Tennessee 66, Illinois 64 Postgame

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#476      
Second place is 1st loser
Roundball Sage said:
Our Beloved are 3-23 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams. This is a multi-generational mark of shame. It is not acceptable to the proud tradition of Illinois ball.

Yes, Number One teams are good. But so should the Illini be in that conversation.

Our Coach has done a remarkable job of putting the Illini back at or near the top of the Big Ten and restoring the great Illini legacy. We all appreciate his great efforts and passion for Illini ball.

But games like the Tennessee one are the kinds that can change the narrative and show that Our Beloved has raised its level to be right at the top with anyone else. Over the years, the Illini have had other opportunities to take that big step upward and get that big win and show the Ball World that They have a place among the elite.

There’s that word, Elite. The Illini need to be there... now and tomorrow. But only They can make it so. This is what Illini Nation craves. And the time is always right to make that move.

Being good is... good. Being great is -- better.
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We were one game from a Final Four last year. How many Big Ten Tournament Championships? Regular season championships? Who has the best 5 year conference record? Do we still have the most road wins in that stretch?

Short of a Final Four and a national championship....he's literally checked every other box.

The overreaction to a two point loss is INSANE. "Games like Tennessee....", man, that was a knock down, drag out game that neither team deserved to lose.

Remember your post three months from now. This was ALWAYS going to be a bumpy start to the season. This is a wildly young and inexperienced team. The growth from that Mississippi scrimmage to know is utterly remarkable.

The level of difficulty with this early season schedule is extremely high, especially with meshing a new roster.

We're lucky to have BU. Extremely lucky.
 
#477      
sacraig
Roundball Sage said:
Our Beloved are 3-23 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams. This is a multi-generational mark of shame. It is not acceptable to the proud tradition of Illinois ball.

Yes, Number One teams are good. But so should the Illini be in that conversation.

Our Coach has done a remarkable job of putting the Illini back at or near the top of the Big Ten and restoring the great Illini legacy. We all appreciate his great efforts and passion for Illini ball.

But games like the Tennessee one are the kinds that can change the narrative and show that Our Beloved has raised its level to be right at the top with anyone else. Over the years, the Illini have had other opportunities to take that big step upward and get that big win and show the Ball World that They have a place among the elite.

There’s that word, Elite. The Illini need to be there... now and tomorrow. But only They can make it so. This is what Illini Nation craves. And the time is always right to make that move.

Being good is... good. Being great is -- better.
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I doubt many programs have a much better record than that.
 
#478      
illinitiger
WyattEarp said:
I like you and I like your posts. But I respectfully disagree. The first instance was similiar to the second instance…in that there was no movement. No v-cutting, no screening, no sealing, no breaking…in either instance.

For the record, I am absolutely tickled sh*tless we are where we are right now with these young bucks. We’re gonna do some damage in the months ahead. But Brad wants a championship…and wants to see this team to do their consummate best…and that requires better execution and organization in late game situations…and small details like OOBs plays. The staff has to be better.

It seems like when an inbounder throws a crummy pass…everybody always wants to blame the inbounder…but if no one breaks to get open…Whether it’s Goode against UCONN or this…its not just on the guy that ends up throwing the bad pass. It’s an issue that I have seen over and over with Brad’s teams.

(Robbie Hummel seems to think so…as I said in another post.)

KJ threw a lazy helium pass. But that wasn’t on KJ as much as it was no one trying to get open. If possible, go back and watch it. There was ZERO movement. In either instance.

It happened in both instances. I complain about this because Brad is too good of a coach for this to be so problematic. It is perplexing and it makes no sense…It should be an easy fix. I’m tired of seeing it. It’s so basic. This is not some angry villager rant. I bit my damn tongue about it forever. It’s a problem. It matters. I want it to matter to Brad.

What BLOB do we run 90% of the time?
4-across at the freethrow line…no movement…just get it in…lob it into the backcourt and hope for the best.

