What I like is that Tomi is not seen on the list of top returnees....but has the skills and size to dominate the B1G in the post. That is no certainty, but there is no more motivated player in any collegiate sport than a talented guy in his last year who has been sick/injured and shunned. I know that for certain and hope Tomi is healthy and determined to help lead this team into history.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
Yes- I remember the UConn staff basically said after that game that we weren’t that hard to guard- which is saying something for the most efficient offense in the history of KenPom for most of the season
But what they meant was if you chose to let Tomi get his pick and pop and leave Kylan and Andrew shoot to their hearts content and just shut down Keaton on the PNR and stick to Mirk, then those other guys would have to make their shots to beat you and they clearly didn’t
I’m hoping this year we won’t have anyone you can leave open and Tomi and Andrej have better shooting years, then we will truly be “ hard to guard”
Hurley, UConn full postgame press conf after F4 win vs Illinois
Its only 16 minutes long, you should watch it. He gives Illinois and its staff a lot of love, his comments are inverse of what you remember. Talks at length about how well his team had to defend to slow our offense down. And he's really not a guy who is known for saying nice things about his opponents like that, to say the least.
It definitely was not in his postgame comments and I doubt any HC would say that about another team- it was mentioned by Werner in his analysis and reflecting on his interviews with UConn coaches. That basically they went under screens (giving up the 3pt shot to poor 3pt shooters) didn’t send doubles at the ball and didn’t switch- so essentially daring us to beat them off the dribble (which only Andrej is very effective at). So that fairly simple game plan handled our offense pretty well
Can you link the Werner article? I think you might be reading in a bit too much.
"Giving up the 3pt shot to poor 3pt shooters"... like who? Mirkovic, Jake Davis, Tomi, Keaton, Ben? Boswell and Stojakovic had 1 three point attempt combined in that game, so that comment alone is wild.
Feel free to watch the extended highlights, plenty of double teams and switching by UConn.
The 2nd best offense in recent memory wasn't "easy to guard", that statement is incorrect by definition.
Would Hurley be arrogant enough to say such a thing? Sure. Would he correct in doing so? No.
He did talk some trash after the 23-24 E8 game, maybe you're thinking of that?
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Just because something is simple doesn't mean it's easy.
Simple as it is, my guess is that other coaches drafted comparable plans but weren't able to execute on it because it wasn't easy.
About the 5 min mark they discuss UConn’s strategy to defending us that I mentioned above, it was clear they weren’t guarding Kylan or Z or Andrej from three and even Tomi they were willing to live with his threes- those guys just were not good shooters from three last year so they lived with them shooting which allowed them to protect the rim more and we were 6-11 at the rim and 6-26 from three.
Only 1 of those 26 threes was attempted by Boswell/Stojakovic.
Haha literally soon as the video hit the 5 minute mark, 5:01 to be exact, Jeremy says (and I quote):
“Illinois got good looks at the rim, got good looks from three”
And then continues to say UConn got a lot of good bounces and Illinois got a lot of bad bounces.
Maybe we watched two completely different videos, because Jeremy stating that Illinois got tons of good looks at the rim and from three, and the luck went UConn’s way… how could you possibly come to a conclusion like “easy to guard”?
Vaaks not beating the defense allegations @ 02:35.
Mirk's walk @ 04:40 looked a little weird; hopefully just my imagination.
Entire video looked like a QC highlight reel; he's gonna be a star this year.
blackdog
- Champaign
I'm so ready for the season to tipoff!
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The first Big Gucci Sosa post of the year…about brings a tear to your eyeI'm so ready for the season to tipoff!
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I think "all" is the problem. 5 that play tons of minutes is a bunch, but the the team isn't all a bunch of European gentlemen.
Interesting. I believe UConn is around 80 miles from Boston, a lot closer than we are to Chicago. The analytics and coaching in that region seem next level when you consider the pro sports in the region (BC excluded). This sounds almost Belichikian. Their strategy against Purdue in that final was high level. How they almost had Florida in 25 was impressive, and then having Michigan close last year being severely outmanned/reffed. I hadn't seen this. This is why Brad has to have adjustments and some tricks up his sleeve. Vaaks saw them twice last year too, so there are 4 starters that have seen them twice. We should be the better roster, can't get outcoached.
I'm actually found Hurley to be very complimentary and a good guy away from the game time shenanigans.
Confused how this ties in to anything I wrote, but anyway, I'm dubious that coaching chops has anything to do with physical location or something being in the water if that was the whole point? Hurley is a Jersey guy, not a New Englander. If you want to trace his coaching DNA, I'd probably look at his family first and foremost.
But yeah, if you completely disregard what a completely hot-headed, unhinged, whiny sore loser / arrogant person (depending on whether he won or lost any given game) he is... probably a real good guy lol.
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Telling myself they wouldn't be letting him practice and wouldn't have left that in the video if they were concerned.
Sorry, tangentalized there somewhat off the original post on this topic suggesting the strategy to let 3 Illini have their shots.
Boston has 13 championships across the 4 major sports in the last 25 years, most of any city. It's not a city with two teams, like LA, NY or Chicago in MLB. As a point of perspective, Chicago has 5, 3 in hockey and 1 as part of it's second MLB team.
Celts are heavily recognized for using data science, top guy from MIT. Seems to be a STEM sports think tank in the area, with tons of top universities local.
I don't know where UConn stacks up on the data/analytics. I know Oats came out of that Hurley tree and is heavy on it.
You're probably right about Hurley. Although the guy has been in New England for awhile between UConn and URI. Jersey ain't far. I'm fine with Hurley - have heard more good stuff from him than bad, can't fault the guy for being competitive and I think most great coaches have to be a bit psycho.
Fine that people that like him, I personally don’t enjoy him, so I just tend to give people a hard time when they do lol
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Storrs, CT is physically closer to Boston than NYC and Connecticut is part of New England, but because it draws so heavily from the NYC suburbs and so many graduates move to NYC after graduation, UConn always feels like more of a New York school.
They always had a big contingent at the old Big East tournament back when college sports was good.
They always had a big contingent at the old Big East tournament back when college sports was good.
UCONN losses are not one I like to rewatch. From I remember from the game was UCONN had a lot of motion with pick action, non-stop. Illinois did a lot of standing, which was part of their spread offense and brought them success. But it allowed UCONN to rest and UCONN allowed the 3s, which we didn't make enough of. On Defense, Illinois did a lot of chasing and fight through picks, once again UCONN didn't expend as much energy IMHO.
Dude is like snails, an acquired taste.
What I do respect him for is his programatic savant.
What I do respect him for is his programatic savant.