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Illinois vs #5 OH State

Didn't get to see either game except for the last 22 seconds of Illinois game....nice game for Paul......it would still be nice to value the ball more but if you can score 43 then having a few too may turnovers is no big deal:)
 
Illinois continues to do what they need to do to win...
I know they look shaky at times - but they're 15-3 with all three losses to teams (UNLV, PURDUE, Mizzou) who have spent plenty of time in the Top 25.

Last night's game was quite enjoyable to watch as they play quite well in many phases of the game -

Sammy is still in the top 3 or 4 of at least 10 Illini statistical categories..and plans to play at Penn State a week from tomorrow.
(minutes played per game, 3-pt shooting pct, 3-pt FG's made, FT shooting pct, FT made, assists, assist to turnover ratio (43/19!), steals, total points scored, and scoring average..)
 
I'll take flukish now and then...I think it's great if we had a guy who was red hot, the rest of the team recognized it and fed him the ball, and he went for 40!

but... here are Brandon Paul's shooting percentages since the UNLV game on Dec. 17...
4-8
8-16
5-8
7-15
4-12
4-13
11-15
..and in four of those 7 games he's hit at least 38% of his 3-pt attempts..
and he's 19-42 (45.2%) since then...and when he's hot he's hot...

We do have TB - who in that exact same interval - the last 7 games -
has hit 42-79 (53.2%) and 13-21 (62%) from 3-pt range - maybe we need to feed him the ball more...
 
tornado said:
I'll take flukish now and then...I think it's great if we had a guy who was red hot, the rest of the team recognized it and fed him the ball, and he went for 40!

but... here are Brandon Paul's shooting percentages since the UNLV game on Dec. 17...
4-8
8-16
5-8
7-15
4-12
4-13
11-15
..and in four of those 7 games he's hit at least 38% of his 3-pt attempts..
and he's 19-42 (45.2%) since then...and when he's hot he's hot...

We do have TB - who in that exact same interval - the last 7 games -
has hit 42-79 (53.2%) and 13-21 (62%) from 3-pt range - maybe we need to feed him the ball more...
Click to expand...

Versace would have told the team to make sure Taylor gets a touch on every possession , probably would have seen double screens or whatever else it took to get him the ball.When a player is hot you need to pass him the ball and he needs to keep shooting it as long as he gets open looks.
 
As much as I like SM and as much as the ESPN announcers kept bringing up the point that Illinois's point guard wasn't playing, IMO Illinois wouldn't have won if SM was playing last night.
 
I am not sure how you can conclude that. On the other hand, since Sam averages way more assists than anyone else on the Illini except Paul, maybe if Sam was playing Paul would have gotten as many or more shots than he got and Illinois wins easily. Most nights Illinois would have lost that game. It took a once-in-a-career shooting night by Brandon Paul to pull it out. Over the course of the season, they'll win more games running Weber's offense, which didn't happen much last night.
Over the course of this season, IMO, Illinois is a better team and will win more games with Sam playing than with him out of the lineup. There were some who predicted he'd be a benchwarmer and an insignificant contributor at Illinois, but already he's proven to be a valuable part of the team, averaging 10 ppg, and 3 apg with by far the best assist/turnover ratio on the team.
 
real fan said:
Versace would have told the team to make sure Taylor gets a touch on every possession , probably would have seen double screens or whatever else it took to get him the ball.When a player is hot you need to pass him the ball and he needs to keep shooting it as long as he gets open looks.
Click to expand...

oh the double screen... how I have missed seeing something that innovative from a Bradley team......
 
Da Coach said:
I am not sure how you can conclude that. On the other hand, since Sam averages way more assists than anyone else on the Illini except Paul, maybe if Sam was playing Paul would have gotten as many or more shots than he got and Illinois wins easily. Most nights Illinois would have lost that game. It took a once-in-a-career shooting night by Brandon Paul to pull it out. Over the course of the season, they'll win more games running Weber's offense, which didn't happen much last night.
Over the course of this season, IMO, Illinois is a better team and will win more games with Sam playing than with him out of the lineup. There were some who predicted he'd be a benchwarmer and an insignificant contributor at Illinois, but already he's proven to be a valuable part of the team, averaging 10 ppg, and 3 apg with by far the best assist/turnover ratio on the team.
Click to expand...

Guess what I meant was that Sam would have been handling the ball a lot more than the other guys and last night everybody was just looking for Paul when it was obvious he had the hot hand and no one player was considered the point guard. Not a knock on Sam.
 
Illini are now all alone in 2nd place in the Big Ten just a game behind Michigan State (who play later today)..
as Michigan loses to Iowa -- pretty amazing - the Big Ten is wide open...
Just 2 games separate 2nd place from 8th place
 
Now the Illini share 1st place (in losses) with Michigan State - as the Trojans went down at Northwestern where Illinois won..
John Shurna had another nice game and 3 key Northwestern players were ailing but they still won..
 
tornado said:
Now the Illini share 1st place (in losses) with Michigan State - as the Trojans went down at Northwestern where Illinois won..
John Shurna had another nice game and 3 key Northwestern players were ailing but they still won..
Click to expand...

Spartans T, don't be getting my Notre Dame rivals mixed up ;)
 
Well, after dropping a stinker at Penn State, the Illini lose to Wisconsin by 4 points at home. Sammy played just 13 minutes with 1 rebound, 1 steal a turnover and a foul. Once again the bench scored no points for the 2nd time in the last 4 games. The other 2 games they only scored 7 points off the bench.

After starting the season 10-0, the Illini are just 5-5 in the last 10.

If they continue to tank the rest of the season, I say Bruce gets canned.

Jason
 
Beninator said:
oh the double screen... how I have missed seeing something that innovative from a Bradley team......
Click to expand...

Oh how about those days of when you doubled up on one of our player we had a few other weapons either inside or out that would burn you. The problem is TB really is not that type of player that will fight through screens for 30-35 min. a game and drain 3s on the move.
 
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