Nebraska 83, Illinois 80 Postgame

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#601      
stlrunner
Illinijoe said:
If Tomi truly is as bad as he’s been, then I’m more concerned about making the tournament. He has been terrible. Totally out of shape and simply can’t do anything on the floor. Either it is injury or he just is no longer the same player.
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To be concerned we aren't going to make the tournament at this point is wild. All 3 of our losses were to Top 25 teams, for crying out loud, and while you can be disappointed in some of the aspects on why we lost each game (which I certainly am), we had a chance to win all 3 of these in the final minutes, but just didn't make the key plays down the stretch in those games. But this team is good, and if the figure a few things out, they have the potential to be very good.

Its like folks have never watched a full season of college basketball before. Sure...the issues we've seen with this team could snowball and the season could spiral out of control (we've seen that before), or the team can grow and learn from these games, and get things clicking at the right time, like that 23-24 team did.
 
#602      
I-L-L
RockfordIllini said:
I get the frustration with the loss and don’t want to make excuses but I do feel like we’ve gotten a little unlucky. College basketball teams usually play 4-5 games a year out of their minds/exceed their potential (our game at Oregon last year for example) and 4-5 stinkers. You can imagine before each game each team spins a wheel to see what kind of game they will play. And sometimes good teams get unlucky and land on a stinker when a bad team lands on an out of their minds and the good team loses.

Did we give Thornton an Sandfort some clean looks? Sure. But how many contested/step back/off movement 3s did they hit? When guys are hitting those kinds of shots there’s only so much you can do. And for Nebraska it was more than just Sandfort. They hit a bunch of contested, rainbow arc 3s including the game winner. I think most teams would have lost to both OSU and Nebraska based on the spin of the wheel on those particular nights. To me it’s a testament to how good we are/can be that we went 1-1, and lost on a 25 footer at the buzzer at that.

On the flip side of luck, when Purdue beat Bama, Philon had a one and one to tie the game in the last minute and he missed the front end (lucky), which also meant we were likely going to get Bama and Philon’s best game as their next opponent (unlucky). And same thing yesterday. Penn State had a 91% free throw shooter on the line to tie the game against Sparty in the last minute and missed the front end. Can’t call that anything other than luck.

We’ve got plenty to clean up defensively, sure. But sometimes you just have an unlucky spin of the wheel, and we got Nebraska’s A+ spin while we probably got a B. And they still needed a borderline miracle shot to beat us (I think the momentum had shifted to where if it had gone to OT I think we would have won). Still optimistic about this year.
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And to throw a bit more unlucky at everyone. Tomi didn’t even come close to a foul late that gave Nebraska 2 points off free throws.
And the Big Z T was a 6 point swing when we could’ve cut it to 2. He was fouled on that dunk then the refs gave him a questionable T where they had a 5 point possession. That’s some bad luck!
I also want to throw in that Big Z needs to play more. He’s one of the very few players on our team that brings emotion and we could use some emotion!
 
#603      
HoopCity
When someone is under you contesting your dunk you can hang on the rim to prevent injury. Why are we not playing by the rules? Why did coach not raise a fit??
 

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#604      
21ChampaignSt
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
I think it is an anomaly due to it being on our home court. Lots of times you see teams who can't miss at home, but going on the road and lighting it up in that fashion is a very, very rare feet.

Also, I don't think the shots were as uncontested as some say. Just by nature I tend to look at the final shot with a lot more thought, I liked our chances if it went to OT.

They made numerous of the same kind however, in both halves.
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Just based on last year, there's no evidence that teams struggle to shoot when we play them at home vs on the road.

Looking at high major results only, teams shot:

34% at SFC
31% on their home courts
38% on neutral courts
 
#605      
Seppuku
Sigh... it's becoming clear that Underwood is just not "it" ... I honestly cannot think of a single game where he was not the lesser X-and-O coach or where he was not out-coached. The sad part (kindda) is that he will always put together a team good enough that we would be borderline top 25, a team that will be good enough to make the tournament (especially once they expand it) but make a quick exit, etc. In other words, we will never go anywhere with him, and we will never come anywhere close to sniffing an F4 or another E8 (let alone winning an NC), but he won't be bad enough to fire him.

P.S., this sound terrible, but I'm kindda glad we lost. Winning this game (barely) would have hidden and distracted from the embarrassing effort (by the team) and pathetic job (by Underwood and his staff) this game was.
 
