IlliniHQ 2
General Category => Fighting Illini Basketball Forum => Topic started by: illiniray on March 23, 2025, 04:14:27 PM
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Illini vs UK
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Looks like we got bad KJ today
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Fuck what is KJ doing?
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KJ passing is total lazy dog shit. Stock going down with that type of play.
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It's a 40 minute ballgame. Or more.
Settle down KJ
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KJ, settle the fuck down. Our TOTTM lives depend on it.
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How many he gonna have today? 8-9? if so we lose like 87-69, damn he is good but oh so frustrating.
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Couple hero ball possessions in a row when we’re coming back.
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Oweh goes out and UK goes on a 6-0 run. Fuck.
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The KY bigs look quicker than the Illini bigs so far.
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Mark Pope kind of reminds me of Karl from Slingblade.
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Ivisic is everything right now.
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Haven’t seen this many turnovers since I was at Goddess and the Baker.
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Mark Pope kind of reminds me of Karl from Slingblade.
And yet his team looks like they are prepared so far as opposed to The Pizza Hut Parking Lot Mauler's team.
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Better get our shit together and fast
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Bro, call a timeout. This is ridiculous
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15 points. 8 turnovers.
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Needs to yell in Lithuanian more.
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Playing like garbage and still within 10. Could be worse. Need to protect the ball and guard.
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At least we are in the bonus. The only good thing so far.
8 to 1 turnovers lol.
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this is a joke, this many turnovers already against a team that doesn't even turn teams over!!!
Should have known it wouldn't go well against the Pope on a Sunday matchup.
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Should have known it wouldn't go well against the Pope on a Sunday matchup.
Good point, I smell a conspiracy.
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We better wake up ASAP and before half. So bad right now if this was Duke or MSU we'd be down 25 already.
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At least we are in the bonus. The only good thing so far.
8 to 1 turnovers lol.
Yea lets see how many "drives" BU draws up vs some crazy 3's getting jacked because we are down 10. If not, it doesn't matter.
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Just keep it at 10 or under til half
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Attack them and let’s get some guys into foul trouble.
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They are tight
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Good point, I smell a conspiracy.
Nope that's just our team Chittin the bed so far. Man this team is aggravating. Hell most of the Kentucky team isn't that great to be honest. We should be smoking them. We are more talented imo.
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They are tight
That was Tee'd up, I didn't swing though. Too easy
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Keep driving, less chucking 3s, please
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Nice little spurt after we stopped giving them the ball. Need more of this.
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Nope, going to keep chucking 3s
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I know I’m getting old but our cheerleaders look 13.
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Ky is 316th in forced turnovers. They hadn't played us yet tho.
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Let's fucking go
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Nope, going to keep chucking 3s
It's what we do
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Jesus, drive and dish. Drive and dish. Underwood couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag.
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Ky is 316th in forced turnovers. They hadn't played us yet tho.
3rd after tonight.
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Yea lets see how many "drives" BU draws up vs some crazy 3's getting jacked because we are down 10. If not, it doesn't matter.
Yep. None so far.
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Thought this team was good at driving the other team off the 3 line
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Should be glad they called the foul on KJ!
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Now for the infamous halftime talk
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Should be way worse. We did alright once we stopped handing them the ball.
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Now for the infamous halftime talk
He should give them the Bruce Weber 5 fingers make a fist speech.
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Now for the infamous halftime talk
Hopefully he has mastered all the languages necessary to yell at them in
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Thought this team was good at driving the other team off the 3 line
The Butler did it.
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Should be way worse. We did alright once we stopped handing them the ball.
For a moment I thought we might actually take the first half lead.
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Should be way worse. We did alright once we stopped handing them the ball.
This.
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Ky is 316th in forced turnovers. They hadn't played us yet tho.
They will be Top 25 in that category after playing us....for chit sake, we are very lazy with the ball. And by "WE" the french guy, I mean the player with KJ for initials. LOL
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We should know by now that we like to throw it away. And we should know by now that it's not a good idea.
And the 3 point shots have mostly been good shots.
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We should know by now that we like to throw it away. And we should know by now that it's not a good idea.
And the 3 point shots have mostly been good shots.
3-14...mostly bad shots....yes we know what the point is, sarcasm here.
