DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
LOL. Love the validation, but for the record I am not MLT...but now wondering about @DB11Headband
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Illinois 105, Minnesota 97 Postgame
I was speaking to his comments in the post game show reading off the stats for Hawkins, Christie and Garcia as proof TSJ was not a good defender- which was comical, because what TSJ gave up this game when he was the closest defender would be about 5 points- all game
I agree TSJ had lapses defensively against Penn St - particularly late in the game, mostly about help D or guarding th inbound pass harder, but that does not mean he’s not one of the best defenders in the big ten- Raphael said Ace Baldwin should be the DPOY, yet he could not defend Terrance to save his life, Terrance blew past Ace like he was standing still several times when he did have to guard him during the game on his way to 35 points - yet Ace was not assigned to guard TSJ a single time during the whole game. Raphael just dinged TSJ for not going to his coaching and demanding to guard Christie in the first half when he was hot yet Ace was not assigned to the other teams best guard all game - because his coach knew he could guard him- TSJ guards every guard in the big ten no matter how big or small and shuts them down. TSJ did guard Ace for a good part of the game and gave up a total of 2 points to him- Ace shot 3-12 that game. TSJ shut down J Young when he guarded him- TSJ shuts down everybody he guards
Raphael Davis is just wrong on this topic- Ace is not a better defender than TSJ- not even close.
There are lots of former players who were good but I do not trust their opinion on college basketball today because they don’t look into the advanced stats, really dive into the game and bring insights you can’t see yourself as a fan. Raphael is one of those guys- good player/ bad analyst
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Imo one way to improve our defense is when we are playing a team with 5s that can't shoot 3s is to play Dain. Hawkins struggles in the post and gets bootie balled. When Hawkins goes up vs a big with a skill set similar to what Dain has he is overmatched. I stated during the game thread put in a quicker player to chase Christie and Dain in the post and we will win. BU did that with Harmon and Dain and Hawkins shifted to Garcia with Dain behind him and the defense at least got a bit better and we pulled away to win. We need more of that vs certain 5s.
Plus having some fouls to give to not give away lay ups to poor FT shooters is good too which we rarely see anymore.
Plus having some fouls to give to not give away lay ups to poor FT shooters is good too which we rarely see anymore.
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Talking about defense. Watch when we play Pu their first play will be Smith dribbles at top of the key get a pick from Edey will go to his right and shoot a 15foot jumper. I have watched several Pu games and it is their first play.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Scouts are going to adore what TSJ put on film last night.
Bottled up a smaller and quicker guy then bottled up a bigger and longer guy, both of whom are good and crafty playmakers. That's what the NBA is looking for.
We put our defenders on an island all the time, and the only person we've got who can thrive in that scenario is TSJ.
We win by about 22
I thought the defense was better, but MLT is right that teams aren't just gaining confidence as the game wears on, they're coming in confident before game even begins. Have to string together some games where we look serviceable defensively to be able to shake that.
There was one possession where Elijah Hawkins bounces backwards off a hedge and drills a 28 footer with a hand right in his face, just an improbable make, and everyone in the game thread lost their minds - (ie, "horrible defense!!! Marcus getting cooked out there!!!") - never mind that its a shot with probably a 10% conversion rate and one that we certainly don't mind giving up.
I'll also add that Garcia made some tough shots. If he misses a couple of those instead, he's right at/around 1 point per fg attempt, which is terrible.
As someone else pointed out, they hit like 5 threes off the dribble which is absurd. Those aren't shots that get converted at a 70% rate, but they were/did go in last night.
We still have tons of blown assignments and there were a couple of plays where a guy just falls down and his man scores (Guerrier). That's just awareness and concentration, which needs to be improved somehow. The effort was better on D last night, but again the decision-making and awareness wasn't there on many plays.
There was one possession where Elijah Hawkins bounces backwards off a hedge and drills a 28 footer with a hand right in his face, just an improbable make, and everyone in the game thread lost their minds - (ie, "horrible defense!!! Marcus getting cooked out there!!!") - never mind that its a shot with probably a 10% conversion rate and one that we certainly don't mind giving up.
I'll also add that Garcia made some tough shots. If he misses a couple of those instead, he's right at/around 1 point per fg attempt, which is terrible.
As someone else pointed out, they hit like 5 threes off the dribble which is absurd. Those aren't shots that get converted at a 70% rate, but they were/did go in last night.
We still have tons of blown assignments and there were a couple of plays where a guy just falls down and his man scores (Guerrier). That's just awareness and concentration, which needs to be improved somehow. The effort was better on D last night, but again the decision-making and awareness wasn't there on many plays.
When someone asks a question like this it becomes my mission to find an answer. Which usually involves the arduous task of typing some words into a Google search. And usually failing to find an answer. But this time, I didn't have to go far, though. It happened just last year (I don't know if there are other examples as I stopped as soon as I found one). Iowa 112-106 Michigan State (Feb 25, 2023) albeit, it did go into OT. But, it was almost done in regulation as the score at the end of regulation was 101-101
Well, ultimately its BU who is in charge of our defense and he gets the credit and the blame. I do believe we have guys that can play defense. Coleman is a very good defender he is not a good enough post defender to be asked or expected to guard 5s that are much stronger, heavier and physical than he is. That is one of the biggest issues for our squad not being able to stop opposing 5s in the post. We have some fouls to give too instead of allowing gimme lay ups. That and quicker pgs are the issue and until BU does something different more often I wouldn't expect a different result. But vs Iowa he subbed in Nico and he hounded Iowas PG in the second half. That was a change that helped. He also last night put TSJ on the PG and quicker player smaller player in Harmon to guard a non driving, jump shooting Christie. Both moves helped. While the defense still struggled it did improve in the last 10 minutes of both games where BU or at least someone made some good choices. We need to learn from this and get Hawkins off bigger guys we all know he can't stop even though he is a great Defender. I mean no coach asked MJ or the glove to guard Kareem and asking Hawkins who is over matched vs 5s needs to stop.
