Michigan State 81, Illinois 61 POSTGAME

#26      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
Guess I'm the only one who feels unabashedly positive about this program's future. :) You guys can over analyze until you lose your vision from staring at your screens, but we just lost at #2, as we were expected to. Leron is back, Trent is back, we add Ayo and everyone else gets a year older and another year coached by Brad Underwood.

We'll be back.
 
#27      

chief78

chief78
Florida
chief78
I'm watching recorded version and the refs have been bad in the first 8-9 minutes. Anybody get the reason the ref awarded msu the ball when they made their first line change near the start? TF clearly re-established himself (at least 3-4 steps) after stepping out of bounds under the basket and getting a pass. JJjr clearly walked just a bit later. I can think a few others, too. Just a homer job to start....not to mention the slobbering of the announcers over msu.
 
#28      

helppitch

H
helppitch
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Guess I'm the only one who feels unabashedly positive about this program's future. :) You guys can over analyze until you lose your vision from staring at your screens, but we just lost at #2, as we were expected to. Leron is back, Trent is back, we add Ayo and everyone else gets a year older and another year coached by Brad Underwood.

We'll be back.
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I agree! I think we'll be much better next season. if we add Ayo (hopefully more) & keep our present roster.
 
#29      

LBZ

L
LBZ
All things aside, am kind of curious if anyone has been able to razz Underwood on the plane ride home about the 2nd half chewing he gave? May be it is too soon? ;)

In other news, Mizery lost to Ole Miss in OT at home. :thumb:
 
#31      

Deleted member 547530

D
Guest
Deleted member 547530
PlayAZ said:
Any person who thinks the ILLINI don't need an infusion of more talent, might want to watch this game like 100 more times.

Could not agree with this more. Look at the box score. Painful - we just don't have BIG talent.
AJ and MS combine for 36 minutes on the floor, Their combined stat line 1pt 1 ast 3 rebs. Compare that to Monte - bad leg - 6 total minutes 3pts 3 rebs 0 ast.
A lot of people need a reality check, nice kids who were loyal and chose Illinois but are not BIG quality player got us this dumpster fire we have right now. They are simply the only warm bodies to put on the floor, because BU has no other option except walk-ons left on the bench. Seriously AJ and MS stat lines are not anomalies. AJ couldn't find the floor when JG was here. MS just doesn't pass the eye test. Not the kids fault - the media and a bunch of message board pundits painted him way bigger and better than he was. He became that shiny new toy every kid sees on TV and has to have - then it just sits in the toy box till it goes to goodwill because it was not as advertised. MS was a baseball player first and foremost, not a basketball player. That has become painfully obvious, gifted athlete, but I just don't see him being a BIG basketball talent. I know BU has said 1000 point career for the kid but I truly think that was/is coach speak/psychology to try to keep MS head from completely imploding. I for one hope we have some roster turnover. It's not going to get better till we get some talent upgrade. rant ova
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#33      

Deleted member 29907

D
Guest
Deleted member 29907
chief78 said:
I'm watching recorded version and the refs have been bad in the first 8-9 minutes. Anybody get the reason the ref awarded msu the ball when they made their first line change near the start? TF clearly re-established himself (at least 3-4 steps) after stepping out of bounds under the basket and getting a pass. JJjr clearly walked just a bit later. I can think a few others, too. Just a homer job to start....not to mention the slobbering of the announcers over msu.
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Had to turn the audio off - the announcers' men-crush on izzo and msu was just sickening. And that wedding picture (or whatever it was) was a who's who of idiot coaches

Why is it that MSU along with Duke never seem to get a travel called against them - drag the foot, spin, jump stop, take a few more, etc. B1G refs have to be the worst in the nation.
 
#34      

GortTheRobot

G
North Bethesda, Maryland
GortTheRobot
I thought the game was a perfect example of what we are. We have heart, and that carried us in the first half. The No. 1/2 team in the nation then handled us in the second half, because we are young, undermanned, and in need of more athleticism.

Losing by 20, on their home court, with the horses they have, is not really that embarrassing. It is a very fair barometer. I think BU is changing things, but we run out of steam and don't have reliable fire power. I see us being a good team next year, and a really good team the year after.
 
#35      

SescIllini

SescIllini
SescIllini
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Guess I'm the only one who feels unabashedly positive about this program's future. :) You guys can over analyze until you lose your vision from staring at your screens, but we just lost at #2, as we were expected to. Leron is back, Trent is back, we add Ayo and everyone else gets a year older and another year coached by Brad Underwood.

We'll be back.
Click to expand...

I agree. We don't think we need a roster turnover, especially since we can recruit like the blood bloods. Need more quality bigs and play players at true position.

MSU has big man depth and a Kevin Garnett type player in Jackson. He might be a top 3 player in the draft.