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Some positives to build off. Riley' and KJ stepped it up late. No answer for Boswell. UK shots starting to cool and their two best defenders with two fouls.
But if you are UK you are hoping we keep turning it over and chucking ugly threes and missing.
We need to protect the ball and if so we got this 4 turnover max second half
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Looks familiar to the start of the first half
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Great halftime adjustments!
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Not ideal.
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Time for underwood to go
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Now for the infamous halftime talk
He gave the wrong one. 🙄
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Time for underwood to go
This will be the Golden Half of Illini Basketball History. Book it! Let's go!
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Wow
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This will be the Golden Half of Illini Basketball History. Book it! Let's go!
Or not. Dadgumit
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He gave the wrong one. 🙄
The one he gave went like this: Okay boys, we couldn't have been any worse, we got them right where we want them, we have to limit T'O's, say only maybe 5-6 to start the 2nd half, keep them from shooting 3's, but hey layups are okay cause we will get the ball back quicker. Keep jacking the 3's cause for everyone of those we will score 1 more pt than their layups...Okay lets go to the Sweet 16 NOW!!! Aye Aye Aye.
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These turnovers are just laughable at this point
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He gave the wrong one. 🙄
You have a hand and you make a fist...
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We should be used to Underachiever getting pantsed on the 2d game of TOTTMs weekend.
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The team IQ is laughably bad.
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L
O
L
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Sheesh. 4-18 from 3 with 11 turnovers.
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SOFT
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Fortunately there's plenty of time. Play some ball.
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We should be used to Underachiever getting pantsed on the 2d game of TOTTMs weekend.
Underwood isn’t above criticism but in fairness, there isn’t much a coach can do when the team shows up and treats the game like a charity.
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This is embarrassing at this point. How much is Pope getting paid for at Kentucky, there is no way we should be getting outcoached/outplayed in this game.
This team looks JUST like the one that used the injuries/sickness/inability to practice excuse when they were losing those games. Some on here wonder why I always am looking forward into the coming year....it's because this team doesn't belong and is showing it today!!!
45 pts scored with 13 minutes to play...that is ELITE I tell ya.
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They’re sucking us back in
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Underwood isn’t above criticism but in fairness, there isn’t much a coach can do when the team shows up and treats the game like a charity.
His teams regularly get woefully outplayed the 2d game of the weekend.
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This is embarrassing at this point. How much is Pope getting paid for at Kentucky, there is no way we should be getting outcoached/outplayed in this game.
This team looks JUST like the one that used the injuries/sickness/inability to practice excuse when they were losing those games. Some on here wonder why I always am looking forward into the coming year....it's because this team doesn't belong and is showing it today!!!
45 pts scored with 13 minutes to play...that is ELITE I tell ya.
Freshmen playing like freshmen under the bright lights against a blue blood?
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Was worried on that 10-0 run out of half that it would get to 30. Credit illini from stopping that.
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Might want to cover number 4
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Freshmen playing like freshmen under the bright lights against a blue blood?
Especially since Pope has called timely timeouts to stem the runs and then KY goes on runs of their own.
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This looks like it. UK playing too well. Not like we were getting past Tennessee anyhow.
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So much for covering number 4
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This looks like it. UK playing too well. Not like we were getting past Tennessee anyhow.
Underachiever told everyone this was a Final Four team....
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I’m afraid Deron Williams and Luther Head are not walking through that door.
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You've gotta get bench points for that. We don't do that.
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SOFT
Minus Boswell, we lack toughness and smarts.
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To quote Monty Python, not quite dead yet…
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KJ with the probable game sealing turnover.
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So weak with the ball. Hopefully his stock tanks and we roll this back. This team needs another year.
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KJ so bad today. Lazy.
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Thank god the ball will be in Boswell hands next year, this is beyond frustrating with KJ, absolutely doesn't value the ball.
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So weak with the ball. Hopefully his stock tanks and we roll this back. This team needs another year.
I'm okay with him going PRO, had enough. The latter part of this season, he has played much worse than his arrival to us. Maybe he is tired, who knows, but he is literally hurting us with his play more often than not anymore.
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Fucking cut it to 10 get a stop and cough it up for an and 1, White’s 3 was halfway down to cut it to 7, roof would have come off and all of a sudden it’s a game, but it pops out and they get the board.
