I think I'm going to the dark side
Well, what a game the Illini had on Saturday afternoon. I didn't know if they would be able to maintain their high level of play after beating the Hoosiers at home, but they sure proved me wrong. Yep. No let down whatsoever.
I don't know what the deal is with the Illini any more. I'm sick of trying to figure it out. First, granted, they played on the road against a Purdue team that is apparently unconscious playing at home. That same Purdue team lost to Minnesota on the road. So it's hard to say whether or not the team just plays lights out at home, or if they're an actually better team than the Illini. But here's what I saw from the game.
How does Illinois come out so terribly on offense? While I can argue all I want that they weren't getting any calls for the first 10 minutes of the first half, that doesn't mean anything. They managed to get Landry into foul trouble early. Then the calls were called either evenly or actually in the Illini's favor for the rest of the game. Purdue just had the intensity and no one on the Illini did. How we come out and lack the ability to match intensity with a team who should be inferior is beyond me.
What is Chester's problem? He's never been afraid to shoot from the outside in past games, but recently his shot has stopped falling. But how immasculating must it be to not even be guarded unless you're within about 15 feet of the basket? And not only that, he didn't even make Purdue play at all. He would just stand behind the three-point line, trying to decide if he should shoot or not, then pass the ball. He wasn't being guarded, he could have been slashing to the basket during ball reversal or something. And while his intensity on the defensive end was useful at times, at other times it worked against him. I seriously don't know what the deal is with him, but he needs to pick it up. Big time.
Also, why could no one defend Teague? He's got a quick, pretty accurate shot, yes. But look at where you are on the floor before you try to fight through a screen. There were a number of times when Teague was curling around a pick only to have the Illini defender follow him through it. But the majority of the time, the pick was occurring below the free throw line, which would have meant that the only place he could have gone to get his shot, if the defender went under the pick, was to the corner. And that's an extremely difficult pass to make for anyone. Plus, they would have had to lob it over the defender/screener anyways, allowing time for recovery. Where was the defensive adjustment to recognize that though? Probably about 60-75% of the time Teague was defended pretty well, but he made his shots when he needed to.
The one lone spot in the entire game, at least in my opinion, was Rich McBride' s aggressiveness. It's about fucking time we saw the player we all expected to be seeing at the beginning of the year. It was like he realized that no one else was doing anything on offense, and he managed to get to the rim a couple of times. Well, maybe not the rim, but he attacked the basket and made a couple shots inside the three-point line. In addition to that, he got to the free throw line a couple times as well.
However, that was the one lone spot. I know I've been an avid supporter of Bruce Weber for a long time. Right when we first hired him, I was tentative, then we were 3-3 in Big Ten play his first season, I thought it was a mistake. But since then I've not had a problem with him. I even thought his recruiting was sufficient. However, I may be starting to change my tune. It's not to say I think Bruce is a bad coach, because I don't think he is. And I'm not sure he's a bad recruiter. But with all of the young, up-and-coming coaches in Division I these days, think of all the good recruits we could be getting in addition to the solid coaching. Could we make a mistake and bring in a shitty coach who rode one good team to success? A Lon Kruger of the 2000's if you will? Absolutely. And that would suck. But this team should be in a much different state than it is currently in.
Before I was thinking that Illinois would have a cake-walk through the rest of the Big Ten season, but now I don't think so. If teams defend their home floor the way Purdue did, then we're screwed. However, if they defend their home floor the way MSU or Michigan did (both games we should have won), we may have a chance to finish fourth and make the NCAA.
After Saturday, and with Arizona getting the shit beat out of them by UNC, I'm not sure it matters where we end up playing at the end of the year. It's not going to be good enough.
I don't know what the deal is with the Illini any more. I'm sick of trying to figure it out. First, granted, they played on the road against a Purdue team that is apparently unconscious playing at home. That same Purdue team lost to Minnesota on the road. So it's hard to say whether or not the team just plays lights out at home, or if they're an actually better team than the Illini. But here's what I saw from the game.
How does Illinois come out so terribly on offense? While I can argue all I want that they weren't getting any calls for the first 10 minutes of the first half, that doesn't mean anything. They managed to get Landry into foul trouble early. Then the calls were called either evenly or actually in the Illini's favor for the rest of the game. Purdue just had the intensity and no one on the Illini did. How we come out and lack the ability to match intensity with a team who should be inferior is beyond me.
What is Chester's problem? He's never been afraid to shoot from the outside in past games, but recently his shot has stopped falling. But how immasculating must it be to not even be guarded unless you're within about 15 feet of the basket? And not only that, he didn't even make Purdue play at all. He would just stand behind the three-point line, trying to decide if he should shoot or not, then pass the ball. He wasn't being guarded, he could have been slashing to the basket during ball reversal or something. And while his intensity on the defensive end was useful at times, at other times it worked against him. I seriously don't know what the deal is with him, but he needs to pick it up. Big time.
Also, why could no one defend Teague? He's got a quick, pretty accurate shot, yes. But look at where you are on the floor before you try to fight through a screen. There were a number of times when Teague was curling around a pick only to have the Illini defender follow him through it. But the majority of the time, the pick was occurring below the free throw line, which would have meant that the only place he could have gone to get his shot, if the defender went under the pick, was to the corner. And that's an extremely difficult pass to make for anyone. Plus, they would have had to lob it over the defender/screener anyways, allowing time for recovery. Where was the defensive adjustment to recognize that though? Probably about 60-75% of the time Teague was defended pretty well, but he made his shots when he needed to.
The one lone spot in the entire game, at least in my opinion, was Rich McBride' s aggressiveness. It's about fucking time we saw the player we all expected to be seeing at the beginning of the year. It was like he realized that no one else was doing anything on offense, and he managed to get to the rim a couple of times. Well, maybe not the rim, but he attacked the basket and made a couple shots inside the three-point line. In addition to that, he got to the free throw line a couple times as well.
However, that was the one lone spot. I know I've been an avid supporter of Bruce Weber for a long time. Right when we first hired him, I was tentative, then we were 3-3 in Big Ten play his first season, I thought it was a mistake. But since then I've not had a problem with him. I even thought his recruiting was sufficient. However, I may be starting to change my tune. It's not to say I think Bruce is a bad coach, because I don't think he is. And I'm not sure he's a bad recruiter. But with all of the young, up-and-coming coaches in Division I these days, think of all the good recruits we could be getting in addition to the solid coaching. Could we make a mistake and bring in a shitty coach who rode one good team to success? A Lon Kruger of the 2000's if you will? Absolutely. And that would suck. But this team should be in a much different state than it is currently in.
Before I was thinking that Illinois would have a cake-walk through the rest of the Big Ten season, but now I don't think so. If teams defend their home floor the way Purdue did, then we're screwed. However, if they defend their home floor the way MSU or Michigan did (both games we should have won), we may have a chance to finish fourth and make the NCAA.
After Saturday, and with Arizona getting the shit beat out of them by UNC, I'm not sure it matters where we end up playing at the end of the year. It's not going to be good enough.
Labels: I may have actually been wrong, Illini, why are the illini sucking
posted by Jtrouble at 10:13 AM
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