Good teams without their leading scorers can lose games at home against conference opponents when their other good players don't pick up the slack. Great teams wouldn't have any problem. This is a good team. Not a great one. This good team is gonna need some breaks now to squeeze into the tournament. This was one of the easiest games left on the schedule.
Good, but not great
- Thread starter Medill '03
- Start date
Illinois has good talent and played better tonight than they have almost all season. It was like watching another team out there tonight. We have to play smarter than we did tonight; Brown needs to settle down. We miss Lindsey bigtime right now. Mac did a heck of a job keeping us in this one, but what the heck is wrong with his shoes?
I knew that this would be a loss for some reason. It seems like NU fans always count their chickens and then the team lays an egg in a crucial game.
I knew that this would be a loss for some reason. It seems like NU fans always count their chickens and then the team lays an egg in a crucial game.
The next step in the cycle is a mass meltdown and a recounting of the Shurna concussion, the Coble vacation and every other mishap in NU basketball history. This loss sucked, especially for those of us from Illinois, but we still have a good chance at making the tournament.
I didn't think they played all that well. Thirty percent shooting and just atrocious defense by everyone not named Law, McIntosh or Lumpkin will make terrible teams look good.
Hopefully it is a wakeup call, otherwise NIT. Even Hill looked surprised that they won in the postgame interview.
Hopefully it is a wakeup call, otherwise NIT. Even Hill looked surprised that they won in the postgame interview.
this... and it is not new. The Cats shooting is just not holding up as the season wears on. I haven't plotted the data, but my gut tells me we have a steady downward trend since the start of the season, and would expect a more dramatic trend vs. the P5 conference team average. Collins is saying it has to do with the quality of the looks. Maybe, but I really expect them to make more of the shots with the looks they are getting.
This is the smartest statement I've seen so far. A horrible Illini team shot 45% and 42% from three.
This friggin' team shot 18% from 3 at home against Minnesota the other night.
Depending on Brown and Taphorn out there on defense is a killer.
No "maybe" regarding the NIT. The 'Cats will be in postseason.
Things certainly look dicey at the moment, but winning just three more games gives the 'Cats an opportunity to sweat out it out with the rest of the bubble on selection Sunday.
The shooting slump won't last forever. There will be nights going forward where the team gets hot, regardless of Lindsey's status. The question is how many of those games will there be and can the team avoid getting worn down (on defense) in the meantime.
We're definitely seeing why Brown doesn't get more playing time. You can maybe get away with him or McIntosh out there but certainly not both. Just not enough size and athleticism on D without Lindsey.
If Mac company had hid a few of the early inside shots, it would have forced the D to adjust. Or if they had hit acouplefrom3early, it would have opened up the inside.
I strongly disagree about the "not the NCAA" part of your post. Things don't need to turn around dramatically. Win three of the next 7 games and they are still safely in the NCAA Tournament, because there will need to be one quality win for that to happen, and they still have no bad losses, unless you count losing at home bad. But Illinois is still safely in the top 100 for the time being.
I say as far as winning at Wisconsin, why can't that be us? It would be very tough, and we would need Lindsey back obviously, but Wisconsin is due for a letdown. Heck they almost blew one against Rutgers, although on the road.
Totally agreed. There were many aspects of this game that had nothing to do with Lindsey being out. NW has enough quality players still playing where they should be able to win games like this. That said, Illinois actually played up to their talent level for once which has been quite rare for them. So again, not a damaging loss in terms of RPI or their tournament resume, but it makes it more difficult for NW to get those remaining three wins they will most likely need to get into the NCAA Tournament. But if they do, as I said in my previous post, they will earn one more top 50 win to do that, and that will only help their resume more.
I think this has less to do with the season going on and more with them just throwing up some forced shots tonight. They panicked at times, and that did not help their shooting percentage. As well as he scored tonight, Macintosh made some sloppy passes and poor decisions, again having less to do with the team being shorthanded and more with the players attempting rushed shots.
It sounds like Lindsey could be back against Wisconsin. Him practicing today and being at the game is very encouraging. And thanks for being the voice of reason Columbus. Most everyone believes 10-8 in the conference gets them into the NCAA Tournament. Obviously with the start they have had, fans are probably hoping for better than that which in turn would give them a better seed. But right now, let's just get into the tournament this year so they can finally break their drought. And 10-8 means at least one win against a great opponent which would seal things up as far as the NCAA Tournament goes.
I don't think 10-8 gets them in. Especially because that means losing a lot of games down the stretch. That will look bad to the committee. I think last night was a must win and now we will have to knock off either Wisconsin or Purdue.
Lindsey is probably out for Wisconsin. Teddy said they are hoping he is back for the Maryland game. What have you seen the last 2 games without Scottie, that makes you think we can win @Wisc? They play good D and we won't get open shots. And we can't even hit open shots at this point.
I'm trying hard to find 3-4 wins left on our schedule. I think Maryland at home is a must win. Hopefully Scottie is near 100% for that game, we will need him.
Has any team ever been top 25 in Feb and not made the tourney?
Agree that the D for Tap and brown was less then average but also the lack of protecting in he paint was equally bad. Don't think that Pardon blocked a shot and "our top D guy" Lumpkin was losing man quite a bit. Think the lack of depth is really starting to show now that Lindsey is down. Guys like Falzon and Rap certainly could have helped and let's not forget that we're playing with a short squad because of the "schlorship held hostage". Still think three more wins are doable, add two BTT wins and NU goes "dancing".
The worst part of watching the Illini is the improving play of Kipper Nichols who was the target for the Vassar scholarship.
This goes back to the question about Benson last night. There HAD to be 10 mins out there for him somewhere.
I hope you do... we need the Badgers to lose twice so my Boilers can win the Big 10 again
Your thoughts regarding the conference are correct, but when you take into consideration how weak the bubble is this year (especially the mid majors), I can imagine scenarios where 10 BIG wins gets it done. Certainly not a lock, but not a guaranteed ticket to the NIT either.
That being said, getting in with 10 would be a tight squeeze (likely trip to Dayton) and NU has to avoid a loss on Thursday in DC. Two wins at the BTT would make for a less stressful March 12th.
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This team was going to lose one of these games it was "supposed" to win. Almost every team does. We have yet to take a game we were "supposed" to lose, so it just becomes more necessary to beat a Wisconsin or Maryland or Purdue in the upcoming weeks.