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We were straight garbage today, Kentucky is NOT that good. My God, we sucked today
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If our season comes down to Tre White shooting threes then uh oh.
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Fake rally
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I'm okay with him going PRO, had enough. The latter part of this season, he has played much worse than his arrival to us. Maybe he is tired, who knows, but he is literally hurting us with his play more often than not anymore.
We don't want him back anyways
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We were straight garbage today, Kentucky is NOT that good. My God, we sucked today
Beating Illinois by 10 at a de facto Illinois home game
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How was that not a foul.
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I have no idea other than because
Lollinois
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Can we at least not go another 19 years in between sweet sixteens
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Riley must be loving life riding on the bench during chunks of the end of this game
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We don't want him back anyways
I would love to have him back if he doesn't average 6 T/O's per game when it is absolutely crunch part of the season, otherwise, go PRO.
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Beating Illinois by 10 at a de facto Illinois home game
Yea Illinois (and fans) better not EVER bitch about our regions anymore. We were gifted Milwaukee, what could have been Indy with a 6 seed. Str8 up screwed it up.
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Underachiever schooled by Pope in a de facto Illinois home game.....and my bracket is now busted.....
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Yea Illinois (and fans) better not EVER bitch about our regions anymore. We were gifted Milwaukee, what could have been Indy with a 6 seed. Str8 up screwed it up.
Yep.
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It’s the Golden Era, kids.
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Next Year
Keep
Boswell
Tomi
Rez
Ben (minutes in relief)
White
Rodgers
DGL (go get some PT kid, you deserve it)
Booth (go get some talent)
Davis (good kid, maybe sticks for degree from Illinois)
Jakstys (who knows-if Big Z comes in??)
Moving on, this season was high and low...the low's were more painful than the highs were satisfying.
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And Underachiever got some nice contract perks. Another year added and $75k in bonuses.
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The fact that we lost the ball (turnover) after REVIEW of an obvious foul on Kentucky is just chef’s kiss Illinois stuff.
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Keep the ball in Boswells hands...amazing the announcers pointed this out that BU decided to do this...oh yea there was only about 2 minutes left when they commented on this. BU is on top of his game...LOL.
Boswell handles next year, Sarr is the stud wing we will be getting, and the rest come from portal players...backup to Boswell for sure. Freshman may have to reshirt.
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Reminds me of the Henson years. They give you just enough hope to add a bit more sting to the nut punch.
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Can't wait to hear this presser from BU! Head slappin stuff I am sure.
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Beating Illinois by 10 at a de facto Illinois home game
I must have missed the home court calls
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These damn Uni's also, we lose way too much in them, they do not look good, they are boring as Fugg, and they need to be burned....and yes it's not the reason we lost, but damn it, it may have helped the cause.
What is so wrong with going the old school route, I mean hell you already caved on the Chief, so use what you can that looks very good on the court, know your product and consumer base.
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We were brutal on offense. 14 bleeping turnovers and our lottery pick lead guard has 6 of 'em. Can't play a tight rotation and have a primary ballhandler choke like that.
Also can't have your probably 3rd preferred scoring option go 1-7/0-3 and be a big liability on defense.
Also can't shoot 28% from 3 and think it's a good idea to keep shooting 3s. I don't know how it could've been more obvious to Brad this year but we're not a 3 point shooting team and now we're out of the tournament in part b/c of it.
Will give UK credit because they finished when they needed to and appear to be really well coached on offense. They have 2nd pass, screening, and off the ball instincts our guys do not, and their rotation has been playing together as long as ours has. They also knew our soft spots although we helped them too damn much.
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The Terps are down 7 at the half
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Though I would hesitate calling that a home advantage for us. Kentucky's not going to be out-ravelled if the arena is within a day's drive of Lexington.
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I must have missed the home court calls
LOL. It was an Illini crowd, Nichi. Come the fuck on. Underachiever is not fucking Biden. Stop making excuses for the fucking shithead.
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LOL. It was an Illini crowd, Nichi. Come the fuck on. Underachiever is not fucking Biden. Stop making excuses for the fucking shithead.
An Illini crowd is fine. I'd have liked to see us get some breaks.
