UConn vs Illinois (Final Four)

[Inyatkin]

I'm less interested in the fact that we beat Illinois than I am that Michigan State beat Illinois. And Duke beat Michigan. And Kansas beat Arizona. As well as anyone is playing, none of these are super teams. They're all capable of being taken down if things go right.

 

[superjohn]

These large alumni sports crazy fan bases have a way of dominating the scene. Detroit was flooded with Michigan State fans and there was a heavy disparity. I'd expect the same for this one.

Michigan State is a 1 hour drive to Detroit. University of Illinois is a 2 hour drive to Indy, Chicago is a 3 hour drive to Indy and University of Michigan is a 4 hour drive to Indy. The New York airport flights to Indy are like $4,000 to $5,000.

 

[tzznandrew]

Not sure which team is better for us - Zona has seen us once, but I do think is the better matchup. We don't have much of an answer for Yaxel. He could easily guard Mullens, whereas not sure the reverse would go well. UM might be flummoxed seeing our offense for the first time and forced into a half court game. I also think Tarris could push Mara around better than he could Krivas.

I also think Mays is a better coach than Scheyer. That's the one matchup I'd like least.

Step one is get past a very good Illinois team, though.

 

[noelle]

arizona is definitely the easier matchup, but i think it'll be michigan.

 

[Palatine]

We faced him, he just didn't play great. However, Mullins only played 10 minutes as he was coming back from injury, and Reed was still hobbled.....Illinois is certainly better, but now way can you discount Hurley, this team, and this staff!

He bloomed after our game. The kid is very good.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

I love that we are underdogs. I love that we beat Duke with absolutely no shooting and I love that we are a defensive oriented team now. Defense travels.

 

[caw]

UConn has played way too many close games this year in the BE for the predictives to be good for UConn. That said, I also think the BE and UConn are a bit at odds in how UConn plays and how the BE is called - or the predictives are not a great metric to measure this UConn team. There are now three teams UConn has beaten above UConn in predictives like Kenpom (and MSU is right behind UConn).

They are not as good as 2023, or 2024 but they are still damn good.

I like UConn's chances against any team that doesn't press like MU/SJU and can't mug UConn for 40 minutes.

 

[HW611]

At this point I’ve placed my bet on us to win it all.

Let’s have fun this weekend no matter what on what has been a very successful season!!!

Let’s get 7!!!!

 

[BFieldHusky]

UConn has played way too many close games this year in the BE for the predictives to be good for UConn. That said, I also think the BE and UConn are a bit at odds in how UConn plays and how the BE is called - or the predictives are not a great metric to measure this UConn team. There are now three teams UConn has beaten above UConn in predictives like Kenpom (and MSU is right behind UConn).

They are not as good as 2023, or 2024 but they are still damn good.

I like UConn's chances against any team that doesn't press like MU/SJU and can't mug UConn for 40 minutes.

I said yesterday I really like our chances in this game. Illinois can beat us, but I think we matchup really well with them. The advantage I give them is they have seen us this year, but both teams are so much different now than when we played the day after Thanksgiving.

Illinois deserves to be here, but if you take a look behind the curtain as they say, they beat a 14, 11, 2, and a 9 seed to get here. You have to beat the teams in front of you, but their best win was against a Houston team that can go through more offensive lulles than us. I think like Michigan St, they are going to struggle to guard Alex, and Tarris.

 

[Marat]

I said yesterday I really like our chances in this game. Illinois can beat us, but I think we matchup really well with them. The advantage I give them is they have seen us this year, but both teams are so much different now than when we played the day after Thanksgiving.

Illinois deserves to be here, but if you take a look behind the curtain as they say, they beat a 14, 11, 2, and a 9 seed to get here. You have to beat the teams in front of you, but their best win was against a Houston team that can go through more offensive lulles than us. I think like Michigan St, they are going to struggle to guard Alex, and Tarris.

