Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
Pregame: Illinois at Minnesota, Saturday, February 8th, 5:00pm CT, BTN
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There is no silver lining to players being hurt/sick especially in what has become essentially a must win game.
But as much as I love what DGL brings, I would actually prefer to have a healthy Tre White than DGL in this matchup especially with a banged up/possibly out Tomi. Just to have another big body to attack the glass against Garcia.
The Gophers are a BAD rebounding team and that is one thing Tre has done well even when his offense isn't working. Garcia is the only guy on the team averaging more than 4.6 boards per game.
We have five guys averaging 5.4 boards or better, including KJ and Boswell.
But as much as I love what DGL brings, I would actually prefer to have a healthy Tre White than DGL in this matchup especially with a banged up/possibly out Tomi. Just to have another big body to attack the glass against Garcia.
The Gophers are a BAD rebounding team and that is one thing Tre has done well even when his offense isn't working. Garcia is the only guy on the team averaging more than 4.6 boards per game.
We have five guys averaging 5.4 boards or better, including KJ and Boswell.
its already February and none of these guys know what there role on this team is other then a handful
I hear you. Role definition is foundational, and hard to lay in place. There are so many factors that go into this. Illini diehards (me, but with an acerbic tongue and higher-than-high expectations) and whiners of every stripe have plenty, plenty to bring to the discussion here.
Roles matter hugely. It is hard to establish them, especially in the face of challenges like injury and illness and -- new-to-the-team statii. (Is that not a word?)
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Granted, we are not Top 20 KenPom consistently lately. We were Top 10 KenPom for a long while.
Gotta get healthy. KJ's gotta get on track. Gotta work it inside as we did v. tOSU.
I'll be in the Garden on the 22nd. I expect to see us play well on that big stage. It's mostly sunk costs at this point, of course, except for the gas and the I-95 tolls, but I'm not surrendering confidence, let alone hope.
Regardless, it's a ride this season, isn't it?! Literally game to game. The Forrest Gump '24-'25 campaign.
However: not yet ready to say "I'm pretty tired... I think I'll go home now."
Big Ten Network's Robbie Hummel criticizes Illinois' 3-point strategy as 'hard to watch'
It is hard to watch. Robbie is great, drives me nuts with his growing arrogance, but here he is dead-on.
(I am responding and reacting to Epsilon's post, immediately above this).
It is hard to watch. Robbie is great, drives me nuts with his growing arrogance, but here he is dead-on.
(I am responding and reacting to Epsilon's post, immediately above this).
What’s arrogant about that?
Yeah, it sounds more honest than arrogant. Can't say I disagree with him.
About that, nothing. But Robbie has this season sounded more and more annoying to me. Putting down his co-announcers, snide remarks, and at times uninformed judgements. I REALLY liked Robbie's work and perspective for years, but he seems (in my opinion) to be letting his success go to his head now.
Maybe a good hard kick in the pants from his granny might bring him back down to earth!
Huh. When I wrote "here he is dead-on" -- referring to Robbie, that's what I meant. Somehow that seems to have escaped readers.
I guess I’ll take your word for it. To be fair… I haven’t gone out of my to watch too many games this season; outside of ours.
I’m like you in that…in the past I always liked him…mainly because he’s clearly fairly knowledgeable in comparison to a lot of the others.
Robbie is really knowledgeable and a clear-minded analyst, no doubt at all. And very clear and articulate at the microphone.
Is she still here in Champaign?
He's no Mike LaTulip, but he's pretty good
Underwood is the CEO. The buck stops with him. If you replacing everyone underneath him, then just get rid of him and have a new coach bring in a staff they are already comfortable with
Firing asst coaches are band aids.
We already have great bench coaches/recruiters in OA and GA. Could you imagine adding a Yaklich, Gentry, and/or Boynton to that group???? TA def gone, Kwa and Hamer need to be gone. 50/50 on Tyler. If you aren't going to push him out to go learn from other coaches, then bring in a big time proven AC from the 3 I listed or a similarly experienced coach, and then put TU as their understudy. But NOT running the O or D on his own. I think that TSJ and Domask were just so darn good at what they did that it made Tyler look really good last year, now there is no one around to mask over bad play or gameplans this season in the same way those 2 did last year.
I know its the NFL but the Eagles have done this with great success.
They fired a Superbowl winning coach in Doug Peterson because he wanted to promote Press Taylor and they fired Sirianni's assistants after last year's disappointment and picked Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio for him.
I just think if you are this upset with the direction of the offense/defense etc, then bring in an entirely new staff. Is OA irreplaceable? I assume not bc he was also Calipari’s lead guy at Kentucky and they ran Cal out of Lexington due to being poorly coached and underachieving. GA? Do we care if he leaves?
I think the days of the need for a recruiting assistant are over. Players come or leave based on the pay check. What we need is a staff that knows how to put a team together if they are going to play portal roulette each off-season, and a HC willing to make adjustments in game.
I think blaming assistants is letting Underwood completely off the hook.
I think the days of the need for a recruiting assistant are over. Players come or leave based on the pay check. What we need is a staff that knows how to put a team together if they are going to play portal roulette each off-season, and a HC willing to make adjustments in game.
I think blaming assistants is letting Underwood completely off the hook.
Id argue Brads biggest strength is as a recruiter too along with his willingness to change things that aren't working.
Go get two proven assistant coaches. One to coordinate the offense and the other to coordinate the defense. Then let Brad, Orlando, and Geoff recruit.
Lol I don't think it's fair to compare Brad to Eberflus. Id say Brad is pretty safely in the top 15-25 coaches in college basketball and moving wouldn't necessarily mean upgrading.
Personally I think the best plan of action would be to hire some assistant coaches that can cover up his X's and O's flaws and help him be better.
Personally I think the best plan of action would be to hire some assistant coaches that can cover up his X's and O's flaws and help him be better.
If this team is remotely serious about winning tomorrow, there better be a steady diet of post touches on every offensive trip. Attack the glass, get some floor burns and don't @#_& around for the first ten minutes.
Not complicated.
Not complicated.
I'd argue the jury is still out on this one.
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
And I would challenge you to show me where that willingness has been successfully deployed this year. I would argue that it has been too infrequent and too late in key games this year.
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