Loyola Chicago 71, Illinois 58 Postgame

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#477      
Shame on those who are ignorant and cast hateful comments towards our players after a tough loss. I incourage kindness and appreciation for their efforts this season. What a great season it was!
 
#478      

purcy51

Nappanee, IN
Yeah, to hell with that static. This team has been cooped up in hotels stuck pounding out wins on a no-time-for-prep schedule for a MONTH. Even being basketball, it's rarely so extreme as we've seen.

They have sacrificed more than we'll ever know to bring each other the joys of a historic season. The wheels came off in turn three with everyone watching. Nobody feels the rug pull more than them. If good fans ever matter, it's right now when the bad ones are primed to pounce. The candid appreciation and love for this tight-knit crew needs to be loud enough for them to hear.

What an AWESOME team - fun enough to be illegal in forty states and Puerto Rico. These guys spoiled us with enough surplus of highlight reels to make any rich dude blush. This season won't be the last for Illinois basketball, but the success can be a punctuation mark. I hope each and every one of these players makes the right decision for themselves. They need to know that they gave their fans a very special ride these last three months and owe us nothing more. They deserve their prize even if they missed the brass ring. Stay or go, these guys have earned their place as Fighting Illini.

Thank you, fellas. What a trip it was.
To your point in the first paragraph: the only Big Ten team (so far) to make the sweet 16 is the one that didn't play a full slate of conference games. Thus, they were fairly well rested comparatively. Coincidence? I think not.
 
#481      

sbillini

st petersburg, fl
And an overtime game in the BTT finals probably isn’t a good idea. Both illinois and osu appeared gassed.
C'mon folks. They had almost the same gap between the BT regular season and the start of the BTT vs. the BTT and the NCAA tourney, yet they were able to win 3 in 3 days against (presumably) better competition. Tired legs shouldn't be an issue at that point after a 5 day rest (and an easy win 2 days prior for UI).
 
#482      
This should concern us all. In the postgame around 5 min mark, BU was asked about adjustments. His answer was something like "we put everybody in them, Ayo in shakes, establishing Kofi, didn't go early enough to Kofi, we tried everything in the bag that's made us one of the most efficient offenses, Trent goes 1-10, can't turn it over 17 times."

It was post game and he hasn't had time to watch the film and break everything down, but that wasn't a compelling answer. It didn't really address what wasn't working and what he changed to combat it. It was more like yeah we tried harder, things didn't work, it was a bad game. Good coaches can get their teams into these games, great coaches can find the angles to a competitive advantage that consistently win them. Whether that happens in the off season, pre-game prep, at half time, or anytime during a game. You have to develop multiple options in your tool box and be able to throw them at an opponent when what you initially wanted to do gets taken away. To use a football analogy- you may have planned to run the ball coming in, but when they put 10 men in the box, you have to start throwing. Trying harder to run the ball isn't going to cut it.
110%!!!!!
 
#483      
I'm over the traditional 'big man' when it comes to tourney play. But so is the NBA. Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, etc, etc are eliminated. It works well in the regular season grind.

I'm also over the small guard approach for tourney runs.

I covet a stable of 6'4" - 6'8" athletic combo/wing studs. See Baylor, Arkansas, Maryland, Houston, UCLA, -type rosters. Granted a few unicorn exceptions could be added to the stable (any top 30 big man or lightning quick, athletic small guard (Curbelo-type)). But the base of the roster stays the same. Then switch, switch, switch on D.

I'm uneducated to high-level ball, but with today's youth/players in love with the 3-pointer regardless of size, and with the AAU culture, I'd move on from the plodding big men and micro guards.

Goode, Melendez, Bass..... Keep 'em comin'!!!
Kofi didn’t cause us to lose. Our guard play and coaching caused us to lose. And Loyola’s great execution of their game plan.
 
#484      
The key is that Krutwig was given no resistance to facilitating at the top of the key. Again it's about matchups. Giorgi matches up better with Krutwig but you need Kofi on the floor for his offense.
Put CH into the game. Let him pressure Krutwig up high. Push the ball down the floor instead of walking it and letting Loyola set up their defense. They were double teaming Ayo and triple teaming Kofi. Put the ball in Miller's hands and let him go to work. Curbelo was not the answer.
 