I see a lack of movement and breaking on nearly every OOB play we run. SLOB, BLOB’s and press breaks.

Yes we had the BLOB last year where Shannon snuck into the paint and made that little read. It was cool. This year we have one with a bit of misdirection and someone floats to the corner for a 3. I like that one too. See…I’m easy to please.
Credit where credit is due.
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Someone mentioned tyler is the offensive coach..aren't most of these issues something for him to address?
 
#480      
illiniguy24
Second place is 1st loser said:
Enough of this and I'm just using your post to piggyback on to keep the flow going. Not directing this at you.

You can be John Wooden, but if you don't have playmakers who can execute, you'll get the same result.

We had TJ last year. Last year we win this game by probably 7-10 because he was a legitimate closer and he made winning place. Add Domask to that. They were programmed in knowing where they needed to be, when they needed to be there and how aggressive they needed to do it. We were 29-9, Big Ten Tournament champions and one game against one of the great teams of the last 40 years from going to a Final Four.

This year, we don't have a closer. We have guys that don't yet know how to make winning plays. KJ seems like he's off limits on criticism, but it was really his meltdown in the last two minutes that swayed this game. Look at the home for how it played out(don't remember the author). Turnovers, lazy inbounds pass and missed free throws. The ONLY reason that I bring that up is last year, that was TJ's role. He was an All American and KJ is a freshman.

Brad's ability to bring a team home isn't any different this year. There is no Ayo and there is no TJ. This is KJ's team and those mistakes can't happen. 2 assists and 7 turnovers, a couple that were crippling at the end, simply can't happen.

People are making yesterday WAY more complicated than it needs to be. You need great players(we have that), but we need these guys to execute, which is still a WIP.

Have to make layups, have to make hard cuts and strong passes to get the ball in and have to box out. None of these guys need to be coached that at this point in their careers.

Take it for what it is and flat out be better.
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I hear your point but I think your point and the point of topic is simply drawing up good plays in dead ball situations.

Indy is close to the program and I was curious his opinion on it
 
#481      
chiefini
I just got home from Champaign and the game and haven’t read either the game thread or the post game thread yet. A friend messaged me that the game was a disaster. It got me thinking. This game wasn’t a disaster at all, in my opinion. Yes, it was very disappointing and a missed opportunity, but all of our kids played their hearts out. At the beginning of the season, most pundits picked these Illini to finish towards the bottom of the B1G, yet they played the #1 team in the country basically even. I am REALLY proud of our kids’ effort. They are a very, very young team with one 5th year senior, 2 juniors, and 2 freshman starters (none of whom have played together before), who are learning and improving every single game. They were beaten by a very experienced, senior veteran squad with 4 seniors and 2 fifth year seniors, (including seven returning players), who ended up ranked #5 in the country and were regular season SEC champs last season. Experience just won out in the last few seconds (minutes?) this game. After witnessing the game in person, I am confident that by February, they’ll be playing and gelling as a team better, their confidence will improve, and their early season jitters and nerves on the big stage will be gone. Go, Illini.
:illinois: :hailtotheorange::illinois:
 
#483      
Yes33
chiefini said:
I just got home from Champaign and the game and haven’t read either the game thread or the post game thread yet. A friend messaged me that the game was a disaster. It got me thinking. This game wasn’t a disaster at all, in my opinion. Yes, it was very disappointing and a missed opportunity, but all of our kids played their hearts out. At the beginning of the season, most pundits picked these Illini to finish towards the bottom of the B1G, yet they played the #1 team in the country basically even. I am REALLY proud of our kids’ effort. They are a very, very young team with one 5th year senior, 2 juniors, and 2 freshman starters (none of whom have played together before), who are learning and improving every single game. They were beaten by a very experienced, senior veteran squad with 4 seniors and 2 fifth year seniors, (including seven returning players), who ended up ranked #5 in the country and were regular season SEC champs last season. Experience just won out in the last few seconds (minutes?) this game. After witnessing the game in person, I am confident that by February, they’ll be playing and gelling as a team better, their confidence will improve, and their early season jitters and nerves on the big stage will be gone. Go, Illini.
:illinois: :hailtotheorange::illinois:
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I haven’t read the thread either, too frustrated. I agree, the kids played their hearts out and the Vols foul trouble almost handed the game to us.

