whitesoxfan99

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 10, 2013 -> 08:12 PM) They dancing. Right now they are easily in. Need to beat the bottom feeders of the conference now to secure the bid.

Tyler Griffey makings 3s is apparently the key to Illinois' season. He makes them early and the team looks solid, he goes 0 for the month of January and the team plays like crap. Also helpful is the guards actually driving and kicking rather than shooting every single time they go into the paint.

Bulls D is getting absolutely torched tonight. You don't see this very often.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 09:54 PM) -Didn't even know DJ had 23 points. Wow. Was he on the last steal? Awesome. Good game, farmteam. It might not have been his best game statistically but that is the best game DJ has played in an Illinois uniform. His defense was strong tonight and it was him who got that steal from Oladipo on Indiana's last possession, although it was a good hedge from McClaurin that caused it. He also hit big shot after big shot in the 2nd half and was pretty much lights out after bricking a couple of shots early.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 05:18 PM) Well, that's all going to be a bit much. I love the idea of spin offs, just not those (well Boba Fett could be good, no interest at all in a Han Solo movie). But the Yoda movie rumored could be fun, the rumored Star Wars Seven Samurai inspired movie could be really good and then if you set movies in different time periods in the expanded universe you have a lot of great stories to work with.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 09:18 PM) If they go 7-11 in the Big 10, do they make it? Would be very interesting. Nobody else on the bubble would have the quality wins that Illinois will have, would probably need at least one win in the Big 10 tourney.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 09:08 PM) Can we stop b****ing about Griffey now? He was very good tonight. He had missed 21 straight 3s, consistently plays bad D and has been the worst player for Illinois for the last month. The criticism he was getting was completely justified. He was terrific tonight and when he makes shots Illinois is an entirely different team as it spreads the floor and gives the guards room to operate.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 09:03 PM) Omg. Please count. Clearly good. Awesome coaching by Groce down the stretch tonight. Beautiful play calls out of every timeout. Amazing how this team looks when they actually make 3s.

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chicago/ra...213/versionId/1 Rank Michael Jordan's 10 greatest moments. Unfortunately the 10 you can choose from are preselected but the no brainers are all there.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Feb 2, 2013 -> 10:26 AM) Digger just made a fantastic point: The big 10 as a league is overrated because Illinois was 12 and 1 out of conference and is now 2 and 6 in conference, Minnesota has lost 4 in a row so while we thought the big 10 was the best conference in the country, it clearly has been proven to be overrated. What? And the best part about that is that if Illinois played in the ACC or Big East and did the same thing the narrative would b how strong the league is.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jan 31, 2013 -> 02:42 PM) This. I'll be a homer too and say Brandon Paul. No thank you. As a flyer late in the 2nd round maybe, but I'm not taking a SG who doesn't shoot it all that well and can't dribble in the 1st round.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jan 31, 2013 -> 09:04 PM) Yeah. I was going to leave a massive rant on how terrible Griffey and Groce are. But I can't tonight. They have not been given a fair shake tonight. Griffey is still terrible. Groce's coaching has been fine tonight. Had a good game plan. Offense has been good for the most part other then the stretch where Paul decided to hand the ball to Michigan St. every other possession.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jan 31, 2013 -> 08:29 PM) Why can't they just get blown out instead of hurting me like this? It sadly doesn't really bother me anymore. Until Groce turns over the roster there is nothing to get excited about. I just hope this team finds a way to make the tourney for the sake of recruiting.

Brandon Paul sucks. Three unforced turnovers in the 2nd half and playing no defense.

Remember when Brandon Paul was good at basketball? That was nice. Now he can't even dribble 3 consecutive times without losing it.

Myke Henry could solve a lot of this teams issues if he would actually play as hard as he did in the first half all the time. It would give Illinois a legitimate PF with good athleticism (albeit slightly undersized) and another guy to stretch the floor which they haven't had since Griffey went into his epic slump.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jan 31, 2013 -> 07:40 PM) 10th point lead! Until Griffey blows every defensive assignment possible and they cut that lead down quick. Stretching it back out now. He needs to not play the rest of the season. Henry is playing D for the first time in his career tonight, hopefully that continues and Groce permanently sits Griffey.

We will see if it continues, but the Illinois offense the last 3 games has been producing a ton of open looks and they are finally making some tonight. The defense looks much better tonight as well and that is the area I've felt Groce's coaching has been most questionable so far this year.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 28, 2013 -> 01:14 PM) Hasn't Groce's reputation always been that he's a good, energetic recruiter who plays a player-friendly style, but his in-game coaching is fairly mediocre? Hard to say, he was only a head coach for 4 years prior to getting the Illinois job and it isn't like anyone was watching a ton of Ohio basketball. He did a really good job in postseason play there but had pretty mediocre regular season results. Basketball is almost all about talent anyways. There are a few coaches that are able to consistently elevate their teams and a few coaches who consistently underachieve despite having talent but at the end of the day talent generally wins out as long as you are able to manage players and get them to play hard and play defense. I think we will know in year 3 whether Groce is the right guy for the Illinois job or not. I don't think that team will be great since unless something changes you will only have 2 upperclassmen worth a damn but you will have 3 years to evaluate his recruiting and he will have had a chance to implement his system to a pretty large number of his recruits since we have 5 commits in the 2013 class and I think they bring in 4 commits in the 2014 class (I expect that 2 of the 2011 kids will transfer after this year).

