Just to play devils advocate here so to speak we haven't practiced it since Brad has been here.(A lot of coaches don't)
Illinois 83, UCLA 78 Postgame
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sacraig
- The desert
Practiced what? We are talking about Morez's minutes vs. Ben's minutes. The zone discussion is in another thread.
I responded to the wrong post my bad lol. I'm talking about zone defenses
I listened to the game on radio broadcast by Brian Buckhardt and Dion Thomas. They are a prolific duo in bringing the play by play. It feels like you are at the game. It takes me back to Jim Turpin, another great voice thru the years and yet it also reminded of Tom Schoendist back in the 50's on Channel 3 tv.
My take on the game was the Illini continued to get the ball down low, great passing and some easy buckets setting up some 3's that weren't put up out of necessity but as part of the flow of the game. They had an answer for every time Bruins made a mini run and eventually got out to a 16 point lead with 4:51 to go in the game but hen they relaxed, took some silly shots and got out of the game plan. UCLA was relentless and made a great run to get within 2 before the Illini was abl to break the press and score easy baskets. What I don't understand is how they could let a 3 point sharpshooter just keep chucking them up without any pressure. It seems to be a pattern with this team.
We a W is a W now on to take down MSU who will come in looking to rebound for that horrible loss at home to the pathetic Hoosiers.
My take on the game was the Illini continued to get the ball down low, great passing and some easy buckets setting up some 3's that weren't put up out of necessity but as part of the flow of the game. They had an answer for every time Bruins made a mini run and eventually got out to a 16 point lead with 4:51 to go in the game but hen they relaxed, took some silly shots and got out of the game plan. UCLA was relentless and made a great run to get within 2 before the Illini was abl to break the press and score easy baskets. What I don't understand is how they could let a 3 point sharpshooter just keep chucking them up without any pressure. It seems to be a pattern with this team.
We a W is a W now on to take down MSU who will come in looking to rebound for that horrible loss at home to the pathetic Hoosiers.
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
At this point in season any win is a good win. We beat a good team. Nobody was injured. KJ appears to be returning to form. Tomas is soldiering thru Mono and sprained ankle (he is a warrior).
The double bye you get with top 4 seed in BTT is very important if you want to win tourney. We are currently 7 seed but just 1 game back.
We really need to hold court at home by beating Spartans, Hawkeyes, and Boilermakers. Win @Badgers. Duke game does not matter. @Michigan would be a big upset.
B10 13-7 gives us a great shot at 4th seed in BTT.
Plus our overall record will be 21-10 with 3 more Quad 1 wins giving us 10 which will help our NCAA seed.
The double bye you get with top 4 seed in BTT is very important if you want to win tourney. We are currently 7 seed but just 1 game back.
We really need to hold court at home by beating Spartans, Hawkeyes, and Boilermakers. Win @Badgers. Duke game does not matter. @Michigan would be a big upset.
B10 13-7 gives us a great shot at 4th seed in BTT.
Plus our overall record will be 21-10 with 3 more Quad 1 wins giving us 10 which will help our NCAA seed.
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
The KB we have is same KB that played 2 years at AZ. Solid complementary player but not Alpha dog like TSJ or KJ. We are lucky to have him - he is a warrior and plays his heart out. Unfortunately he cannot hit layups like Ayo, post up like Marcus, or hit 3's like TSJ but he is still a very good player.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Saw a comment on the UCLA board saying something along the lines of, "How the hell has Illinois lost 6 Big Ten games??" How, indeed! 
Let's choose to believe we have turned a corner starting with the Minnesota game, and here is your positive-spin answer to each one of them...
1) OT Quad 1 loss in our first road game for a VERY young team
2) Without our best player
3) 2-point Quad 1 loss on the road to a top 15 team where our best player played just 8 minutes
4) Without our starting center and multiple players sick
5) OT Quad 1 loss without our starting center and multiple players still sick
6) Zero excuse here, we just simply sucked at Rutgers
All in all, we are 2-3 without our full team and 7-3 with our full team. Of the 3 with our full team, one was an OT loss on the road, and another was a 2-point loss on the road with our best player playing 8 minutes. So with an exception or two, we have looked pretty darn good with the full squad healthy.
