Wisconsin 91, Illinois 88 OT Postgame

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#1,002      
There are news outlets and media members beginning to start a "fire/replace Underwood" narrative... Firing Underwood would be a death blow to our program.. no top coach will want to come here after the firing of a top ten coach in the country over the last 6-7 years
 
#1,003      
the vaunted "most conference wins in the past 7 sessons" is what is causing the disconnect for so many. Whatever Brad is doing to reach that high water mark is obviously not translating into tourney play.

And that seems to be the fork in the road for the fan base. Many folks are content with a good regular season. Many of us aren't.

This isn't amateur sports anymore. The goal is to win a champoinship. Coach's salaries, player's salaries, hell...even ticket prices are all at a level where I think it's more than fair to expect results.

And yeah, the tourney is often a crapshoot. Unexpected things happen, teams get hot, and in the end only 1 can win the trophy. But these repeated early exits just aren't good enough for a program with the most conference wins in the past 7 years, imo.
 
#1,005      
the vaunted "most conference wins in the past 7 sessons" is what is causing the disconnect for so many. Whatever Brad is doing to reach that high water mark is obviously not translating into tourney play.

And that seems to be the fork in the road for the fan base. Many folks are content with a good regular season. Many of us aren't.

This isn't amateur sports anymore. The goal is to win a champoinship. Coach's salaries, player's salaries, hell...even ticket prices are all at a level where I think it's more than fair to expect results.

And yeah, the tourney is often a crapshoot. Unexpected things happen, teams get hot, and in the end only 1 can win the trophy. But these repeated early exits just aren't good enough for a program with the most conference wins in the past 7 years, imo.
No one is content with just regular season. Why do people think that. Those thinking that are completely missing the point. Completely.
 
#1,006      
There are news outlets and media members beginning to start a "fire/replace Underwood" narrative... Firing Underwood would be a death blow to our program.. no top coach will want to come here after the firing of a top ten coach in the country over the last 6-7 years
Lol what? No coach would want to come here and work for the one of the best ADs in the country that would’ve made a move because he wants the program to be even better?
 
#1,007      
It’s a good thing that the players, their families and the staff don’t log onto Loyalty. The more unadulterated bull$h1t being posted here would decimate future rosters, who would want to come to Illinois to play for so-called fans like on here. I get it, we lost, and we’re all pissed. But some of the :poop: being said here is beyond the pale.
 
#1,008      
There are news outlets and media members beginning to start a "fire/replace Underwood" narrative... Firing Underwood would be a death blow to our program.. no top coach will want to come here after the firing of a top ten coach in the country over the last 6-7 years
Not calling for a coaching change at the moment, but

The Office Lie GIF
 
#1,012      
As of March 14, 2026, no major mainstream media outlets (e.g., ESPN, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, The Athletic, Sporting News, Yahoo Sports, or 247Sports) are actively suggesting, calling for, or reporting credible rumors that Illinois should fire men's basketball head coach Brad Underwood.
 
#1,013      
the vaunted "most conference wins in the past 7 sessons" is what is causing the disconnect for so many. Whatever Brad is doing to reach that high water mark is obviously not translating into tourney play.

And that seems to be the fork in the road for the fan base. Many folks are content with a good regular season. Many of us aren't.

This isn't amateur sports anymore. The goal is to win a champoinship. Coach's salaries, player's salaries, hell...even ticket prices are all at a level where I think it's more than fair to expect results.

And yeah, the tourney is often a crapshoot. Unexpected things happen, teams get hot, and in the end only 1 can win the trophy. But these repeated early exits just aren't good enough for a program with the most conference wins in the past 7 years, imo.

Just flat out not true. This side of the aisle always does this - they beat us over the head with "you all are just content with regular season wins" - and you're not listening.
 
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#1,015      
i think our recent struggles can all be attributed to a singular cause - Tomi’s regression.

No amount of elite couching, no amount of Pizza Hut parking lot toughness, “dawg-ness”…can plug the giant hole in shooting, rebounding and defense that is Tomi right now.

Simple as that
Tommy needs to go to the Wizard and get some passion as well.
 
#1,016      
Ever heard of sample size? Boswell is 31% from three on the season (27% outside of Assembly Hall) and Andrej is 24% (15% outside of Assembly Hall).

Those are shots opponents will let us take and be happy to live with the results.
Those 2 arent the problem. They arent taking as many. The issue is Tomi and Big Z. They are combining for about 15% from three since big ten play started. Yesterday they were right on their average. 2 for 10. They need to take half that number combined or less.
 