#486      
To your point in the first paragraph: the only Big Ten team (so far) to make the sweet 16 is the one that didn't play a full slate of conference games. Thus, they were fairly well rested comparatively. Coincidence? I think not.
What?????......:rolleyes:
 
#487      
C'mon folks. They had almost the same gap between the BT regular season and the start of the BTT vs. the BTT and the NCAA tourney, yet they were able to win 3 in 3 days against (presumably) better competition. Tired legs shouldn't be an issue at that point after a 5 day rest (and an easy win 2 days prior for UI).
I too agree that i don't think it was a function of tired legs versus tired minds. Trying to make the come from behind push to get the B1G regular season chip and then going hard for the B1G tournament right afterwards while being stuck in a quarantined state in Indiana for 11 days straight is mentally exhausting. It's a lot easier for an underseeded program from the same state to get amped for the game. Some of the fellas just couldn't get in the zone necessary to beat a team that requires more tactical execution.
 
#488      
Kofi didn’t cause us to lose. Our guard play and coaching caused us to lose. And Loyola’s great execution of their game plan.
This is true, but as a guy sitting next to me said, "Illinois's' letting them do whatever they want." Loyola runs their offense through Krutwig, and he's really good at it. Still, we're bigger, stronger, and deeper. It's best to defend cleanly, but we obviously couldn't. Is there a point where you just put a body against Krutwig, and make it harder for him to do whatever he wants? I'm not talking about hacking or playing dirty, just more physical. Sure, you're going to get called for some fouls, but you're also going to disrupt their offense. Krutwig finished with 19, 12, and five assists. Kofi and Giorgi combined for three fouls. Why the kid gloves?
 
#489      
Think the coaching staff was terrified of Giorgi guarding Kutwig as he offers 0 rim protection so the gameplan was to try and keep Kofi out of foul trouble at all costs.
 
#490      
Kofi didn’t cause us to lose. Our guard play and coaching caused us to lose. And Loyola’s great execution of their game plan.
I'm with you, I didn't blame Kofi. He just limits what you can do defensively due to foot speed. He was caught in "no man's land" several times in Loyola's actions.

I think we agree, as you then posted putting in CoHawk to defend Krutwig. (I'm not sure CoHawk could guard him particularly, but a strong, athletic, even 6'-6" SF/PF probably could be somewhat effective.)
 
#491      
I follow Kofi. He posted it on his story. The account was gone by the time I tried to search it just to see who that person might be.

Idiots in our country have been more empowered recently than at any other point on my lifetime.
They are empowered because of the availability of anonymous existence online. This is not a good thing for society, clearly. If there is no moral backing that has a stronghold in one's life, then they can't be trusted with this responsibility. This is how it seems to me, anyway.
 
#492      

Deleted member 747671

D
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Kofi didn’t cause us to lose. Our guard play and coaching caused us to lose. And Loyola’s great execution of their game plan.
I agree completely. Kofi was stuck in "no man's land" and it was not his doing. Our guards could not handle the screen action from Loyola. It's up to the coaches to make adjustments and, to a lesser extent, the perimeter players to adapt instead of continuing to get beat. I thought Kofi played well and was just hung out to dry on defense most of the game.
 
#493      
Think the coaching staff was terrified of Giorgi guarding Kutwig as he offers 0 rim protection so the gameplan was to try and keep Kofi out of foul trouble at all costs.
That would make more sense if we were up or even if the game was close, but it's a one-and-done tournament. What's the advantage of going into the loser's locker room with your bigs free of foul trouble? I'm not suggesting mugging, but you're allowed some contact, and you get five fouls. Letting Giorgi lean on Krutwig until he (GB) fouls out disrupts Loyola's offense for a chunk of the half, and exhausts Krutwig, because Giorgi's a big boy. And honestly, Krutwig probably picks up one or two.

You don't have Fletch make your players big and strong just so they look good in pictures. Sometimes, you have to put a body on someone.
 
#494      

Deleted member 747903

D
Guest
I agree completely. Kofi was stuck in "no man's land" and it was not his doing. Our guards could not handle the screen action from Loyola. It's up to the coaches to make adjustments and, to a lesser extent, the perimeter players to adapt instead of continuing to get beat. I thought Kofi played well and was just hung out to dry on defense most of the game.

I'd bet that BU is going to add in a zone next year. He has no other choice.

Otherwise, a team like Loyola which runs a heavy motion offense is going to carve us up again in the tourney.
 
