Pregame: Illinois vs Penn State, Thursday, March 9th, 5:30pm CT, BTN

Murf · Mar 7, 2023

illini0440 said:
We haven’t practiced zone defense in 2 years

Quick question. Is it your responsibility to take the plethora of coaching suggestions from Loyalty to Brad and make sure he reviews them in order to game plan?? bahahaha!! (I'm confident our coaching staff has a plan)

Retro62 · Mar 7, 2023

Murf said:
Quick question. Is it your responsibility to take the plethora of coaching suggestions from Loyalty to Brad and make sure he reviews them in order to game plan?? bahahaha!! (I'm confident our coaching staff has a plan)

They are all loaded into one of three folders:
1. Head Slapper
2. Knee Slapper
3. WTF

illiniswish09 · Mar 7, 2023

Play tough physical defense, win the rebounding battle, be relentless getting downhill offensively and we win.

illini0440 · Mar 7, 2023

Murf said:
Quick question. Is it your responsibility to take the plethora of coaching suggestions from Loyalty to Brad and make sure he reviews them in order to game plan?? bahahaha!! (I'm confident our coaching staff has a plan)

Yes and then he laughs lol

IlliniTime · Mar 7, 2023

Vinegarben said:
PSU did not beat us twice! Jalen Pickett absolutely kicked our butts twice. Don't understand most other teams didn't have that problem. He uses his big butt to keep pushing the defender back. We need to double team him and make him give up the ball. On offense quit throwing up rocks from the 3 point line and get to the basket. Ty, RJ, TJS, Harris and Mayer have that ability to get there. Do thar and we win, If we decide to continue to clang 3's we will get out butts kicked for the 3rd time!

Loved seeing the swarming D on Sunday against Edey. Was wondering were that’s been. Keep doing that on Thursday!

altgeld88 · Mar 7, 2023

Retro62 said:
They are all loaded into one of three folders:
1. Head Slapper
2. Knee Slapper
3. WTF

4. Add to collection of same in official-looking Illini basketball binder and purposely leave in a conspicuous location in opponents' hotel as diversionary tactic.

RockfordIllini · Mar 7, 2023

Hope Epps come back healthy for the NCAAT. We could certainly use another bucket getter, but this rotation is really rounding into form:

Top 6:
CH
Mayer
TSJ
RJ
Ty
Goode

7th guy:
Sencire for defense/energy or
Dain for scoring/physical low post defense.

Wish we had another week or so to fine tune everything but I think that team is capable of making a run. Let’s go!

Illini in Italy · Mar 7, 2023

illini0440 said:
We haven’t practiced zone defense in 2 years

But . . . but . . but . . . according to Loyalty posters the zone is the Promised Land!?!

willillini · Mar 7, 2023

illini0440 said:
Well we held him to his season average the first meeting.

i appreciate your input. i guess i hope for better than average defense this time. I think our shooting #'s so far this
year require better than average defense.

danbor · Mar 7, 2023

To me this game seems like Brad's to win or lose. You know our guys, you have a lot of film on the other guys and they kicked our !!! twice. So how do you adjust for a better outcome? Seems like BU already got the guys to shoot less 3's and drive in the paint. Also seems like he convinced them that dunking the ball is our highest percentage shot. But PSU knows these adjustments. What surprise tactic can he throw at them to put PSU off balance?

john1952 · Mar 7, 2023

danbor said:
. What surprise tactic can he throw at them to put PSU off balance?

we could make 8 to 10 threes like we did against UCLA and Texas.....

jumpingjack · Mar 7, 2023

I feel like the three point volume was part of a long running rope-a-dope ploy and we're just going to dunk everything on everyone for the next month.
Brilliant in retrospect, really.

Poe's Law · Mar 7, 2023

727ill said:
I’ve watched a lot of Penn State this season and here are my thoughts on how we should play defensively:

1. No Dain - it’s become apparent now we stink defensively when he is on the court. I think Sencire should start and you bring on Dain in spurts.

