I mean, it's difficult. But we've done this exercise before. Guys like Painter, Sampson, and Wright would have been put out to pasture long before where underwood is currently at.
Wisconsin 91, Illinois 88 OT Postgame
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I mean, it's difficult. But we've done this exercise before. Guys like Painter, Sampson, and Wright would have been put out to pasture long before where underwood is currently at.
Roundball Sage is a seer.
His contract runs out in 2031 with possible extensions and is a non-compete. Where does the lifetime contract thing come from? I've seen it on here a couple times. He's good enough that the buyout isn't worth it. As he gets older, I presume his game-day weaknesses will become more pronounced.
The most FTAs we've given up this season was 23 against Alabama and MSU (OT game).
Wisconsin shot 28 FTs in the 2nd half and OT (only 2 in the 1st half).
And no, I'm not blaming the refs for the loss. I just wish they didn't ruin an otherwise very entertaining game. I'm tired of guards getting rewarded for flopping while guards who play physical and fight through contact don't get calls. Wagler, Stoj, and Boswell all play very tough. I'm not saying they never flop but I firmly believe they don't get nearly as many whistles as they should.
Wisconsin shot 28 FTs in the 2nd half and OT (only 2 in the 1st half).
And no, I'm not blaming the refs for the loss. I just wish they didn't ruin an otherwise very entertaining game. I'm tired of guards getting rewarded for flopping while guards who play physical and fight through contact don't get calls. Wagler, Stoj, and Boswell all play very tough. I'm not saying they never flop but I firmly believe they don't get nearly as many whistles as they should.
Hm. Is this Jay Wright you list? If so, I'd point out he retired at near (sort of) the peak of his career in terms of NCAA success.
Thats a high odd.however whats the odds of 3 seed that shoots 5 of 37 and dont rebound?thats just a mix of stats from the past 2 games seriously if we dont make 3s at least and average % and rebounds which we haven't done either since the Oregon game.we won't win many games.were not athletic enough to get away with missing 3s we haven't scored consistently if barely at all from 2 this season and haven't been reboundinggood at all so that leaves it for our defense to win us games.I really dont like relying on a defense that has lost us alot more games then it has won games for us this and would of lost us more games.if not for a couple of good offensive games
The data that exists doesn't support the idea that late-season record predicts NCAA tournament performance for high seeds. Researchers have looked at all kinds of late-season variables and found they explain almost none of the variance in tournament outcomes. Some teams go in hot and disappoint. Others go in cold and outperform. Peaking at the right time is a compelling narrative but it's largely a myth.
Agree, it's difficult. Nothing is guaranteed. But your examples kind of lend themselves to the hot seat narrative IMO.
Painter had two sweet 16s in his first 4 years, has 6 overall with a runner up thrown in over 18 years.
Sampson had a final four then an Elite 8 in years 7 & 8 at Oklahoma
Wright got to 2 sweet 16s and elite 8 in years 4, 5, & 7 at Villanova winning it all in year 15 & 17
It's time for long runs to start happening in my humble opinion.
The Kylan technical is a perfect outlier of how crappy the leadership of this years team is from staff down to players. The lack of execution on all levels is just sad. I'm not calling for Brad's job, but, changes need to happen. The ROI for U of I's basketball program is not adding up. This team has been punked on so many levels this year and is damn near becoming unwatchable.
The absolute travesty of officiating we've seen this year has been difficult to watch. Doubly so, that it has cost us at critical junctures. I don't need to recap each and every one, because it's been discussed at length.
Officials don't blow two 15 point leads in a single game. They don't blow a 23 point lead at UCLA. This team has absolutely lost the fire and determination it played with during December and January.
Brad has one more chance to salvage this season. We aren't a 4+ seed. We will be a 3 and should be favored to win against a weaker opponent. There are no more KenPom wins or moral victories. Outside of having Terrence Shannon (who in an alternate universe was leading Michigan to a national title with Hunter and Juwan), Brad falls apart in elimination games. He wins on talent, rarely on coaching.
I've been positive this whole season, and very much so after the Nebraska loss where we found our edge. However, the trends have been downward too long. The recession is here. I'm assuming we get out of round 1 and it will be interesting who we get matched up against.
I'm fully aware of where we were and where we are, and I'm grateful for what Brad has done for our program. Being frustrated in the moment and generally positive about the program direction are not mutually exclusive.
Keep Jake, Mirk and Ty, and maybe Z if you can. The portal is open for everyone else.
Officials don't blow two 15 point leads in a single game. They don't blow a 23 point lead at UCLA. This team has absolutely lost the fire and determination it played with during December and January.
Brad has one more chance to salvage this season. We aren't a 4+ seed. We will be a 3 and should be favored to win against a weaker opponent. There are no more KenPom wins or moral victories. Outside of having Terrence Shannon (who in an alternate universe was leading Michigan to a national title with Hunter and Juwan), Brad falls apart in elimination games. He wins on talent, rarely on coaching.
I've been positive this whole season, and very much so after the Nebraska loss where we found our edge. However, the trends have been downward too long. The recession is here. I'm assuming we get out of round 1 and it will be interesting who we get matched up against.
I'm fully aware of where we were and where we are, and I'm grateful for what Brad has done for our program. Being frustrated in the moment and generally positive about the program direction are not mutually exclusive.
Keep Jake, Mirk and Ty, and maybe Z if you can. The portal is open for everyone else.
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Hope for best in the NCAA tourney, but my god the team's defense stinks to high heaven. Opposing guards have their way with this defense and guess what the tourney is going to consist of? Oh right, really good guard play. Illinois has the offense. The offense is good enough, but the defense is and still a major problem this whole season.
That's his offense though. Guys making plays. It's been his offense his whole time here. Ayo, TSJ, Riley, Wagler. When guys make plays and hit shots, it looks great. When they don't, well we all know.
We all love the analytics lol, I wonder how many threes we shoot off the dribble vs. off the catch. I think it's a lot more of the former, which is an indicator of the offense, or lack there of, being run.
Even if the ball is getting stuck in Wagler hands there should be more movement off the ball. Illinois stands way too much in my opinion.
There is so much recency bias here. College basketball, particularly this year it seems. has so much volatility week to week and game to game. This Iowa State team that you say we are nowhere near the level of is the same one that lost by 16 to Arizona just 10 days ago; that lost at home to Texas Tech (after Toppin was injured) by 9 after trailing by 16 at half; that lost to BYU not long before that.
"We got to have someone nasty enough and give a !!!! enough that want to go grab a rebound. It's very frustrating." -- Brad Underwood, March 13, 2026
I'm in high stakes sales and your analogy hits hard. However, I think this all depends on our expectations for this team and program. Are we expecting to truly compete for Final Fours, top quarter BIG conference finishes with SW16's here and there, or to just be relevant and make the tourney as a respectable seed?
If we expect to compete for Final Fours, then this won't cut it and we should really be pissed. If it is SW16 appearances and nothing more, then this season is probably going as expected. If we just want to be relevant, then this season is a big success.
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