So much to talk about
I don't know which topic to cover first from this insane weekend, but I think I'll start with the Illini game.
For anyone keeping track, Arizona came out ranked in the top 10 in the nation. They promptly lost, which caused them to fall back in the polls a little bit, settling around 16. Maryland started the season unranked (I think) and was ranked 19 when the Illini played them. So, Illinois goes from playing teams unranked to playing 2 top 20 teams.
I for one was expecting most likely a blow out in the Arizona game. I was nervous enough coming in, since they're one of the top-scoring teams in the NCAA, and then to hear that Illinois with be without Jamar Smith lighting it up was pretty much the nail in the coffin.
Then something bizarre happened. After starting slow against virtually every team they played, including the bad ones, Illinois came out hot. At one point they built a lead up to 16 points. I had forgotten that they don't play defense in the Pac-10, so that's why Arizona scores so much (teams try to keep up with them as they run, in case you missed the connection I made in my head).
Anyways, I was noticing in the first half that as Arizona started to make a run, Illinois sure was getting called for a lot of fouls. Weiner fouls. Ones that they would only call half the time in the Big 10, and probably only slightly more in the NCAA tournament. The refs were just absolutely blowing calls. Like the one where Shaun Pruitt jumped to catch a ball, came straight down, and went straight back up. Charge. Of course, the refs apparently missed the defender sliding underneath Pruitt as he came down the first time. That's kind of illegal. And when I say kind of, I mean blatantly, and only blind people and/or people whose heads are filled with feces instead of brains would miss that call.
So the Illini eventually lost, which is bound to happen when you play out of your conference against finesse teams and the refs blow a lot of calls and they're not used to physical play. Illinois did foul a lot, yes, and they did seem to have trouble getting to the foul line, yes, but they still should have won that game.
Now to my ripping of Rich McBride. Rich came out pretty hot in this game. He made 3 treys I think, which was nice to see. Of course, those were only in the first half. He managed to miss the important ones in the second half. And then there's always his inability to defend in the open floor as guys drive right past him to the basket. It will be so amazing to get Brian Randle back (and Jamar) for that matter so we will not have to have Rich McBride defending the other team's best player (we're not gonna see a player like Budinger too often in the Big 10 anyways). And let us not forget in the first half, the errant pass McBride made. After working so hard to clear a rebound, rather than dribble up the ball himself, he decides to pass it to Chester Frazier. Well, like the game against Maryland, he turned the ball over instead. But, this time, unlike the Maryland game, there was no player waiting to intercept the pass. McBride just threw it directly to a player from Arizona.
One other concern I have is with Calvin Brock's defense, and the team defense as well. Our rotations are very slow, and I'm hoping that it's just because we're still not used to rotating so quickly. But it seems Brock is susceptible with getting stuck out of position on rotations on occasion. Also, I think he could work a lot harder at fighting through screens, because I noticed a couple different times this past week where he kind of comes through a screen lazy and his man hits a 3. That needs to stop.
So Illinois was without two of our top players, and we almost upset a team who many people pick to go to the Final Four. Even though it was a loss, I don't think there was too much wrong with the game as far as the Illini go.
Oh, two other things to mention. When Pruitt and Carter (Warren Carter is a beast all of a sudden, how awesome is that) were in foul trouble in the second half and the Illini were having trouble scoring, the Illini stopped looking inside completely. My proof? At one point, McBride had the ball on the wing and Carlwell had his man completely sealed. McBride didn't even look inside and just reversed the ball. If it was Marcus Arnold, that's one thing because he does everything terribly, but it wasn't, it was a kid with moves. Disappointing.
Also, how much talk was there of this game being some sort of revenge against Illinois for Arizona? First, Illinois has an entirely different starting 5, and McBride was the only player on that team who saw any sort of minutes still at Illinois. Second, it's not like this is the first time Illinois and Arizona have met after playing in the tournament. Arizona beat us 2 years in a row (if I'm not mistaken) when we had the guys from Manual, and we often played them in the regular season (or preseason if you consider before conference play starts preseason), yet rarely was there ever any talk of Illinois getting revenge for the tournament losses. Sure, none of our losses were as embarassing as the complete breakdown Arizona suffered in 2005, but still. Get over it, stop trying to make a story out of something that isn't. Two years have passed. Lousy announcers.