If we return our squad next year, add Ayo, Trice, and Cunningham we are much better in several of our weaknesses. Need to shoot the 3 next year better from Damonte and Smith though.
 
#38      

Calvin

C
Calvin
We're seriously lacking size, which hurts us defensively. I'm surprised how many posters talk about "talent" when we often have two 6' 7" guys on the court, or a 6' 7" and 6'9" true freshman as our bigs. We have major positional weakness, and we are struggling with the transition of systems that are almost polar opposite.

I suppose it's semantics --either way we need some influx to the roster, and more buy-in to Underwood's system.
 
#39      

spike49

S
New Mexico
spike49
Overall, the announcers were horribly one sided. There was one incident where I thought they were especially off base and I hope it does not snowball. During one second half time out BU was really tearing into the team and the announcers chimed in that this approach only works when used sparingly. They seemed to be saying that BU out of touch with the modern, “enlightened” approach to coaching.
 
#40      

TCTORNADO

TCTORNADO
TCTORNADO
Hard to fathom that LB is 9-14 from three and Jordan is 5-20 from three in the last 11 games.
 
#41      

Illinimobile

Illinimobile
Illinimobile
At least we didn't blow a 27 point lead at home like NU did. Though if it weren't for the band and cheerleaders in Rosemont, I think MSU might have had more fans there than the Kitties.
 
#42      

haasi

haasi
New York
haasi
Calvin said:
we often have two 6' 7" guys on the court, or a 6' 7" and 6'9" true freshman as our bigs.
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Btw that pin block by Ebo on Bridges was great. Very excited to see his development. Crazy long arms.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#43      

TCTORNADO

TCTORNADO
TCTORNADO
Last night's loss extended the school record Longest Losing Streak-road games to 10 games.
 
#44      

YankeeIllini

Y
YankeeIllini
The team never gave up, they just ran out of "ammo". Glad to see MSU losing the majority of their horsepower to the NBA next year -

Bridges - gone
Jackson - gone
Nairns - gone

That's 70 minutes of superior playing time Izzo has to find in his incoming class, 30 ppg, 14 rpg, and 7 apg. While they won't fall far, they won't resemble this juggernaut.
 
#45      

ChiefIllini

C
ChiefIllini
YankeeIllini said:
The team never gave up, they just ran out of "ammo". Glad to see MSU losing the majority of their horsepower to the NBA next year -

Bridges - gone
Jackson - gone
Nairns - gone

That's 70 minutes of superior playing time Izzo has to find in his incoming class, 30 ppg, 14 rpg, and 7 apg. While they won't fall far, they won't resemble this juggernaut.
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Their incoming class, while not as great as those three players, includes enough to fill most of the gaps those three will leave behind.
 
#46      

Greensboro

Greensboro
Greensboro
blife said:
Could not agree with this more. Look at the box score. Painful - we just don't have BIG talent.
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There are very few teams that have MSU level of talent. Sure more talent would help, no one is arguing that. But also look back to MSU last year when a lot of their talent was freshman, they were solid, but they weren't near #2 in the country either. They lost Harris & picked up Jackson (who is very good, but 5th in scoring, 3rd in rebounds). The players in front of Jackson are mostly sophomores, Bridges, Ward, Langford, & Winston who got better. Is our freshman class that good? no!, but it is reasonable to think they will get better & they hopefully will all be back next year, compared to MSU where the money is on both Bridges & Jackson being gone.

We have a huge whole at big, made even bigger last night with Finke out...but even if we add no one Ebo is getting better. Think back to Egwu & Leonard's freshman year when neither of them could stay on the floor because of fouls. It is too early to say on Matic, but both freshman bigs will be better next year & we still have a chance to add someone next year.

Smith/Damonte will be fine as well, AJ will get better as we get better running the offense. We obviously aren't there, but we are still young.
 
#48      

UnderwoodsCoffeeGuy

U
UnderwoodsCoffeeGuy
YankeeIllini said:
The team never gave up, they just ran out of "ammo". Glad to see MSU losing the majority of their horsepower to the NBA next year -

Bridges - gone
Jackson - gone
Nairns - gone

That's 70 minutes of superior playing time Izzo has to find in his incoming class, 30 ppg, 14 rpg, and 7 apg. While they won't fall far, they won't resemble this juggernaut.
Click to expand...

Their incoming class might be playing for a coach that doesn't cover up sexual abuse
 
#49      

Greensboro

Greensboro
Greensboro
ChiefIllini said:
Their incoming class, while not as great as those three players, includes enough to fill most of the gaps those three will leave behind.
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Nairns ok, since Winston has already taken the lead role; but Bridges & Jackson are very special players that I don't think any of there incoming freshman will be close to ready to replace. Unfortunately, they still have some very good players that are likely returning in Langford, Ward, & Winston, throw in McQuaid & Tillman along with a few freshman minutes and they will be more than fine.