brfrad

Illinois shooting 48.9 %. We are shooting 42.9 %. We have 8 TO's. They have 7. Yet, we are only down 4. How do we face the new adversity? Fold or keep the effort going?

We get in the paint, and throw up a crazy shot hoping to get a foul called.

Our defense is night and day than Saturday. We have much more effort. And, how does Cockburn not have 30 points by now. Huge kudos to Walker. I really love the defensive game plan, so far. We single up on Cockburn, and let him have his. We aren't doubling him every time he touches the ball. I don't mind doubles, but I don't think we need to do it every time. This team is not as bad as Saturday's performance. They took OSU to OT. We were within 6 points to MSU on the road with 6 minutes to go. The key to this team is how we face adversity. Do we come out and give 40 minutes of effort? Or, when we get down to Rutgers, do we let it snowball?

Andre might get snapped in half by Cockburn.

I've never seen someone get away with elbows, dipping shoulders into the defender, forearm shivers, etc. as Cockburn. No way Cockburn should have 0 fouls right now, and Walker with 2.

Bryce took 9 shots, and only 2 were from 3. IIRC, both 3's were open shots. We shot 33.3 % from 3.

Illinois 68 Nebraska 59

Well, that wasn't pretty. We went 6 - 18 from 3. That's good. Our communication was horrible. It looked like some trips down the court, half our team was in zone, and the other half was in man. We did beat this Rutgers team by 21 last year. Sometimes, it's just not your night. The sad part is sometimes it is our night AKA Ohio State, and we still lose. We did not force turnovers, and made way too many turnovers. Each player needs to do some soul searching, and find their competitiveness.

Tough to win when your 2 leading scorers go 7 - 26, 1 - 8 from 3, and 3 - 3 from the line. This coming from guys who average roughly 31.0 points combined coming into the game.

Rutgers is tough at home. We bring the energy of the last 2 games, take good shots, force turnovers, and take care of the ball, we should have a chance.

I went through some mock drafts, I found a couple with late 1st rounds, and some with early 2nd rounds. I think maybe we have a glimmer of hope to get Bryce back next year, and if we can convince him, maybe Trey comes back.

All he needs is 2 or 3 to buy-in the first year. You get 3 4 stars to play hard, and they come back, you bring in another 4 the following year. Get 3 more to buy-in plus the 3 to continue to buy-in. Pretty soon you have a roster of players all buying-in.

Agreed Players we really need back : Trey Bryce Walker Keisei Wilcher McPherson Andre Wilhelm Edwards Players I expect back Keisi Wilcher Wilhelm McPherson

Rotation and minutes : PG Kobe 35 minutes SG Verge 35 minutes, if he doesn't throw up wild shots SF Bryce 35 minutes PF Wilcher 25 minutes C Walker 30 minutes Andre 10 minutes Lat 5 minutes Lakes 10 minutes (Had 2 of the best boxouts I've seen this year) Keisi 15 minutes

Rutgers 75 Nebraska 70

Because he has about 9 or 10 of those to take your spot if you don't.

He settled far too much. Took bad shots. Needs to be aggressive. 9 2's and 7 3's not his game. He had 13 2's and 6 3's against OSU. I think he needs to be about 14 2's and 3 3's.

No BTN bias. 2 minutes to go in the game. "We're going to have Tom Izzo following the game." That game was much closer than the score indicated. I've never seen a more unlucky team. We had 3 good looks that went halfway down.

And, now another 3.

And, then we make a 30 foot 3.

Did the MSU guy travel? I don't know? Can you take 3 steps and drag your pivot foot 2 feet? Probably depends on the color of your jersey.

I know our chances of winning are slim, but this showing gives me hope. Our last 2 games we went toe-to-toe with probably the best 2 teams in the country, one on the road. We get down 10 against MSU, and we aren't wilting. We take a tough loss to OSU, and follow it by not moping and coming out tough against MSU. Verge is perplexing tonight. At times, he plays really good, at other times he plays out of control. Do you sit him, or let him play? Probably let him play.

So, backing a guy under the basket to allow the PG to drive, is not a moving screen?

Izzo gave a great pep talk to the refs at halftime.

We also are the only team that hugs a player and gets called for a foul. MSU does it and it is a jump ball. * Granted ours was a little more obvious.