[Oskee] Sigh

Sun Mar 8 12:51:12 EDT 2009

Not sure why you want to start messing with what has been a pretty successful thing? 23-8, the loss to PSU was the first time we'd lost 2 in a row all season, and we really didn't play that poorly vs MSU or PSU. Brock played more minutes Thursday anyway and played well. I don't think it matters that much who starts, he'll get more minutes if that's the more effective lineup. If Meacham isn't hitting shots, Brock is probably the best option to get more time. 

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From: "gtillini95 at aol.com" <gtillini95 at aol.com>
To: oskee at heins.net
Sent: Friday, March 6, 2009 8:51:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Sigh

Maybe playing on a neutral court from here on out will make a difference, but the offensive inconsistency we've seen from the current starting five doesn't lead me to believe we're going to see anything beyond the second round in either upcoming tournament.  

Maybe it's time to send the kids a message.  The beauty of the BTT is that it gets everyone into a one-and-done mindset before the Big Dance.  It's March and timid isn't going to cut it.  What if we plug Calvin into the starting lineup?  Crank up the defense, get a few additional points and light a fire under the zombies.  

What's the worst that can happen, we score 32 points?  

Time to light a fire coach.  Shake things up an start Calvin.

OWW!

Geoff      

-----Original Message-----
From: DJField <djfield0 at yahoo.com>
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee at heins.net>
Sent: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 11:58 am
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Sigh

Yes, a real downer there. We do need something positive to happen in the B10 tournament to get a little momentum going. 

I have to wonder how the big dance is going to be officiated. Only the big ten seems to be intent on letting the guys bang it out. Other conferences like to see free throws.  The thing that keeps nagging at me is that we are a very good defensive team, but if we start mixing it up big ten style, and getting into foul trouble we'll have another UI/Washington (2006) disaster. And I still don't trust our free throw shooting to hold up.

Our "balanced offense" is very misleading. Yes we get scoring from all corners, but it seems like when it stalls out for some, it stalls out for everyone. A couple of wins in the dance will happen only if the whole team is hot.

Still time to build some optimism. And a week off might not be a bad thing at this point.

--- On Fri, 3/6/09, Robert Mingee <mingee at swbell.net> wrote:

From: Robert Mingee <mingee at swbell.net>
Subject: [Oskee] Sigh
To: oskee at heins.net
Date: Friday, March 6, 2009, 9:59 AM

Talk about ending the regular season with a whimper.  Just when I feel like we've turned the corner and can finally close out tough games, we fall on our face like this.  I just knew Davis was going to blow that FT.  I like his skill improvement a lot obviously, but IMHO he's still got a ways to go in the area of mental toughness.  Even with a little help from the refs (basically 4 points spotted to us in a very short period) we just couldn't get it done.  I think at this point I'd have to agree with Lavin and give the nod to DeChellis as BT COY, but Bruce is a close second.

Overall, I'm thrilled with the way the season has turned out, because I'd have laughed at the idea of finishing top 3 in the conference at the beginning of the season, but it's still pretty clear that this team has limitations that will keep it from getting too far in the postseason.  We just don't have a reliable scoring threat who shows up every game, nor do we have a reliable person who can always create offense either for themselves or the rest of the team.  I guess that's to be expected when the core of your talent is still sophs.

Personally, I think Lavin was smoking crack thinking we had any shot at a 3 seed anyway -- we'd have had to beat MSU on our own floor and win out from there to have any hope of that, and even then it was a longshot, IMHO..  Clearly we've got a spot sewn up in the dance no matter what happens now, but in a lot of ways, I'd like to win the BTT to let these guys get a strong taste of winning acomplishment toward the end of the season, so that confidence and expectation of winning can carry over into next season and be instilled in the new guys coming in.  But I'm not really expecting us to win it, and I'm not expecting to last beyond the first weekend of the dance.  If we do, that's great, but my expectations for the season have been so far exceeded, wishing for more now just seems greedy :-).

It's all gravy from here!  Go Illini -- prove me wrong!

-- robert
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