Illinois basketball fans

[ILLsmak]

Great win, I agree... I knew we could do it.

Why didn't Richmond play? That's disheartening... I hope he's not really gonna transfer.

-Smak

[bootsy]

Great win, I agree... I knew we could do it.

Why didn't Richmond play? That's disheartening... I hope he's not really gonna transfer.

-Smak

He may not play on Sunday but I seriously doubt he is transferring. The way he was acting on the bench didn't look like a guy who was transferring.

[ILLsmak]

I doubt we beat Kansas just because they are so good... but I think that Bruce is good at firing his guys up for games like that. I remember when we beat Indiana when they had Gordon. Big win. This would be a game like that.

Kansas looked pretty mortal against Boston but Boston choked in the end.

I know we can push Kansas pretty hard. We've pushed everyone we played except Ohio State the in Ohio. But we gotta close it out. We gotta give ourselves a chance to win down the stretch.

And we gotta get Richmond in there. That guy is such a difference maker... He's not even a type of guy who needs the ball or anything he just gets it done whether it's rebounds, defense, or making the right play. He's definitely our 6th man... and I love Paul starting.

New season, let's go... too bad it has to be Kansas.

-Smak

[wang4three]

I doubt we beat Kansas just because they are so good... but I think that Bruce is good at firing his guys up for games like that. I remember when we beat Indiana when they had Gordon. Big win. This would be a game like that.

Kansas looked pretty mortal against Boston but Boston choked in the end.

I know we can push Kansas pretty hard. We've pushed everyone we played except Ohio State the in Ohio. But we gotta close it out. We gotta give ourselves a chance to win down the stretch.

And we gotta get Richmond in there. That guy is such a difference maker... He's not even a type of guy who needs the ball or anything he just gets it done whether it's rebounds, defense, or making the right play. He's definitely our 6th man... and I love Paul starting.

New season, let's go... too bad it has to be Kansas.

-Smak

We lost to Gordon both times that year.

For us to beat Kansas we'll have to slow the game down, not give up as many turnovers as we did last night, and rebound the ball. If they dominate us on offensive rebounding, our night can get ugly really fast.

We got kind of lucky tonight cause UNLV is such a terrible 3 pt shooting team. They got some awfully good looks in our man-to-man defense. The zone worked when it is there, but Kansas will be ready from the three.

If DMac and Davis are on at the same time, we lose few games. Period. They obviously didn't want their seasons to end last night. Sager even talked about how DMac pulled all the seniors together and riled them up for the game to get to the Sweet 16. Better late than never, but their finality of their careers finally set in.

[ILLsmak]

We lost to Gordon both times that year.

For us to beat Kansas we'll have to slow the game down, not give up as many turnovers as we did last night, and rebound the ball. If they dominate us on offensive rebounding, our night can get ugly really fast.

We got kind of lucky tonight cause UNLV is such a terrible 3 pt shooting team. They got some awfully good looks in our man-to-man defense. The zone worked when it is there, but Kansas will be ready from the three.

If DMac and Davis are on at the same time, we lose few games. Period. They obviously didn't want their seasons to end last night. Sager even talked about how DMac pulled all the seniors together and riled them up for the game to get to the Sweet 16. Better late than never, but their finality of their careers finally set in.

Wow, I've even rewritten the past. haha... I remember winning. I guess we 'almost' won... as usual. Good look.

I dunno, I think UNLV was supposed to be a good shooting team and they just went cold luckily. What I heard from their stupid fans on espn was that they were on fire lately and gonna shoot us out of the building. But man they were throwing it off the side of the backboard.

I think we played great defense and got some balls, too...

No matter the seeding UNLV was definitely a should win game. BTW: Michigan is a good team... even if Tim Jr is a freshman dude is a stud.


I don't wanna say what we what we need to do to beat Kansas. We basically have to make shots and they have to miss. That's how we'll win.

Oh one more thing about UNLV... one of the things you didn't mention. They let us get out on the break on them. A lot. That was probably why we won big and why guys had such good % shooting games.

Too bad Tizzy got a dunk blocked off his head... lol

-Smak

[wang4three]

UNLV is like a 33% shooting team from 3. They're not a good three point shooting team at all and it definitely showed. We didn't really get to see the real UNLV team till the latter half of the 2nd half. Where they were scrappy, tenacious, and generating turnovers for fast break. Luckily for us the game was already out of hand.

I think we were allowed to break so much cause they were jacking up longer range shots which created long rebounds and we got on the break. It's great, I'd love to see us be on the break more.

