Deleted member 4960
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Jordan had his open looks last night. He just didn't make them.he missed at least three wide-open shots and two or three fairly open attempts.
Minnesota 77, Illinois 67 POSTGAME
Deleted member 631370
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Actually, 5 of our first 7 are on the road.
This was an absolutely horrible way for this young team with a new coach to go into B1G play. 5 road games in the first 7 (mostly against '17 NCAA tourney teams), and a home game against a likely NCAA tournament team in Maryland.
There's a very real chance that we start B1G play 1-6. If that happens, people will be jumping off of every cliff they can find. But the name of the game here is the same: show progress over the course of the season, start consistently winning games in February, and become a really competitive team by March. Probably won't be enough to make the NCAA tournament, but it sets us up for next season.
I get it. Nobody wants to hear that. But that's the playbook here.
It's frigging BS that we have to fight our way back every year schedule wise.
Team plays hard every night out which is good to see. Right now we lack experienced upperclassman to help the freshman adjust to Big 10 level basketball. I think Frazier, Smith and Williams will all be good Big 10 players down the road but right now they are more role players and unfortunately we need more from them than that. I was really hoping that Nichols, Lucas and Finke would take a step up like Black has just hasn't happen. A year from now this team should compete for a tournament bid but for the rest of this year continued improvement and some upsets at home is probably the best we can hope for.
Good post. I disagree with Frazier and Williams though. I don't think they're role players at all. I think they've earned starting positions.
Agree that Frazier and Williams deserve to start I just think at this point in their careers on a good Big 10 team they would be role players off the bench or possibly the 5th starter. Not a knock on them by any means. They just aren't ready to be the best players on a Big 10 team at this point in their careers. Very few freshman can come in and be studs right off the bat
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
so tired of the slow starts and in game droughts by the Illini...cant understand why we don't have continuity throughout the game ...of course teams go scoreless for periods of time but we dig such deep holes for ourselves then come back but fall short so many times this season...
young team but plenty of talent to be better than 10-6....
young team but plenty of talent to be better than 10-6....
I've let go of getting to the dance, and I wouldn't think any fan should think that way. It seemed achievable given Underwood's stellar record, but he came in with a roster without a center, and doesn't have his type of player yet. Just work on getting better with a young team and see what happens. Our resume stinks, and we have yet to win a BIG game in 3 tries, so it's nearly inconceivable we'll somehow take a young team with a flawed roster, and bring it back to respectability, even though mathematically we're not out of it yet.
Rough night on the road.
Future Walk-On
- Peoria, IL
I think everyone needs to relax. Did anyone really think we were going to win this game? I am happy it was only 10 points.
When BU has his own recruits who are Jr.'s and Sr.'s and we are this bad ... then we can panic...but he will also be fired at that point so we can all start fresh.
When BU has his own recruits who are Jr.'s and Sr.'s and we are this bad ... then we can panic...but he will also be fired at that point so we can all start fresh.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Frazier and Williams earned the starting lineup weeks ago. This is my first real beef with BU. How many weak as he!! starts do you need to see before you make this change? He kept saying it's unacceptable, but accepted it for 5-6 more games. It was crystal clear this team is better with Frazier and Williams in the lineup.
There is no good reason to keep pushing that same starting five out each game. Lucas' minutes will be significantly reduced next year. Finke is so over matched in the BIG post it's silly to even talk about it. Spicy G is a banger. He's raw, but will should get more minutes now. He made at least three plays last night that I've never seen Finke make. Alstork will keep getting his minutes because his D (despite his stupidity late in this game) is so solid.
Mark Smith just started focusing on high level basketball 18'ish months ago.
I'm fine with riding the struggle bus early. It's going to make our youngsters angry and hungry.
This team is going to be scary by the end of next season. We will probably have the best back court in the BIG 2019/2020.
There is no good reason to keep pushing that same starting five out each game. Lucas' minutes will be significantly reduced next year. Finke is so over matched in the BIG post it's silly to even talk about it. Spicy G is a banger. He's raw, but will should get more minutes now. He made at least three plays last night that I've never seen Finke make. Alstork will keep getting his minutes because his D (despite his stupidity late in this game) is so solid.
Mark Smith just started focusing on high level basketball 18'ish months ago.
I'm fine with riding the struggle bus early. It's going to make our youngsters angry and hungry.
This team is going to be scary by the end of next season. We will probably have the best back court in the BIG 2019/2020.