2. On-ball screens should be switched automatically. With a smaller lineup we can switch everything and Penn State wants us to try to get through screens because it gives them an advantage since Pickett is such a good navigator of screens. If Pickett is on the ball and getting a screen, just switch. If you are getting screened off the ball, then blow the screen up or switch if not possible.

3. Pickett is going to find ways to back down his man in the post no matter who it is. I think when that happens you need to bring a baseline double so he can’t see it. He’s too good of a passer to double him with a defender that he can see. I really liked the hard double RJ had on Edey where he came from the baseline and Edey didn’t see him. More of that please.

4. More of the full court press. Penn state is really good in half court offense. Taking 7-10 seconds off the shot clock by employing a token press will help release some pressure.

The only one that concerns me is more full court press. I’d try to leave that particular club in the bag if I could, starting what is hopefully 4 games in 4 days (and no update on Epps status)… but win or go home and we may have to go that route.

Ga65 · Mar 7, 2023

Would double Pickett and make them beat us with threes. Rest of team was 7/19 from three in last game.

Battle89 · Mar 7, 2023

jumpingjack said:
I feel like the three point volume was part of a long running rope-a-dope ploy and we're just going to dunk everything on everyone for the next month.
Brilliant in retrospect, really.

My head knows this is humor but its scary how much my heart wants it to be true.

NarrowJ · Mar 7, 2023

Ga65 said:
Would double Pickett and make them beat us with threes. Rest of team was 7/19 from three in last game.

Because we didn't hard double him. If we do, that conversion rate on the shot attempts (7/19) probably goes up.

727ill · Mar 7, 2023

NarrowJ said:
Because we didn't hard double him. If we do, that conversion rate on the shot attempts (7/19) probably goes up.

Right, you can't just bring a hard double right in his face because he is going to make the right pass most of the time. You have to bring it after he puts it on the floor with his dribble and from his blind spot.

Poe's Law · Mar 7, 2023

Mike1976 said:
According to STATS LLC., there have been 981 similar matchups across Division I college basketball over the past 10 seasons. The teams entering the third game 2-0 are a combined 710-271 (.724 winning percentage) in the third meeting.

So over a 10-year period in college basketball including almost 1,000 games, the team that won the first 2 games won the third meeting 72.4% of the time. So it clearly doesn’t follow that it is hard to beat a team 3 times.

How’d they define similar or is that just any instance of a third game between 2-0 teams? That wouldn’t surprise me. If it’s teams with similar kenpom ratings (or equivalent) that 72.4% win percentage is more than a little surprising.

Would think it would be rare for a team with a 2.2 kenpom efficiency advantage on a season losing three

WyattEarp · Mar 7, 2023

danbor said:
To me this game seems like Brad's to win or lose. You know our guys, you have a lot of film on the other guys and they kicked our !!! twice. So how do you adjust for a better outcome? Seems like BU already got the guys to shoot less 3's and drive in the paint. Also seems like he convinced them that dunking the ball is our highest percentage shot. But PSU knows these adjustments. What surprise tactic can he throw at them to put PSU off balance?

How about we plant a
dummy play sheet? (a’la Mike Leach)

What? It would be awesome if we could it to work.

https://m.facebook.com/RealNCAAFTalk/videos/the-time-mike-leach-created-a-fake-play-sheet-for-the-oklahoma-texas-game-mikele/626777189246917/

pruman91 · Mar 7, 2023

I'm factoring in a new shooting environment for psu at the UC with a pro Illini crowd and psu with the pressure of trying to make the dance (if they haven't already).................. I gotta believe we can do something different on the third go around.......
They say third times the charm , so I'm looking at this game in that vernacular........

I would rather get beat by them making 3's than another performance by Pickett of backing down whoever is guarding him into the paint and shooting over them ......He's what , 6'4" , I say a hard foul starting off.....Nothing illegal or causing an injury , but a leather sandwich smothered in Illini sauce and let's see where that goes as far as him venturing back into the paint..........I was always coached that if the opponent was going in for a layup or 3-4 shot in the paint , to make sure they didn't get the shot off at all.....

