This close loss tonight with plenty of sloppy plays reminds me a lot of last year's loss to an inferior Penn State team. We learned from that one, and played well the rest of the season. I'm hoping to see that pattern repeated. Outside of Chicago State, the rest of this month is very challenging.
Northwestern 70, Illinois 66 OT Postgame
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We brought Skyy Clark in to start too. Sometimes adjustments need to be made.
I’m also reading this game thread thinking “what am I missing” with all the Ben hate. Before coming here, I actually thought he played one of his more solid defensive games and got some good rebounds for us. Am I missing something, or wasn’t it mostly Kasparas getting torched 1-on-1 in OT by Nick Martinelli unable to contain his dribble (I don’t blame him, it’s a bad switch)? No one’s coming after KJ because he hit some bail out threes that were frankly… not great looks.
Maybe I watched a different game, but Ben mostly got beat on those bulls*** Brooks Barnhizer fadeaway 12 footers that literally somehow always fall. I thought Ben played fine (MUCH better than the turnstile layup line that was Alabama) and people are really just pissed off that he missed shots…
I thought so too. As good as our guys are, they are not physically there yet. Even NW has older, stronger guys. Talent will take us far, but teams are coming out very aggressive physically with us for a reason and it is causing turnovers, and probably fatigue affecting our ability to be sound defensively and make shots offensively. If the threes are not falling, we are very beatable right now. That's why I feel like we have to establish some sort of inside offensive game to get looks when they aren't falling. But, hey, I'm just a fan and observer of basketball for the past 50 years.
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For better or worse, Brad likes to let struggling players or groups figure it out on the court. Some coaches don’t do this… for instance Collins called 2 timeouts when we extended the lead to 4 or 6 and stopped it. In contrast, Brad let our entire 10pt lead go away before he unfolded his arms. I understand it, but I don’t like it.
He must think these lessons will help by the end of the season. Idk man but that’s always been his thing. Backfired tonight.
He must think these lessons will help by the end of the season. Idk man but that’s always been his thing. Backfired tonight.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
The New York Giants signed Daniel Jones to a $40M/year contract extension, then cut him. If we used the reverse logic, Jones would still be the Giants' starting QB.
Sometimes, you just have to realize you made a mistake and make a decision to minimize the damage.
We didn't bring him in to start. We brought him in to compete for a starting spot, just like everyone else.
This is just one game. I'm not going to lock in on an assessment. But I never understood the hype for a guy who didn't make one of the three all-MVC teams. Nice shooter. But seemed one dimensional. 80% of his shots were from three. I'm not sure that we should expect that to translate well to the B1G.
But we'll see. Long way to go, and perhaps a smoother flowing offense can create better looks and more success for him.
They fall because he is good at making that shot. It is something a guy with his build and strength can learn to get very good at. And unfortunately for us, he is good at it.
It's kinda funny. Totally counter to what I like to see on timeouts. I think calling them to settle a team down through a bad run makes sense.
I'm in the Bobby Knight camp for late game timeouts. I'd much prefer to have my team on offense without the defense having the benefit of a timeout. But Underwood almost always calls them
By the way, with a guy like KJ, that may be an even stronger strategy.
illiniswish09
- Northwest Suburbs
Horrible comparison. Dude has like 70 starts in the NFL. Willing to give Ben more chances. If what happened to him tonight continues then 100% he should not start and minutes should be reduced.
For all the great things Brad has done for this program, he can be one stubborn mofo at times.
I really like Collins. He does a lot with very little.
Hamer’s got that under control …
Help me understand the Zach Hamer hate that comes from this account. It comes across as a bit childish for someone I take to be super plugged into the program. Tonight’s defense was really good for 42 minutes until Northwestern figured out they could get a switch for Martinelli onto KJ and we had no answer. If you want to blame anyone, blame Brad and his son for the hero ball KJ three chucking offense we played once we took a 10 point lead. We had the #1 effective field goal defense in the country coming into this game. This is a spillover take from last year
Yes, against KJ. Not Ben.
With 2 guys like NW has at the three and four spot and the way the game was called tonight then yes it will cause issues playing against a grown !!! man that is about your height and has about 50lbs on you and much stronger. The way the game was called Riley may has well have been trying to guard the Mailman or Micheal Beasley. Ben and KJ struggled but thet were much better options than Riley vs those grown men diwn low. If anyone maybe Morez and dare em to shoot threes BU put our best guys on them on D
. Our guys didn't punish them on offense like they did us. Riley and Ben were 1 of 15 from three. Ben struggled guarding them but Roley is not nearly strong enough to guard those dudes in the post tonight. Not even close.
i agree, he is very complimentary of our program and is a very insightful and smart coach
Perfect 6th man.
I really hate when BU says he won’t accept losing. He better prepare for a lot more of it if he can’t learn from his coaching mistakes tonight. Nearly every team we play moving forward is more talented than NU.
I don’t care if it’s Lebron James shooting it — a contested, fadeaway 2 with a hand in your face will always be a win for the defense.
I disagree with the hero ball sentence, but I can sheepishly admit that the rest is fair in my amateur mind.
It's a different team this year, I won't assume that Hamer is a bad match without a lot more evidence.
I think there's waaaayyyyy too much blame shifted to Ben.
KJ's threes were killer, but otherwise he had a tough game. Started very sloppy, complained about calls, got abused on D, especially in OT.
What happened to scoring under 7 seconds?
I know we play the percentages giving up mid-range twos but that's how we lost the game. As Collins said, 'they couldn't throw the ball in the ocean,' especially from three-point range, but we refused to double in the post.
Riley is a black hole on offense. He's gifted but he left many guys standing wide open and took tough shots.
Lots of blame to go around in my opinion.
KJ's threes were killer, but otherwise he had a tough game. Started very sloppy, complained about calls, got abused on D, especially in OT.
What happened to scoring under 7 seconds?
I know we play the percentages giving up mid-range twos but that's how we lost the game. As Collins said, 'they couldn't throw the ball in the ocean,' especially from three-point range, but we refused to double in the post.
Riley is a black hole on offense. He's gifted but he left many guys standing wide open and took tough shots.
Lots of blame to go around in my opinion.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
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