Let's choose to believe we have turned a corner starting with the Minnesota game, and here is your positive-spin answer to each one of them...1) OT Quad 1 loss in our first road game for a VERY young team
2) Without our best player
3) 2-point Quad 1 loss on the road to a top 15 team where our best player played just 8 minutes
4) Without our starting center and multiple players sick
5) OT Quad 1 loss without our starting center and multiple players still sick
6) Zero excuse here, we just simply sucked at Rutgers
All in all, we are 2-3 without our full team and 7-3 with our full team. Of the 3 with our full team, one was an OT loss on the road, and another was a 2-point loss on the road with our best player playing 8 minutes. So with an exception or two, we have looked pretty darn good with the full squad healthy.
Actually, against high caliber opponents, he's had some good games. He was brought here to shoot the three.
Alabama. 3/6
Arkansas. 3/4
Oregon. 4/7
Rutgers 3/8
UCLA. 2/5
Ohio State. 1/3
I left the games where he went off against PSU and NW.
I think that, on the season, he's shooting about 35.6% from three. As a team, we're shooting 31.6%.
I think that only Ivisic, at 37%, is better.
Now, there is NO DOUBT that he's had his bad shooting games. As a team, nobody has been immune to it. We have guys that can't hit the broad side of a barn.
The exaggeration of Ben being some bum shooting the ball and being "the worst player on the team" is just ridiculous.
He's been deemed the whipping boy on the roster by some of the fans(a huge amount on this board). It's bad enough to where our real issues, amongst some, get no attention. We'll leave that player alone because a bash fest does nobody any good.
I get a kick out of this.
"We LET him". Yes, he wasn't scouted and we just ignored him. C'mon.....
1)The way our roster is constructed, he's just a terrible matchup for us.
2)Give credit where it's due. He got on a heater and was burying shots. People probably say the say thing about Tomi. He's a matchup nightmare.
Nobody let him do anything. As a team, they were 12/23 from three. They were unconscious. It happens, but despite it, we led wire to wire.
The kid is shooting 38% from 2pt and 23% from 3pt and has one of the biggest NIL bags of the team. I think the criticism is warranted.
Final comment, from me, on last night's game. I think that our fans were WAY too brutal on Skyy. That was an absolutely terrible look. Nobody outside of Brad and the others in the roster knows the true story. This was just a young kid that was clearly getting poor direction from his parents/handlers.
The fact that he talked up our program to Tre, said he wishes he would have stayed and still has that relationship with Brad....that says a lot. Some of those people, especially after he went down with the ankle, showed no class.
Do people realize how much better of a look that it is, on our program, if they just laid off? Kids will be kids and fans will be fans, I suppose.
The fact that he talked up our program to Tre, said he wishes he would have stayed and still has that relationship with Brad....that says a lot. Some of those people, especially after he went down with the ankle, showed no class.
Do people realize how much better of a look that it is, on our program, if they just laid off? Kids will be kids and fans will be fans, I suppose.
Is that you Ben? cause no one else has this take
And last week's thread.
USAFILLINI
- Florida
Ben isnt a Big Ten heavy minutes caliber player. It was a miss on recruiting. Theres probably 7 guys better him on the roster, He just looks slow and unsure.
Teams regularly scheme to go at him on D
Hes 3rd in the B1g in turnover percentage
FT % is awful
Theres 3 other Illini with a better 3%.
We basically got a bad FT shooting Luke Goode who also cant create his own shot and shoots worse from 3 annnnnnnddddddddd we paid a ton of money for him.