#606      
HoopCity
Here is the video, not sure if it was posted earlier?

 
#607      
…INI
If expectations are to achieve a top 5 finish in the BIG and a 4-6 tourney seed then I don’t think yesterday’s loss was significant.

If expectations are to compete for a BIG championship and a final 4 then I think yesterday’s loss hurt a lot. Not just because they lost but because there are significant weaknesses to overcome.
 
#608      
Chase321
I have an exercise for those doom and gloom, woe is me people here. Watch some games where you pretend to be a fan of one of the teams. Do it over many games. You’ll start to realize

We trail Purdue by 1 or 2 games for the most wins in the big ten over the last several seasons. We are routinely a top 20 team. And you think there wasn’t a single game where Brad wasn’t outcoached?
My goodness.
 
#610      
Cary67
21ChampaignSt said:
I agree we could've played through the post more with how skilled our bigs are at passing.

But saying that our top 5 offense needs to get better for us to win these games proves that our offense isn't the problem.

Our defense demands that our offense be damn near perfect. That's the problem.
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Yep. If you listen to Werners podcast the defensive team numbers are a big problem. Giving up over 1.1 PPP offensive efficiency to most of the high major teams they've faced ; TexasTech,Alabama, UConn, OSU. Nebraska clocked in at a 1.34 PPP I believe. Mentioned poor communication and how disconnected they look defensively. Whereas Nebraska team defense was the opposite.
Some of this is a personnel problem with the front court bigs being too slow footed to keep up especially on the perimeter. They could really use a high energy defensive type athlete like Ty Rodgers but that looks doubtful. Some improvements could be made in terms of communication and effort and schemes but only so much based on what's on the roster. Mentioned Tomi regressing back a bit not having a good game despite looking like he turned the corner in the Tennessee game.(lingering injury issues?)
They look like a better offensive version of last year's team with the same defensive problems. Some concern with minutes as Wagler has played 79/80minutes last two games. Boswell similar heavy usage. Does the freshman wear down in the grind of the Big10? They had more talent on paper than Nebraska yet Nebraska looked like the better team especially from a coaching stand point.( sum of the parts greater than the individual pieces)Will see how Nebraska performs against tougher defenses like MSU.
Have to say I'm leaning towards the this looks too familiar to last year perspective. Will just have to see how it unfolds
 
#612      
Fly Illini Fly!
Seppuku said:
Sigh... it's becoming clear that Underwood is just not "it" ... I honestly cannot think of a single game where he was not the lesser X-and-O coach or where he was not out-coached. The sad part (kindda) is that he will always put together a team good enough that we would be borderline top 25, a team that will be good enough to make the tournament (especially once they expand it) but make a quick exit, etc. In other words, we will never go anywhere with him, and we will never come anywhere close to sniffing an F4 or another E8 (let alone winning an NC), but he won't be bad enough to fire him.
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The endless amount of posts of this kind for any and every single game that we lose.... it's honestly so petulant.
 
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#613      
I-L-L
Seppuku said:
Sigh... it's becoming clear that Underwood is just not "it" ... I honestly cannot think of a single game where he was not the lesser X-and-O coach or where he was not out-coached. The sad part (kindda) is that he will always put together a team good enough that we would be borderline top 25, a team that will be good enough to make the tournament (especially once they expand it) but make a quick exit, etc. In other words, we will never go anywhere with him, and we will never come anywhere close to sniffing an F4 or another E8 (let alone winning an NC), but he won't be bad enough to fire him.

P.S., this sound terrible, but I'm kindda glad we lost. Winning this game (barely) would have hidden and distracted from the embarrassing effort (by the team) and pathetic job (by Underwood and his staff) this game was.
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Absolutely ridiculous take. We lost at the buzzer to a solid undefeated well balanced experienced team. We have 3 really solid wins and 2 losses by 7 total points to two highly ranked teams (Nebraska will jump big in the rankings this week after crushing Wisconsin and beating us). I agree we have some flaws but underwood has consistently built strong teams. The two things I’d like to see are more emotion and a big man that is a junk yard dog enforcer type. Illinois is in a good place with Brad and Brett. It’s been a while since we’ve been consistently solid in both sports. I’m a full supporter.
 
#614      
Future Insider
Second place is 1st loser said:
He was -11 in the 23 minutes he was in the game.

