Ohio State 75, Illinois 67 POSTGAME

#78      

Illini_1979

Illini_1979
Oregon
Illini_1979
Illini B-Ball Fan said:
Did better than OSU in: 3-Ptr's made, TO's, and steals. Did worse in: FTA, rebounds, PF's, and of course the final score. Great game by Alstork in his home state, had 19 pts. Amazingly, per these stats, there were no blocks by either team:

http://fightingillini.com/documents/2018/2/4/G24_ILL_OSU_Box_Score.pdf

Lots of time to prep for Bucky this coming week - beat 'em!
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Interesting stats.

We only had 5 more personal fouls but they shot 16 more free throws and made 14 of them.
 
#79      

madcrazeeballa

madcrazeeballa
madcrazeeballa
If we continue to upgrade our talent and continue to have guys give this much effort, the rest of the conference better watch out
 
#80      

Deleted member 3875

D
Guest
Deleted member 3875
blmillini said:
I don't think that is true at all. We have plenty of talent, we just don't have any bigs. Get a couple bigs and we're in. Arguably, a few plays here and there and we could be in without any bigs.
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A tired argument every year. Needed bigs for years. Boilers, Wiscy, Minny,... all manage to have 2-3 bigs that can pull down critical rebounds or beat their man down low. Until this gets fixed, we'll be bottom feeders.
 
#81      

ChazzReinhold

ChazzReinhold
Mom! The Meatloaf!
ChazzReinhold
TownieMatt said:
Good fight, bad finish.

Pretty frosty handshake between Underwood and Holtmann. I wonder if that's just based on the game or if there's some other bad blood there.
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In a pre game interview BU said that they were good friends and talked often when he was at SFA.
 
#82      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
My prediction in the pregame thread was we would win if we could stay out of foul trouble and I think we would have. No way to win down the stretch with Kipper and Leron on the bench and the 2 early fouls on TF hurt big time.
 
#83      

3DegreeIllini

3
Chicago,IL
3DegreeIllini
jrichisamazing said:
I don't think we necessarily need a MAJOR upgrade. But lots of that depends on if Mark Smith and Kipper Nichols develop. We need more balance. Bigs and a shooter would be nice.

But talent wise, MSU is the only team that is way ahead of us. We're not far off from everyone else. The problem is other teams are either more balanced, more experienced, or more athletic. We have none of that. If we just add one of those then we're right in the middle of the B1G and on the bubble. Luckily, we add a bunch of experience as our whole team comes back.
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And that all may come crashing down. So we should be in there.
 
#84      

jrichisamazing

J
jrichisamazing
carmelillini said:
A tired argument every year. Needed bigs for years. Boilers, Wiscy, Minny,... all manage to have 2-3 bigs that can pull down critical rebounds or beat their man down low. Until this gets fixed, we'll be bottom feeders.
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Actually it's been a PG for the past few years. We had Tisdale and Davis, then Meyers, then Egwu, then Morgan developed into a decent big but we didn't have a PG. Now we have a PG but no size.

Speaking of PG, we NEED to get Trent to 3 tournaments. He's the type of player that averages 25 ppg and carries the team to an elite 8 run.
 
#85      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
Any observations on why we seem to be out of rebounding position so often? Are they overplaying the help defense and can't recover or just failing to screen out?
 
#87      

Deleted member 3875

D
Guest
Deleted member 3875
illini80 said:
Any observations on why we seem to be out of rebounding position so often? Are they overplaying the help defense and can't recover or just failing to screen out?
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Not big or strong enough for this league.
 
#88      

Ga65

G
Ga65
Anyone noticed Ebo's ft %. Needs to be fixed by next year. We need his speed but needs more skill.
 
#89      

FC Illiniman

F
FC Illiniman
illini80 said:
Any observations on why we seem to be out of rebounding position so often? Are they overplaying the help defense and can't recover or just failing to screen out?
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Out of position many times, or when they touch ball, it hurts there little hands and they let it go. Very frustrating to watch .

Again another game where foul trouble and mental mistakes kill us at the end. BU can only direct them so much. Amen for Trent, he seems to be the only thing we have that shows any consistency on offense. Leron is good, but he is always in foul trouble, therefore never there when needed. Alstork has great D, but makes so many mistakes or lack of shooting, leaves us lacking when w need his leadership the most. IMO, think he has cost us the most, considering we looked to him to carry more of the load.
Finke can't play in paint, not happening, pick up some garbage, but not a 4or5. Kipper inconsistent play, makes it all more apparent, lack of a solid big is sorely missed.
Glad we are getting some good PT for our young guys, but the losing makes it frustrating. Everytime we get to end of the game, count on same old same old.. Hopefully we continue to improve, but lack of talent is our main concern. Effort is not issue, keep Fighting Illini. !;):chief:
 
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#90      

Deleted member 631370

D
Guest
Deleted member 631370
jrichisamazing said:
Actually it's been a PG for the past few years. We had Tisdale and Davis, then Meyers, then Egwu, then Morgan developed into a decent big but we didn't have a PG. Now we have a PG but no size.