#1,017      
On the brighter side, if you are going to lose a game this was the best one to lose before the NCAA Tournament. No excuses about not being prepared now.
 
#1,018      
For me it’s two guys …

Nate Oats … Todd Golden …

Nate being the one where he’s not exactly been quiet to certain people that he could be looking for a move … One where he doesn’t have to beg to get P Murph more money or beg for more NIL …

If you told me today that Nate Oats is willing to come here … Which he’s told me multiple times it’s an elite job and would get him back to the Midwest which is what he wants …

Call me crazy … I’m making the move if this season doesn’t result in a 2nd weekend …
Just one thing to consider — it’s pretty obvious that, over the course of the year, you’ve been very frustrated with our 3pt shooting. Most of all, the amount of 3s we attempt. After almost every loss (and even in some of our wins) you’ve had a comment of this archetype:
Here we go again …

9-31 from 3 … Yet we just KEEP CHUCKING …
Well, here’s where Alabama ranks in 3pt attempt rate on the season:

IMG_0497.jpeg


They’re also not a good offensive rebounding team, so they don’t get many of those misses back:

IMG_0498.jpeg


Compared to Illinois, who gets back nearly 40% of their missed shots:

IMG_0499.jpeg


I realize these are just the stats from one season, but definitely highlights the philosophy. They’ve also been historically very bad defensively.
 
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#1,019      
There's no arguing against this unless you crave mediocrity.

I appreciate BU getting us into the conversations and winning a lot of games recently. He's earned the right to keep coaching.

However, the high standards and expectations that BU have placed on his program is the reality. In other words, mediocrity is not accepted.

If these expectations are not met, and mediocrity continues, isn't it reasonable to question the coach?

Some people act as if there are NO other coaches out there who can't achieve better NCAA Tournament deep runs than BU--who's reached one Elite 8.

As mentioned, I'd like to think that we, fans, prefer S16, E8 and F4 runs as opposed to winning a lot of conference games that do not translate to deep Tournament runs.

Let's hope this 4th place Big Ten team reaches its potential and gets to the expected E8.
Very well said now we just need to get enough fans who aren’t satisfied with mediocrity and actually want to strive for the standards and expectations of greatness.
 
#1,020      
A comparison to Alabama means nothing. Why would we care?

We are comparing Illinois actual success versus potential success.

Brad gets credit for getting talent and for having a highly productive offense.

He also gets criticized for some questionable choices when it comes to playing time and and apparent lack of ability or willingness to adjust to in game situations.
 
#1,021      
There are news outlets and media members beginning to start a "fire/replace Underwood" narrative... Firing Underwood would be a death blow to our program.. no top coach will want to come here after the firing of a top ten coach in the country over the last 6-7 years
Obviously you don’t know how the college landscape works with hiring coaches. 😂
 
#1,022      
Hey Brad, just 1 more thing. I guess defense does pay off-Boyd and Blackwell held to 27 points total on 11-34 shooting by a GOOD DEFENSIVE TEAM! Try it sometime you may like it. I would rather see a 45-42 win than a 91-88 loss anyday!
 
#1,023      
What was our FT% in the last 6 minutes of the OT games we lost?

And to add to what you have already written. There is definitely a reason for the drop off in the FT% in important situations. But as an observer (not a coach) I have no idea how that problem gets remedied.I have no idea how to determine the last 6 minutes of FT%, the staff statisticians hvav that capability, probably. Something's up where we used to be able to sink in the upper 80-90% of our FTs, but it's now gone cold which would have won the game handily.
Not sure how to calculate the last 6 minutes. Anyway, things have gone cold from previous games where we would have handily won this game otherwise by making our freebies.
 
#1,024      
A comparison to Alabama means nothing. Why would we care?

We are comparing Illinois actual success versus potential success.

Brad gets credit for getting talent and for having a highly productive offense.

He also gets criticized for some questionable choices when it comes to playing time and and apparent lack of ability or willingness to adjust to in game situations.
Because we'd like to hire their coach? (and fire ours)
 
#1,025      
For me it’s two guys …

Nate Oats … Todd Golden …

Nate being the one where he’s not exactly been quiet to certain people that he could be looking for a move … One where he doesn’t have to beg to get P Murph more money or beg for more NIL …

If you told me today that Nate Oats is willing to come here … Which he’s told me multiple times it’s an elite job and would get him back to the Midwest which is what he wants …

Call me crazy … I’m making the move if this season doesn’t result in a 2nd weekend …
Glad you’re not the AD . . . value your input and your inside info, but your dislike of Underwood is too strong for the best Illinois coach of the past 20 years . . .
 
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