Greed is the enemy of good?
Also, most BIG reg season wins since 19-20:
1. Illinois — 94
2. Purdue — 92
Wisconsin 91, Illinois 88 OT Postgame
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Also, most BIG reg season wins since 19-20:
1. Illinois — 94
2. Purdue — 92
This is not the same team who beat those teams
The Tomi pick n pop, a once deadly weapon, is dead. 17% from 3 over the past month? This would be too aggresive this late in the season, but I kind of wish Underwood would park his !!! in the post.
We got jobbed
Boyd and Blackwell should have only had 65 points and we'd have won
Thought Ben McCollum's (who I think is going to excel in this league very soon, great coach) comments in this vein were spot on and very insightful. Worth searching and taking a listen to if you haven't heard them.
What is your definition of better? We already win almost 70% of our conference games. Who do you think we could hire? No elite coach (and I am including Gene Bartow, Lon Kruger and Bill Self) has ever wanted stay in Champaign. The largest reason for all of those departures is garbage that comes out every time we lose. Its easy to take the money away given the attitude of the people writing the garbage. It's the "negativism" and we are famous for it.
And yet the outstanding coaches that have wanted to stay (I am referring to Henson and Underwood), everytime they lost an important game, the negativity permeates like a bad smell.
You know what our nickname is at schools like Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio State? You should check it out. Other school supporters (Who I have met a board of Trustee meetings) literally laugh out loud when it comes to "Illinois loyalty" In athletics.
This is where I'm at. Today may have finally broken me. If this team loses to (another) lower seed in the real tournament Josh is going to have to have some difficult conversations.
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Kinda wish we had reversed those sentences and done the worst of times first. Bad time to be playing poorly.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
There is an actual basketball reason we aren't elite anymore, Tomi and Andrej being guys the defense can sag off now makes us defendable both on a game-long and individual possession basis, which allows teams to go on runs against us. When we had knockdown shooters 1-5 that was impossible.
But that truly does seem beside the point.
What an absolutely soulless, robotic basketball team. It's like it was created by ChatGPT. I was there, it's even more dramatic in person, this team just does not have a personality at all.
A friend I went to the game with made a great point, in playing a style like the modern NBA, this team has embedded the who-cares ethos of the modern NBA.
It's a guarantee we are going to fold like a cheap tent the first time we're put under any pressure in the tournament, which is likely the 3-6 game but could just as easily be the 3-14 game.
If we could play every team in a 1,000 game series, ideally in some sort of computer simulation, we'd win the national title. In a single flesh and blood basketball game with everything on the line we'd lose to anyone within shouting distance of the bubble. What a shame for this program and fanbase, but this is an affront to the sport itself, the game is not supposed to be like this.
But that truly does seem beside the point.
What an absolutely soulless, robotic basketball team. It's like it was created by ChatGPT. I was there, it's even more dramatic in person, this team just does not have a personality at all.
A friend I went to the game with made a great point, in playing a style like the modern NBA, this team has embedded the who-cares ethos of the modern NBA.
It's a guarantee we are going to fold like a cheap tent the first time we're put under any pressure in the tournament, which is likely the 3-6 game but could just as easily be the 3-14 game.
If we could play every team in a 1,000 game series, ideally in some sort of computer simulation, we'd win the national title. In a single flesh and blood basketball game with everything on the line we'd lose to anyone within shouting distance of the bubble. What a shame for this program and fanbase, but this is an affront to the sport itself, the game is not supposed to be like this.
Put up a banner?
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Here is my issue and the issue that many other fans have had when it comes to this team's ceiling in the NCAA Tournament. We average 46.1% FG and 34.9% 3-point shooting this year. Here is how we shot in those games.
Texas Tech: 49.2% FG, 31.8% 3P
Iowa: 49.1% FG, 35.7% 3P
Tennessee: 48.3% FG, 39.3% 3P
Purdue: 48.2% FG, 47.4% 3P
Ohio State: 44.4% FG, 40.7% 3P
Nebraska: 44.4% FG, 30.0% 3P
You obviously want a basketball team to shoot well, but is that the only way we can beat good teams? We didn't shoot below our average for both in any of those games. I don't think anyone with a brain is questioning that this team is really, really good when it's firing on all cylinders ... but what's the backup plan? What do we have left in the tank when there could only be seconds remaining in our season and it's survive and advance? Color me pessimistic if it's our defense carrying all of the weight.