That's pretty incredible. Playing the 5th best offensive game of any team this season and losing. That'd be like losing a hockey game 12-10 in the middle of the trap defense era. Losing in the World Cup 8-6. Or losing a baseball game 27-24. Mind-boggling offense
Just out of curiosity, I looked at what the last 20 NCAA champions scored/gave up during their tourney run:
2023 --UConn 79/59
2022--Kansas 76/62
2021--Baylor 77/62
2020--COVID
2019--Virginia 69/62
2018--Villanova 84/66
2017--NC 82/71
2016--Villanova 84/63
2015--Duke 72/56
2014--UConn 72/64
2013--Louisville* 80/63 *--Vacated
2012--Kentucky 81/70
2011--UConn 66/56
2010--Duke 71/57
2009--NC 88/57
2008--Kansas 88/57
2007--Florida 83/69
2006--Florida 73/57
2005--NC 84**/70 (Illini tourney run was 75/66) **--Higher than average SAT
2004--UConn 77/64
2003--Syracuse 77/68
A couple of thoughts: 1) 6 games is small sample size, and some early round mismatches certainly skew the averages, but the championship profiles seem to hold to form in most cases, 2) there have been some rule changes and changes to pace of play, but the profiles still are eerily similar in that the championship teams normally held opponents under 70 ppg , 3) the team that matches this Illini team's profile most closely are the 2017 and 2005 Tar Heels...they gave up lots of points but just outscored opponents.
This Illini team doesn't really fit the profile of past champions...but this team also scores with more efficiency (and goes to the offensive glass) better than those teams. The one thing that gives me the most hope is that this Illini team since TSJ has gotten back into rhythm is scoring consistently against everyone. With so many good options on offense, scoring is not dependent on one or two people being on for every game.
2023 --UConn 79/59
2022--Kansas 76/62
2021--Baylor 77/62
2020--COVID
2019--Virginia 69/62
2018--Villanova 84/66
2017--NC 82/71
2016--Villanova 84/63
2015--Duke 72/56
2014--UConn 72/64
2013--Louisville* 80/63 *--Vacated
2012--Kentucky 81/70
2011--UConn 66/56
2010--Duke 71/57
2009--NC 88/57
2008--Kansas 88/57
2007--Florida 83/69
2006--Florida 73/57
2005--NC 84**/70 (Illini tourney run was 75/66) **--Higher than average SAT
2004--UConn 77/64
2003--Syracuse 77/68
A couple of thoughts: 1) 6 games is small sample size, and some early round mismatches certainly skew the averages, but the championship profiles seem to hold to form in most cases, 2) there have been some rule changes and changes to pace of play, but the profiles still are eerily similar in that the championship teams normally held opponents under 70 ppg , 3) the team that matches this Illini team's profile most closely are the 2017 and 2005 Tar Heels...they gave up lots of points but just outscored opponents.
This Illini team doesn't really fit the profile of past champions...but this team also scores with more efficiency (and goes to the offensive glass) better than those teams. The one thing that gives me the most hope is that this Illini team since TSJ has gotten back into rhythm is scoring consistently against everyone. With so many good options on offense, scoring is not dependent on one or two people being on for every game.
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IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
We have him. It's Buck
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
In the month of February we had the #1 ranked offense in the country and the #269 ranked defense.
At this point I'm just going to marvel at the spectacular volatility and enjoy riding this atomic bomb to the fiery finish.
At this point I'm just going to marvel at the spectacular volatility and enjoy riding this atomic bomb to the fiery finish.
No way is Hamer making $200,000/year
Lots of negativity about defense... and I get it, but
I much prefer "Where are we going to get a stop?" to "Where are we going to get a basket?"
Have a few thoughts about the defense.
#1-it's not good enough right now (duh). Just feel like we are not being physical at all, which is hurting a lot.
#2-I do think it can and will get better. We have seniors on this team and they know it's their last year. I think they will play a bit more phsyical down the stretch here, but we will see
#3-Holy crap. Say what you want about the defense, but Minnesota was hitting threes like I have never seen before at the college basketball level especially on the road. A lot of the contests were very good and they kept going in. Kind of annoying how teams seem to shoot out of their minds like that against us this year. While the defense has not been good enough, I also think we have had bad luck in that regard
#1-it's not good enough right now (duh). Just feel like we are not being physical at all, which is hurting a lot.
#2-I do think it can and will get better. We have seniors on this team and they know it's their last year. I think they will play a bit more phsyical down the stretch here, but we will see
#3-Holy crap. Say what you want about the defense, but Minnesota was hitting threes like I have never seen before at the college basketball level especially on the road. A lot of the contests were very good and they kept going in. Kind of annoying how teams seem to shoot out of their minds like that against us this year. While the defense has not been good enough, I also think we have had bad luck in that regard
Will they make an effort to make changes to the defense this off-season?
#1 seems to be a huge problem. We're letting guys finish through contact instead of fouling hard.
Fouling hard not only prevents additional points on the scoreboard (and-1s) but it also makes the opponent tentative.
Was this the game where Iowa went nuclear the last 4 minutes (maybe one minute) of the game, and/or the one where Fran had staring contest with the ref?
Thanks for googling it for me!