Illinois 91, Rutgers 60 POSTGAME

#52      

Deleted member 547530

D
Guest
That was fun. Great effort on both ends. Only constructive criticism - got to stop the unforced TOs. The 16A's would look a whole lot better without the 17 TO's. Build on it. Winning is contagious.
 
#53      
Can Deron Williams visit more often? Not sure what he told the guys, but damn! ;) Happy IL got this win in this fashion. It is good to see the guys get to enjoy a game like this to show off all of the hard work they have put in.

Penn State knocked off Ohio State last week or so. IL can too.
 
#57      

peace davids

Colorado
With how weak the conference is this year i doubt we’re on the bubble, unless we win out the rest of the season and 2 wins in the tourney.

Yeah, we have to go 8-0. At 20-11 (10-8), we would look favorable with road wins at OSU, MSU, and Purdue at home. Then have a favorable showing in the tournament. Nobody is thinking about Illinois right now. We have a terrible resume.

Think, we only have 3 top 150 wins at the moment. Missouri (43), Marshall (96), and Indiana (110) - and are WINLESS on the road.

Our remaining schedule has @ Ohio State (17), Wisconsin (139), Penn State (107), @IU (110), Nebraska (56), @MSU (25), Purdue (8), and @Rutgers (188).

I don't see any on that list that we can afford to lose if we want to build a resume with some top 100 wins and road wins. Maybe @MSU?

Let's just win 'em all. #orangeglassesandkoolaid
 
#58      

Whitmans Sampler

Eastern Iowa
Matic subs in tonight and on his first or second offensive possession throws the most fluent 1st cutter lob (to AJ) I’ve seen all season. He read the pinch post defense perfectly and visualized the opening before it developed. The kid has skills..just needs to get stronger, quicker, and find his niche.
 
#60      
we played okay in the first half when Trent started lighting it up

impressed with the second half... we continued the pressure on D and worked our offense, got good shots, made them... all business.
 
#64      

breadman

Herndon, VA
Matic subs in tonight and on his first or second offensive possession throws the most fluent 1st cutter lob (to AJ) I’ve seen all season. He read the pinch post defense perfectly and visualized the opening before it developed. The kid has skills..just needs to get stronger, quicker, and find his niche.

This is what I am looking for too. Need to rewind back to Matic's minutes and check it out. Am going to love watching this kid progress over his college career.
 
#65      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
Good thing Alstork stepped up, because we need productivity from the 2 position.

Even in a blowout against Rutgers, Smith barely registered. We really need him to turn a corner......preferably before this year is out. Give him a little confidence going into next season.

Hate to be a negative Nancy but I thought Smith was really noticeable in how poorly he defends at times. He has a tendency to get beaten off the dribble and then make ridiculous swipes at the ball and get called for obvious fouls. If I remember correctly he also had a couple of nice steals as well. It just doesn't seem like he's getting better which is a concern.
 
#66      

blackdog

Champaign
Hate to be a negative Nancy but I thought Smith was really noticeable in how poorly he defends at times. He has a tendency to get beaten off the dribble and then make ridiculous swipes at the ball and get called for obvious fouls. If I remember correctly he also had a couple of nice steals as well. It just doesn't seem like he's getting better which is a concern.

Yea he got crossed up badly in the 2nd half and gave up a pretty easy and-1.
 
#67      
Hate to be a negative Nancy but I thought Smith was really noticeable in how poorly he defends at times. He has a tendency to get beaten off the dribble and then make ridiculous swipes at the ball and get called for obvious fouls. If I remember correctly he also had a couple of nice steals as well. It just doesn't seem like he's getting better which is a concern.



MSmith has had issues with the transition to the speed of college bball. I would say 75% is physical and 25% mental. Next year he will improve his quickness and the game will just slow down for him a bit. Long-term he will be fine, once again his points are in the range of McCamey/Deron freshmen year. Kendall Gill had a very rough first season and almost left, folks be patient and let him grow.


I first was concerned last year at the Simeon game. Felt Simeon guards exposed some issues with their speed.
 
#69      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
Bush-league announcers were so busy talking about Ohio State at the end, the one guy didn't even get the score right. It was 91-60, not 90-61. Way to go Fighting Illini. Win streak at 2.


I listen to Barnhart .....best announcer ever
 
#70      

IlliniDent

Chicago, IL
Hate to be a negative Nancy but I thought Smith was really noticeable in how poorly he defends at times. He has a tendency to get beaten off the dribble and then make ridiculous swipes at the ball and get called for obvious fouls. If I remember correctly he also had a couple of nice steals as well. It just doesn't seem like he's getting better which is a concern.

He got crossed up badly one time but beside that I actually liked how smith played today because he seemed to let the game come to him and not force it so much. That’s usually a good first step towards improving. He’s no where near where we expected but it’s just going to take time.
 
#71      
Hate to be a negative Nancy but I thought Smith was really noticeable in how poorly he defends at times. He has a tendency to get beaten off the dribble and then make ridiculous swipes at the ball and get called for obvious fouls. If I remember correctly he also had a couple of nice steals as well. It just doesn't seem like he's getting better which is a concern.



Well you could always be a Negative Ned instead. :thumb:


His defense has been noticeably poor the entire season. BU has discussed it more than once in pressers. He has the athletic abilities, but his instincts and fundamentals aren't quite up to where everyone else is. It will take him a little time, considering he's been just recently getting his head wrapped around a career in basketball.


This staff is good. I expect a major leap from his freshman to sophomore year. Right now we just got to watch him go through the growing pains.
 
#73      
You need to get the SportSync radio (SR-202) from Scanner Master. It has a variable audio delay up to 16 seconds. Have used it for several years!
One can look it up on Amazon.
 
#74      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
Wasn't Barnhart teamed with Deon Thomas several games ago? Now that was something! Only problem with Illini on radio is that the broadcast isn't (wasn't) in sync with TV picture.

I would gladly listen to Brian Barnhart any day of the week. And Deon Thomas.


go to tunein and you can manually sync radio to tv ....I have doing it all season and love the pregame and postgame info....

Doug Altenberger was on last nite as Deon was on the B1G studio cast..
 
#75      
Matic subs in tonight and on his first or second offensive possession throws the most fluent 1st cutter lob (to AJ) I’ve seen all season. He read the pinch post defense perfectly and visualized the opening before it developed. The kid has skills..just needs to get stronger, quicker, and find his niche.

That was a nice pass. Overall, he looked more comfortable than he has in the past. He's not a currently a world-beater (and not sure he ever will be), but based on last night I'm encouraged that he will be a contributor down the line.