[Oskee] Sigh

Mon Mar 9 10:53:15 EDT 2009

I think that when we play teams that don't know all of our "stuff",
we'll be much better off.  Depending on matchups, I can still see this
team winning twice in the NCAA tournament.    Strangely, I think two
wins in that tournament might be easier to come by than two wins in the
BTT.  

From: oskee-bounces at heins.net [mailto:oskee-bounces at heins.net] On Behalf
Of gtillini95 at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 2:00 PM
To: oskee at heins.net
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Sigh

You make valid points John.  Guess I'd say "tinker" may be a stronger
word than "mess" when describing the adjustments I'd like to see made;-)

Maybe it all depends on how we became successful this season and if that
translates into postseason success.  An element of the Henson years that
bothered me is that we had successful regular seasons and flopped in
March.  Purdue fans during the Keady era had similar issues.  Many of
the Purdue teams manufactured success, but really weren't playing well
enough to win outside of the conference.    

The NU game at Evanston bought us some more time at the top, but it
highlighted real flaws too.  The difference between top and bottom in
the Big Ten is razor thin.  I hope I'm wrong, but we've gotten by at
times this year with smoke and mirrors.  Better than expected, of
course, but tournament play is a completely different bird.  I say
tinker!

OWW!

GT  

-----Original Message-----
From: John Livengood <jdlive at yahoo.com>
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee at heins.net>
Sent: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 12:51 pm
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Sigh

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. 

________________________________

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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