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An Illini crowd is fine. I'd have liked to see us get some breaks.
As if playing in Milwaukee was not a break?
You wanted an Underachiever falling out of his hotel window before the game type break?
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The fact that we lost the ball (turnover) after REVIEW of an obvious foul on Kentucky is just chef’s kiss Illinois stuff.
How can this be? PMSman says we had a home court advantage.
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How can this be? PMSman says we had a home court advantage.
Because the video showed it going off Illinois?
I see we have moved onto the Blame the Refs part of the Illinois Grieving Stages.
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Because the video showed it going off Illinois?
I see we have moved onto the Blame the Refs part of the Illinois Grieving Stages.
The video showed the Ky player's left leg hitting KJ's left arm going up for the shot. That's what started everything else. The announcer even said he was shooting.
The refs were by no means an issue today. The issue was us.
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The issue was us.
Exactly
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It was a terrible call at a critical point in the game, but the refs aren't why we lost.
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It’s the Golden Era, kids.
Name the times when Illinois won 10 games in football, went to an E8, won a women’s game in tourney, won B1G in golf, won a wrestling natty, all in a calendar year.
Then we returned one player from a veteran basketball team and spent most of the season top 20 in all metrics despite rampant injuries and sickness. We are projected to be top 15 preseason in football. Illinois sports are undeniably in a golden era.
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Name the times when Illinois won 10 games in football, went to an E8, won a women’s game in tourney, won B1G in golf, won a wrestling natty, all in a calendar year.
Then we returned one player from a veteran basketball team and spent most of the season top 20 in all metrics despite rampant injuries and sickness. We are projected to be top 15 preseason in football. Illinois sports are undeniably in a golden era.
The 10th win and EE were 2024. Was the golf in 2024? The lady basketball and wrestling were in 2025? Maybe you meant 12 month period instead of calendar year.
But I do like the doubling down
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It was a terrible call at a critical point in the game, but the refs aren't why we lost.
The critical parts of the game were the starts of each half when they looked like they had bet on KY.
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This would be wild (I don’t believe it).
(https://i.postimg.cc/Zq4BYRFJ/IMG-1103.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
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Someone DM Robb, the author of The Chris Beard Story, on The Twotter!
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What I don't get is how we could look so lazy and expect that would be okay. Both on O and D. UK ate us alive. Not as much with their athleticism but more with their hustle.
It was a terrible showing by us. But in a year with double digit losses and a handful of really bad ones. We just weren't that good.
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Didn’t Miller already take the Texas job?
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Because the video showed it going off Illinois?
I see we have moved onto the Blame the Refs part of the Illinois Grieving Stages.
He should have been shooting 3 free shots.
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Didn’t Miller already take the Texas job?
That's the word on The Goggle.
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What I don't get is how we could look so lazy and expect that would be okay. Both on O and D. UK ate us alive. Not as much with their athleticism but more with their hustle.
It was a terrible showing by us. But in a year with double digit losses and a handful of really bad ones. We just weren't that good.
It started out just like the Maryland game. Came out tight and tentative and Kentucky mostly took advantage although we did get some stops on their breakaways. We didn’t seem to get a bounce or a break the entire game. It’s not unusual for freshmen to struggle in situations like this, but KJ just hasn’t been himself since the injury. Kentucky’s length really bothered us particularly in the passing lanes.
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We've watched them all year. Today was not surprising but it was also winnable.
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https://youtu.be/sTBPChGIkJc
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We started the year unranked for a reason, and we played exactly to our ranking. We were a young group that had our moments of greatness (Oregon and Michigan roadkill, beating Miznoz, home wins over Purdue, Wisky and UCLA). And moments we'd all like to forget (home loss to USC, brickfest @ Nebraska, Duke asspounding at MSG, the upside down TSJ banner night choke job vs Sparty)
Brad did an admirable of having to replace basically the roster through portaling, the euro pipeline and talented freshman that was good enough for a 6 seed in the TOTTM. But the end result was all too familiar - falling short of the second weekend yet again.
Now if we can keep this core together, minus KJ and Riley who are all but guaranteed to declare, bring in veteran replacements for those two and maybe we can be a force to be reckoned with next year.
