His example is foolproof though
The fact that Florida was a good team that lost a game on the road, they went on to win the NC which eventually did invalidate whatever negative things you could have said about them as a team after that game
UCLA 95, Illinois 94 OT Postgame
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His example is foolproof though
The fact that Florida was a good team that lost a game on the road, they went on to win the NC which eventually did invalidate whatever negative things you could have said about them as a team after that game
What does it speak? Before this 3 OT stretch Brad was 8-8 in OT. So does it say something about this team or maybe just some unfortunate breaks?
hooraybeer
- Peoria, IL
have to have at least one person up to force them to pick up the ball full court. can’t let them roll it to half court. agreed that everyone else back might be the play.. we were all chasing at the end last night
I don’t disagree with that.
To be fair to Z, he gave incredible rim protection the prior play and was whistled for a horrible foul call - I’d understand if he was a bit scared.
Agreed on the double team
Right now, you're right that a lot of its valid though - complaints are only invalidated once things get fixed (if they do)
I'm just trying to reason if there's a way through it or not
You guys know I'm glass half full 100%
The frustration and disappointment is that we were talking FF recently and believed it. Potentially the best team since 2005…but the reality is while having the best Off rating in history and the tallest team in the country, we don’t play focused defense for 40 minutes, don’t have the athleticism to play elite defense, and top teams with bigs who can shoot well will expose us.
Not selling my Final Four tickets. Let’s bear Michigan and get that magical belief back.
In my mind, you try to deny with KB and KW by getting between the inbounder and UCLA guards with Z, Tomi, and Ben back behind half court to prevent the pass over the top. Force them to inbound the ball to a player moving toward the inbound pass. That prevents a ball handler from getting the ball already moving toward their basket. You would think 5 D1 coaches would be able to come up with that in the two timeouts before the play, especially given the TN ending last year.
I find myself comparing this team to the ‘24 team. Exactly two years ago we laid a total egg against a bad Penn State team and dropped one of the final regular season games to Purdue at home. Similar story could play out against Michigan on Friday. Similarly to ‘24 we also may end up being a 3 seed.Despite how insane Shannon’s postseason run was that year, I still think we will be a tougher matchup come March. Boswell played REALLY well in the tournament last year. If we get that Boswell in the tourney and Keaton has any March Madness magic in him…watch out
I thought about them rolling the ball up, and thought I might actually welcome that option. The guard picking it up typically has little forward momentum at that point and the defender is then usually right up on them and able to guard them more effectively in that scenario. I would think it would be less likely that the opponent would end up with a layup at the rim than the other. I'd much rather have them shooting a 3 over my defense.
They can still make a final four. Last night did not change that.
Getting them to catch the ball moving away from the basket would certainly do the trick. A harder denial of the inbounds pass would make sense.
We were 10-19 from 3 at one point and 3-22 the rest of the way. Yes, we got lackadaisical in defense but, even with that, should have won that game. I hope this hurts because that is how you get better.
One thing that would help our trajectory is Kylan playing defense the way he’s capable of. Last year he should have been on the Big Ten all-defensive team and was one of the better defensive guards in the country. This year, in my opinion, he hasn’t been close to that.
Thornton cooked him, the Alabama guards got wherever they wanted to go, etc…
Dent embarrassed him last night on multiple occasions, and as others have pointed out, on the final play he literally stood there.
Kylan is one of the few guys who Illinois has that CAN be a plus defender. He has not played to that level. That has to change.
Thornton cooked him, the Alabama guards got wherever they wanted to go, etc…
Dent embarrassed him last night on multiple occasions, and as others have pointed out, on the final play he literally stood there.
Kylan is one of the few guys who Illinois has that CAN be a plus defender. He has not played to that level. That has to change.
Their body of evidence this year is plenty of proof that they can make a FF run so I concur.
This right here. BUT we’ve seen evidence of change this season he even admitted in a late game interview that he was the last to buy in in some things.
Hoping this was the wake up call needed to keep it from happening again.
Just a few decisions each game is what separates a top 20 team from a national champion.
In the minds of some, the probability of making the Final Four this year dropped. That's obviously what changed, for some fans.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
I totally agree but Brad hasn’t exactly shown a pattern of coming through big when it matters in March. We’re a little colored by the past.
Boswell was in the locker room getting his lip sewed up during the stretch
This is definitely an Elite 8 team with a very good damn chance to win and go on to the Final Four.
Having typed this, though, if they play defense in the S16 game similar to UCLA-MSU games, then the game becomes a barn-burner with a probable loss.
To me, that'd be a huge disappointment.
However, unless I am delusional, I'd like to believe that the potential S16 opponent would be similar to MSU, Wisky and/or UCLA in terms of a tough opponent. In other words, this opponent would have very tight games against the 3 teams I mentioned if they played.
If that is the case, then the Illini would have a great chance to advance because it's not a road game (UCLA-MSU) and everybody's healthy (Wisky).
All this is assuming the Illini play to their standards on offense and play a little better on the defensive end.
I know I can get pissy at times when our Beloved lose, so I am trying to look at a the positive side--I hope I am being realistic, though with this post.
Is it? I absolutely loved that '05 team, but I can certainly see players on this '26 team having more overall NBA success. Deron was the most talented player on that team. I'd take him on any team but is he more skilled than Wagler? I'll easily take Dee over Kylan. Luther I'd take over Andrej because of his defense and 3pt shooting but Andrej may be more talented. Mirk you'd take fairly easily over Roger and I loved the Rev. Augie I'd take over Tomi, but Tomi has more pro potential. Big Z over Jack, no contest. Ben and Jake over Rich Mcbride. You can do your own breakdown, but this '26 team has major major talent. And yes, '05 did too. I'm perfectly fine with an argument that '05 had more individual talent, but you must admit the gap isn't far if that's how you have it. That '05 team was phenomenal though and no slight to it. More that this '26 team is loaded in talent in its own right. But it was the fact that for as talented as that '05 team was, what truly set them apart was their teamwork on both ends of the floor and playing even better than the sum of thier parts. Great team. One of the best to ever be assembled
Indeed. This is a team with a ton of talent and a very high ceiling, where you need to at least make the 2nd weekend, as fair or not, that's how you judge title contenders. Yes you can have bad luck and a bad draw. A team like St Louis comes to mind. But, at the end of the day, when you have a team this good, you can't flame out. And this game has pretty much zero effect on that other than maybe seeding, but the loss doesn't worry me at all. How we lost though and some of the coaching decisions that went it to it? That I didn't like.
Zorak
- Naperville
Last night probably made that much harder. This is the kind of loss that gets you locked into a dire Elite Eight matchup like UConn two years ago.
I would have liked to have seen us try some pressure/trapping on at least one defensive possession while UCLA was tearing it up. I was delighted to see us sprinkle that in a couple times the last few games to make the opponent re-evaluate what they were doing on offensive. I don't remember seeing it at all yesterday (though maybe we tried and it was just dismally ineffective.)
Still in disbelief
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