I Bomb
Stylin' and Profilin'
Re: Smith - at a minimum, I was happy to see his drive right before the end of the 1st half. He's been taking drives too far to the hoop where the defenders have time to close in; I feel like he could have a feeding frenzy with mid-range floaters.
Besides Black, which "upperclassman" did we expect to carry the team? Alstork? We're relying on a bunch of freshmen to come in to the B1G and be up to speed immediately. In that light, they're actually doing pretty good. Still hard to watch games that appear to be winnable, if not for the dismal shooting. I don't buy that Minn was playing all that good defense, we had open looks and built a brick Pentagon with them...
Besides Black, which "upperclassman" did we expect to carry the team? Alstork? We're relying on a bunch of freshmen to come in to the B1G and be up to speed immediately. In that light, they're actually doing pretty good. Still hard to watch games that appear to be winnable, if not for the dismal shooting. I don't buy that Minn was playing all that good defense, we had open looks and built a brick Pentagon with them...
Sorry, it's making us alumni angry. And very embarrassed. Why is it us who get tossed around like a dish rag all the time?
Frazier and Williams earned the starting lineup weeks ago. This is my first real beef with BU. How many weak as he!! starts do you need to see before you make this change? He kept saying it's unacceptable, but accepted it for 5-6 more games. It was crystal clear this team is better with Frazier and Williams in the lineup.
There is no good reason to keep pushing that same starting five out each game. Lucas' minutes will be significantly reduced next year. Finke is so over matched in the BIG post it's silly to even talk about it. Spicy G is a banger. He's raw, but will should get more minutes now. He made at least three plays last night that I've never seen Finke make. Alstork will keep getting his minutes because his D (despite his stupidity late in this game) is so solid.
Mark Smith just started focusing on high level basketball 18'ish months ago.
I'm fine with riding the struggle bus early. It's going to make our youngsters angry and hungry.
This team is going to be scary by the end of next season. We will probably have the best back court in the BIG 2019/2020.
Would like to see some +/- stats from this game. This will hopefully be the last game we see this starting 5. Lucas isn't built to score and Smith lacks consistency. We won't ever have much a chance if our starting PG&SG combine for single digits points. For me, the killer is Finke. As you stated he is simply overmatched in the BIG post. But man, if he isn't effective in the post then we need him knocking down shots. The open looks from the top of the key and corner need to fall.
So, what is your answer and remedy?
Against every high major team with post presence, Finke struggles. I noticed he tends to fade away on his jump shot in these games.
Deleted member 29907
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Guest
His game is not an inside game - its really pick, pop, stretch. He passed up some open looks yesterday when he was open - didn't help his situation. He did have a nice game against miznoz. Ebo's game is just the opposite - right now his best looks are on dumps or put backs.
I hopes it’s not dumps!
Deleted member 29907
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"Dumps" as in dumping the ball off to him when his man helps off the pinch post pick (say that 3 times real fast). But your comment is valid as well - dunks or point blank range is best for him for now.
Ah... gotcha
Many had this game as a loss when the schedule came out. Minny is expected to be among the top in the league and they showed us why last night. We got popped early but managed to pick ourselves up and make a game of it. Not sure this happens in previous years. This team has the potential to be very good but has some glaring weaknesses that are going to be exploited by other well-coached teams. I am very excited to see the progress they have made so far this year. Would like to see more and make the tournament but will not be jumping ship if they do not. This is the most exciting basketball I have seen from the Ilini in quite awhile. I intend to enjoy the product on the floor, win or lose.
I thought the slow start here looked different than our other slow starts. Here, it was primarily a function of not being able to hit shots (in part because of how good Minny is at blocking shots). If I recall right, prior games slow starts were in large part a function of lazy passes and turnovers. Here, we had no early turnovers, and I thought we were actually moving the ball pretty well.
We got no better when the second wave came in. We still couldn't hit shots until the pace slowed down when we went zone, what's-his-face went out with two fouls, and Ebo started some of his inside magic.
We got no better when the second wave came in. We still couldn't hit shots until the pace slowed down when we went zone, what's-his-face went out with two fouls, and Ebo started some of his inside magic.
Starting line-up is part of our slow start problem but not all. The coach insists on giving free points away with his stupid press defense and change to zone when the gap is large enough. Press defense is not going to work for team that is so much smaller and less athletic than the opponent.