I'm thinking the Illini win .............................

Illini 80
psu 74

Now make it happen.....................................

RML · Mar 7, 2023

Vinegarben said:
On offense quit throwing up rocks from the 3 point line and get to the basket.

I don't mind shots from the 3 point line. Its setting up for and taking shots from six feet behind the line that drive me crazy (and kill our 3 point percentage).

WyattEarp · Mar 7, 2023

RML said:
I don't mind shots from the 3 point line. Its setting up for and taking shots from six feet behind the line that drive me crazy (and kill our 3 point percentage).

Yep, and that’s being generous. There have been a’ plenty this year deeper than that.

I feel like we’ve more than beaten this horse but I concur:
1.) Too high of overall volume
2.) Bad selection (contested, out of flow of offense, distance)

IllinoisssssssVarsity · Mar 7, 2023

STATS GUY said:
How about a little more "Up the line, On the line" and force the passes to go over the top so we can close out while ball is in the air. "Up the line" would help on penetration. Pickett will require making him put the ball on the floor and stopping him backing down the defender. We are going to have to foul a few times by bucking him to expose the backing down aspect and force the refs to call it.

Up the line helps on penetration but in combination with on the line you're usually too high to effectively close a gap. You have to stunt backwards, then turn around and close out when they pass your man the ball (and their ability to pass your man the ball from one pass away makes starting on the line a moot point anyway, because that's what you're trying to stop by starting that way). You become a defender moving in 2 directions simultaneously, which makes anyone worse. That's why you see up the line teams who want to stop penetration more packed in.

illini0440 · Mar 7, 2023

IllinoisssssssVarsity said:
Up the line helps on penetration but in combination with on the line you're usually too high to effectively close a gap. You have to stunt backwards, then turn around and close out when they pass your man the ball (and their ability to pass your man the ball from one pass away makes starting on the line a moot point anyway, because that's what you're trying to stop by starting that way). You become a defender moving in 2 directions simultaneously, which makes anyone worse. That's why you see up the line teams who want to stop penetration more packed in.

And we already give up way to many back door cuts...

Fighter of the Nightman · Mar 7, 2023

Whether or not this gives sufficient fuel to these guys' fire Thursday night, it certainly looks like there will be a ton of orange in the building:

Thursday Morning Session: Rutgers vs. Michigan and Iowa vs. Ohio State/Wisconsin

2023 BTT - Session 2 - Thursday Morning.png

Cheapest ticket listed above: $5.00

Thursday Evening Session: Illinois vs. Penn State and Maryland vs. Nebraska/Minnesota

2023 BTT - Session 3 - Thursday Evening.png

Cheapest ticket listed above: $26.00

While both sessions have a lot of end seats in the 300-level still available, the morning sessions has significant pockets of the pink seats unsold. Additionally, our ticket prices are currently over five times as expensive, yet we have sold way more tickets. Lastly, while you would expect a decent number of Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin fans (should they advance) in the morning, I guarantee you that none of Penn State, Maryland, Nebraska or Minnesota will bring big followings on Thursday evenings - in other words, about 80-90% of those tickets sold are going to be Illini fans. Hoping that tickets drop even further as the game approaches, and we can really fill the place up.

Also, PSA for fans looking to attend Friday if we beat Penn State!
If you just like watching hoops and are from the area, I might even consider buying right now. Tickets are currently pretty expensive ($85.00), but the only real way they would drop is if WE lost to PSU and a bunch of Illini fans sold their tickets. I highly doubt there are many PSU/Maryland/Nebraska/Minnesota fans hanging on to tickets that they might be looking to dump for cheap if they lose before Friday, and we would share the evening session with Indiana and Northwestern. NU doesn't have a huge fan base here, but they are a lot more excited than they have ever been and I could see a decent (think Iowa-level or a little less) showing on Friday evening, and Indiana fans are as enthusiastic as they have been in several years, not to mention fairly close and with a big alumni base in Chicagoland. If Illinois beats PSU, that Friday ticket might go up pretty significantly in price.