Pregame: Illinois vs Texas/Xavier

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#251      
Mobi
ChiefGritty said:
Fair enough.

The comment I responded to said "it's great news that they have to play a game two days earlier, right?"

In fact, the play in winners have been more likely than any other double digit seed to win in the Round of 64 since the First Four was introduced, and have repeatedly made runs beyond that (three Final Fours, of the seven double digit seed FF's in the entire history of the tourney).

It's just interesting and relevant context.
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I agree that play-in teams are no scums. However that is not an acceptable excuse this year.
 
#252      
Mobi
Trueblue777 said:
Kentucky would HAVE to win against Troy in order to face Illinois if we were to beat Texas/Xavier
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Ah, what an obvious fact! Let the video guys start making films for Troy. /s
 
#253      
Lysol623
aaeismacgychel said:
I think most teams would think we have a fairly favorable draw a our pod has a whole lot of highly inconsistent teams in there, plus the location is practically a home game for us, which is weird because generally 6 seeds don't get that type of bonus. We play good ball we have a very good path to the Sweet 16. We show up playing lethargic and sloppy and don't crash the boards, we have a very good chance of going home on the first day. You really can't complain about the draw- the teams in our pod (us included) are teams aspiring Sweet 16 teams should beat though they have high ceilings when they're playing well.

That said, a thing that worries me that nobody has mentioned yet is that by playing a First 4 team, we won't be able to put 100% of our time developing a gameplan against our opponent until Wednesday night as before then we'll be splitting 50/50. And for a young team like ours, cutting down prep from 4 or 5 days to 2 against a specific team who has already shaken off their tourney jitters isn't as favorable as it would be if we had a more experienced team.

As such, I see this game being a tough one for us regardless of who we play. We need to make sure we don't come out nervous and fall behind early with turnovers leading to easy buckets. We give teams like Texas or Xavier confidence early and we're asking for trouble. Gotta play smart, hard, controlled basketball. And so if we want to actually take advantage of our draw, we're going to need a more mature KJ than we've seen recently. He ends the game with 3 or less turnovers I like our chances. 5 or more I don't. Play smart and hard and that's how we move on. Time for our baby birds to grow up.
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True, but this is the case with tournaments. We also got a late game and that should help.
 
#254      
sacraig
ChiefGritty said:
Arrested Development Tobias GIF
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At this point, it's only like dozens who AREN'T terminally online.
 
#258      
DeonThomas
RockfordIllini said:
I know some folks have called out we won’t know who we are playing until Wednesday night a disadvantage from a prep perspective and that’s fair. But i actually don’t think it’s awful we are getting 4-5 days to just work on ourselves. Tighten up our ball screen coverage. Reincorporate Morez, see what he can do with some of that hard hedging/stabbing we’ve been doing.

We’ve had 2 good defensive performances since Duke (Iowa, Michigan) and three meh to bad defensive performances (Purdue, Iowa and Maryland in BTT). The defensive bite is there, we just have to find it.

We find our bite we should be able to score enough to get to the S16. Big if though.
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And let's add ----"tighten up the handles and minimize the turnovers."
 
#259      
Battle89
Not in love with this...what is the point of calling such posters out? Just seems mean-spirited.

God forbid we just have a fun poll.
 
#260      
WyattEarp
illinifan1987 said:
This is the best possible draw for us! It's Final 4 or bust now.
All the big brain board members...:cool:
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Although I was snubbed/didn’t quite make the cut…I’ll have you know that:

1.) There ARE show-ers and growers.

2.) I am a very stable genius. I assure you.
IMG_4871.jpeg
 
#261      
RockfordIllini
DeonThomas said:
And let's add ----"tighten up the handles and minimize the turnovers."
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Agree wholeheartedly. I felt like 2/3 of our turnovers against Maryland were self inflicted. Maryland is certainly physical and pressures the ball so I’m sure they had something to do with it, but realistically we need to get turnovers down to 10-12.

And as a follow up on that, I know KJ was a turnover machine in the BTT and I know he has been bad for the last month or so relative to how he started the year, but if you look at his overall game logs since February 1 I would argue it’s been mostly solid to good ish, albeit lower shooting %’s, and a couple of real stinkers.