For anyone keeping track, Arizona came out ranked in the top 10 in the nation. They promptly lost, which caused them to fall back in the polls a little bit, settling around 16. Maryland started the season unranked (I think) and was ranked 19 when the Illini played them. So, Illinois goes from playing teams unranked to playing 2 top 20 teams.
I for one was expecting most likely a blow out in the Arizona game. I was nervous enough coming in, since they're one of the top-scoring teams in the NCAA, and then to hear that Illinois with be without Jamar Smith lighting it up was pretty much the nail in the coffin.
Then something bizarre happened. After starting slow against virtually every team they played, including the bad ones, Illinois came out hot. At one point they built a lead up to 16 points. I had forgotten that they don't play defense in the Pac-10, so that's why Arizona scores so much (teams try to keep up with them as they run, in case you missed the connection I made in my head).
Anyways, I was noticing in the first half that as Arizona started to make a run, Illinois sure was getting called for a lot of fouls. Weiner fouls. Ones that they would only call half the time in the Big 10, and probably only slightly more in the NCAA tournament. The refs were just absolutely blowing calls. Like the one where Shaun Pruitt jumped to catch a ball, came straight down, and went straight back up. Charge. Of course, the refs apparently missed the defender sliding underneath Pruitt as he came down the first time. That's kind of illegal. And when I say kind of, I mean blatantly, and only blind people and/or people whose heads are filled with feces instead of brains would miss that call.
So the Illini eventually lost, which is bound to happen when you play out of your conference against finesse teams and the refs blow a lot of calls and they're not used to physical play. Illinois did foul a lot, yes, and they did seem to have trouble getting to the foul line, yes, but they still should have won that game.
Now to my ripping of Rich McBride. Rich came out pretty hot in this game. He made 3 treys I think, which was nice to see. Of course, those were only in the first half. He managed to miss the important ones in the second half. And then there's always his inability to defend in the open floor as guys drive right past him to the basket. It will be so amazing to get Brian Randle back (and Jamar) for that matter so we will not have to have Rich McBride defending the other team's best player (we're not gonna see a player like Budinger too often in the Big 10 anyways). And let us not forget in the first half, the errant pass McBride made. After working so hard to clear a rebound, rather than dribble up the ball himself, he decides to pass it to Chester Frazier. Well, like the game against Maryland, he turned the ball over instead. But, this time, unlike the Maryland game, there was no player waiting to intercept the pass. McBride just threw it directly to a player from Arizona.
One other concern I have is with Calvin Brock's defense, and the team defense as well. Our rotations are very slow, and I'm hoping that it's just because we're still not used to rotating so quickly. But it seems Brock is susceptible with getting stuck out of position on rotations on occasion. Also, I think he could work a lot harder at fighting through screens, because I noticed a couple different times this past week where he kind of comes through a screen lazy and his man hits a 3. That needs to stop.
So Illinois was without two of our top players, and we almost upset a team who many people pick to go to the Final Four. Even though it was a loss, I don't think there was too much wrong with the game as far as the Illini go.
Oh, two other things to mention. When Pruitt and Carter (Warren Carter is a beast all of a sudden, how awesome is that) were in foul trouble in the second half and the Illini were having trouble scoring, the Illini stopped looking inside completely. My proof? At one point, McBride had the ball on the wing and Carlwell had his man completely sealed. McBride didn't even look inside and just reversed the ball. If it was Marcus Arnold, that's one thing because he does everything terribly, but it wasn't, it was a kid with moves. Disappointing.
Also, how much talk was there of this game being some sort of revenge against Illinois for Arizona? First, Illinois has an entirely different starting 5, and McBride was the only player on that team who saw any sort of minutes still at Illinois. Second, it's not like this is the first time Illinois and Arizona have met after playing in the tournament. Arizona beat us 2 years in a row (if I'm not mistaken) when we had the guys from Manual, and we often played them in the regular season (or preseason if you consider before conference play starts preseason), yet rarely was there ever any talk of Illinois getting revenge for the tournament losses. Sure, none of our losses were as embarassing as the complete breakdown Arizona suffered in 2005, but still. Get over it, stop trying to make a story out of something that isn't. Two years have passed. Lousy announcers.
posted by Jtrouble at 11:13 AM
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