Of the games you listed above, I would say at Nebraska is the clearest example of us just showing a more intangible "will of a champion." We didn't shoot above average from the field, and we shot materially worse than average from three. Nebraska wasn't ice cold, either ... they shot 51.6% from the field and 46.2% from three!! We just simply outlasted them and looked every bit the part of a National Championship contender, and I think that is what many fans would mark as the current high point of the season for that reason.
These are the only times this year we shot both below our average from the field AND below our average from three in the same game vs. Power Conference teams, in chronological order.
Nov. 19 - L 86-90 vs. Alabama: 42.5% FG, 34.4% 3P
Nov. 28 - L 61-74 vs. UConn: 31.7% FG, 20.7% 3P
Jan. 3 - W 73-65 at Penn State: 39.3% FG, 22.2% 3P
Jan. 29 - W 75-66 vs. Washington: 42.9% FG, 33.3% 3P
Feb. 1 - W 78-69 at Nebraska: 44.4% FG, 30.0% 3P
Feb. 7 - L 82-85 in OT at Michigan State: 36.6% FG, 27.8% 3P
Feb. 15 - W 71-51 vs. Indiana: 43.9% FG, 22.6% 3P
Feb. 21 - L 94-95 in OT at UCLA: 40.6% FG, 31.0% 3P
Feb. 27 - L 70-84 vs. Michigan: 41.3% FG, 31.0% 3P
March 3 - W 80-54 vs. Oregon: 40.8% FG, 27.8% 3P
Just my take and all, but if you want a good timeline of the change in the "vibe" among fans ... there you go. In November, we showed worrying signs of being like last year's team, where we could beat you if the shots were falling and we were absolutely toast if they weren't. In the past month or so, we have mostly looked the same, where good shooting = likely win, bad shooting = likely loss ... I think what we were all hoping was that the lone exception up there (Oregon) was some sort of return to form and turning point. In STARK contrast was the 12-game winning streak, where even if you got lucky enough to catch Illinois on an off shooting night, that didn't mean squat ... they were still going to beat you, or give you one hell of a fight even if shorthanded (e.g., at MSU). I don't think it's any coincidence at all that fan enthusiasm and positivity seemed disproportionately high after the Indiana win than, say, smoking an arguably better Northwestern team by twice as much. And that's because it's easy for a talented team to beat someone by a billion when they're red hot from three, but for them to beat a team of at least Bubble caliber by 20 on one of its worse shooting nights of the year? That's just dominance. And that result LOOKED like a team that would plow its way through March Madness, come what may.
TL;DR
If we are hot shooting, we are very good. For a while, we were very good even when we weren't hot shooting, because our defense was better, we seemed to be playing more cohesively as a team and our energy was such a step above what we saw back in November / early December and what we've seen for the past month. Do we want this season's March Madness prospects to rely on shooting well? We obviously WANT to shoot well every game, but we won't ... and we seem to be regressing back to more of last year's team that can beat really good teams when it's "our night" but will possibly look like we don't even belong on the same court when it's an off night for us. And those teams aren't good bets for runs to the Sweet Sixteen and beyond.
The good news is that we are not just hoping against hope with no evidence that it could change by next week ... we've LITERALLY seen what that Illini team could look like during the winning streak. Let's get back to that level of toughness and not try to (only) out-skill our opponents.
Looks like Indy beat me to my thoughts.
The people that got us National relevance is our strength coach, Orlando’s recruiting and $$$$.
I see many of the same suspects trying to absolve Brad of any and all blame. You people know who you are, and you're ridiculous.
Oh for the days of guys like Kenny Battle, Sergio McClain, Dee/Luther/Deron, Trent Frazier, DaMonte WIlliams, and Ayo. Toughness for DAYS!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Bingo, spot on post. The posters who are acting like there is nothing to be overly concerned about right now are pretty much leaning on your last point ... as if the fact we've put together the resume of a top 3 seed and had so many close losses is actually an argument against being concerned. But it's literally opposite and helps make the point for us! We've made our way through this season being "better than our opponents" more often than we were worse ... and that's how you get an impressive 24-8 record and top 3 seed - you win some, you lose some, but you win significantly more than you lose. We won't be able to get anywhere by knowing that over the course of several games, we'll win more than lose now ... it's win or go home. And our urgency seems almost unimaginably static, right up to the top of the staff.
Historically, not exactly true. 52.5% of 3seeds all time have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen (84 out of 160).
Great start for those who care about the regular season. At this stage in Brad's tenure at Illinois, I personally care more about the games in March.
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