Essentially, if we win tomorrow, Bruce is no longer on the hot seat in my opinion. He can redeem himself from what has been a serious let-down of a season. And if we win, we're facing Richmond to be in the Elite 8.

But can't get ahead of myself.. We need to rebound. Mike Davis is going to have to garble anything that comes off the rim. Tisdale too, but I'm not holding my breath for Tisdale to become a great rebounder. It'll have to be the collective responsibility of Demitri, Brandon, Richmond, Cole, to hit the boards. If Kansas is continually getting second chance opportunities, we'll be down and we haven't been good playing from behind this season.

Slowing the game, Wisky style would help. They're a young team, they like to run and use their athleticism. We convert it into a half court game, their inexperience will show.

Also, I expect Demitri to destroy whoever is on him. Whether it's Selby or Taylor or whoever. He should be bullying them with a size and strength advantage and getting to the lane and getting fouled. It'd be huge if he could get one of the Morris twins in foul trouble. Him and Brandon will need to continually attack the bigs. We have the guard advantage, be nice if we utilized it.

[wang4three]

Also the rumors circulating about Jereme better be overblown...

[ILLsmak]

Yeah... well Weber won't be able to win this game with his coaching. If we win this game, it would be an epic win, but the players have to do it. I'd say this is the 2nd biggest game I've seen as an Illini fan... the other one being the NC. But the reason this is big is because we've all been waiting to play Kansas and we know they'd never schedule us. As you know, we have talent... but we have to come out and play. It'll be important to establish a good rhythm.

I disagree with people saying slow the game down, too. What do we have in the half court? Tisdale in the post? We can get some good jumper looks with our offense... and some backdoor cuts, of course, but I think we can run with anyone including Kansas. And I think the scariest part of Kansas is their bigs. And while they run, too, I don't wanna see them get set.

We are a running team, **** that... I wanna see us push it. If they stop us, I don't wanna see us force a shot, but we should run every time we can and if not then we run offense... but also at a fast pace. Fast pace is how guys like Davis score, how guys like Tisdale get 3s... and how our guards get scores. Guys like McCamey and Paul will pull it on the break.

And I am sad if Jereme won't play because he could be a huge asset. I am not saying we are gonna run Kansas out of the gym... but I wanna see us run with them. I think you might be surprised at how well we compete if we can push the tempo. If we slow it down, you'll see us doing shit like we have in every game that we choked away... backing the ball out and being scared to shoot.

Edit: You know man Tisdale isn't a bad rebounder... he's great at tipping stuff even though he doesn't have the strength to box out. He's like Big Z in the NBA. If he's under the rim, he'll get his hand on the ball a lot.

-Smak

[bootsy]

Yeah... well Weber won't be able to win this game with his coaching. If we win this game, it would be an epic win, but the players have to do it. I'd say this is the 2nd biggest game I've seen as an Illini fan... the other one being the NC. But the reason this is big is because we've all been waiting to play Kansas and we know they'd never schedule us. As you know, we have talent... but we have to come out and play. It'll be important to establish a good rhythm.

I disagree with people saying slow the game down, too. What do we have in the half court? Tisdale in the post? We can get some good jumper looks with our offense... and some backdoor cuts, of course, but I think we can run with anyone including Kansas. And I think the scariest part of Kansas is their bigs. And while they run, too, I don't wanna see them get set.

We are a running team, **** that... I wanna see us push it. If they stop us, I don't wanna see us force a shot, but we should run every time we can and if not then we run offense... but also at a fast pace. Fast pace is how guys like Davis score, how guys like Tisdale get 3s... and how our guards get scores. Guys like McCamey and Paul will pull it on the break.

And I am sad if Jereme won't play because he could be a huge asset. I am not saying we are gonna run Kansas out of the gym... but I wanna see us run with them. I think you might be surprised at how well we compete if we can push the tempo. If we slow it down, you'll see us doing shit like we have in every game that we choked away... backing the ball out and being scared to shoot.

Edit: You know man Tisdale isn't a bad rebounder... he's great at tipping stuff even though he doesn't have the strength to box out. He's like Big Z in the NBA. If he's under the rim, he'll get his hand on the ball a lot.

-Smak

[wang4three]

I disagree with people saying slow the game down, too. What do we have in the half court? Tisdale in the post? We can get some good jumper looks with our offense... and some backdoor cuts, of course, but I think we can run with anyone including Kansas. And I think the scariest part of Kansas is their bigs. And while they run, too, I don't wanna see them get set.

