Vegas had this game as Maryland by 15. Clearly, they must not be watching our games out there.
Time delayed telecasts.
By 3 months.
Maryland 81, Illinois 55 POSTGAME
Time delayed telecasts.
By 3 months.
I feel your pain. I live in Pennsylvania. First there was the football game that I almost went to...and heard a lot about from my PSU fan friends.
Now I have tickets for Sunday's game :doh: and everyone knows why I'll be missing church. And oh, yeah, I'm sitting right in the middle of PSU season ticket holders. Hoping for a major case of suckitude for PSU on Sunday.
BTW, how in the world did Minnesota beat Maryland?
Only teams we seem to match up well against would be Rutgers and Minnesota. Luckily we should get to play one of them in the conference tournament.
Tough game. They seemed slow tonight (maybe MD was that fast) and the focus on double teaming down low gave MD too many open looks at threes. Worked against Purdue but when it didn't work here it turned into a disaster. Biggest concern imo was Nunn who seemed to be the only player who did not look for Mav on the pick and roll, did not seem interested on the defensive end, and did not make good shot choices. Adjustments not good. Frustrating.
Yeah, the Nunn thing bothers me too. He seems disinterested now. I remember his fire when he went head-to-head with what's his name from PSU. He seems like a completely different player now. His defense is weak, and he doesn't look aggressive on offense, only taking long jumpers.
I was supposed to go to the game with a buddy who is an MD grad, but things got too busy for both of us...glad I was home.
Hopefully, you fare better at the PSU game.
There's no new information from the game tonight - we already knew everything that's been discussed. This team is no good and Groce isn't going to outcoach anybody in the B1G (except perhaps Pitino and Jordan).
Next year we'll be happier because Groce will either land Tilmon, get the team to the NCAAs, or he'll be fired and we'll try someone new.
If he can land Tilmon with the product he's putting on the court then he truly is an exceptional recruiter.
Next year we'll be happier because Groce will either land Tilmon, get the team to the NCAAs, or he'll be fired and we'll try someone new.
If he can land Tilmon with the product he's putting on the court then he truly is an exceptional recruiter.
Not to beat up on one guy but I noticed the same thing with Nunn. In the Indy game he tried a lazy one handed bounce pass to the post that was easily stolen and taken the other way for a layup. His defense was supposed to be a big strength but he seems to get beaten off the dribble a lot. Who knows he may be playing dinged up from his hip injury still but at this point in the season who isn't banged up in some way. It just stinks that we really have no other options to spell him if he is hurt. Our guys who would spell him are hurt to or are walk on's. Our PG play leaves a lot to be desired. EVERY GAME we are outmatched so badly at PG. Lewis gets in the lane but can't finish. Neither him or Tate can hit a jumper so they go unguarded. I really hope TJL comes in ready to play and TA comes back strong from his injury. At the least we need TA to be a defensive leader on the court next year.
It looks good, sure, but there's still a lot of questions to get there. Will Thorne be back, will Black be suspended and for how long, will Tracy return to form...?
This was not a good game for us, but at least we have a bright spot in this team with Maverick Morgan. Congratulations to him for tonight's double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds. He has excelled, gotten better each and every game, and has not given up with all this team has gone through this year. It's somewhat mind-boggling from where he started back in November that today he can be considered one of our best and needed players. That's a lot of progress in 4 months.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Agree. The lightbulb came on for him, as we hope it will once big men become upperclassmen.
Yeah and right now it looks like a pretty good chance it'll be Minny. Then we'll need to contend with the old saw about how hard it is to beat the same team three times in a season. Remember the #^%&ing Wolverines in '89? Little Richard will probably have Minny players singing Tutti Frutti and gunning for revenge. Plus they'll probably reinstate their 3 reprobates that missed the game the other day.
+1. MM is playing his best ball of his career here. Everyone else looked overwhelmed. MH didn't match up well with their size and athleticism on the frontline. KN took some bad shots. Our PG play was nonexistent, and the freshmen looked overmatched. MF looks like he hit the freshman wall.
MM gives me confidence that we don't need a fifth-year big to come in and start. We just need a fifth-year big who can come in and back up MM.
Yep. Overmatched is not the same as quit. MD is loaded with experienced talent, and it was their senior night. We're without 2-3 starters this year and don't have nearly the same level of talent as them. We especially are bad defensively. We struggle keeping guards in front of us, and our frontline is a sieve defensively and on the boards. Our currently constituted roster is not a good basketball team.
I don't think enough of us realize how much the injuries have affected this team. The lack of size, lack of quality PG play and lack of experienced depth have hindered the team's chances for success. (With all due respect to some of our guys, we have some guys playing more minutes than they should be at this level right now)
The good news is younger guys are getting lots of meaningful PT in the BIG so that they can learn what they need to improve in the off-season to be successful at this level. It will be up to them to hone their individual skills to excel.
With all this said though, I wonder, as others do too, if Groce is a good enough coach to succeed at this level. I want him to be, and maybe with more talent Groce would be able to show us how good of a coach he is. The Players are improving so he is doing something right.
But currently, I see a Team that does not play together. In the past, Groce has mentioned how any good shot is a good shot no matter when it is taken in the shot clock, (or something to that effect). Hmm. We shoot too many threes and jumpers too early in the shot clock instead of working through some sort of offense to create an open shot for someone.
We are witnessing too many of our players taking bad shots early in the shot clock, mainly settling for a jumper just because it is fairly open as opposed to working for a better shot.
Though we are lacking a lot of our talent (our PG and our two Bigs are out - pretty drastic), it would still be nice to see the team play together on both ends of the court. The team defense is improving for sure, but the team play on offense has not been present on a consistent basis.
The good news is younger guys are getting lots of meaningful PT in the BIG so that they can learn what they need to improve in the off-season to be successful at this level. It will be up to them to hone their individual skills to excel.
With all this said though, I wonder, as others do too, if Groce is a good enough coach to succeed at this level. I want him to be, and maybe with more talent Groce would be able to show us how good of a coach he is. The Players are improving so he is doing something right.
But currently, I see a Team that does not play together. In the past, Groce has mentioned how any good shot is a good shot no matter when it is taken in the shot clock, (or something to that effect). Hmm. We shoot too many threes and jumpers too early in the shot clock instead of working through some sort of offense to create an open shot for someone.
We are witnessing too many of our players taking bad shots early in the shot clock, mainly settling for a jumper just because it is fairly open as opposed to working for a better shot.
Though we are lacking a lot of our talent (our PG and our two Bigs are out - pretty drastic), it would still be nice to see the team play together on both ends of the court. The team defense is improving for sure, but the team play on offense has not been present on a consistent basis.
Unfortunately that's like saying we almost didn't fall of that cliff.
I really like this post,but imo even if we make the tourney next year but fail to land Tilmon or another quality big we're right back in the same boat for the next 2 years at least.With that being said,I don't see us making the tourney or landing any 5 star players with NBA aspirations any time soon.Tracy at best is an average BIG quality pg,Black has proven nothing except being a foul machine and a head case and hoping Thorne gets a waiver is probably grasping at straws.
I think there is a lot to be said for this.
Interesting that Morgan has such a strong game, that good be a good omen.
I'm happy for Mav because he has clearly earned everything he's gotten this year. Really a hard worker.
I just have a difficult time getting to giddy over offensive stats that certain players on this team are racking up while they are also giving up so many uncontested shots on the defensive end. At about the 12 min mark of the 2nd half, it turned into a layup drill for MD. Really frustrating to watch a team that consistently does not defend.