Sounds like he has been battling illness too. Just a gut feeling, I think we work on some things this week to get KJ to relax and we get something resembling good KJ for the tourney, something like a 17/5/5 stat line.
 
#263      
SampsonRelpenk
Silver lining of drawing the 11 seed play-in (since they're both high majors): these are teams that have been up and down all year and just barely made the field. The winner of Texas/Xavier is likely to have played a good game, and is more unlikely to play well twice in a row.
 
#265      
orangem
CentralILLini said:
We’re a DGL going back to Wolverine mode away from making some real noise imo.
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No, we need our lottery pick to start playing like he was until the end of January. With the turnarounds of Tre and Boswell, Morez back, and Tomi getting healthier and stronger, we can make the final-4 if KJ can start being an All-America talent again. We saw he can do it, let's see if Brad can get him to relax and start balling again.

KJ's decline the last six weeks:

 
#266      
Illwinsagain
orangem said:
No, we need our lottery pick to start playing like he was until the end of January. With the turnarounds of Tre and Boswell, Morez back, and Tomi getting healthier and stronger, we can make the final-4 if KJ can start being an All-America talent again. We saw he can do it, let's see if Brad can get him to relax and start balling again.

KJ's decline the last six weeks:

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I agree with the statement and have no idea how to read the data, other than it has been getting worse.
 
#268      
purcy51
kyillinifan said:
I hope we get through to get Ky. Living in Louisville is also Big Blue Country. I will wear my Illini gear proudly. Even on Sunday at church. Let’s beat an SEC team in game one and game two.
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I'm in Louisville too...would love to do a little smack talk to my coworkers Monday!
 
#270      
sacraig
orangem said:
No, we need our lottery pick to start playing like he was until the end of January. With the turnarounds of Tre and Boswell, Morez back, and Tomi getting healthier and stronger, we can make the final-4 if KJ can start being an All-America talent again. We saw he can do it, let's see if Brad can get him to relax and start balling again.

KJ's decline the last six weeks:

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I would love to know what has led to his decline. The arm injury? Increased pressure from defenses? Offensive scheme? Problem between the ears? Coaching style?

It's just wild how he went from being in the same conversation as Dylan Harper to not even the most reliable guard on his team.
 
#271      
One Man Fast Break
I know the sec had great league wide metrics and ooc plays a huge role in selection criteria but Texas went 6-12 in league play. I don’t care who you play against, no good team goes 6-12 in league play. I think that Xavier is comfortably the more difficult opponent.
 
#272      
STL Illini
Wanted to post on a popular thread regarding one of our own….Chad Fleck.
If you have not seen it yet, please go to the thread:

IllinoisLoyalty Bracket Challenge​

I do not know Chad Fleck, but he is an active member of Loyalty and consistently appears to be a stand up guy.
I personally am supporting his efforts regarding the bracket challenge, but more importantly he and his wife’s commitment to provide a better future for others through adoption. I encourage Loyalty brothers and sisters to consider this very worthwhile cause and have fun with a bracket challenge at the same time.
I L L . . .
 
#273      
DewLou
I'm thinking the Illini make it back to the Sweet 16 anything beyond that is going to be rough. That being said I'll be glued to the television win or lose.
 
#274      
Vinegarben
Soft against Rutgers, Maryland twice, MSU in Paign, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Northwestern in Evanston, Southern Cal, Madison square Garden fiasco just to name a few. Yes, we should be concerned about any team that straps on a jock strap we play because they all know this teams' many weaknesses and they know if you punch them more than likely not, they will wither.
Sorry, but they have demonstrated this over and over all year. 1 and done!
 
#275      
LouHenson
sacraig said:
I would love to know what has led to his decline. The arm injury? Increased pressure from defenses? Offensive scheme? Problem between the ears? Coaching style?

It's just wild how he went from being in the same conversation as Dylan Harper to not even the most reliable guard on his team.
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Once teams figured out to double him out high, he has been lost. That would concern me as an NBA team as "quickness" is his big question as is. He is not NBA ready, but clearly when the speed of the game slows down he will be. Its clear now Boz starts a lot, but ultimately it is Will that is now the initiator and facilitator.
 
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