Speaking of PG, we NEED to get Trent to 3 tournaments. He's the type of player that averages 25 ppg and carries the team to an elite 8 run.
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I think Trent has a bright future here and could go down as one of the all-time leading scorers in Illinois history before it's all said and done.

But 25 points/game? That basically makes him the most dominant guard in Illinois history. With Ayo coming in and hopefully guys like Mark Smith developing as scoring options in the coming years, I don't think we'll be relying on Trent as much as we do now.
 
#91      

jrod1286

J
Pat Chambers
Illinois
jrod1286
Wow, so much whining on this board. What did you guys expect this year ?? Wow !
 
#92      

Deleted member 631370

D
Guest
Deleted member 631370
jrichisamazing said:
I don't think we necessarily need a MAJOR upgrade. But lots of that depends on if Mark Smith and Kipper Nichols develop. We need more balance. Bigs and a shooter would be nice.

But talent wise, MSU is the only team that is way ahead of us. We're not far off from everyone else. The problem is other teams are either more balanced, more experienced, or more athletic. We have none of that. If we just add one of those then we're right in the middle of the B1G and on the bubble. Luckily, we add a bunch of experience as our whole team comes back.
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Maybe in terms of being "way" ahead of us.

But schools like Ohio State and Maryland are good examples of teams with noticeably more talent. I'm not expecting us to sniff Michigan State's talent level, but there's no reason why we shouldn't be on par with Maryland and Ohio State and Michigan. Right now, we're not.

I do agree with others though that adding a stud like Ayo and getting almost everybody back next year bodes well for us. I'd imagine that 5-6 of these close losses become wins next year.
 
#94      

Costanza

C
Costanza
Out of curiosity, how optimistic are you guys on Mark Smith's ability to ever really blossom? Compared to the past Mr. Basketballs, he's been shockingly bad.

Personally, I'm not sure I see him ever becoming good/great. He's big, but seems slow and unathletic when driving. And his shot, at least so far, hasn't been there at all. Hope I'm wrong though.
 
#95      

IlliniDent

IlliniDent
Chicago, IL
IlliniDent
Costanza said:
Out of curiosity, how optimistic are you guys on Mark Smith's ability to ever really blossom? Compared to the past Mr. Basketballs, he's been shockingly bad.

Personally, I'm not sure I see him ever becoming good/great. He's big, but seems slow and unathletic when driving. And his shot, at least so far, hasn't been there at all. Hope I'm wrong though.
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He's a freshmen who shouldn't be compared to the normal Mr Basketball because he wasn't a top 25 talent and he also has only been focusing on this sport for a little over 2 years now. He is actually doing a lot of little things better but will have a ton of time to improve that. Honestly, the expectations going into the season are ridiculous.

For example, I remember when people were talking about how KBD was struggling as a freshman. Just because a player doesn't put it together immediately as a freshman doesn't mean that their career is going to be garbage. Look at what he did to us today.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/keita-bates-diop-1.html
 
#96      

BananaShampoo

B
Captain 'Paign
Phoenix, AZ
BananaShampoo
IlliniDent said:
He's a freshmen who shouldn't be compared to the normal Mr Basketball because he wasn't a top 25 talent and he also has only been focusing on this sport for a little over 2 years now. He is actually doing a lot of little things better but will have a ton of time to improve that. Honestly, the expectations going into the season are ridiculous.

For example, I remember when people were talking about how KBD was struggling as a freshman. Just because a player doesn't put it together immediately as a freshman doesn't mean that their career is going to be garbage. Look at what he did to us today.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/keita-bates-diop-1.html
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Brandon Paul was Mr. BB, too, and despite showing very early flashes against no name competition early in the season struggled mightily as a freshman overall. He was horribly inefficient shooting only 28 percent or so percent from three, 36 percent from 2, and 33 percent overall. Made plenty of boneheaded decisions, too. Got much better as a soph and ended up doing okay for us throughout his Illini career and beyond. Some guys just have a tougher time adjusting to the higher level of competition than others, or the mental aspect of it takes longer to kick in. I think Mark will be fine once the lightbulb clicks on for him.
 
#97      

Ken

K
chitown
Ken
Costanza said:
Out of curiosity, how optimistic are you guys on Mark Smith's ability to ever really blossom? Compared to the past Mr. Basketballs, he's been shockingly bad.

Personally, I'm not sure I see him ever becoming good/great. He's big, but seems slow and unathletic when driving. And his shot, at least so far, hasn't been there at all. Hope I'm wrong though.
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How many Mr Basketballs have come in and played out of position ?

The entire situation has to be a total shock to him as hes a HS PG who has come in and is playing SF/SG a lot of minutes while standing in the corner waiting for passes that never come .

I am not really feeling this offense right now because I just don't see the benefit for a 3 guard attack . Its fantastic for a one guard offense but if you are off the ball in this offense you are at the mercy of a the primary guard.

Mark Smith will eventually be fine but right now hes being asked to change his entire game while adapting to a change in competition.
 
#99      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
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#100      

Costanza

C
Costanza
Hope others are right about MS. It seems to me that he doesn't have the athleticism of a Bates-Diop or the spark/talent of BP.

Also, re being forced to change his game: if he were a terrific point guard, he'd be playing point guard. I don't think that's the root of the problem.