Michigan State 79, Illinois 65 Postgame

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#727      
There was a collective groan in the Assembly Hall every time another attempted three was launched.

Why did they attempt threes? Well, their drives weren’t going anywhere, so maybe the three point fairy would work. But the whole team seemed timid after they got to that 16 point lead. Did Izzo tell his team about the Pizza Hut parking lot?

(Speaking of Izzo, he was always on the court and chased the refs halfway across the court. Why do the refs let him do that? Oh, it’s just Tom being Tom).

The jersey snafu: how is that even possible? Aren’t the top and bottom of the banners different? Didn’t they do dry runs? It almost seems deliberate. Surely not, but the sorry individuals might as well change barbers, go to a different church or even move out of town now.
 
#729      
Lou Henson is so much better of a coach than BU, they should not be even mentioned in the same sentence. If you think we were bad during the Weber/Groce era, let me tell you about the Harv Schmidt era. BU is toast here, just a matter of time and we will wait it out like we always do.
 
#730      
Is what it is at this point. Team has some great pieces but just too inconsistent with youth right now. Just gotta hope we get hot in the tourney (worse teams have). Need to win probably 2 more regular season and one BTT game to stay out of the 8-9 game
I have been one of the staunchest BH defenders b/c most games he's done the things you mentioned. Early on, he absolutely was our best defensive rebounder, took good shots, and play pretty good D. But as the game progressed, his defense was as bad as everybody else on the team and he took questionable shots. It seems like he thinks he's 1A scoring option so he's gonna chuck if he gets the ball. That's frustrating..he's gotta know his role.
 
#731      
AND don't forget the first half swoon. Up by 16 points at 8:46, we score 10 points, Michigan State scores 22 points to close the gap to 4. A sign of things to come.
 
#732      
I’m starting to wonder how close Underwood is to Basketball Ron Zook right now. And the potshots at the media is a terrible look.
 
#733      
Brad speaks like a losing gambler when it comes to 3's. Besides not making 3s, you lose opportunities for greater team ball and drawing fouls. Morez shoots like 65%, I like those chances.

At this point wondering if Tre abd DGL broke a signicant team rule. Their prior play doesn't deserve this treatment. You can't be overly forgiving for 1-2 players abd then drop the hammer on others.
 
#734      
So I’m just going to assume Tre is done at Illinois? This is such an odd season
Wild how quickly that fell apart. Tre was arguably the 2nd best player on the team from early December to early January(Him or Ivisic).

He was highly efficient on the offensive end and was great on the boards. He's also the only wing on the roster with the foot speed to defend on the perimeter.

Definitely had some bad games against USC, Indiana, and Nebraska and he should not be putting up more than 1 or 2 open rhythm 3's a game

I know a lot of stuff can happen behind closed doors but I'm curious as to what White did to get put in the doghouse while Humrichous and Boswell continue to play 30ish minutes a night and have had just as many/if not more poor performances.

Also as far as weird rotational things, DGL has the best 2pt% on the team(extremely rare for a guard) while White is 6th behind KJ. DGL and White are 5th and 7th in efg%, the 2nd and 3rd best in FT%.

For a team that looks far better when they limit 3pt attempts and attack the basket. Not playing DGL and White makes them a lot worse.
 
#736      
Go watch the John groce era and tell me this season sucks. We are going to win 20 games AGAIN. Did we lose in a bad way tonight? Absolutely. Should we fire the guy that has brought us back to relevancy hell no.
Exactly. And the final years of Bruce Weber were brutal. You cloud hear a pin drop inside State Farm during of those games.

Underwood has two years of not making the tournament before you fire him.

Underwood got so much out of Trent and Damonte. Those were not elite players. I think people forget that.
 
#737      
Not sure what was worse, the last 8 minutes…the 45 minute wait for an Uber…realizing after said Uber ride that Papa Dells was closed.

Was at my first game in forever as the girlfriend surprised me with tickets that I don’t want to know what she paid for them (the ones where you sit down and the people next to you are like “who the F are you”).

