Maryland 88, Illinois 65 Postgame
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would like a 6 seed as well. Let's see what happens
Any team anywhere that is built around shooting Threes and making a poor percentage of them has that fatal flaw that prevents them from being truly... Elite. We have seen this repeatedly all season long.
Yes, you will have your hotter nights when the Threes are falling at a greater rate than usual... and you will beat some good teams as The Illini have. And then you get ranked.
And then you slide back into too much brick-city from distance and you slide out of the rankings again. And you certainly cannot prevail in Tournament ball where the more-well-rounded teams have all those other ways to beat you when the long-distance rainbows aren’t bringing those pots of gold you have built your team around getting.
This is so frustrating for Illini Nation because we have seen this times before. Illini teams that in many ways out-talent many to most teams that they play yet lack what it takes to get them over the hump.
For years the Illini team has been too fragile of mind. Our Beloved needs some guys that bring more Attitude (floor confidence, good swagger) that won’t sag when things get tough. There is a street ball confidence and arrogance that channeled in the right way is very much what the Illini have needed.
Confidence is not something you gain by making your shots and strutting when things are going well. Confidence is what you must bring to the floor whether the shots are falling or not.
There is a certain mind set that The Illini need to recruit for from the high school ranks and from the portal. They presently have too many guys who are too alike in their approach to the game both on the floor and in their game-mind. There is a glass-ceiling level that the Illini have not been able to break above for a long time now. Good to Great... but still not Elite.
Man if this current team had just one more year to gel… oh, and get a transfer big. Damn!
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
When I saw this post game photo, wow does he need some work in the weight room
Attachments
Wow. I got that one wrong lol
splitter
- and not Nebraska
I am OK with Hamer cutting up film, if that is his primary job. Get two assistants to take it from there.
It didn't change, the roster did. He's NEVER been a big fan of playing freshmen because more times than not, they aren't ready. This year, four of our top rotational pieces are freshmen and physically underdeveloped. Add that to the fact that the roster is 98% new. That's a lot going on in one season/off-season. Add in the injuries and illness.....how we've gotten to 20 wins, with the schedule we've played, is quite the accomplishment.
That said, I don't think you'll ever see him go this young again and I think that bringing in toughness and grittiness this off-season is going to be a priority.
That was kind of the narrative for a while but we've only really had one great defensive team since he's been here.
KenPom defense rankings:
2018 - 129
2019 - 108
2020 - 35
2021 - 7
2022 - 29
2023 - 26
2024 - 80
2025 - 41
You are right though that the defense has really started to slip the last couple years, especially once conference play starts.
Here's Torvik defense ranking from January onward the last two years:
2024 - 109
2025 - 68
I think there’s plenty of individual effort on defense. There’s just no cohesion. Guys are going to get beat at this level. There’s just no help when we do. That’s on the coach/scheme.
Brad Underwood and the success he has brought to Illinois has spoiled you.
Brad Underwood assembled a highly-skilled, soft team. I bet that burns him real bad. Good.
That's exactly what I am seeing too, all Winter long. Defense is a TEAM thing, not individual!
With a top 10 budget expectations should be higher. It’s not complicated. We are told he keeps getting better players. Recruits over last years entire team. Spends a ton on players compared to most programs. Expect more from your program.
In fairness, Morez is hardly what I would call physically underdeveloped. That kid could lift the bus. Agreed on all other points
. Tomi's fouls last night looked like a dude who was gassed. He fought but he's had a tough two months.
I imagine there were two sets of numbers on Brad's mental whiteboard.
17 - 3.
0 - 22.
That is brutal.
I have faith.
That's not a talent or physicality issue.
17 - 3.
0 - 22.
That is brutal.
I have faith.
That's not a talent or physicality issue.
the national
- the Front Range
percent agree. It too a few minutes but it was East the damage was done. Once Tomi was out, they had a field day. We needed two bigs. It was a bad strategy, and coach never flinched. We got blown out.lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
We are overly reliant on freshman this year, but Brad’s never been afraid of giving freshman big roles.
