Penn State 38 - Illinois 33 .. Mens Hoops

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Mustang

38 - 33? These guys would be proud




I like the coach's name though. Wonder if he was inspiration for the group.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

This is like that photographer that does the piles of nudes....This is just a bit much for me.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

Well, I went to my first IU game in several years. Been fairly mad at the program since Knight left...never got into Davis and thought Sampson was a horrible hire.

Saw IU play Wisconsin. They played hard and were only down one at halftime then talent caught up and Wisconsin won by 17.

Wisconsin's style of play is horrible to watch. Pound, pound, pound, and occasionally kick it out for a 3.

IU, though, got up and down the floor. Trouble is they have no talent. I'm really starting to be a believer in Tom Crean. Once he gets some talent, IU will be a fun team to watch.

On a side note, I went down to the floor after the game because I was trying to meet Calbert Cheaney, who was the honorary captain. Ran into Coach Crean and he came up, shook my hand, thanked me for coming and and supporting IU basketball. He did this to EVERYONE in the hallway. Wow. It really impressed me.

I grew up watching IU play and year in and out you felt like IU always had a chance to be a decent team, and many times a national contender. For the first time in years I have hope.

The Big Ten isn't what it was in the late 80s-early 90s, but it's got a lot of powerhouse schools. They'll be back. I just hope more teams eventually adopt IU's new philosophy of pushing the ball up the court.

Didn't Davis take the team to the title game? I understand that his performance after that warranted a firing, but how were you not "into" a team that made the national championship game?

How long will the Crean lovefest happen? What if two seasons from now the team still stinks? Will they be lauded for "playing hard" and "being upstanding young men and coaches"?

[Kodos]

Honestly, I don't see any way that they aren't pretty good within a couple seasons. With not much talent on the floor, they have given a lot of teams a good fight. I'm sure there are those that will disagree. I guess we'll just have to let time settle it. I, for one, am very optimistic about IU's Basketball future.

[INDalltheway]

Originally Posted by Radii

I would disagree entirely with that and state that the entire reason I find many big 10 games unwatchable is that a game between two teams where the final score is 52-47 is not entertaining to me at all as a neutral observer. The Big 10 has way too many games like that.

Sooner hit the nail on the head. It's like there is this stigma (I think that's the word I'm looking for) that the Big Ten is supposed to be more aggressive, and a tougher league than the rest. So it honestly seems like the refs call much less leading to "better" defense and lower scoring. Teams like Penn State, Iowa, and even Wisconsin at times do play such a old school pace of basketball which I totally agree is boring and makes me want to pull my hair out. You can't generalize the whole conference on a few teams though in my opinion.

When Big Ten teams get outside of the conference they score. I will give you some scores from the NCAA tournament last year.. Purdue 90 - Baylor 79, Arkansas 86 - Indiana 72, Wisconsin scored over 70 in both of their games and Mich. St. averaged right around 70 points. I could just go on and on with examples, but it's really not worth anyone's time.

[INDalltheway]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Honestly, I don't see any way that they aren't pretty good within a couple seasons. With not much talent on the floor, they have given a lot of teams a good fight. I'm sure there are those that will disagree. I guess we'll just have to let time settle it. I, for one, am very optimistic about IU's Basketball future.

Crean's a good coach and they are going to be back in a few years. I go to Purdue and left the game Saturday happy with that we beat you guys but realizing how good this guy is going to be for IU basketball. I was sitting about 20-30ft from the IU bench and Crean was more energetic than any visiting coach I've seen in 3 years at Mackey. At times a little too cheerleader-like, but I imagine he pulls out all the stops with the team he's inherited. My point is, kids are going to want to play for him, and play really hard. As funny as it was to rip on IU because "they play so hard" I really do respect the way they play. In the meantime I will enjoy the ass kickings we deliver to the Loosiers!

[Fighter of Foo]

Originally Posted by INDalltheway

Teams like Penn State, Iowa, and even Wisconsin at times do play such a old school pace of basketball which I totally agree is boring and makes me want to pull my hair out. You can't generalize the whole conference on a few teams though in my opinion.

I went and looked up the pace numbers for the major conferences, and sure enough, the big 10 as an entire conference is slow as dirt. Indiana's actually the highest paced team at 64 possessions per game. Wisconsin and Iowa bring up the slowest at around 59/game.

The Pac-10 is pretty slow too, namely Washington St and Oregon St, but you would expect shit teams to keep the pace down to increase their chances of winning. At least Washington runs. The big 10 doesn't have anyone like that.

The slowest team in the ACC, NC State, averages about as many possessions per game as Indiana (fastest in the Big 10). ACC teams average 7-10 more possessions a game.

So of course Big 10 teams score more out of conference. No other major conference in college basketball besides the Pac-10 plays anywhere near as slow.

In conclusion, I don't understand how anyone who's not a supporter of one of these schools watches this stuff. It's one thing for a team to be talented but play at a slow pace (like Wisconsin recently), and faster play doesn't mean better, but slow and shitty is just plain boring to watch.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Didn't Davis take the team to the title game? I understand that his performance after that warranted a firing, but how were you not "into" a team that made the national championship game?

How long will the Crean lovefest happen? What if two seasons from now the team still stinks? Will they be lauded for "playing hard" and "being upstanding young men and coaches"?

You have to think of "into" it as a relative term. I remember a lot of IU fans during that run thinking "great, now they'll never get rid of Davis" Yeah, odd you could say that about a National runner-up, but Davis is not a great coach. Watch highlights of that run. Coverdale got absolutely hot in that tournament and Jeffries was auditioning for the NBA. It was a team on a hot streak, never did I think Davis out coached anyone.

Davis also got slammed for his recruiting faux pas. He had a legitimate shot at Oden and blew up because he refused to recruit his friend.

I don't think anyone can honestly assume Crean will have the same talent 2 years from now that he has this year. His track record proves he can recruit, in fact, he's got a highly touted group coming in next year.

All I know is after Sampson did so much to get away from the traditions of IU that a lot of people respect Crean for embracing it. One guy that works in our district was a manager for IU for 4 years. He went to the big reunion Crean held over the summer for the basketball alum. Maybe he'll fall on his face, but to embrace the fans and talk to them has earned a lot of people's respect, including mine.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Thanks for reminding me that it could be worse, Kodos. I could be rooting for Indiana this year.

Seriously, why do Indiana fans have such a hard-on for Weber? Because he said that IU would suck this year? Or that he called out Sampson for being a low life scumball before your fanbase realized it? Or am I missing something?

Nice loss to the Hilltoppers, Bruce!

[hoopsguy]

Please bump this thread the next time that the Illini go 1-17 in conference. K, thx.

[kingnebwsu]

Ba-zing!

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Please bump this thread the next time that the Illini go 1-17 in conference. K, thx.

How about every time they are eliminated from a tournament by a team they should wipe the floor with.