The atmosphere when Morez made the second dunk in the first half was absolutely insane. The fact that we couldn’t ride that momentum and the game was even close at half time, I’m not sure if that’s a credit to MSU or an issue with us, but it felt like we should have been up by 10 at half.

Lots I’d love to post but I’ll settle on this. I’ve never seen the goaltending call get reversed and points taken off the board. In real-time time I didn’t think it was a goaltend either, but I wish I knew what happened to the ball after play was stopped. Did it fall into our hands for what would have been an easy bucket? I think only Izzo gets that call looked at way after the fact. It’s a dead ball. If you aren’t sure go look at it right then and call a jump ball if you messed up the call.
 
#738      
Boswell 0 points, 0-2 FG - You just need more. It seems like his offensive struggles have gotten into him a bit... deferring a lot... you just need more and expected more.

With the point of this team being a freshman led team... we have veterans, it's just they haven't lived up to the hype. ur freshman are your best players.
I remember in the second half, during our meltdown, he had the ball at the top of the key and half the lane was wide open. Easy layup.... He looked at it, and then passed the ball. That is NOT a point guard mentality. Way too many bizarre and bad decisions and way, way too many hero plays. Tre is way too good to buried on the bench.... whatever is going on there needs to end and he needs to see the court. Ben is frustrating a lot of times, but he does try. I have no idea why all of three point shooters seem to shoot way below their historic level except Jake. Maybe because they were more selective in the past and not on a chuck it you got it offense? I have had season tickets for some time, but I don't know if I going to keep loading up on painkillers to be able walk in and sit there to watch this show repeat itself time after time. Too much reliance on freshman or guys playing at this level for the first time. The ones who have been there {DGL and Tre) either don't play or get much fewer minutes than they deserve.
 
#739      
2) Kylan didn't hurt us tonight but he sure as heck didn't help us- 29 minutes- 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 TO.
How can you say Kylan didn't hurt when you correctly point out he was completely invisible offensively.

It was basically like playing 4 on 5 offensively which does actively hurt you when you have a guard doing that.

Someone like Ty could could not score or shoot much but still make an impact on the offensive end on the boards. Kylan isnt creating those extra possessions.
 
#740      
Is having repeated epic offensive collapses unusual? I know it's unusual for good teams, but is it something common for new teams? (Is it just a coincidence that a complete different roster of our guys got outscored 30-0 last year?)

I sense mental fragility here: if we miss a few (like in that series of rushed shots where Ben heaved one from five feet beyond the arc on a fresh clock after an offensive rebound), it gets in our head and we just keep missing.

I'm sure Brad thinks if he pulls a guy in that situation it's gonna hurt their confidence. But man, I think that ship has sailed. It's the missing that gets in their head. Being pulled won't make the self-doubt worse, and leaving the player in to miss more might.
 
#741      
I'm curious if there's an underlying issue with why Tre hasn't seen the floor the last couple of games. It doesn't make sense to me. Dre only getting 3 minutes either.
 
#742      
You know I just have to say I don’t get this “we were so bad under Groce/Weber you better be careful of what you wish for attitude”. I guess just being mediocre and making the tournament and making an E8 ever decade is good enough for this crowd?

I on the other hand, and our genius coach says this all the time, want to see Illinois play for NC’s. At this point Weber has done this, and I don’t see a chance in hell that BU ever gets to that game in his career. He is already 62 how many more seasons does he have?

If we really want to win, we have to hope he walks on his own. There is zero chance we fire him for at least 2 years. We will not win more big games than we lose with him as a coach as he is not a good “game” coach.

I just can’t get with the idea that he is the best we can get so shut up and like this product because he is Illinois’ version of coach K? We should be striving to win it all, when it is apparent that is not going to happen you make changes, not status quo and be happy your “middle of the road”. I figure these people who feel like this never take risks and try to excel. Better to be “ok” than try to be the best?
 
#743      
Our ability to get stops on the pick and role and lack of ball protection have become staple weaknesses of this team, along with the willingness to settle for poor shots. Maybe the team is not healthy, but I tend to think its youth, inexperience and a lack of leadership, which takes time to develop. Too many new faces. Brad needs to keep as many of these players as possible so that next year we are not dealing with all of these same issues.
 
