Pregame: Illinois vs UCLA, Tuesday, February 11th, 7:00pm CT, Peacock

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#51      
HensonHall71
NarrowJ said:
I mean I don't see Bilodeau and Dailey as any more problematic than any other front court duo we have encountered this season. Bilodeau plays C at 6-9 230 and Dailey PF 6-8 230 so it's going to be Ivisic with a 4 inch size advantage guarding Bilodeau and Morez/Ben will get Dailey. Keeping in mind Morez/Ben just held the B1G leading scorer (Garcia 23.6ppg in conf play) to 12 points on 4-14 shooting and Jake is unlikely to get the assignment of guarding either of them anyway.

Bilodeau giving up 4 inches to Ivisic is a huge advantage to Illinois too. Goldin absolutely destroyed the guy in the game I watched a couple weeks ago. UCLA has a 7'3 kid they play 10-12 minutes off of the bench, maybe they start him and go bigger, will be interesting to see.
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I agree with you- like most games this will come down to how we play much more than what the other team is forcing us to do

The bigger point IMO is that they don’t block shots really at all - Mara is the only shot blocker so if he’s not on the court we really need to take it to the rim and do what’s been successful for us- when Mara is on the floor Tomi should pull him away from the rim in pick and pop action giving KJ a driving lane

If we execute well and limit turnovers we should have some success - which is the story most games but they don’t have a Harper type guy that we simply can’t guard
 
#56      
fuggles
Aday Mara, 6 pts 3 rb 24 minutes vs MSU on Tuesday at home. I saw the last 10 minutes or so. He looked awkward and clumsy. Missed some easy ones down low.
 
#59      
Snoopy
fuggles said:
Aday Mara, 6 pts 3 rb 24 minutes vs MSU on Tuesday at home. I saw the last 10 minutes or so. He looked awkward and clumsy. Missed some easy ones down low.
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Yeah, but MSUs old school, hall of fame coach probably ignored the analytics and had someone guard him. He'll go for 40 against us because Brad's boy genuses will see an average of just over 6 pts a game and conclude he isn't worth guarding.
 
#60      
Battle89
Snoopy said:
Yeah, but MSUs old school, hall of fame coach probably ignored the analytics and had someone guard him. He'll go for 40 against us because Brad's boy genuses will see an average of just over 6 pts a game and conclude he isn't worth guarding.
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Don’t want to like this but there are elements of truth here.
 
#61      
Oracle21
UCLA is 0-4 this year in games played west of the Rocky Mountains.

Vs North Carolina (in NY) (76-74)
At Nebraska (66-58)
At Maryland (79-61)
At Rutgers (75-68)

I think this is a game Illinois should win. The only thing UCLA does really well is not turn the ball over. But Illinois doesn’t force many turnovers anyway so don’t see that as much of an advantage.
 
#62      
NarrowJ
Snoopy said:
Yeah, but MSUs old school, hall of fame coach probably ignored the analytics and had someone guard him. He'll go for 40 against us because Brad's boy genuses will see an average of just over 6 pts a game and conclude he isn't worth guarding.
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He doesn't shoot 3s

Or are you saying you think our coaching staff will instruct our guys to just let him have uncontested dunks?
 
#63      
Snoopy
NarrowJ said:
He doesn't shoot 3s

Or are you saying you think our coaching staff will instruct our guys to just let him have uncontested dunks?
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Yes to uncontested dunks. They'll have Tomi switch out on the guards to try to prevent those oh so important 3s. My post was intended as a largely sarcastic response to the over reliance or naive applications of analytics.
 
#64      
NarrowJ
Snoopy said:
Yes to uncontested dunks. They'll have Tomi switch out on the guards to try to prevent those oh so important 3s. My post was intended as a largely sarcastic response to the over reliance or naive applications of analytics.
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What do you feel is a naive application of analytics? The helping off of non-shooters? This is a common contemporary practice, everyone does that, not just Illinois.

We have never purposely switched Ivisic on to a guard, and Mara is not going to pull Tomi out, in fact, just the opposite.
 
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#65      
RockfordIllini
Biggest key is taking care of the ball. If we can keep turnovers under around 14, I think we can even up the possessions with our rebounding. And then I think we can exploit mismatches with our positional size to be more efficient offensively.

But easier said than done. We need all the ball handlers we can get. And it sounds like our injury luck (no Tomi vs Maryland, no Tre vs Rutgers) will continue with Kylan banged up and Dre sick. Hopefully Will can handle their ball pressure. He should be able to see over the top of their defenders.
 
