Illinois 76, Michigan 53 Postgame

#526      
How good is Michigan really as a TEAM? They did not handle being down to Illinois well at all. They folded. There was never a resurgence. They have two one year senior transfers, a freshman, a two year freshman, one four year senior, and a two year coach. The chemistry that is gained from playing together and playing thru adversity may not be there. The conference tournament and NCAA may reveal their lack of toughness. Or it could be revealed by one or more loses to MSU.
That's what struck me as well. UM looked shell-shocked, like the jv team taking on the seniors. We had our way with them the same way we did with NW and Minn in those earlier blowouts. It's the first time they've faced that kind of beatdown/adversity all season. It makes you question their resiliency. Now how will they respond against a physical MSU?
 
#527      

Deleted member 29907

D
Guest
Michigan probably will never shoot that poorly again this season. They missed quite a few shots they usually make. Don't get me wrong, our defense was tight all game long but they still had open looks throughout the game.

A couple more buckets go in for them and the complexion of the game changes although I think we still would have won.
Agree - not a stellar shooting night for them and Trent was pretty much out of his mind. But I do think we sped them up and ran them off the line which contributed to their woes. And HD is not used to shooting against a guy the size of Kofi. All contributing factors. Again, I think we match up well against them.
 
#528      

Deleted member 29907

D
Guest
How good is Michigan really as a TEAM? They did not handle being down to Illinois well at all. They folded. There was never a resurgence. They have two one year senior transfers, a freshman, a two year freshman, one four year senior, and a two year coach. The chemistry that is gained from playing together and playing thru adversity may not be there. The conference tournament and NCAA may reveal their lack of toughness. Or it could be revealed by one or more loses to MSU.
There are some teams that do not handle adversity well. Strange that they their two losses are by wide margins. When my son played AAU - you could tell the teams that would quit when they got down early. Wisc. seems like that type of team this year for some reason and albeit a heroic effort by one guy, we would have won by 15 there too.
 
#529      
Who hated on Belo? The most critical thing I've seen is along the lines of "this dude is amazing but he really needs to cut out the dumb freshman turnovers."
If you weren't at least a little entertained by those dumb freshman turnovers... then you's a hater.
 
#531      
Agree - not a stellar shooting night for them and Trent was pretty much out of his mind. But I do think we sped them up and ran them off the line which contributed to their woes. And HD is not used to shooting against a guy the size of Kofi. All contributing factors. Again, I think we match up well against them.

I have to disagree that Trent was out of his mind. He was 7-18 from the floor overall and 2-5 from 3.

He played an outstanding game on both ends, but it's not like he shot lights out. 22 points on 18 shots is good, but not out of this world and certainly replicable.
 
#532      

Deleted member 29907

D
Guest
I have to disagree that Trent was out of his mind. He was 7-18 from the floor overall and 2-5 from 3.

He played an outstanding game on both ends, but it's not like he shot lights out. 22 points on 18 shots is good, but not out of this world and certainly replicable.
Thanks - didn't look up his stats - just felt like he hit so many big / tough shots.
 
#533      

sacraig

The desert
If you weren't at least a little entertained by those dumb freshman turnovers... then you's a hater.

ecOW8Tg.gif
 
#538      
I certainly like our chances should we meet up with Mich again with Ayo, but they’re still a good team capable of beating the Illini. I do think Kofi gives us an advantage that most other teams don’t have because he can handle Dickinson on his own. But they didn’t shoot well and Illini did. They might have been feeling a little too confident being at home and with Ayo out. Maybe taking a loss like that helps them. Certainly should get their attention. I think we match up well against them, but I’ll be just as nervous next time we play them.
 
