Penn State 79, Illinois 76 Postgame

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#576      

Bigtex

DFW
Goode intrigues me at the 4 if Hawkins leaves. Let’s say Hawkins/Shannon leave but everyone else comes back. I’d start:

Epps
Rodgers
Melendez
Goode
Dainja

Offensively, I think swapping Hawkins for Goode at the stretch 4 makes us better. A true floor spacer that I can assume shoot far better than Hawkins. Dainja at the 5 is a reliable post threat. Melendez has the tools (he can slash, monster dunks, good shooting form but just needs to put it all together). So I’d feel fine at the 3-4-5. It’s the Epps/Rodgers backcourt that could be the issue. It’s hard to be a good team if your guards can’t shoot the 3. If Epps becomes Frank Mason/Carsen Edwards type lead scoring guard then this works. If Epps/Rodgers are about the same next year it won’t.

Defensively this group could get eaten alive tho. I’m confident in Rodgers/RJ being solid defensively, but Epps/Goode/Dainja could be exposed. You can mask it with a zone but doubt Underwood ever considers it.
No chance Goode plays the 4 (very much). I am sure it is his foot still healing but he looked slow

Unfortunately RJ doesn’t have the handles in traffic. Hope his confidence and shot returns
 
#577      
Hansberry, a big with skills on both offense and defense, can make next year's team better.
If he was red-shirted and in house this season, that would be true. I really like this kid and hope he becomes an AA at U of I.......but........he will be a freshman and will not make a significant contribution for some time. Hopefully that time is in weeks and not months. Hope he can prove me wrong but I do not remember any frosh who did not have a steep learning curve to climb. But some do it quicker than others, as we have seen by this years Illini frosh, and AH has some glowing reviews. (If only they could shoot FTs...into the basket and not oblivion). Hope he proves me dead wrong.
 
#580      

Big Jack

Decatur
Are the fanbases for Indiana and NW falling apart also? I mean, they lost to Penn St., they must have an awful coach and players that are terrible.
Spit Take Lol GIF by Justin
 
#581      
True. But makes too many negative plays for a player of his potential.

Think he is 2nd on the team in plus/minus to CH. Can you imagine this scoring-deficient Illinois team without him? We'd likely have a losing record.

Edit: just want to also throw in that Shannon was 1st team All Conf.
 
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#582      
Are the fanbases for Indiana and NW falling apart also? I mean, they lost to Penn St., they must have an awful coach and players that are terrible.
Well Michigan’s fanbase appears to have a little sh_t creek action happening at the present…and I find it delightful.


 
#583      
Well Michigan’s fanbase appears to have a little sh_t creek action happening at the present…and I find it delightful.


Happy Cheer GIF by Minions
 
#584      

AyoDos11

Southern Illinois
Well Michigan’s fanbase appears to have a little sh_t creek action happening at the present…and I find it delightful.


The Twitter posts in these articles are pure gold! It's truly refreshing to see other teams' fans standing on the ledge.
 
#585      
I was really disappointed in our coaching during this game. I like that Underwood brings the fire, however, that doesn’t overcome poor execution. It was inexcusable that we didn’t pound the ball inside to Hawkins, Mayer, and Dain. When you have 4-6 inches on a defender and don’t take advantage that is poor execution. Not only that our best defense against the good PSU offense would be to get them in foul trouble. Not the best solution but we seemed clearly overmatched defensively. I also question why Underwood didn’t bring in Rogers and Harris sooner late in the game. They have a defensive intensity that is unmatched. On a final note it seems to me that teams that are lifted up through the portal are finding their greatest success with small to mid major program transfers with player eager to prove their abilities on a bigger stage. Funk and Pickett are good recent example. Big school portal moves seems to be driven by a desire to improve NBA stock and don’t always seem to align with team interests. My favorite Illini transfers over the years have been Granderson and Feliz. I’d like to see BU start to look at this pipeline more rather than the big gets.
Some great insight here, but wanted to tease out something you said to underscore something important: you claimed that Underwood’s coaching was poor, but then immediately shifted to team execution. We would all collectively love this team more if they took Brad’s coaching and did good things with it…like take better shots, or at least make the head scratchers that they miss.
 
#586      
Are the fanbases for Indiana and NW falling apart also? I mean, they lost to Penn St., they must have an awful coach and players that are terrible.
Good point. And I'm guessing they weren't missing their starting PG (or what we have that comes closest to a PG).

Hard to beat a quality opponent when you're as depleted as we've been in the backcourt.
 
#587      
Good point. And I'm guessing they weren't missing their starting PG (or what we have that comes closest to a PG).

Hard to beat a quality opponent when you're as depleted as we've been in the backcourt.

Indiana's starting point guard is out for the season.
 
#588      

IlliniKat91

Chicago, IL
Some great insight here, but wanted to tease out something you said to underscore something important: you claimed that Underwood’s coaching was poor, but then immediately shifted to team execution. We would all collectively love this team more if they took Brad’s coaching and did good things with it…like take better shots, or at least make the head scratchers that they miss.

I've been thinking about the bunnies that we've missed ever since the luck metric came up a while back.

It's all anecdotal, but it feels like we had more easy shots rattle in and out this year. I'm sure some of it is our execution, but it seemed like a wildly high amount to me. Sometimes that's just how the cookie crumbles, but that doesn't keep me from wondering what might have been
 
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