[Oskee] wow

[Hooker, Anthony]

Hats off to the Illini!  It looked to me like the juniors finally
decided that they have to be leaders, even if it's not really in their
nature.  Tizzy used all 6000 calories in the second half.  I thought his
post defense was pretty good against one of the best bigs we'll see all
season.    It was pretty funny that Jimmy Dykes mentioned Bruce telling
the team that if "they're going to flunk the walkthrough, they won't
have much chance in the game", or something to that effect.  JJ, Cole,
Keller, even Semrau, gave some good minutes off the bench and DJ and
Paul are  FEARLESS!   I hope Alex gets his mojo back.  I still think
he'll be important in future games.  

 

From: oskee-bounces at heins.net [mailto:oskee-bounces at heins.net] On Behalf
Of Robert Mingee
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 9:10 AM
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List
Subject: Re: [Oskee] wow

 

I don't think I'd ever truly give up and not watch/finish a basketball
game, but I freely admit I was tempted to start fast-forwarding at the
beginning of the second half, since I took a break for dinner at
halftime.  We just looked awful in the first half.  We seemed clueless
about handling the press (WAY too much dribbling, not enough movement
and passing), or even the tight half-court D, and just had no emotion or
energy, so we were getting our butts kicked on the glass as well.
Sounds like from what the announcers said the pre-game walkthrough was
the same way, and Bruce was really on them about it.  The announcers
were making such a huge deal about how McCamey was on the bench, but
honestly, I just don't think that was nearly the factor they were
trumping it up to be.

Clearly something happened at halftime.  Whether Bruce finally got
through to them, or one of the players finally stepped up and spoke out,
who knows.  But you could just see it in their eyes at the start of the
second half -- they were sick and tired of getting kicked around.  I
never thought of Davis as the leader type, and he still wasn't vocal at
all, but the intensity on his face and body language spoke volumes.
Shoot, even Tisdale looked fired up, and I honestly wonder at times if
he's even fully awake out there. :-)

I have to wonder if the press and high-intensity D didn't ultimately
backfire on them.  I was a little surprised they were still running it
at the start of the second half with the lead over 20, not because we
couldn't come back (clearly, though there's no way I'd have bet money we
would), but because it takes a lot of energy.  They are deep, and were
subbing a lot, but at some point you just run out of gas if you never
allow yourself time to catch your breath.  They did back off on it
occasionally once the run started, but it seemed too late.  I was a
little disappointed that we never seemed to make them pay for it with
fast-break points or wide-open looks underneath, but hopefully that'll
come with time -- again, I thought we were dribbling way too much, and
you'll never make a team pay for pressing that way.  It was really our D
finally stepping up and just the overall intensity and energy level (and
hitting shots, obviously) that sparked the comeback.

I'm sure we will still struggle often this season -- that's just the
nature of a young team that still doesn't have a clear leader.  But last
night showed that the talent is there, and when the guys turn up the
intensity and play together, they can swing a game in the right
direction very quickly.  And even though we didn't make as many FTs as
I'd like to see down the stretch, we didn't panic, and we didn't give
up.  I'm really glad we pulled it out, because I still feel that the
damage done to team morale with a 3rd loss in a row, especially after
clawing back from so far down, would have been extremely difficult for
even Bruce to deal with, and he's one of the best in the business.  And
man, it is really fitting that we helped win the first Challenge ever
for the Big Ten after (IMHO) we lost it for the conference last year by
losing to Clemson at home.

Now let's see if we can keep this momentum rolling!

I...   L...   L...   !!!!

-- robert

 

________________________________

From: "Arbuckle, Jeanne" <jarbuck at ilstu.edu>
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee at heins.net>
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 7:45:39 AM
Subject: [Oskee] wow

I guess we had to go through a lousy football season to properly
appreciate last night. I hope no one gave up at halftime.

 

Jeanne

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