Indiana 65, Illinois 63 Postgame
- Status
Bigtex
- DFW
Have been saying all year dmw should play 15-20 minutes max. Because Of injuries coach gave dmw more minutes and in the long run that didn’t help this team develop.
Dmw does a lot of good things for the team but his defense against Indiana was horrible. Couldn’t keep Galloway in front of him and bad matchup against Thompson.
I heard CoHawk say (presser) they used a different ball in this game. Can someone explain this to me? Did he just mean new basketballs or literally a different make of basketball, and how would this happen in BTT. No this is not conspiracy theory just a legit question based on CoHawk statement
JMO but I think they were just searching for explanations behind their poor shooting. Different venues might use different makes/models of basketballs. The BTT for example is using Spalding balls while the NCAA tourney will use Wilson I believe. But they're all the same size and weight. I don't think there's anything to it. Players are trying to rationalize the loss, just like some of us are.
That was my guess. Just assumed during the regular season the BIG used same ball in all games. Strange that they would use a different brand Basketball in BTT as compared to regular season BIG play
Not a good game. We still have a good team. We are still going dancing next week. We can still get hot. Going to enjoy the last great bit of basketball before November kicks off. Everything is fine.
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
Not disagreeing with you in any way , but the bold words above leave out the different feels of each brand .......I played a long time ago and didn't have the options available now , but some manufactors had a slick feel to it or just something different about it........so I can understand somewhat about different brand of BB , but we stunk up the court yesterday............................we lost .........ok.........................next game ............................
Gotta have that mindset right now .....plenty of time to dissect the loosier game , but now is the time to really " every day guy "" the hell out of it and PREPARE starting Sunday , as soon as we know who it is next for us .........
JMHO
There is some of that, but different balls do feel differently coming off your hand... just like old versus new balls. I know everyone in BIG uses the same ball except Wisconsin. There has been speculation that accounts for some of their homecourt advantage over the years. If I were Hawkins, I would lobby we switch to whatever ball they were using considering the way he shot the ball yesterday.
Telling my age but I always liked the feel of a Rawlings basketball. I could palm it because of the wide deeper grooves. The other brands seemed to be trying to make the seems less noticeable. Not the same feel.
Going 10 for 22 on layups won’t beat anyone.
The Sprouting Divot
Invisible and Bulletproof
- Miracle Mile
That's too bad - it was nice having a moron in charge down there. Hopefully they hire Tom Crean or some other nincompoop.Clownzo(Cuonzo) Martin has been fired!See you later sir! I-L-L
purcy51
- Louisville, KY
Have you ever considered writing speeches for politicians? Goodness that's some good writing right there.Well, mark me down as the outlying idiot, then. I feel better this evening than I did a year ago.
You're absolutely correct: last year on the BTT Friday we looked invincible. But we were a young, immature team. We had incredible talent but that talent shrunk and deferred to a closer when things got tight. Only at the very end of the season, when forced to play without Ayo for a spell, did others step up. None of them had ever played an NCAA tourney game, and (IIRC) our coach had never won one. It was electrifying, and complete vindication, to win that epic BTT title game v. OSU. The euphoria I felt throughout Feb and early March, however, was largely seeing our program return to where it had been 15 years earlier, and having fun again for the first time in all those years. That's a long time in the desert given the history of this program.
This year we have greater maturity and seasoning among Kofi, Trent, DMW, and Jake. We don't have a closer. We have different guys who step forward when it's crunch time. We have young guys who have come along during the season and can step in and contribute valuable minutes. I'm never anxious before we play this season. I know that we'll wax and wane but that likely, if we're trailing late, we'll have the capacity to win and we will win. I love watching this team, as maddening as it has been. It's only been five days and I'm still kinda stunned that, despite the injuries, illnesses and adversity, it won a share of the BT title. That's just a magnificent achievement, which is why few of us could get to sleep at a decent hour early Monday morning. I'm still riding on those fumes tonight.
I recall a trashy novella from the early '90s called Damage. A guilty pleasure of a film starring Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons. There's a great line in that book, containing wisdom for the young people among us concerning choosing friends and mates: "Damaged people are dangerous because they know how to survive."
The Illini will be dangerous this month, because they know how to survive and win, even when all else has gone sideways. They've done it repeatedly. Indiana only began to learn to do it yesterday, and I'd bet the lesson won't stick. Toss out our two early losses when the team was severely disabled and we would be a 24-6 team losing only to Arizona [EDIT: in non-con play] in a one-possession game under a minute. Think of everything they overcame to win the title.
I can't wait for next weekend.
Oh, one more thing: I'm waaaaay long Belo. Sell him short at your peril.
View attachment 16167
Feel means a lot to shooters. While both teams deal with that, I don’t consider it a small detail. I’m suprised not all Big Ten teams use the same ball.
Even if we had won this I'm not sure it would have been enough to raise our seed, and after looking at Sagarin and Pomeroy I'm not convinced that the loss will drop our seed. Although the NCAA has their own methodology they aren't that different from the analytics of Sagarin and Pomeroy. Although losing wasn't the result we wanted you shouldn't look at Indiana like they're chopped liver. Their Sagarin rating is 29th, and Pomeroy has them 40th.
Click on the “replies” to Alan Griffin’s post #402 - someone has embedded that pass.
Oops! DSG beat me to it.
Last edited:
Yeah, I get that. (Respectfully) I'm just not buying that as a factor for our missed shots (mostly layups) yesterday.
I do agree that there should be a standardized ball across all NCAA games.
It’s up to the schools, or likely who the school has an apparel deal with. We use Nike balls when we play at home.
Supply chain
I have decided that, after watching the regular season and the Indiana game, that I can't feel confident that I have a clue to what this team will do next. I wouldn't be surprised if they lose the first weekend, and I wouldn't be surprised if they make a long run. And I am OK with that. I want to just enjoy whatever this team does, and stay grateful that we are relevant again. I love this team and will love next year's team. Every year the Illini gives me hours of pleasure, frustration, anger, and excitement. We are in the Big Dance, and anything can happen.
Bigtex
- DFW
Sure it would. Don’t care if they start or not
In regular season the home team picks the ball. Illinois uses a Nike ball. Wisconsin uses whatever the NCAA tournament ball is. It used to be Wilson, I don’t know if that’s changed.
I’d assume the BTT uses the tournament ball, but that’s just a guess.
InDaAZ
- Eugene, Oregon
See post #441 in this thread.
The fact that after 31 games we're still wondering these things is pretty concerning. Can't really afford to experiment now.
- Status