#744      
Seems like we ran out of gas on offense and defense and rebounding cratered. 7 man rotation doesn’t cut it. Is Tre White in the dog house or does he have the flu for 2 weeks?
I construe Brad's pregame statement as a decision that he thinks it's too late in the year to work Tre back into the rotation. I hope he rethinks that this morning, cuz this short rotation doesn't seem to be able to hold it together for a full 40 minutes, and--I hate to say it--I can't realistically see them making it to the B1G championship game or into the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
 
#745      
Now that the emotional responses are done.

Last night was lost from coaching rotational mistakes. All on Brad. Utter garbage.

Tre got into it with him one practice and his ego can't let it go. Most coaches would see it as fire and have a 1-1 conversation where they appreciate criticism and to simply not do it in front of others. No idea on DGL/Jake.

MSU was fresh in the final 10 and we weren't. Keeping up with the best transition team in the BIG10 on a 7 man rotation is horrible game plan.

Go back and watch the span. Jacking 3s is a sign of exhaustion because it's the easiest shot to get. You don't need to cut or bang with anyone. Ben, tomi, KJ and Will were all missing short. And everyone is coming off sickness and injury. Their conditioning isn't going to be where it should.

How our coaching staff doesn't see this in game blows my mind.
 
#746      
Hopefully MJ doesn't transfer. Going to need to open up the wallet to keep him.
 
#748      
Now that the emotional responses are done.

Last night was lost from coaching rotational mistakes. All on Brad. Utter garbage.

Tre got into it with him one practice and his ego can't let it go. Most coaches would see it as fire and have a 1-1 conversation where they appreciate criticism and to simply not do it in front of others. No idea on DGL/Jake.

MSU was fresh in the final 10 and we weren't. Keeping up with the best transition team in the BIG10 on a 7 man rotation is horrible game plan.

Go back and watch the span. Jacking 3s is a sign of exhaustion because it's the easiest shot to get. You don't need to cut or bang with anyone. Ben, tomi, KJ and Will were all missing short. And everyone is coming off sickness and injury. Their conditioning isn't going to be where it should.

How our coaching staff doesn't see this in game blows my mind.

I absolutely hate that. You get into it with a player so you bench him the rest of the year? That's not acceptable for a head coach who is expected to manage people as well as the Xs and Os.
 
#749      
Haven't brought myself to watch the press conference yet, but if BU truly defended all the threes then that is just unreal. I can tell him how many of Ben's threes went OUT - ALL 6 OF THEM!!!! 15/16 of all of them shot by the team did in the second half when we had MSU in bonus for about 12 minutes and didn't get to the free throw line.

We made 57% of our twos (which is our season avg for twos by the way), and 21% of our threes. Just an asinine offensive strategy this year by a coach who puts a 28.8% for the season three point shooting team on the floor. Spreading the floor with Tomi doesn't do a whole lot when you can't make even open threes every damn game and you refuse to drive to the basket. If we limited our threes to 12 - the same amount MSU took - and take twos instead, we win by 5 having taken 5 shots fewer than MSU did.
 
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#750      
Now that the emotional responses are done.

Last night was lost from coaching rotational mistakes. All on Brad. Utter garbage.

Tre got into it with him one practice and his ego can't let it go. Most coaches would see it as fire and have a 1-1 conversation where they appreciate criticism and to simply not do it in front of others. No idea on DGL/Jake.

MSU was fresh in the final 10 and we weren't. Keeping up with the best transition team in the BIG10 on a 7 man rotation is horrible game plan.

Go back and watch the span. Jacking 3s is a sign of exhaustion because it's the easiest shot to get. You don't need to cut or bang with anyone. Ben, tomi, KJ and Will were all missing short. And everyone is coming off sickness and injury. Their conditioning isn't going to be where it should.

How our coaching staff doesn't see this in game blows my mind.
This is 100 percent. Spot on. And well stated. I can’t say it this well bc I get emotional.

We were gassed so all we did was shoot threes at the end.

We have been sick, so our conditioning isn’t where it should be, and then we choose to compound that by not playing guys.

Thank you for this post!
 
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