And in that game Tarris was coming off the injury and extremely limited playing 15 minutes, scoring only 2 points. Mullins also was a non factor off injury with 10 min and 2 pts. So, ...... we are doomed .

 

[jibsey]

There’s no staff better to prepare us for this game. First order of business is to get their heads out of the clouds.

 

[RuffRuff]

I said yesterday I really like our chances in this game. Illinois can beat us, but I think we matchup really well with them. The advantage I give them is they have seen us this year, but both teams are so much different now than when we played the day after Thanksgiving.

Illinois deserves to be here, but if you take a look behind the curtain as they say, they beat a 14, 11, 2, and a 9 seed to get here. You have to beat the teams in front of you, but their best win was against a Houston team that can go through more offensive lulles than us. I think like Michigan St, they are going to struggle to guard Alex, and Tarris.

I think that by the weekend, we'll be either even or favored. I'm with you - that Houston team was really underwhelming the more you looked under the hood. They lacked chemistry and defensive tenacity.

I like our chances, don't love that Indy is only two hours away from their campus.

 

[Umami Zen]

Another couple of days for Silas and Stewie to get healthier. Our shooters to get some shots up. I believe our motion offense presents defensive challenges for their team. We are a mismatch problem for them when we're getting our shots out of our sets and Reed is doing his work in the paint. If we can start converting our threes at a higher percentage - It will be a long night for them. Solid D/ team rebounding /deflections-steals to start some transition fast break opportunities
will be there for us.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

We have a very good chance .

Go Huskies !

I have to think that there has to be trauma from that 30-0 run from 2024. It can only help. lol

 

[Gurleyman]

I have to think that there has to be trauma from that 30-0 run from 2024. It can only help. lol

I don’t think they have any players left from that team. We have AK of course (and Solo-Stewie-Ross, who didn’t play much).

Coaching staffs and fanbases still have the memories burned into their brains of course.

 

[storrsroars]

We're four pages in, yet none of you thought about posting this yet?

 

[RuffRuff]

I don’t think they have any players left from that team. We have AK of course (and Solo-Stewie-Ross, who didn’t play much).

Coaching staffs and fanbases still have the memories burned into their brains of course.

I don't think they had any players from that team last year. The roster diff between then and now is night & day. The one thing this Illinois team is missing is what they lost in Johnson going to Michigan - a big athlete. Taking a look at the Illinois MB quickly, they are pumped for this one. Lot's of recent history with the Illini.

 

[bendm]

Agree. The only thing I worry about is shooting in a football stadium can be really difficult. But this will be Alex's, 3rd time doing it and Solo's ,Jalen and Jayden's second time. That could be an advantage.

Well we can’t shoot it much worse so hopefully the other teams are impacted by it too

I'm less interested in the fact that we beat Illinois than I am that Michigan State beat Illinois. And Duke beat Michigan. And Kansas beat Arizona. As well as anyone is playing, none of these are super teams. They're all capable of being taken down if things go right.

Illinois lost to MSU and UCLA just this month

 

[TroyHall98]

I don’t think Illinois can handle our physicality for an entire game and/or can keep running to keep up with our actions.

 

[superjohn]

Illinois is the tallest team in the country and they now have their defense matching their offensive execution in the tourny but they've had a pretty easy road up until this point in the tournament. Slow Wagler down and keep Stojakovic from scoring on his drives to the rim. I like this matchup for us. Despite their size I don't think they can deal with Tarris. The shots are bound to start falling.

 

[Marat]

I don’t think Illinois can handle our physicality for an entire game and/or can keep running to keep up with our actions.

Physicality will be key. Once we turned up the volume on the defense and aggressiveness in 2nd half vs Duke the game became ours to take.

One thing we'll have to tighten up is the physical defense vs Boswell as he was taking it to us in that game in Nov. Lesson learned.

After Duke defeated Michigan last month , Yaxel was saying that UM was not prepared for their physicality since they didn't face that in the B10 and were not prepared. I think Zona will out-physical UM and therefore win - but hopefully in a battle of attrition.

