:thumb: You know it!
Pregame: Illinois at Minnesota, Saturday, January 23rd, 7:30pm CT, BTN
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:thumb: You know it!
Commentary after Minnie s Michigan game last night:
I think we're now starting to show what we can become," Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said. "We look back and we say we're close. We couldn't say that early in the Big Ten season. I think we can now say it over the last two games -- we're close.
"We're not about moral victories, but we liked our effort."
I think we're now starting to show what we can become," Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said. "We look back and we say we're close. We couldn't say that early in the Big Ten season. I think we can now say it over the last two games -- we're close.
"We're not about moral victories, but we liked our effort."
Deleted member 586966
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Well Groce's assertion was that they didn't respond well to going down and stopped playing within the scheme. The Ohio State and Purdue games never really got out of hand, though I will say the OSU game was probably closer than it should have been because we made some 3s at the end playing "hero ball".
frozenrope9190
- Aurora, IL
They didn't quit. They panicked; they realized they were being outplayed and forgot what got them there. I don't foresee that being a problem in every game for the rest of the season. And I didn't hear anyone complain about the lack of effort at the Ohio St game until we lost the Indiana game.
Poise was a problem at MSU too.
Forget about score board and focus on winning each posession...on O o r D. Of course easier said than done.
What bothers me most is how well Nebraska is now playing. I have been in total agreement about giving Groce more time because of the injury situation, but Nebraska is now succeeding with as many young kids as we are playing. Of course, the difference is that they are effectively starting two point guards, and, though I was never a big Watson fan when I saw him in high school, I have to admit that he is playing well within Nebraska's system. I guess it all starts with point guard play. Last night's Nebraska victory over MSU was not all that surprising because MSU's starting point guard was out. I am still hopeful that Groce is the right coach for us. However, I really hope that he got the right point guard in Lucas because we know that Tate isn't the answer at point guard, and no one really knows what Tracy will be like if and when he returns. We also need to recruit a strong point guard from the talent rich 2017 class.
Soxfreak64
- Bloomington
Every possession the players take off on defense costs them a bit of money down the road. It's a shame that the two or three guys who play hardest on D are the least physically suited to be a lockdown defender.
Let's hope the boys blow out Minnesota and have some fun doing it. Go on a little run, get pissed off when they give up more than 50 pts to the Rutgers and Minny's of the world, and finish the season with some serious pride.
Let's hope the boys blow out Minnesota and have some fun doing it. Go on a little run, get pissed off when they give up more than 50 pts to the Rutgers and Minny's of the world, and finish the season with some serious pride.
Psycho 86
King Monkey Nut
- Mooresville,Indiana
:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
BlindLoyalty
- FartNoiseMotivation
Nebraska is getting a far greater contribution from their true freshmen than Illinois.
Nebraska true freshmen account for 40.4% of all minutes played in Big Ten games.
Illinois true freshmen account for 24.2% of all minutes played in Big Ten games.
Obviously they are discounting MF minutes
Soxfreak64
- Bloomington
B1G PG and healthy post players tells the whole story there. Beyond that, Nebraska is very similar to Illinois. Shields = Hill, White = Nunn.
Was going to post this myself.
BlindLoyalty
- FartNoiseMotivation
Finke is not a true Freshmen. Finke has been practicing and part of Groce's program since 2014. True Fr have been in programs for 4+months.
Right on. MF's playing in his first of 4 years of eligibility.
I think if the comparison was tweaked accordingly, our percentage would be comparable to or exceed Nebraskas.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
Finke's only a few months younger than Malcolm IIRC.
You have to give Tim Miles credit. He's a good coach and he's starting to make Nebrasketball relevant. But how early freshmen start contributing is usually a toss up, unless he is a one and done. I still think each of our freshmen have plenty of talent and will be fun to watch for the next 3 1/2 years.
I do think a weakness of Groce is not getting his freshmen to play with confidence. He seems to be very tough on freshmen and has a very short leash with their in-game mistakes. That's fine to do if you have upperclassmen to carry the team, but all we have is Nunn and Hill.
For example, it made since to be tough on Nunn and Hill when they were freshmen because we had Egwu, Abrams, Bertrand, Rice, and Ekey ahead of them. But even then, he waited to long to show confidence in Nunn and Hill when we went on that long losing streak.
Right now, because of injuries, we need our freshmen playing with confidence and contributing. I understand they are going to make mistakes, but IMO they also have the talent to make plays. At the moment they are basically making mistakes, but don't have the confidence to make plays.
RedRocksIllini
- Morrison, CO
Truth of the matter is that the next four games are winnable. That would put us back to .500 and make the world a much better place. I really hope this team learns from the last couple games that they are going to have to work through adversity if they're going to have any shot at winning and accomplishing anything as a team. They resort to hero ball and Minnesota is apt to hang a hundred on us.
+1. I've noticed the same thing. JG seems to be a players' coach except with freshmen. Not sure why that is. He must think they need tough love to be molded into the types of TNT players he needs, but if anything I think they need an extra dose of confidence from the coach to be successful transitioning from HS to D1. JCL, for instance, has been very good from 3-point range, but his status getting yanked into and out of the starting lineup can't be good for his confidence as a new player. The kid's obviously got a load of talent. I'd like to see him either start each game and let him learn and grow or be our sixth man each game and tell him to fill a role as our "Vinnie Johnson" instant offensive contributor for 25 mpg off the bench. Same with AJ. His minutes have fluctuated big time, which is going to happen to some extent, but if JG believes AJ has a high ceiling, give him opportunities to play longer stretches without getting yanked for a missed defensive assignment, for instance, something BW did incessantly to younger players.
I really think Tate would be a serviceable backup PG even with his offensive limitations. But I'm lost on how he has managed to not even bother looking to take it to the hole and get to the line like he did last year. I hate to say it, but Tate's play has declined, and it really has killed the ceiling of this team. I'd kill to have a dynamic pg next to Nunn and Hill :tsk:
Small sample but Tate seemed to be playing better prior to his hand injury. I think to a certain extent we have confidence issues with him.
Yes, 11 minutes is a small sample size.
And going 0-4 with 1 assist doesn't seem too good to me.karmapoliceman
- STL, MO
Vs. IND he did exactly this, had his man beat for an easy lay-up, and then passed it back out to the three-point line-- twice.
I feel he was really seeing the court well last year and was doing a better job setting up the offense without nearly the number of deep threats.
I agree he's declined. Aside from him bringing the ball up the court and immediately passing it once he gets to the top of the arc, I don't see what he's doing to get whatever our offensive scheme du jour going is.
Hope he can bring back some of that effort from last year soon.
Soxfreak64
- Bloomington
LOL'd at this. What did he play before he hurt his hand? 10 minutes?
Unbelievable that anybody is trying to defend Tate. Just think if we had gotten Nic Moore (he'd still be playing) and Tate would be at Western Illinois.
Tate seemed to be playing well in the European trip and had the exhibition games before he hurt his hand. Not really trying to make excuses for him but his confidence has not seemed to be the same since returning from surgery. The fact is, he has not developed the way any of us would like for him to. It may have as much or more to do with better competition being played as it has to do with his hand injury.
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