My frustration:

Out of Bounds Plays: come on Brad, year after year we suck at this. How hard is it to set up simple plays, cut / separate hard, and get open!!! Remember, I’ve heard we have to value every possession. Every time we take it out with a little pressure we have only a 50/50 chance it seems.

Coaching, we made no adjustments, just continue to run a pick and roll at half court every time while they are double teaming. Thankfully KJ is Superman or that’s a 20 point game.

Ben - pretty shot just doesn’t make enough. Ty Rodgers defense and toughness would be much more valuable at this point.

Jake - He’s Luke Goode but slower. If Booth doesn’t play over him he should leave.
 
#485      
biglug58
chiefini said:
I just got home from Champaign and the game and haven’t read either the game thread or the post game thread yet. A friend messaged me that the game was a disaster. It got me thinking. This game wasn’t a disaster at all, in my opinion. Yes, it was very disappointing and a missed opportunity, but all of our kids played their hearts out. At the beginning of the season, most pundits picked these Illini to finish towards the bottom of the B1G, yet they played the #1 team in the country basically even. I am REALLY proud of our kids’ effort. They are a very, very young team with one 5th year senior, 2 juniors, and 2 freshman starters (none of whom have played together before), who are learning and improving every single game. They were beaten by a very experienced, senior veteran squad with 4 seniors and 2 fifth year seniors, (including seven returning players), who ended up ranked #5 in the country and were regular season SEC champs last season. Experience just won out in the last few seconds (minutes?) this game. After witnessing the game in person, I am confident that by February, they’ll be playing and gelling as a team better, their confidence will improve, and their early season jitters and nerves on the big stage will be gone. Go, Illini.
:illinois: :hailtotheorange::illinois:
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Excited Lets Go GIF
 
#486      
rtbritt
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
One of Jake or Ben was in there the entire game
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:oops: Is that true?? Oof. That’s not what I’d prefer.

Also, has anyone else noticed that Davis doesn’t look to do really anything. Immediately when he catches it, he’s tossing it back. He’s a good connector on offense, but you’re a shooter man, look to shoot.
 
#488      
wyckles
I want this game to be the final game we "learn from". Enough learning. Time to win 10 in a row. Ivisic is the Robin to KJ's Batman. I would have liked to see Morez and Ivisic on the court at the same time in this game. A high low with Ivisic up high would have created more open looks from three for everyone or Morez dunks. This Missouri game needs to be a 20 point win. Take it out on them.
 
#489      
SAELION
blackdog said:
Which is interesting because he actually is big enough and has enough vert to get rebounds if he just went up for them. We saw that yesterday with that epic put back slam.
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Disagree on Ben having enough vert. Watched him closely try to rebound the last several games and he only jumps about 12 inches while the opposing player he is jumping with is always MUCH higher off the ground. Ben is 6-9 so he can dunk without having good verticality. And he is painfully slow when jumping or moving towards the rebound.
 
#490      
alaskaillini
Second place is 1st loser said:
Winner!!! POTD. People can turn this inside out, upside down and point to 20 different plays. 4 for 23 from three. That's not ok, yet it's our offense.

Riley is an absolute liability on offense. 1 of 9.

KJ SEVEN turnovers and 5/15 shooting.

Tomi....this was a no show.

Let's keep a little perspective. Our guys need to be better.
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Well, I successfully avoided the game thread and am only now venturing into the post-game one. Think I will log out after page 5. Have read enough.