#495      
Considering the (visible) lack of in-game adjustments, does anyone think it’s possible we simply didn’t really prep for this game? I’m quite removed from this level of basketball and have no real idea how coaches scout and prep for opponents BUT I can easily imagine a scenario where a nervous Brad Underwood completely overlooking this game in fear of losing to his former school, Oklahoma State, in the next round.
 
#496      

Deleted member 746826

D
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Moser was playing chess today. How about when he threw a press on with Damonte inbounding (I think) and Monte throwing it away since we were totally unprepared. Moser should be at the top of all the high paying jobs (Indiana) out there. Guy wins wherever he coaches.
Except illinois state university?
 
#497      
Still think the most bizarre thing was we didn't have a full-court trap ready for desperate situations. Illinois in 05 doesn't beat zona without it.
 
#498      
Those of you supposed Illini fans should apply for one of the open college coaching jobs. Indiana has not filled their position yet. I learned a long time ago that if the team wins, the team played great, but if there is a loss, blame the coach. This season the team won 24 and Underwood lost 7. I would not trade Underwood for any other coach. He has brought the Illini out of a big hole. Loyola had nothing to lose and a great deal to gain. This tournament has shown it is always more difficult to be the hunted. I wish Loyola well. Porter Moser did a great coaching job but recall that he was a bust at Illinois State.
 
#499      

Deleted member 747903

D
Guest
Still think the most bizarre thing was we didn't have a full-court trap ready for desperate situations. Illinois in 05 doesn't beat zona without it.

You can't use things you don't work on. Either BU has this stuff in his bag and chose not to use it (which I find hard to believe) or they simply never worked on it.

Look at how often teams like Rutgers or Michigan throw in a full court press during a game just to give the opponent a different look. I don't think we ever did that this year except in the last 2 minutes of a game.
 
#500      

Deleted member 747671

D
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Those of you supposed Illini fans should apply for one of the open college coaching jobs. Indiana has not filled their position yet. I learned a long time ago that if the team wins, the team played great, but if there is a loss, blame the coach. This season the team won 24 and Underwood lost 7. I would not trade Underwood for any other coach. He has brought the Illini out of a big hole. Loyola had nothing to lose and a great deal to gain. This tournament has shown it is always more difficult to be the hunted. I wish Loyola well. Porter Moser did a great coaching job but recall that he was a bust at Illinois State.
I don't think it's unreasonable to question the coaching in this game. Just as I'm sure Michigan fans questioned their coaching in the game against us. Underwood and Howard are both great coaches that pretty much any high major team would take in a heartbeat, but it doesn't mean they're above criticism. I think darn near all of the criticism of Underwood has been level-headed, appropriate, and fair. It also sure as heck doesn't take anything away from my fandom to be upset about the loss. The cold hard facts are we are the only 1 seed that did not make the sweet 16. We were never in the round of 32 game, got completely dominated on both ends of the floor. That is quite frankly unacceptable. It doesn't take away from how good of a regular season we had or how good of a team or coaching staff we have. It's just facts that we coached and played like crap against a good opponent who we should've beaten.

I have never coached a day in my life. That may change eventually but I'll be starting out in 5 year old girls leagues lol. I have no intention or ability to become a coach any higher than my girls want me to be. That doesn't mean I can't use my years of playing and observing sports to shape my analysis of games I pay particularly close attention to. Loyola had an extremely well thought out game plan and stuck to it virtually the entire game. We had no answer from the tip to the final horn, and we did not make any significant adjustments until maybe the final 5 minutes when the game was pretty much put away. There's no excuse for that. It falls 99% on the coaching. You want to throw 1% at the players, sure, but they're kids, trying to do what the coaches tell them. I never played basketball competitively beyond sophomore year of high school, but I know there are multiple ways to defend screens. I know their are multiple defenses to run. Hell my freshman team practiced and played aggressive man to man, 2-3 zone, 1-3-1, and a couple different press defenses. We played man to man 90% of the time but we practiced and knew how to play the other ones where needed. We also would have multiple ways to defend screens, with hedging ball screens and switching off-ball screens as our primary method, but could adjust as needed. This was my experience as a 14 year old. It's not crazy to think that a division 1 team could at least throw out some different looks, just to try to take the opposition out of their comfort zone.

Sorry this is so long. I just really dislike when people play the "you're not a fan if you criticize the team and coach" card.
 
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