 

[uconngb]

And in that game Tarris was coming off the injury and extremely limited playing 15 minutes, scoring only 2 points. Mullins also was a non factor off injury with 10 min and 2 pts. So, ...... we are doomed .

Wagler is also a VERY different player now. It's a different matchup. That said, we will still win.

 

[jake14mw]

So, of course I heard all of the hype after we got Braylon Mullins, I was excited like everyone. In the early games, even coming back from injury, you could see the talent and potential. Then of course he had that end of the season where he just couldn't get his shots from distance to fall. I think maybe he's playing with house money from here on? I think this might free his mind and allow him to just let it fly from this point on. We shall see. His mid range game has been amazing, and this might make a guy who becomes a real problem for opponents in the final four.

 

[Tenspro2002]

The thing about killing a few seconds is that you basically ensure that UConn doesn’t get two more possessions. If we fouled Cam Boozer right away (as we probably should have), we’d have had an outside chance even if he made both. We had a timeout - so we could score try to quickly and foul again with 4 or 5 seconds left. Then get the ball a second time, with a timeout in hand for a missed FT. But by Duke moving the ball, we would have fouled little Boozer with about 6 seconds left and it would have basically ended if he made both. And we ended up leaving two guys wide open, so if that hit ahead pass connects, it’s over, and they avoid shooting pressure foul shots.

The big mistake was they had Sarr (a terrible FT shooter) inbound and be the relief pass after the initial trap, while Evans (85 percent) released into the frontcourt and never touched it. Ross tried to foul Sarr but didn’t get there in time. And Sarr avoided the foul and found Cayden alone in the middle of the floor with a zero risk pass (no defender near the passing lane). At that point, it honestly looked like we screwed up clock management by letting too much time melt on offense (17 seconds before Demary was fouled) and defense (4-5 before fouling Cayden).

But we got the deflection and made a 40 footer.

If Demary is a split-second later in getting to Boozer, he passes to Ngongba who dunks it and we lose by 4, and we rue having screwed up the previous possession (wasting 20 seconds before getting free throws) and the trap/foul at the end.

 

[BFieldHusky]

We have played better teams in this tournament than Illinois. I don't think they can say the same to this point.

We destroyed them in the Elite 8 in 2024, and obviously beat them this year. Their fans should want to kill us.

Having almost a week off is huge. We give ourselves today to celebrate and rest up. Back to preparation tomorrow. Has Illinois been playing a lot of zone in this tournament?

 

[uconn_jack]

Thank god this game happened in the Final 8 and there is an entire week until the next game. I would have been very worried about them turning around a game two days after such an emotional game.

 

[Marat]

Thank god this game happened in the Final 8 and there is an entire week until the next game. I would have been very worried about them turning around a game two days after such an emotional game.

Today is like media day with the post game interviews. Let them have their celebrations, and rest today.

Tomorrow back to business.

 

[IndyLives]

UConn has played way too many close games this year in the BE for the predictives to be good for UConn. That said, I also think the BE and UConn are a bit at odds in how UConn plays and how the BE is called - or the predictives are not a great metric to measure this UConn team. There are now three teams UConn has beaten above UConn in predictives like Kenpom (and MSU is right behind UConn).

They are not as good as 2023, or 2024 but they are still damn good.

I like UConn's chances against any team that doesn't press like MU/SJU and can't mug UConn for 40 minutes.

Our KenPom metrics must have skyrocketed after beating MSU & Duke over the weekend.

 

[Marat]

Early Men's Final Four preview: Arizona-Michigan, UConn-Illinois predictions

Who will cut down the nets in Indianapolis? Here's an early look at the national semifinals.

www.espn.com

Doomed.

 

[bendm]

Illinois’ size don’t concern me. They have length sure but they aren’t as good defensively as Duke was. The ivisic twins cannot handle reeds strength/mass. Mirkovic is not close to the player Boozer is as an inside scoring threat. And Stojakovic is not a physical mismatch for Mullins like yaxel or even Sarr.