whitesoxfan99

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 15, 2015 -> 11:35 AM) PS: Aaron Brooks is horrendous defensively. Literally horrendous. Makes Nate look like an all pro defender. It sickens me when I see people talk about dumping Kirk because Kirk (prior to getting hurt) was playing pretty darn good in his backup role and provides much better defense than Brooks (not as good as he used to be and he can't play the above average 2's like he used to but he's still much better than Brooks). Brooks, when he's not shooting like crazy, is pretty much a major negative in the lineup. Kirk is an absolutely dreadful offensive player at this point in his career. Just awful. For how low his usage is and based on the fact he basically only takes wide open shots it is pathetic how inefficient he is, he can't create shots for himself, and he can't create shots for other people. He doesn't play terrible defense but he is a negative on offense nearly every game.

It is close so that is good but this has been a really poorly played football game. OSU putting the ball on the ground constantly and Oregon has beat stopped themselves on 3rd down on multiple occasions by dropping easy catches including what might have been a TD.

That was clearly pass interference on OSU there. Terrible no call.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 12, 2015 -> 03:18 PM) Not to mention his whole game plan last night was stupid. Nebraska is a very good defensive team and a terrible offensive team. So why are they spending 30 seconds every time down the floor? Run and gun that s***. For the same reason that you don't see teams running and gunning against Wisconsin. If you aren't turning a team over, they use a lot of clock on offense and they aren't crashing the offensive glass it is hard to play at a fast tempo at the college level without taking bad shots. Pushing the ball against a defense that is set when you don't have guys who are great at creating their own shots generally isn't that effective.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 11, 2015 -> 09:57 PM) Giving Starks and Cosby scholarships was such a terrible idea. Starks was supposed to be a one year guy and they had an extra scholarship last year. The mistake there was not realizing that there was a decent chance he wouldn't be eligible to play for Illinois last year with the changes to the hardship rules and that is on Groce. Taking Cosby was an absolute no brainer at the time. He was a really good player at Seton Hall playing against high level competition in the Big East. I've said it before but I'm not sure I've ever seen a player ever completely fall off a cliff like this where it wasn't related to either age or injury. That is a guy who was a 40% 3 pt shooter against good competition on a high volume of shots who now is completely incapable of making a shot. It is incredible to watch and a mystery as to how this has happened..

QUOTE (gatnom @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 10:33 AM) I find it pretty amusing that we play better with Tate despite all of his flaws, purely because he has some level of basic PG instinct that not a single other person on the team possesses. That being said, he did play pretty well last night. That hasn't been the case in most games this year. It certainly was last night and that was easily the best game Tate has played against legitimate competition. Maryland also helped him out by going over the top of ball screens rather than just going under all of them like most teams will do. The question is can Tate take and make jump shots when guys go under screens because he is going to have to do that in the Big 10 or he will go back to killing the team when he is on the floor. I have my doubts that he can do it but I really hope he can because Tate with a jump shot is a guy you can actually play against high majors.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a player go from being really good to beyond horrendous (unrelated to injury or age) the way Aaron Cosby has. Wow is he terrible right now.

Awesome performance for Malcolm Hill so far tonight. Putting the team on his back.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jan 7, 2015 -> 05:26 PM) curse of being an Expo? If this guy was a Yankee, Cardinal or Red Sox he'd already be in. There are not many players who excelled at all aspects of the game. Not just played them well, but excelled. Raines was one of them. Agreed. Although he did win 2 World Series with the Yankees.

Wow, Amir Williams blows an open layup for the win.

With the way Illinois has looked this year I'd be shocked if it is Illinois. Why come play for a struggling team that looks poorly coached when you have Kentucky and Kansas as options?