Freshman who earned more than 15 minutes per game:
Trent Frazier - 26 min/game
Mark Smith - 19 min/game
Damonte Williams - 17 min/game
Ayo - 31 min/game
Giorgi - 26 min/game
Kofi - 27 min/game
Adam Miller - 26 min/game
Curbelo - 22 min/game
Jayden Epps - 25 min/game
Ty Rodgers - 18 min/game
Skyy Clark - 24 min/game
Sencire Harris - 15 min/game
KJ - 32 min/game
Riley - 24 min/game
Ivisic - 24 min/game
Morez - 18 min/game
That’s 16 freshman earning more than 15 minutes per game over 8 years, 2 per year on average.
I didn't say that he's never done it, I said that he's not a fan of it. He's a coach that wants his team "old" and he'd rather not lean on freshmen. This is his 8th(????) year here and that is an extremely interesting list.
Putting this year aside because we don't know the outcome(less Rodgers).
We have 7 guys that transferred out of the program, two All American's and the rest were tough guys who would punch you in the mouth if you looked them sideways. That's his type of player, but they were also on a team that he just took over, we were awful and his choices were minimal.
Again, I'm not disagreeing with you that he's had to give some some extended playing time....for the most part, it's really never worked out for them because his style was harsh, he got up in people's faces, he yelled, he screamed....and the cream puffs couldn't take it.
To me, and I can be WAY off base, but he's been a different coach this year. You almost never see him lose his temper in the huddle, he doesn't get in people's faces and quite frankly....he's a different guy. Is he coddling personalities? Last year....woof, he'd lose it and his guys were older, more mature and embraced it. We ended up 29-9 and didn't return anyone but TGL, who didn't play last year.
This year has been a roller coaster mess at times and joy at other times. I could be completely FOS, but I don't think that you'll see this type of mix again. This team does not resemble ANY of his teams of the past.
Here's another issue and I'm not sure if it plays a role or not. Very few guys stay four years anymore. The days of development are over. Could you imagine the "old days" when we'd have these kids back for multiple years? Can't do that anymore. You're paying guys that want to play and play immediately. They're gone if they don't. I'm sure that plays into it.
It's a tough situation and one that I'm sure he's not pleased with, but his hands are tied.
Yep feel terrible for tomi. Probably hard enough to keep bulking up when Big 10 season hits, but then he lost significant weight when he got sick, came back and just started burning tons of calories. No way you can add weight when that happens.
That guy needs the Tisdale AND Nick Smith diet!
Weird team. You look at the roster there are 2 next year NBA first rounders even possibly lottery picks. Then with Tomi and Morez you arguably have 2 NBA next year second rounders. So on paper this team is stacked and you could say brad is not a great coach-to have all that talent and not be crushing it. But putting a whole new team on the court with only one returning player is kind of ridiculous—and to expect a top 10 team out of that was I guess to much to expect. I saw some good adjustments by Brad vs Purdue but overall the X’s and O’s are lacking. So overall prob a C+ for Brad this year.
The ncaa tourney-who knows? Vegas had us only 1.5 pt dogs yesterday so nobody can figure us out. We can beat anyone and lose to anyone on any given night.
The ncaa tourney-who knows? Vegas had us only 1.5 pt dogs yesterday so nobody can figure us out. We can beat anyone and lose to anyone on any given night.
I think Tomi is "tough" in the sense of what he's been through and playing through all of it.
I wish he was more physical. It's an attitude. We may have seen it throughout the year on occasion, but there were times (before sickness) I felt he could've "dived" for a ball, not avoid blocking some out or get "down and dirty" similar to Morez.
When he hits three-pointers, Illinois does well. However, he should post up more and baby-hook teams to death. He has some good inside moves. Just get in position to score. Inside/out game.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Probably my biggest point of criticism with Underwood right here. You can't just say "Plan A, but better" when Plan A clearly isn't working. Happened last year against UConn when it was clear Clingan was allowed to whatever he wanted for rim protection.
You need some sort of Plan B in your back pocket.
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
Probably the most inconsistent Illini team in recent memory
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