4 points
2 rebounds
1 assist
3 turnovers
-11

That's 100% unsatisfactory from a starter. He was a net negative factor.

The commentary was spot on.
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HE STARTED HIM AFTER SAYING HE HAD 2 BAD PRACTICES……THATS ON THE COACH!
What is it that you don’t understand
 
#615      
Trueblue777
Pretty apparent Z is marked by the Big Ten officials so he has to be really careful and not let emotions get the better of him the rest of the season, especially in Big Ten play. Is it justified? No, not in my opinion. These are college kids, it can be handled in a better manner than Ting up a specific guy at a crucial moment in the game for demonstrating towards an opposing player when this stuff goes on all the time and nothing happens.
 
#616      
Justan opinion
Illinisnake said:
After sleeping on it…..I’m not worried about offense. We scored 80. Im completely shocked that the defense is this pathetic. It’s horrible. We just can’t get stops and then when we do we turn the ball over. We are just immature on defense, signs of that are missed switched (poor communication) and biting on pump fakes.

We will get killed by Michigan and Purdue if we don’t tighten up on that side
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I believe the season will continue to be like this game. I don't think the were outplayed so much as the defensive is not good. I didn't think the D would be good this year because Eluros play the game differently. Defense isn't the top priority. The Offense will need to carry the load, which it can most nights.
 
#617      
2qtslow
Trueblue777 said:
You naysayers have judged him too quickly. He is the MVP of the Adriatic league. He was late arriving and getting cleared and he has been injured. It’s time to give him some tick again. He will add more depth and give Bos and Keaton a breather.
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I think he was Player of the Week for one week in the Adriatic League. Not MVP for the year.
 
#618      
Todd99
I think the worst that can happen if we foul there, is they make the first one, miss the second and they get the rebound. Then we have to chase and foul to stop the clock and put them on the line again.
 
#619      
alexander58
blife said:
Nebraska is not that good. I don't give a F what their record is or what analytics say. They are at best a middle of the pack BIG team. They have a great coach but the players on the floor are not top-level BIG performers. We don't deserve to be anywhere near the rankings next week. They better figure this out quickly. I hope BU is as feed up with this as I am.
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Nebraska is really well coached and they are really efficient on offense. I like watching the Illini play, but we’re going to run into bad matchups with teams like Nebraska. Size and length are great, but we’re going to struggle with teams that are more athletic. I don’t think the twins can keep up with some teams. When they switch on defense, they struggle to recover . I do think the team looks better overall defensively, but have limitations.
 
#622      
EmeraldCityIllini
Seppuku said:
Sigh... it's becoming clear that Underwood is just not "it" ... I honestly cannot think of a single game where he was not the lesser X-and-O coach or where he was not out-coached. The sad part (kindda) is that he will always put together a team good enough that we would be borderline top 25, a team that will be good enough to make the tournament (especially once they expand it) but make a quick exit, etc. In other words, we will never go anywhere with him, and we will never come anywhere close to sniffing an F4 or another E8 (let alone winning an NC), but he won't be bad enough to fire him.

P.S., this sound terrible, but I'm kindda glad we lost. Winning this game (barely) would have hidden and distracted from the embarrassing effort (by the team) and pathetic job (by Underwood and his staff) this game was.
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Just awful

The irony of this post is that soooo many fans clamor to want to win games when we play bad to prove a point too.
 
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#623      
Second place is 1st loser
Future Insider said:
HE STARTED HIM AFTER SAYING HE HAD 2 BAD PRACTICES……THATS ON THE COACH!
What is it that you don’t understand
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So, two bad practices are on the coach? When is it on the player? If I'm coaching and the practices are sub par, you're not playing, but what's option 2? I'll tell you, it's Ben. Would that sit better with our fanbase? No, what don't you understand? We're not deep enough at ANY positional group to have these issues. Quote frankly, Tomi has been bad as well. The crummy post play isn't limited to one.
 
#625      
Cary67
…INI said:
If expectations are to achieve a top 5 finish in the BIG and a 4-6 tourney seed then I don’t think yesterday’s loss was significant.

If expectations are to compete for a BIG championship and a final 4 then I think yesterday’s loss hurt a lot. Not just because they lost but because there are significant weaknesses to overcome.
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My expectations are start advancing to the second weekend more frequently. Stacking some Sweet 16 appearances shouldn't be asking too much based on the talent that's being brought in.
 
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