And re-watching some of the game from yesterday, wow does this team look really poorly coached on defense right now. OSU has some good players but it isn't like they were too quick or too big for Illinois. Illinois wasn't communicating at all on defense, players weren't rotating properly and I still have no idea what Groce's strategy is for defending ball screens. On offense the biggest problem (the turnover issues in the 2nd half which are an outlier notwithstanding) continues to be that there are simply too many possessions where there isn't any ball movement and we force a bad shot early in the shot clock. Add in that Aaron Cosby and Ahmad Starks have apparently forgotten how to shoot the basketball and it is easy to see why Illinois is struggling on that end. Also, unrelated and I've only seen OSU play a few times so I don't know if this reflects how they have looked in other games but I think OSU would also be better off playing man to man than zone against most teams. They have some fantastic perimeter defenders that aren't being utilized in the zone and their players seem to be pretty passive when playing zone in the games I've watched.

Also, at minimum, Groce should be forced to make changes to his staff after this year. Parham is popular in Chicago but he hasn't helped us land anyone that we probably wouldn't have landed without him and it doesn't appear he brings anything to the table from a coaching perspective and I don't think Dustin Ford has much value at all either.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 3, 2015 -> 05:40 PM) Illinois sports are so irrelevant. Maybe the worst time in my life. (Born in 82). Since the Rose Bowl both programs have been dreadful (and really football has been terrible for 20 years, thanks Ron). Football hasn't finished above .500 in conference once and basketball hasn't made a single Sweet 16. Ron Guenther let both programs fall into irrelevancy during his tenure by consistently hiring bad football coaches and then hiring Weber who is just awful on the basketball side. And now it looks like Thomas has missed on both of his hires. I liked Groce but he hasn't recruited at a high enough level yet when you account for the fact that it is pretty clear he is not a great X and O guy.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Jan 3, 2015 -> 05:38 PM) Yeah, I looked at box scores for him in his last season there and he had big games against final four teams like Louisville and Syracuse. Those teams had really, really good defensive backcourts too. That's why I expected so much from him and didn't think the Abrams loss would be as big. He played some point at seton against those Big East teams and held his own. Boy was I wrong. Cosby forgetting how to play basketball is one of the more surprising things I can remember. This isn't a guy transferring from a mid major who is struggling to adjust to higher competition and it isn't a guy who wasn't great at the high major level who transferred for more playing time like Alex Legion. This is a guy who was a damn good player against similar competition (actually better competition than Illinois has played so far when you take into account the cupcakes) and now he is consistently terrible.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Jan 3, 2015 -> 05:25 PM) I never watched him play at Seton Hall, but I can't believe his jumper could have been this flat when he was there. I just can't imagine him shooting 40% from 3 with this same arc. It wasn't this flat. He wasn't a guy who shot it was a ton of arc but his shot is noticeably flatter this year. He shot 43% from the floor and 40% from 3 in the Big East (when the Big East was still really good) on a pretty high volume of shots and now he can't make uncontested layups and its shocking when he makes a 3. It is insane how bad he's been.

So taking out the Kennesaw State game I believe Cosby is 14 for his last 74. I mean you have to try to suck that bad.

It is stunning how bad Cosby has been. It is to the point I'm shocked when he makes a shot.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jan 3, 2015 -> 05:11 PM) Also, Egwu may be the worst pick and roll defender I've ever seen. He doesn't understand how to do it whatsoever. He's just going to defend the guard no matter what. That is a coaching issue at this point.

Groce's horrid decision to offer Tate a scholarship and not recruit Ulis hard is one of the all time hauntings. Up there with Weber telling Hummel he wasn't a Big 10 player.

Just consistently awful on defense. No communication at all. Tate and Starks are both f***ing awful.

Horrendous 2nd half performance yet again.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 3, 2015 -> 04:42 PM) Can they really change a call like that? I assumed they were checking for the elbow. They were checking for an elbow. They can't overturn a foul call. I wish they could call technicals for flops though. And I also love that the refs just called a travel on Starks when the ball was clearly tipped out of his hand and then ignored Russell's obvious travel on the other end.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 3, 2015 -> 04:06 PM) Michigan is better at scoring for the other team. How did they beat illinois? Awful. Dawkins hit more 3s than he probably will the rest of the season combined.

It is really too bad Starks and Cosby somehow forgot to shoot this year. With the way Rice, Nunn and Hill have shot from 3 this team would be great from downtown if those guys were shooting like they had their entire careers.