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#67      
WyattEarp
Snoopy said:
Yeah, but MSUs old school, hall of fame coach probably ignored the analytics and had someone guard him. He'll go for 40 against us because Brad's boy genuses will see an average of just over 6 pts a game and conclude he isn't worth guarding.
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If Mara is coming into his own…and manages to get a number of post touches AND be effective…I don’t look for Brad to double, certainly. We all now that.

But, if Tomi and Morez can alternate guarding him…and give a little different look; It should keep him guessing. I don’t know how many true 7 footers he’s gone against in Ivisic? ( I hope his anklle holds up.) I can also see Spanish McHale struggle with Morez’s athleticism…
If Rez’ll get up and swat a couple in the second row…it just might take him outta the game mentally. (Stranger things have happened.) Morez has to be solid with his footwork…to stay outta foul trouble…which is always a concern obv.

OR Mara may just not get many touches or may just plain have an off game…and be a non-factor like earlier in the season.
 
#68      
Combo
RockfordIllini said:
Biggest key is taking care of the ball. If we can keep turnovers under around 14, I think we can even up the possessions with our rebounding. And then I think we can exploit mismatches with our positional size to be more efficient offensively.

But easier said than done. We need all the ball handlers we can get. And it sounds like our injury luck (no Tomi vs Maryland, no Tre vs Rutgers) will continue with Kylan banged up and Dre sick. Hopefully Will can handle their ball pressure. He should be able to see over the top of their defenders.
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Then we might be in trouble. Boswell is reportedly injured and Dre may still be sick.
 
#69      
Big Jack
illinoisgrad1990 said:
I would also like to know if I need to arrive earlier than usual. Our sports marketing team in DIA is very good at a lot of things, but they often neglect to share details like this for the 16K fans who will be attending and might want to know.
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You would have thought you would include that in the article that the announcement was made in on fightingillini.com
 
#70      
Snoopy
NarrowJ said:
What do you feel is a naive application of analytics? The helping off of non-shooters? This is a common contemporary practice, everyone does that, not just Illinois.

We have never purposely switched Ivisic on to a guard, and Mara is not going to pull Tomi out, in fact, just the opposite.
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Overly committed to the 3 as a "better shot" even when the team is shooting 15%.

Specifically, with respect to switching, I have sat through very painful Illinois-NW games the last few years where Collins will take advantage of Illinois switching to get the matchup he wants and then go iso. To the point where everyone in the arena knows what is happening, as the switch plays out in slow motion 30 feet from the basket. But Brad won't adjust his D even though NWs one player capable of scoring ends up one on one with Illinois worst perimeter defender over and over again. Statistically Brad's D is correct. I'm sure he has statistics that back up his switching D. Against Boo or Brooks late in the game at NW, going away from the statistics might have been inorder.
 
#72      
NarrowJ
Snoopy said:
Overly committed to the 3 as a "better shot" even when the team is shooting 15%.

Specifically, with respect to switching, I have sat through very painful Illinois-NW games the last few years where Collins will take advantage of Illinois switching to get the matchup he wants and then go iso. To the point where everyone in the arena knows what is happening, as the switch plays out in slow motion 30 feet from the basket. But Brad won't adjust his D even though NWs one player capable of scoring ends up one on one with Illinois worst perimeter defender over and over again. Statistically Brad's D is correct. I'm sure he has statistics that back up his switching D. Against Boo or Brooks late in the game at NW, going away from the statistics might have been inorder.
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Monday morning QBs undefeated

To give a more salient rebuttal, the switching late in games isn't as much a product of any analytics but rather denying straight line rim attacks. We rather Brooks shoot a fade away over a 6-6 or 6-9 player than to let him turn a corner and get a layup.

He beat us with shots that have 40% conversion rate (at best) instead of easy layup/2 FTs so you tip your cap and take your medicine and go get the next one.
 
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#73      
hoopsfan47
RockfordIllini said:
Biggest key is taking care of the ball. If we can keep turnovers under around 14,
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Can't see the Illini winning this game with 14 turnovers. Need to keep them around 8 and win the boards. So much depends on hitting shots...and that is not a dependable thing for us.

The bottom line for me is that all Illini need to all play well and focused. Especially must keep Morez and Tomi out of foul trouble. Much depends on Ben hitting a couple of early threes and Riley continuing his confident play. Anything from KB on offense without turnovers is a plus. We have no reason to depend on Tre or DGL...hope they are feeling good as neither will likely get a lot of defensive attention.
 
#74      
RabidDawgClassic
I have to wonder if this doesn’t coincide with Dee’s unceremonious exit from his position a couple years ago. If the rumors are true and that one particular booster is still upset, the university may have decided that keeping the NIL money rolling in supersedes honoring the greatest season in program history and they’re hoping no one notices.
 
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