Yes, our guys need to be better. But as green as they are, and as little as they have played together, I think they will improve more and faster than most teams as me move through the season. We all knew going into this season that it would be rocky in the non-con. So far, we have played as well as I had expected. From that perspective, we are on track. I feel a bitter satisfaction with knowing that we could be setting pretty right now if we had just made a few more plays or a few less mistakes, but that is true of almost every team. There is a lot of basketball left.
 
#491      
chudaman
DeeIL89 said:
I think in the post game presser, Brad said he would like to see Riley take them open shots without hesitation. I think Riley has been forcing it lately trying to do too much. There are times where you just have to do the simple things. There was one sequence where Riley was on a transition fast break and it was to our advantage numbers wise and Riley went with a up and under that whiff. Later in the second half he beats his man and drove to the baseline and attempted yet another up and under that whiff badly. I'll think he will figure it out. He just has to adjust his game a bit and put more weight on him.
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I'd like to see Will set up n the corner where the sideline would prevent him from taking extra long 3s.
 
#493      
EyeoftheIllini
Emerson Bigguns said:
I think the missing ingredient is a reliable Robin to KJ’s Batman. We are too one dimensional on offense late in close games. Tre stood up against Wisconsin. We won. No one stood up against NW or TN to give us a lift. We lost nail biters.
I’m hopeful Riley will gets unlocked at some point, but he’s pressing right now. Tomi has been great early in games, but has a bit of a tendency to disappear late. Tre is trying too hard to fit in. When he gets aggressive and does Tre White things, he has helped us.
Someone else has to step up and want to shoot late.
TJ had Marcus. KJ needs someone to stand up with him. There are plenty of candidates.
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Agree. We don’t have that second consistent guy. Tomi had been filling that role pretty well, but started to see warning signs at NW. Though I think he scored 15, his shooting was down a bit. Only scored 9 against Wisconsin, but Tre picked up the slack. With only I think 4 against TN, we couldn’t get over the hump. Actually a bit surprising it was as close as it was.

Not saying I agree with it necessarily, but one reason we’re seeing more Ben than Morez might be outside of the Alabama game, overall defense hasn’t been our problem in the losses. Sure you can point to a play or two here and there like the last play against TN, but offensive lapses have been more the issue in those games. So BU goes with who he believes is the better offensive player. Even though Ben isn’t lighting it up, I can understand that. My big issue is there doesn’t seem to be situational awareness. Not every moment/situation is equal and there are some where Morez could have made a difference.
 
#494      
Goillinikobd
Second place is 1st loser said:
We were one game from a Final Four last year. How many Big Ten Tournament Championships? Regular season championships? Who has the best 5 year conference record? Do we still have the most road wins in that stretch?

Short of a Final Four and a national championship....he's literally checked every other box.

The overreaction to a two point loss is INSANE. "Games like Tennessee....", man, that was a knock down, drag out game that neither team deserved to lose.

Remember your post three months from now. This was ALWAYS going to be a bumpy start to the season. This is a wildly young and inexperienced team. The growth from that Mississippi scrimmage to know is utterly remarkable.

The level of difficulty with this early season schedule is extremely high, especially with meshing a new roster.

We're lucky to have BU. Extremely lucky.
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Yes we are young and inexperienced. I think I am correct in saying 4 of our best players are in their first year of American college basketball. It’s entirely possible that by the end of the season we are starting 4 “freshmen” when BU figures out how to place our one big and the tall slightly skinny player on the court at the same time.
 
#495      
OrangeBlue98
Orange Wave said:
The only problem is he did that a week ago. Apparently, he didn't learn anything from his mistake. In his defense, I do that too :ROFLMAO:. Do none of the asst. coaches have enough pull to let him know he's screwing it up?
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Having a defined vision and the willingness to stick with it is a great thing 95% of the time.

We are witnessing the 5% of the time it results in being too close to a situation and not being willing to accept reality in real time.
 
#496      
WyattEarp
Second place is 1st loser said:
Enough of this and I'm just using your post to piggyback on to keep the flow going. Not directing this at you.

