UConn vs Illinois (Final Four) | Page 19 | The Boneyard

UConn vs Illinois (Final Four)

CTBasketball said:
Different team. Need to disrupt Wagler with the hedge and limit drives by Stojakovic.see
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CTBasketball said:
Different team. Need to disrupt Wagler with the hedge and limit drives by Stojakovic.
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I don’t get that. They were a different team? Why? Did they have any injuries? Did they have two players coming back from injury like we did? They talk about their freshman kid being a different player. He started in every one of the games prior to our game. Whereas we had Mullins playing what, 12 minutes? And who can say that Bear is playing at the same level now than he did in November? They missed some open 3’s, but so did we. I will die on this hill. UConn by 15.
 
Mr. French said:
That’s actually not what he’s saying.
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UConn is a 2 seed. They've been in the top 10 all season. How could he possibly say it's a fluke that UConn got this far? I'm positive he's talking about UConn's steal and 35 foot shot. I'm sure the guy isn't a brain surgeon but I don't think he could be that stupid to say UConn shouldn't be in the Final Four because they're not good.
 
HooperScooper said:
UConn was a 2 seed. They've been in the top 10 all season. How could he possibly say it's a fluke that UConn got this far? I'm positive he's talking about UConn's steal and 35 foot shot. It would be a really stupid take if he's saying UConn shouldn't be in the Final Four.
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It's not up to me to determine how he could possibly say that, but he said "they are lucky to be here" and then mentioned the shot being a fluke - those were 2 separate statements. Then he said Illinois would suffocate them defensively and punch them in the mouth and beat them - what logical reading of those comments can lead you to say he was ONLY talking about the Mullins shot? He is saying we are lucky to be in this game and we don't stack up to them, period. Do we all think that's nonsense? Of course, but I'm talking about what he said, we all agree it's illogical and silly and probably click bait.
 
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HooperScooper said:
I hear you. I don't remember why he only played 15 minutes in the game against us.
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First half he sat with two fouls. Second half Illinois was down 21 and made a run to cut it to 7 with him on the bench - so they stayed with the lineup that was working. Now, you’d bring him back as soon as you could but back then he was a strong piece but not as vital to what they do.

Boswell was the go to guy and had 25 against us and Wagler was basically a peripheral piece for a day. Those two roles will reverse now. If Wagler has 25 and Boswell has 3, it’s an even trade.
 
I liked what Hurley said in reference to the MSG game vs them in Nov. That whether it matters or not - Its better ultimately to be in the position now as the winner of that game rather than having lost it. Well said.
 
Take it to the women's board

Poop Bathroom GIF by Lilly Singh
 
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champs99and04 said:
I'm going to need some time to digest that last one before I can think about Illinois. But I can tell you that this going to be as close to a literal home game for Illinois as you can get.
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As opposed to a figurative home game?
 
Trying to disregard the armchair media quarterbacks, they have to fill airspace. Yes they tick me off as they pick against us but I know that our team is as well prepared as possible, both sides want to win this desperately, and there are great players both ways. I will turn on this game at 6:05, mute the volume and strap in.
 
UCFan1513 said:
They better be. That’d be like us playing in NYC in the 1999 F4
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You think this has any effect on our team or game outcome? If things don’t go well I don’t want to hear that as an excuse, but I’m sure we will.
 
superjohn said:
They have nothing to do with the men's team. Talked to Braylon's dad quickly, great guy. He ended the conversation with Husky for life, we're going to win this s^^t.
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I hope so. The basketball Gods might be annoyed he did the impossible - make Dawn Staley into a sympathetic figure.
 
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TroyHall98 said:
If Illinois wants to play the two 7 footers, fine. Sparty tried to play big and fell behind by 19 pts.
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I think Illinois’ defensive stats are a bit overstated in that they played 2 offensively challenged teams in Houston and Iowa. Our actions on offense is a problem for them match up wise. We will get good looks. If they go down, this could be a long night for them.
 
TroyHall98 said:
I think Illinois’ defensive stats are a bit overstated in that they played 2 offensively challenged teams in Houston and Iowa. Our actions on offense is a problem for them match up wise. We will get good looks. If they go down, this could be a long night for them.
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It's not like we shot it lights out in the first game, fairly average at 41%/35%. I'll take that again, but if we take the threes we should be getting and make them at a really good rate, I think we can run away with this one.
 
TroyHall98 said:
I think Illinois’ defensive stats are a bit overstated in that they played 2 offensively challenged teams in Houston and Iowa. Our actions on offense is a problem for them match up wise. We will get good looks. If they go down, this could be a long night for them.
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VCU also played most of their game against them without their starting PG.
 
BFieldHusky said:
VCU also played most of their game against them without their starting PG.
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Houston took 13 more shots than them in their game, simply couldn't throw a ball in the ocean that day.

Love how everyone is on Illinois' jock in this one, claiming they are "peaking" or playing better basketball and that we are lucky because we took out the top seed. It's trendy, because everyone and their mother had Houston coming out of that bracket after selection Sunday.

Illinois gave up 69 points to two players in a game vs Wisconsin, that is hard to do for even the worst perimeter defensive teams.

  1. Keep working the ball into Tarris to see if they play him 1 on 1
  2. Give Malachi a solid dose of minutes penetrating their leaky perimeter D, along with Silas
  3. Hit the open threes
  4. Smother Wagler with Silar/Ross, let someone else beat you.
  5. Rebound, rebound, rebound, especially on the defensive side. Try to limit Tarris away from the rim on defense.
One of their biggest mismatches will be if their 5 is spacing away from rim and hitting threes, forcing Tarris away from the paint on defense/rebounding. I'll be curious to Hurley's strategy there.

Otherwise I like every single thing about this one.
 
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RuffRuff said:
Houston took 13 more shots than them in their game, simply couldn't throw a ball in the ocean that day.

Love how everyone is on Illinois' jock in this one, claiming they are "peaking" or playing better basketball and that we are lucky because we took out the top seed. It's trendy, because everyone and their mother had Houston coming out of that bracket after selection Sunday.
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Lots of media ignoring the Xs and Os. Illinois doesn’t match up well. I have to believe Hurley and the coaching staff are salivating at this matchup. Play our game and we will be fine.
 
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dennismenace said:
Even those steam roller champions (2023, 2024) we often had weird percentages during the regular season from 3 PT deficiencies in games and especially turnovers and yet won games sometimes by large margins. Think this started back in 2009 when they went 9-9 during the Big East regular season and then ran the table in the Big East and the NCAA tournament (Kemba year). We just seem to win during crunch time. Credit to the staff and coaches to get tough defense, shot blocking and usually good free throw shooting.
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That was 2011.😎
 
I was thinking anything after the shot would be gravy but we should beat Illinois. I’d probably think we should beat whoever came out of the South. Florida didn’t scare me either. Why would they we already beat them too. But Who am I kidding if we make it to the final against Zona I’ll prob think we should beat them too haha.
 
TroyHall98 said:
Lots of media ignoring the Xs and Os. Illinois doesn’t match up well. I have to believe Hurley and the coaching staff are salivating at this matchup. Play our game and we will be fine.
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Gary Parrish was salivating over Illinois margin of victory in the tournament vs UConns the other day, and using it as a reason why he liked Illinois. Shouldn't who you've played so far be in consideration when evaluating that.
 
BFieldHusky said:
Gary Parrish was salivating over Illinois margin of victory in the tournament vs UConns the other day, and using it as a reason why he liked Illinois. Shouldn't who you've played so far be in consideration when evaluating that.
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Beating the No. 1 overall seed by one point makes you a loser. Better to blow out VCU
 
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