One would think that if a lot of other coaches don't practice either playing a zone defense or practice several offensive sets against the zone then being able to play zone...(maybe a half dozen possessions randomly throughout a game) could prove advantageous in some games.......just enough to throw the other teams offense out of whack....maybe make the other coach substitute in a player or two that might upset their offensive flow....as a former coach I didn't really like playing zone, but I did occasionally just to try and disrupt the other teams rhythm, break their momentum.
Great post, another frame may be to look at his shootgin against tourney teams. Using bracket matrix:
1. Alabama: 3-6
1. Tennessee: 1-4
3.MSU1/3
3. Wisconsin1/5
5. UCLA: 2/5
6. Missouri 1/3
6. Maryland 0/3
7. Oregon 4/7
10. OSU: 1/3
10. Nebraska: 0/7
11. Ark 3/4
Adds to 34% against tourney teams, which is decent. Take away that one absolute stinker against nebby and its 40%. Take away his worst and best (probably the most sound statistically), its a 36%
Key would be to obviously avoid the 0/7 and 1/5 type nights in the actual tourney..either through him posting instead and getting to the little fade he seems to hit at about 50%, or a little more pine time before getting to 0/7
Must be talking in conf play? only 1 is better on the year And the differecne between our best and him is less than 2 ppts if you do conf play only (34.7 v 33)
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Yeah it’s not true lol
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I've been hard on Ben during some of our more frustrating games (and probably worded some things poorly in the heat of the moment, no doubt) ... but I have also been hard on KJ, who is probably our best player. So, I at least like to think I am not "picking on" Ben. And while I admit I am not this Xs and Os guru, you said it yourself that he was brought here to shoot (and make) threes. Thus, my main issue is that when he's not making them, there is an excellent argument to be made that there are better guys to have out there. Put another way, we never would have taken a version of Ben that shoots 30% from three, so when that's happening (or worse), he needs to sit, at least for a little. I get that there is a fine line between pulling a shooter and letting him figure it out, but the fact is we have some guys on the bench who are capable of stepping up when Ben's not feeling his shot. And I think that is people's main issue. I recognize he's played some good defense at times, and he obviously always gives pretty good effort!
FWIW, there is anecdotal evidence that Ben might be settling into his shot and getting out of a funk. The progression since Nebraska is very encouraging.
0.0% at Nebraska on 7 attempts
33.3% vs. Ohio State on 3 attempts
37.5% at Rutgers on 8 attempts
50.0% at Minnesota on 4 attempts
40.0% vs. UCLA on 5 attempts
From the USC to Nebraska games, Ben hit 27.3% of his threes, and that number was pushed up by a 4/9 performance vs. Northwestern ... he shot under 35.0% in four of those games, including a real bad 0 for 7 at Nebraska.
However, since the Nebraska game, Ben has hit exactly 40.0% of his threes, and there has been way less inconsistency. If he is doing that, it goes without saying that he is a VERY valuable part of this team.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
They said on either the postgame show or one of the podcasts that Cronin didn’t show up for the standard postgame press conference. I guess he cooled down and decided to do an impromptu one in front of the gray wall.
Personally, I think he’s one of the poorest losers in all of college basketball. Blames the refs, blames the time zone, he always has an excuse.
He's maybe 3rd best in tov%. There are 10 players on OUR team that are worse in tov%.
He spent more time on the floor than Morez did.
This. Ivisic had to cover Boswell's man and then try to recover on a gimpy ankle.
Wonder if fatigue played a role in giving up that late run. Below is when each player checked in and played the remainder of the game.
Will 15:22
KJ 14:04
Ben 10:50
Tomi 10:50 (subbed out for 6 seconds of game play at 00:17)
Boz 10:10
I know Tre is reportedly in the doghouse and DGL is still sick, but maybe having Morez and Jake spell the others for a bit may have been beneficial.
Will 15:22
KJ 14:04
Ben 10:50
Tomi 10:50 (subbed out for 6 seconds of game play at 00:17)
Boz 10:10
I know Tre is reportedly in the doghouse and DGL is still sick, but maybe having Morez and Jake spell the others for a bit may have been beneficial.
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