This is so clearly a loss
Pregame: Illinois vs Ohio State, Sunday, February 2nd, 12:00pm CT, CBS
- Status
If you zoom out, it's hilarious to see the general consensus of this board change over time....
Beginning of season - "We are talented, but young and have a lot of new pieces that need to gel. Going to be a lot of UPS and DOWNS, but we have the potential to be very good in March."
End of December/Early January (the up) - "We are incredible, good chance to win the conference and end up with a 1 or 2 seed."
Now (the down) - We suck, burn it down, cancel the season, we have no chance to do anything cool this year."
We literally predicted how this season was going to go, and yet we are still surprised it's going this way.
Beginning of season - "We are talented, but young and have a lot of new pieces that need to gel. Going to be a lot of UPS and DOWNS, but we have the potential to be very good in March."
End of December/Early January (the up) - "We are incredible, good chance to win the conference and end up with a 1 or 2 seed."
Now (the down) - We suck, burn it down, cancel the season, we have no chance to do anything cool this year."
We literally predicted how this season was going to go, and yet we are still surprised it's going this way.
Wrong. Don’t think anyone projected home losses to USC and Maryland (ran out the gym), and loss @NW @NEB. This team stinks. Open your eyes. There’s no reason to be positive
EDIT: Cant forget Tennessee trying their hardest to give you a marquee win at home. Refused to take it
You’re wrong. This team can beat anyone. And they can lose to anyone. That wasn’t hard to see being a possibility for this team very early in the season especially given the newness of playing together and lack of more connectedness.
I intend to stick around for every minute of it, as always. There will be more frustrating games, and more electric unbelievable games. Never giving up hope that they string a good number of the latter together at the end.
But that would be an admission of Brad being wrong and I don’t think he has much of that in him.
Last thing I will say to the doom and gloomers tonight. There are 4 things that, IMO, are undisputable.
1) KJ and Tomi PnR was one of our best actions offensively. They clearly had a chemistry like nobody else on the team.
2) With Tomi's ability to spread the floor, plus his above average passing, we were getting multiple baskets off backdoor cuts almost every game.
3) The twin towers with Tomi and Morez was starting to cook. This is something we saw very little of to start the year. Morez was looking better, and the high-low game was starting to cause teams problems.
4) Will Riley's scoring potential is still through the roof, and we might be seeing it more as the season progresses. 19 against MSU and now 16 against Nebraska.
If we agree all that is true, i don't know how you can't get excited for what we can be when everyone is healthy and the confidence is back.
1) KJ and Tomi PnR was one of our best actions offensively. They clearly had a chemistry like nobody else on the team.
2) With Tomi's ability to spread the floor, plus his above average passing, we were getting multiple baskets off backdoor cuts almost every game.
3) The twin towers with Tomi and Morez was starting to cook. This is something we saw very little of to start the year. Morez was looking better, and the high-low game was starting to cause teams problems.
4) Will Riley's scoring potential is still through the roof, and we might be seeing it more as the season progresses. 19 against MSU and now 16 against Nebraska.
If we agree all that is true, i don't know how you can't get excited for what we can be when everyone is healthy and the confidence is back.
I think there’s considerable doubt if Tomi will be back at all, and certainly doubt as to how much he can give you. Mono isn’t a cold.
My opinion on Riley hasn’t changed. Most of his offense are really tough 1 on 1 shots. And most of the time they miss. It’s very hard to go on a heater with his shot quality.
My opinion on Riley hasn’t changed. Most of his offense are really tough 1 on 1 shots. And most of the time they miss. It’s very hard to go on a heater with his shot quality.
I'll be there in person, probably in the best seats I've ever had in SFC for a full game to celebrate my 50th birthday.
This is a must win.
We will win.
I still believe this is a team capable of special things come tournament time.
But I also believe it's getting to be now or never time for a realistic shot at that.
Just win baby.
This is a must win.
We will win.
I still believe this is a team capable of special things come tournament time.
But I also believe it's getting to be now or never time for a realistic shot at that.
Just win baby.
Happy BDay JJ.
Hope it's a good one - on two counts!
Somebody probably should. Brad has given Ben plenty of leash. There are better options and too much talent on the bench to not make a change at this point.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
I think this is the game that proves 2023 2.0 exists. OSU is getting better each game, while we are cratering.
What about DGL over Boswell?
It’s not the we are in a slump. It’s how bad we are while we are slumpin.
KJ, Boswell, Riley, DGL and Johnson. You ride with that starting lineup until Tomi comes back. Enough of Humrichous in the starting lineup.
Last edited:
This one is an L. Sorry to say it but unless tOSU implodes, I just can't see us winning.
Cannot understate how important Ivisic is to this team.
We have to get healthy. I know times are tough right now but this is still at least a sweet 16 team.
We have to get healthy. I know times are tough right now but this is still at least a sweet 16 team.
drsmitty74
- Rochester
Sounds familiar.
I agree with everything you say about the team’s potential, and the rebounding numbers showed they played with effort last night. What is so disheartening is the carelessness and low IQ shown by the turnovers and mind numbing lapses on defense that allowed Nebraska to get uncontested layups and dunks off of set plays. That should NEVER be happening at this point in the season.
if Tomi is still out I would like to see us start a 3 guard lineup with Tre and Mores filling out the starting 5. With Riley the first sub. It might be a stretch with Tre at the 4 but we don’t have many options. I just don’t want to see a 6’9 guy play 30 minutes with 1 point and 3 rebounds
I think a lot of people thought the DOWNS would be in the first half of the season, and we would be seeing the UPS now. We are through 2/3 of the season and trending clearly in the wrong direction. I don't think that is what people were predicting.
I really feel that the B10 reg season title is outta reach now. So, I'd focus on the B10Tournanent and March. To reach our ceiling it may mean some more growing pains but it's time to play for reaching our players and teams potential. They may mean another L or two. For me that means playing Will, Morez and KJ as much as I could so they can adjust and grow before March. Our 2 eventually projected first rounders need to play and improve. They are so young. Will clearly has it in him but the kid should still be in high school. He needs PT in games to be mentally tough and truly confident in March. My top 7 I hope to see with Ben 8th would be KJ, Will, Tomi, Trey,Morez Kylan, DGL. Ben would back up Tomi and Morez. I wish we had that 3rd back to the basket, bang down low 5 on D big but we dont so Ben's our best option over Corey.
Last edited:
- Status