was second guessing what they were doing and not just playing. They deserved a chance to compete without wearing a 40lb sack all game.

There is much to be excited for with our program, but that was fundamentally unfair. We deserved our loss last year because of our play. Friday’s game and this game were just plain unfair to our team. I’m incensed at the travesty we saw today. Let the kids play a fair game and whoever wins, wins.

We are blaming refs for the loss today? lol. I know we are all homers but come on.

bootsy1974 · Mar 20, 2022

Ken said:
The issue is that some of the adjustments you could see needing to be made as far back as 3 months ago . He got far too caught up in senior nostalgia instead of doing things to prepare the team for today .

I am in no way shocked with how things ended because the team just didn't seem to be well prepared . If you didn't know any better you would think that it was the first time a team double Kofi and dared them to shoot. The first 5 minutes of the game we got 5th year seniors gun shy on wide open threes .

How does that happen in game 33 and the coach not be at fault ?

Agree for the most part. One thing that got pointed out by Bonner and has been a problem all year is when Kofi is double teamed no one on our team moves to the basket or a spot where Kofi can see to make a pass. Everyone just stands and watches Kofi. On that play that Bonner pointed it out RJ did finally move but Kofi didn't see him and it was too late for a turnover. If Kofi comes back that has to be a point of emphasis for the coaching staff next season. You can't get caught up in watching Kofi, move without the ball.

80'sIllini · Mar 20, 2022

Dbell1981 said:
Neither is losing in the first round with a team full of McDs AAs. Plenty of great coaches/programs get bounced out of the tourney early with loads of talent. Terrible take.

Not 2 years in a row

Ken · Mar 20, 2022

BBIQ said:
Not playing Curbelo was obviously correct and an adjustment from previous games. He has tried to give Curbelo every chance to learn how to be a PG, okay under control and value the basketball and he hasn't gotten better at it.

He had to bench him, he's trying to win the game.

LOL he didn't bench Belo because he didn't know how to be a PG . If anything it was because he didn't seem as engaged as he thought he should be especially on that inbounds . The bigger problem is that weve seen those seniors come out and be just as bad and he went right back to them the next half so the question becomes why then did he decide that Belo was the one to not play the second half considering the play of the starters for quite some time .

GrayGhost77 · Mar 20, 2022

BBIQ said:
We are blaming refs for the loss today? lol. I know we are all homers but come on.

Yeah. Aside from the really dumb tech on RJ, the reffing was not an issue.

Navy_illini · Mar 20, 2022

UH defense was outstanding their length was not a good matchup for us. They forced like 8 turnovers most on inbounds passes for a total of 17 turnovers. Shooting 6/25 from three didn’t help either You aren’t going to win like that. We were not healthy at the end of season Trent’s eye Jake’s shoulder RJ surgery combined that with earlier season injuries we never gelled

I think Kofi has an interesting decision I don’t see him on a NBA roster but he has a chance to be the face of college basketball.