I will give Coach Hulka a B-/C+ overall.
About a month ago he finally got them to start playing defense and to be better mentally prepared after some close calls against bottom feeders.
We were looking more like we were going to be a 3/4 seed rather than a 1.
Can't argue with the nice run since then. Give credit to the increase in intensity finally instilled in this group.
We did same thing last year in second half.
Today was very bad loss. No other way to describe it. As a #1 seed the only acceptable loss is in EE really.
I would rank this as maybe one of worst, or maybe the worst collapse in Illini tourney history. Our tourney run lasted all of 48 hours.
The lack of any in game adjustments was typical for Coach Hulka , and he let them dictate everything on both sides of the ball.
We had no D options all year except a quasi contain half court man. No offense really all year except transition run outs as much as possible, dump down to Kofi, and a high PnR for Ayo.
I laughed when the halftime reporter said Hulka told her we needed to play tougher and get the ball to Kofi more.
Moving forward we will see what happens. He has some rebuilding to do. Ayo is off to the NBA. Kofi would be better off going to G league or even at end of NBA bench to work full time to improve his
shooting, passing, defending. He should land on a roster someday.
We supposedly have a few high ranking guards sniffing around.
We will be a borderline tourney team at best unless we land a couple recruiting surprises.
It also could go south.
I like his approach to the game in terms of a culture of toughness. He needs to improve as an X and O coach. He better hold onto Antigua and Coleman.