#539      

JFGsCoffeeMug

BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
I certainly like our chances should we meet up with Mich again with Ayo, but they’re still a good team capable of beating the Illini. I do think Kofi gives us an advantage that most other teams don’t have because he can handle Dickinson on his own. But they didn’t shoot well and Illini did. They might have been feeling a little too confident being at home and with Ayo out. Maybe taking a loss like that helps them. Certainly should get their attention. I think we match up well against them, but I’ll be just as nervous next time we play them.
Sure, we can't underestimate Michigan should we run into them again in elimination play. But I think we can also recognize that, in the words of one Michigan fan, we are "a disaster-level matchup" for them. A big part of their offense is premised on Dickinson winning his individual matchup and then passing well out of double teams. Kofi singlehandedly neutralizes that particular game plan. Then you add in our faster guards who can also play smothering defense. On top of that, we are a strong rebounding team with multiple perimeter shooters. A splash of Curbelo collapsing their defense and keeping them off balance, and you have a recipe for too many problems with not enough solutions.

In a 10-game series against them, I think we could win 7 or 8. They're still a really good team on paper. We just happen to be scissors this year.
 
#540      
Guess the question is, though, do latter season games outweigh early season games? Part of Mich's point jump may also be due to a lower game total as well.
In terms of a team's overall body of work, no. To get a better idea of how well a team has played recently, a good measure is the Sagarin ELO-based model, which has a separate weighting for recent play: http://sagarin.com/sports/cbsend.htm

The top 25 based on Sagarin recent play weighting:
1. Gonzaga
2. Illinois
3. Baylor
4. Iowa
5. Michigan
6. Arkansas
7. Kansas
8. Purdue
9. Alabama
10. West Virginia
11. Houston
12. Connecticut
13. Georgia Tech
14. BYU
15. Ohio State
16. San Diego State
17. Maryland
18. Colorado
19. Oklahoma State
20. Florida State
21. Loyola-IL
22. Michigan State
23. Oregon
24. Colgate
25. Memphis
Not appearing: Villanova (26th), Virginia (47th), Wisconsin (40th), Creighton (43rd), Tennessee (73rd), Texas (33rd), Texas Tech (28th), USC (53rd)

Now, granted, Colgate is weird and mostly due to the odd scenario where neither they nor anyone they played has played anyone outside their conference, so there is no connected comparative data, which kinda breaks ELO because Colgate has dominated their bubble of opponents (and is 59th overall), but this is a pretty reasonable assessment of how good teams have been over the past 2-3 weeks.
 
#542      
JFGsCoffeeMug said:

“In a 10-game series against them, I think we could win 7 or 8. They're still a really good team on paper. We just happen to be scissors this year.”

Quote of the year!
 
#543      
For those who have seen the movie Undisputed: My reaction when Michigan was dubbed the big ten champion
 
#544      
When watching the sideline and locker room celebration of the great Illini victory it was clear that this was a total team victory. Even the walk-ons and little used scholly players were in on it.

Kudos to those unseen parts of this great Illini team who work just as hard as the regulars day in and day out to make this team better and bring us a dynamic season.

Well done! Keep it up.
Underwood mentioned a manager who they call "the juice" who helps get the bench hyped up for games. I think his name is Bobby... Anyway I guess he had a concussion for the MSU game and didn't travel... Need to cover that guy in bubble wrap and bring him to Indiana!!!

By the way, how does a manager get a concussion?
 
#546      

chrisRunner7

Spokane, WA
Underwood mentioned a manager who they call "the juice" who helps get the bench hyped up for games. I think his name is Bobby... Anyway I guess he had a concussion for the MSU game and didn't travel... Need to cover that guy in bubble wrap and bring him to Indiana!!!

By the way, how does a manager get a concussion?
Probably bumped into Kofi in practice
 
#549      
Michigan fans griping about the rough play and the refs calling it too loose. Howard whining too. I hope this garbage doesn't go all Lute Olson.
 
#550      

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL
Michigan fans griping about the rough play and the refs calling it too loose. Howard whining too. I hope this garbage doesn't go all Lute Olson.
Big difference between this team and 2001, that team prided itself on being more physical, this team can play with tight or loose whistles. As long as it stays "somewhat" consistent. I know, a lot to ask for form B1G refs.