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Yeah if everyone came back we would be a preseason top 5 team probably, odds of that happening are slim though
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If what you say is accurate- that core will consist of Morez, Ivisic and Boswell (assuming they stay) and then adding two starters around them as the others are not really BT level starters IMO. They better find about three guys who can shoot the three if they are going to try and play this five out NBA style or whatever it is.
The team couldn't shoot the three well all year but shot it more than almost all D1 teams for some reason. It was a standing joke on game broadcasts down the stretch talking about how we shot so many threes but couldn't shoot. The defense was unfocused too often. The offense was stagnant or simply would not try and play to actual strengths.
I realize we had several new pieces, but so did everybody else more or less and these players all have played high level AAU or International or NCAA basketball 12 months a year for 10-12 years before they showed up here. They all had individual assessments and skill workout plans in summer for months.
They should know how to go over screens on scout identified high level shooters. They should know how to protect the dribble and make and receive passes. They should know what a good shot is for them. They were often below average at executing fundamentals all year. They did push the ball and rebound well, but the quick three was idiotic once it was clear we were a terrible shooting three team.
They should know how to follow a basic game plan, but it was never quite clear what that was under UW and his staff or staff do not hold them to account.
Tonight they had a microcosm stretch of the lack of direction or intent where I think they missed 7 straight threes when behind in second half when we clearly could get into the lane to create better opportunities to get fouled or shoot more makeable shots. We were 9-32 from three. Pretty much same story all year. Oh- we were 18-30 from two. It is not rocket science.
WATF.
I have said it before- UW deserves credit for making us competitive again, but getting past the round of 32 only once in 7 years is second tier P6 stuff and I still don't think he or staff have the understanding how to get us to the next level.
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Good points, LKDog
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If I had to use 1 word to describe yesterday it would be "discipline.."
We have shown it in bits and pieces all year and we've shown that we can play without it all year also. Any kind of discipline and we don't give up 26 points off of turnovers.
We were not good from last 3 last year either and it was painful later on in the season when the announcers would mention it every game.
I wouldn't be surprised if our national rankings for number of shots from 3 and percentage from 3 were worse this year.
I kept hearing about our rebounding advantage and how it leads to 2nd chances all year but it would be interesting to look at 2nd chance points in games vs power conference teams and good power conference teams. Statistics include all games but games vs teams like Little Rock and SIUE shouldn't count in the assessment.
See how we rank vs top 20 teams because that's who we want to be competing against.
A bricked 3 is often times no different than a turnover. And we bricked plenty.
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I have said it before- UW deserves credit for making us competitive again, but getting past the round of 32 only once in 7 years is second tier P6 stuff and I still don't think he or staff have the understanding how to get us to the next level.
Agreed, however to the victor the spoils must go as well...if we are giving him credit for getting us back to a national stage year in/out, he also must be credited with dim whit strategy/sets/coaching acumen when it is fairly obvious that needs to change. BU has shown he can change, the problem is during the season, that doesn't happen often enough when it needs too.
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I agree w/ LK.
The difficulty I have with the "he had all new guys" narrative is that having all new guys is in part on him. I know attrition is the new normal but we seem to put a lot of guys into double-digit scoring opportunities at other schools right now while we trot out a limited rotation that can't shoot 3s or defend a bigger 4.
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Brad says they shoot it great in practice and warm ups. Barely miss. Then again look who’s guarding them.
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Also couldn't miss in practice: Alex Legion.
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Also couldn't miss in practice: Alex Legion.
Weber famously called Legion "Kobe" -- in reference to, obviously, Kobe Bryant -- based on Legion's performance in practice.
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I posted a few weeks ago about it certainly isn't easy to hit the the three in game situations for anyone. You just can't give the green light to the whole team because that is what they see in NBA on TV.
Those guys are the best in the world.
The frustrating thing is we had guys that could score in other ways and did not utilize that as often.
Last year we used matchups much better with success.
I was very impressed with the offensive game Boswell developed this season and Riley in second half of year.
Not really sure how much the KJ injury impacted him, but he is simply an average shooter at best from three at this point.
Has some other elite tools and a future.
Staff need to adjust to their personnel better.
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Well, this sucks.
Go White Sox.... LOL. Anyone going Thursday? Supposed to be 60 degrees. Thanks Climate Change!