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 28, 2013 -> 11:33 AM) Brandon Paul is the 2nd leading scorer in the B10 but he's regressed? Sounds like Malcolm Hill is legit. I'd stop worrying about what Weber did. Nunn is going off for Simeon the past few weeks as well. What happened to Mike Shaw? Since he committed as a junior, he hasn't done anything. High school or Illinois. Paul hasn't regressed from last year, he is the same player he has basically always been. Incredibly streaky and inconsistent on offense and good for at least 1 or 2 really stupid turnovers per game. His defense has also slipped in Big 10 play. And considering Weber single handedly destroyed Illinois basketball despite taking the program over when it was one of the two best programs in the Big 10, inheriting a ton of talent with the 2004-2005 team getting as much hype and media attention as any in the last 10 years, and the quality of the team for this year and next is mostly tied to Weber it is fair to talk about how awful he is. If we suck in year 3 under Groce then Groce will rightfully get all the blame.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 28, 2013 -> 11:27 AM) Time will tell with Weber. I think what he admitted to during some of those last press conferences - that he coached and recruited not to lose/get the fans upset - are problems he won't have to deal with at KSU. I think they'll be a Purdue-like program in that they take character guys over skilled guys and after 2-3 years they develop into good players. Finishing in the top half of the conference will be much easier to do, and tourney appearances will be much easier to come by. But I guess we'll see in three years. And yes, obviously the three ball is an issue. My point was more that it just doesn't matter anymore. Unless they're hitting 60% of their threes, they're still not good enough to beat the top 4-5 teams in the big ten. If they hit 40% of their threes against Michigan, Minnesota or Wisconsin, they still lose those games. Everyone in the conference knows they're weak inside and they don't run an offense at all. They've been exploited just like last year. Groce is to blame for part of that. I'm not seeing much adjustment. I mean, at some point it's just a lack of execution. But why aren't they running more designed plays? They've reverted back to last years offense where they just stand around and wait for someone to throw up a brick. Weber used to say they were fine when option A worked but they sucked at options B and C. Well, they're that same team again. The offense was much better yesterday than it has been recently. They got quite a few open looks and there was more movement away from the ball. There was also a couple of really nice sets where our big men got the ball in position to score but they simply suck and don't finish. In one instance McClaurin got the ball in a position where most big men take it up and dunk but he isn't athletic enough to do it so he took an extra dribble and then tried to throw a pass to Egwu in traffic that resulted in a turnover. Later in the half they ran a set that ended up with Henry getting the ball on the block where all he needed to do was turn to his left shoulder and make a layup but his court awareness sucks and he didn't know where he was so he shoots a fadeaway that he missed instead. These guys just aren't very good basketball players and they fit together horribly.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 28, 2013 -> 10:17 AM) Meh, I think he'll do well there. Expectations aren't as high, he's doesn't have the pressure to bring in 5* guys and finishing in the top 4 in the conference won't be that difficult. At Illinois he didn't recruit the right guys or missed out on guys and had no plan B. Hence why we're stuck without a decent PG or PF. I'm still in absolute shock that they've regressed so much. The morons on TV keep talking about the three ball, but that's not the issue. They shot well yesterday and still got beat easily. I really don't see this team making the tournament. Weber can't recruit and has no idea how to build a roster. He runs a system that is predicated on 3 pt shooting and yet he recruited one guard in his entire tenure at Illinois that came in as a great 3 pt shooter and that was Jamar Smith in his second recruiting class. Kansas State will be struggling to make the tournament by year 3 of Weber's tenure there. The 3 ball is the issue for Illinois btw. We have no post presence (or even a big man that the other team really has to guard) and none of our guards are good passers when they go to the basket (Bertrand and Paul never even look to pass and Abrams rarely does which is consistent with what those guys have always done) which means in most basic terms that your two ways to score are making 3s and driving to the basket and we don't have anyone good enough to beat opposing teams by taking the ball to the basket on a consistent basis. Which leaves 3 point shooting which is the only reason Illinois was ever successful this year. Unless they start making a bunch of 3's like they did early in the season this team will be bad for the remainder of the year.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 28, 2013 -> 09:18 AM) I was at gameday and the game that night. What a blast. I actually feel bad for KSU fans that their program is soon going to be ruined (not that there is a ton to ruin given their basketball history is mostly awful) and most of them actually know it is coming.

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Jan 27, 2013 -> 07:19 PM) Does anyone understand what Illinois is trying to accomplish on offense? I just don't understand. If you want to settle for a jumpshot every. single. time, why not run a VCU type defense with the length you have. We have no good shooters, nobody with a post game, no good passers and only a couple players who can actually create a shot. The only reason this team was good at any point this year was that they were making a ton of 3's. Once the 3's stopped dropping the offense went south.

I honestly wouldn't care if no one from this roster was back next year except for Egwu and Abrams. We need roster turnover badly. There is legitimately one player on Illinois' entire roster that can dribble a basketball. Paul has gotten his pocket picked a ton lately.