and there was no real offense to stress their defense or get them tired.
Wisconsin 91, Illinois 88 OT Postgame
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In a different world, could we steall 1. Fred Hoiberg 2. T.J. Otzelberger, or make Jay Wright come back?
that’s already twice as many second weekends as brad has been to. i’m very skeptical of underwood’s coaching abilities and have been since the 2021 loss to loyola (I do not care how under seeded they were; you win that game with that team).
however, i do not think he should be fired. if he loses before the second weekend this year, i think his seat should get progressively warmer from here on out.
There was sports better on CBS sports radio network whose opinion was that the line was nowhere close to correct. He was all over the Badgers. Disclaimer: I do not gamble.
Captain 14
- The Last Best Place
Yep second place is first loser...good metrics though
I've never said BU's tenure has been unacceptable. I've never called for his firing. I agree that would be very risky and would rather not have to take that chance.
However, all in on offense has gotten us a team that is extremely susceptible to poor shooting nights and defeats as a result. It has gotten us a team that lacks athleticism and the ability to get stops when we desperately need them. It has lead to the team losing all confidence in itself at a crucial time in the season.
IMO, he needs to get back to a more balanced team that can not only score but can impose their will on teams. He had that in 23-24. Then, he had a couple of tough - nosed assistants fly the coop for still unexplained reasons and started building an "NBA type" team without a hint of athleticism anywhere on the roster.
The season is not yet over, but it seems like that has not lead to the success we all are hoping for. But I guess I'm a terrible fan for asking for some philosophical changes to be made. And, yes, it is late in his tenure to be having these questions. But it is a different world in college athletics. Still, he is paid to figure these things out.
Honest question, do you know what the sentiment was amongst Purdue fans during that stretch? I would guess that there was plenty of grumbling and talks about moving on.
For what it's worth, I'm not really leaning one way or the other.
On one hand, end of season results have been disappointing. Even our E8 season ended with getting absolutely skunked in the 2nd half (to an admittedly great team).
But on the other hand, as someone else has pointed out, you run the risk of firing Bo Pelini and entering purgatory. Plus, regular season results do matter and Brad has been very good over the past handful of years in that department. It doesn't take much to see a path to breaking through.
We can't win overtime games.
We have won close games -- @OSU, @Purdue, Texas Tech. The final score doesn't mean hoot; ALL were 2pt games in the final minute.
aside from the fact that you’re misleading on the term “this year” to mean calendar year and not season since we lost to nebraska in regulation at home, we’ve had a chance to win 4 games in OT in those 4 games “this year” against top flight big ten competition to prove we actually belong among the nation’s elite. . . we’re 0-4.
SuperMetroid
- Evanston
Was on a plane for the whole game. Sadly was not all that surprised to find out we blew yet another big lead and lost another OT game.
I mean, let’s get real here…if we get bounced from the tournament the first weekend this season becomes a pretty massive disappointment
I mean, let’s get real here…if we get bounced from the tournament the first weekend this season becomes a pretty massive disappointment
Yep agree.. would love to beat them again
Nope. The Nebraska game was a buzzer beater -- the ball went through after 0:00 as it was tied.
(FINE I know there was 0.6 left
. logic still applies)I’m not disagreeing with you that Underwood may have reached his ceiling, and one could make some comparisons to Doug Collins.
But Jerry Krause liked Tex Winter’s offensive philosophy (the triangle offense) and Krause and Phil Jackson were old buddies and he brought him in to learn under Winters. Collins disagreed with Winter’s philosophy, he wanted to run the offense through Jordan.
Collins was fired because he didn’t want to do what the General Manager wanted.
Chucking 3s instead of going to the basket was the difference in my opinion as well as no game plan to stop penetration plays by their guards. Missed free throws did not help either. Every ot loss has come down to at least 1 glaring breakdown between winning or losing. Time to put up or go home. Go Illini.
Love Brad and what he’s done to bring us back to national prominence. But at what point does the university say he’s brought us as far as he can and transition to someone who can take us to the top.
Probably? But they didn't, and that's worked out great for them. And that's the point.
Every single season, 364/365 teams either end on a loss or fail to make the tournament entirely.
Yes, but it's more than that. BU makes the tournament every year. The idea that he's "hit a ceiling" is nonsense. Andy Reid was the prototypical "will never win the big one" coach until year 21(!!!) as a head coach. Then he won it. And then he won it two more times.
A good coach is a good coach. When you have one, you thank your lucky stars and you ride it out because there's a much bigger chance he's going to eventually break through than that his replacement is even as successful as he is.
If I remember Shannon blitzed them early, got into foul trouble and we barely hung on. If those teams played in a 7 game series, Otz would have made adjustments and Brad would have banked on the same start each time.
It’d be like averaging 3.5 yards per carry and thinking you don’t need to throw the ball ever.
Very solid points. Do not disagree overall. But you're never going to break through if you don't have a consistent identity or plan. Our teams have gone from one extreme to the other. Defense to offense. I don't know, it just seems the last couple seasons BU has lost an edge and seems to defer (not sure that's the right word I'm looking for) to his assistants. And I'm not sure our assistants are the best at making him look the best at in game strategizing. Whatever it is, he's definitely lost some fire. Just my take.
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This is the stuff that drives me crazy w Brad. I’m not a “fire Brad” guy, but there are several things about him that drive me crazy and I think are really limiting his ceiling. We all have strengths and weaknesses… If in game coaching is one of his weaknesses (I think it is), then get good asst coaches and actually listen to them. They can help you know when to call TO, design BLOBs, put in subs, etc.
Someone else already mentioned it, but I watched Boswell wait at the scorers table to check into the game for TWO MINUTES in OT, when we desperately needed him in on D. We had 2 TOs left… call one and get him in! There are tons more examples… but my point is, there should be people on staff helping w stuff like that.
Lastly, I know about 1% of the X’s and O’s that Brad knows… possibly less. But I do know this. If I watched my AA guard get hosed on foul calls all year long while simultaneously watching other guards flop around like dead fish and get call after call after call, I would have absolutely lit one of those refs on fire. I would have gotten thrown out of a couple games just to prove a point. Izzo does it and it probably gets his guys 2-3 extra calls each game. Brad makes enough money, I would have torn into them in my post games and paid the fines. Got to take a stand for your guys at some point.
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