You can be John Wooden, but if you don't have playmakers who can execute, you'll get the same result.

We had TJ last year. Last year we win this game by probably 7-10 because he was a legitimate closer and he made winning place. Add Domask to that. They were programmed in knowing where they needed to be, when they needed to be there and how aggressive they needed to do it. We were 29-9, Big Ten Tournament champions and one game against one of the great teams of the last 40 years from going to a Final Four.

This year, we don't have a closer. We have guys that don't yet know how to make winning plays. KJ seems like he's off limits on criticism, but it was really his meltdown in the last two minutes that swayed this game. Look at the home for how it played out(don't remember the author). Turnovers, lazy inbounds pass and missed free throws. The ONLY reason that I bring that up is last year, that was TJ's role. He was an All American and KJ is a freshman.

Brad's ability to bring a team home isn't any different this year. There is no Ayo and there is no TJ. This is KJ's team and those mistakes can't happen. 2 assists and 7 turnovers, a couple that were crippling at the end, simply can't happen.

People are making yesterday WAY more complicated than it needs to be. You need great players(we have that), but we need these guys to execute, which is still a WIP.

Have to make layups, have to make hard cuts and strong passes to get the ball in and have to box out. None of these guys need to be coached that at this point in their careers.

Take it for what it is and flat out be better.
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There’s plenty of blame to go around in a loss like this…oh well. So many good things in that game…and we really are in a good spot I think.

Sure, our players: missed lay-ups, free throws, missed shot after shot, got beat on the glass a lot, made passes that led to turnovers…that’s on them obviously.

Ordinarily I’d agree with the gist of what u are saying. The player is supposed to move without the ball, and break to get open… those are things a skilled player is supposed to do rather intuitively…he or she is supposed to have these things in his or her toolbox. The player is expected to be able to make judgments and reads. I’m with ya to there…

But all that is supposed to work inside the parameters of the offense; devised by the coach. X’s and O’s is within the coach’s domain, right? If according to an OOB play…a player is supposed to move from point A to point B and back to A to receive the ball…let’s say…and said player doesn’t do it…that’s on the coach. (Organization and Control of the team fall under his purview.)

The primary objective is to run that play first…individual intuition comes second obviously…(reads etc.) Getting the player to execute that task is on the coach. John Wooden had an offense made up of basic actions that his playmakers were expected to adhere to before they went off script/ utilized their individual skills within a framework.

Talent/Athleticism is a non-factor here in this example. Even experience is of little consequence. If a player doesn’t know/understand what to do. That is a lack of organization or a failure to instruct/explain/review. It’s on the coach.
If the play is ineffective, it’s on the coach to reassess later… and come up with something else more likely to have success that suits the team.

You said last year’s team was “programmed”…? Who programmed them? Their coaches I presume, right?
But then you turned around and implied that our guys were skilled/intuitive enough not to need coaching. I admit I am puzzled.
 
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#500      
Yukon
Al McGuire once said "the best thing about freshman is that they become sophomores." The challenge though is, we have elite freshman but they still are just that. When you have a freshman inbounding the ball at a key moment, to expect upper classman decisions to be made is a bit much. Even if he is a stud. I'm looking forward to seeing how we look in March, when they are more experienced and battle tested having gone through the B1G,

As for BU, my best friend and I have talked for years about Brad's lack of ability to adjust. Or lack of desire to. You see a guy having a bad game, you have to adjust. I'm not saying Humrichous deserves to be benched, but if he's not shooting it, what's he giving you? Meanwhile we've seen MJ is a rebounding machine. You need those boards and his defense. It's not all about scoring and hitting 3's. We have other guys who can hit 3's.

And I'm not going to even start on the inbounds plays. The box out and lob over the top, which seems to be BU's only inbound play is getting old. Please find a way to get creative. We see other team's inbound the ball in different ways. BU! Grab a pen and paper, watch some game film against us and copy those plays.
 
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