altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Mad props for bringing thermo into this pregame thread.
Pregame: Illinois at Michigan State, Saturday, February 10th, 1:00pm CT, CBS
- Status
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
as much as I like this team , and it’s our best team in a while ON PAPER , I just don’t understand why we shoot so poorly , just about every game .
I really never ever feel good about winning any game we play , from start to finish . it’s actually frustrating tbh
I really never ever feel good about winning any game we play , from start to finish . it’s actually frustrating tbh
We are scoring a ton of points so we can’t be shooting that poorly.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
not necessarily true
imo, the shooting percentages this year are very average, we are just putting up more shots than others are or what we have done in previous years, hence the total points are up
my point is, we just are not making it a fun event to watch. maybe I'm alone on thia
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
My criticism the past month is that, while our shooting has seemed fairly solid (all those missed bunnies and finishes at the hole aside) our defense has not, and we've allowed opponents to shoot well.
Did a quick calc of the eFG% the past several games. The Maryland game was our only poor shooting performance (IU wasn't great, either). Yet only Rutgers, which has by far the worst offense in the BT, fared poorly shooting against us. We're playing soft D and that's what worries me for March.
ILL 48% NEB 51%
ILL 58% OSU 53%
ILL 43% IU 46%
ILL 48% NW 63%
ILL 56% RUT 40%
ILL 53% MICH 50%
ILL 38% MD 49%
Last edited:
hooraybeer
- Pittsburgh, PA
the redshirt can be burned at any time. if BU agreed with you it would be done
This is going to be the hardest game to date since TSJ's return. The Izzone will be brutal, and behind the baskets during free throws are notorious. I believe the team will need to take over for him scoring wise and let him concentrate on his defensive assignment.
Or, alternate theory, TSJ goes berserk and scores 35 points.
One thing that's different versus past years is the amount of scorers we have. We have multiple lineups where every player on the floor is not only a scoring threat, but can score from multiple spots on the floor.
I'm old enough to remember Illinois teams where two or three guys on the court were offensive liabilities. Ball passed around for 30 seconds hoping it ended up in the hands of the one or two guys who could shoot a three late shot clock.
What we have here today is one hell of a scoring team. We have multiple weapons that can torch opponents from the outside or get some serious, deep penetration (boom).
Try to enjoy the show. We have a seriously talented group this year.
I feel good about about winning after i slip a couple of nitroglycerin tablets under my tongue
We are an average to good shooting team
In the long run this may prove to our Achilles Heal.
Goode, Hammond and TSJ were 2 for 22 from beyond the arc against Nebraska
The potential to be one hell of a scoring team is there, but consistency has not been.
The only thing consistent when talking about individual scoring is that it's going to be inconsistent. Goode, Harmon, and TSJ have had incredible individual efforts in past games.
With their shooting woes (percentage-wise, from behind the arc) we put up 87 (with OT, of course) and won the game.
The original argument was with how bad we are shooting (paraphrashed) it is "not making it a fun event to watch."
IMO, it's ok to be frustrated when shots aren't falling, but for my money, this has been the most entertaining team we've had in quite some time. I'll take a talented group of scorers who have an occasional "off night" over an offensively-challenged team of chuckers any day.
I would too if he could shoot beyond two feet. Credit him though, for terrific improvement from the free throw line.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
We're shooting just over 46% overall and 34% from three. Not terrible, but not particularly great.
I'd love to see what our shooting percentage would look like even if we made a third more of our shots within five feet. We just seem to miss a LOT of makeable shots within five feet. It's what cost us dearly against Northwestern. If you could give me just one thing for this team to improve, that would be it. It would seem to be the simplest thing to improve. Sure, I'd love to shoot 40% from three-point range, but sometimes that's not the easiest to do.
I do agree that defense needs some improvement, but if you score more points on makeable shots it takes a lot of pressure off your defense to get key stops.
I'd love to see what our shooting percentage would look like even if we made a third more of our shots within five feet. We just seem to miss a LOT of makeable shots within five feet. It's what cost us dearly against Northwestern. If you could give me just one thing for this team to improve, that would be it. It would seem to be the simplest thing to improve. Sure, I'd love to shoot 40% from three-point range, but sometimes that's not the easiest to do.
I do agree that defense needs some improvement, but if you score more points on makeable shots it takes a lot of pressure off your defense to get key stops.
Might be spoiled if you saw the 2005 edition that put teams away. That was a once in a lifetime team. The margin for error is small in BIGTen play --even the worst team in the league has a lot of talent, and is top 100 in analytics. Statistically, Illinois is 20th in the nation on 2p%, and 116 on 3pt%. I wouldn't call that poor, but when every shot seems to matter, I would agree that it feels that way.
One thing I give this team a ton of credit for, is that they fight to the end, and haven't seem rattled when they're down in the second half. The way they pulled together with TSJ suspended was amazing. Yeah they've had off nights, and games where they were out-fought, but I don't feel like they've ever given up. I know Brad says this is his most connected team, and that seems like a good description.
If they have some mid-season fatigue, physical or mental, they may lose a couple they shouldn't. But this has been a fun team to watch IMHO, even if they've had some wild games that could have gone either way. My gut says their experience will help in March when it matters. Sparty in Breslin is a Q1A. This is a huge test and will look good on the resume if they pull it off.
Bigtex
- DFW
after watching last year's team and poor shot selection - this team is much more fun to watch.
I’ll say MSU -3.5
I have yet to see a tasmanian devil with a jump shot.
illiniswish09
- Northwest Suburbs
Sparty -1.5 my guess
uofi7477
- Silver & Gold Vandals
IlliniMike_Aurora
Straight outta Champaign
que the 'we're the devils ! ' GIFS (seinfeld.....)
- Status