We are a running team, **** that... I wanna see us push it. If they stop us, I don't wanna see us force a shot, but we should run every time we can and if not then we run offense... but also at a fast pace. Fast pace is how guys like Davis score, how guys like Tisdale get 3s... and how our guards get scores. Guys like McCamey and Paul will pull it on the break.[/quote]

The problem with running is that they can run too. They have great finishers around the rim and they're just as athletic and fast. They're a young, inexperienced team. We're a senior-led team. We should have better coordination and chemistry. That's the whole point of the motion offense no? That we're able to find open players for jump shots or create different scoring opportunities. The system has to work, otherwise we're going to end up playing pick up basketball like we did at Ohio State. That was what happened when we tried to run. We got out scored at our own game.

Slow the game, control pace, and put them out of their comfort zone. That's how we'll win. Not by playing exactly the way the want to play.

Edit: You know man Tisdale isn't a bad rebounder... he's great at tipping stuff even though he doesn't have the strength to box out. He's like Big Z in the NBA. If he's under the rim, he'll get his hand on the ball a lot.

-Smak

He's a terrible rebounder for his size. Big Z was a pretty good offensive rebounder in his day and I don't see Tisdale doing the same. Big Z was averaging near 4 offensive rebounds in the NBA at one point. Tisdale is barely clutching onto 2 in college against players much shorter than him. Tisdale's reaction time to rebounding, along with being boxed out by the likes of Zack Novak are just poor. I hate when I see him try to tip it because it doesn't go anywhere we want it to go.

Davis is the primary rebounding threat for us and I hope Demitiri, Richardson, and Paul understand that they have to try to rebound as much as they can tonight.

[ILLsmak]

Thing is, running is running... if we get a layup that doesn't mean somehow we are vulnerable to a lay up. Obviously you have to be able to get back on D, too. And not turn it over. But our defense, not our offense, will dictate if they run against us.

On the other side, we need to go at them. I'd rather lose big playing hard than grind out a game where we are down 6 the whole thing until the end when they put us away.

The motion offense is to get a shot, for sure, but if we get out, then we get out. We really got out on UNLV. Not that it's comparable... but you saw how well we did.

Basically, we have option number 2 in the motion... and a late game option in the motion. But I wanna see them stop us from running first. We've got some amazing defenders in a fast paced game, too.

And about Tisdale, I don't agree. I think it's a poor defensive rebounder and not a good jumper... and saying "for his size" is kind of misleading. He is great offensively keeping balls alive. He's getting more offensive rebounds than Davis despite the fact that he's often outside the 3 point line and playing less minutes. And that doesn't count the balls he tips or that he gets a hand on that go out of bounds. Or gets fouled. He's not as bad as you are making him out to be... I'm not a Tisdale fan but I'm saying he does come up with some good rebounds on the offensive end.

Anyway, go illini... I'm getting pumped.

-Smak

[wang4three]

I have a response, but I will not make it till after the game. Don't want to jinx anything. For now, whatever game plan we have, lets hope we commit and stay on course. Go Illini!

[wang4three]

I feel awful for Mike Davis... I'm proud to have ever watch him play. I hope he makes it.

[ILLsmak]

I feel awful for Mike Davis... I'm proud to have ever watch him play. I hope he makes it.

I am a sucker... I think Mike Davis is one of those guys that didn't work hard enough on his game. He could have made the NBA but he just got cocky. He was too busy shooting stupid floaters. But as the end of the season came around, he really put his all into it. So, seeing him put the towel over his head was definitely a sad moment.

Tisdale went hard, too.

I wish we would have pushed it a bit more... I wish we could have got some more calls, but all in all I am not disappointed. We gave a good effort.

Edit: Coulda used Jereme, too. I bet he's gone. And DJ is just a stud...screw that whole shooting slump, man he is clutch. Tough loss but they had the better team.



-Smak

[bootsy]

I am a sucker... I think Mike Davis is one of those guys that didn't work hard enough on his game. He could have made the NBA but he just got cocky. He was too busy shooting stupid floaters. But as the end of the season came around, he really put his all into it. So, seeing him put the towel over his head was definitely a sad moment.

Tisdale went hard, too.

I wish we would have pushed it a bit more... I wish we could have got some more calls, but all in all I am not disappointed. We gave a good effort.

Edit: Coulda used Jereme, too. I bet he's gone. And DJ is just a stud...screw that whole shooting slump, man he is clutch. Tough loss but they had the better team.



-Smak

I don't but I sure would like to know what he did to not play in the most important game of the last 5 years. Hopefully we'll find out.