I believe Iowa set up Illinois for success.

[O-townHawkstar]

Iowa passes around until they turn it over or fire up a last second deep shot. Illinois attacks the basket creating fouls and scores. Illinois played a lot of zone and Michigan scores 62. Iowa plays zone and Michigan scores 103. Thank goodness for the Herculean effort from Garza!!! Nice work Fran.

 

[hawkjt]

Iowa scored 91 pts vs Michigan....Illini scored 72.
Illini was home, Iowa at Michigan. Home court rules the league right now.

 

[go-hawks37]

Conference home teams are currently 10-0 at home this year. Hmmmm. Do you think that had anything to do with it?

The conference is loaded this year. Holding serve at home is crucial. Steal a couple on the road and we’ve got a shot to make the tourney. Minimum of 8 bids this year.

 

[mtdew_fever]

Isnt that the case every year? Winning on the road is always tough.


QUOTE="go-hawks37, post: 7179592, member: 14874"]Conference home teams are currently 10-0 at home this year. Hmmmm. Do you think that had anything to do with it?

The conference is loaded this year. Holding serve at home is crucial. Steal a couple on the road and we’ve got a shot to make the tourney. Minimum of 8 bids this year.[/QUOTE]

 

[hawki1968]

Iowa passes around until they turn it over or fire up a last second deep shot. Illinois attacks the basket creating fouls and scores. Illinois played a lot of zone and Michigan scores 62. Iowa plays zone and Michigan scores 103. Thank goodness for the Herculean effort from Garza!!! Nice work Fran.

You lost me at “Iowa turns the ball over.” Iowa is one of the best teams in the country as far as taking care of the ball and offensive efficiency.

 

[BBHawk]

You lost me at “Iowa turns the ball over.” Iowa is one of the best teams in the country as far as taking care of the ball and offensive efficiency.

Not that day. That day was dribble pass dribble pass oops. Second half Michigan played a high low for down cuts and pop outs. They basically put their center at the line while the other 4 roamed around creating a one on one. They did that against Illinois as well. Illinois noticed that and switched to man. Iowa stayed in zone.

You consider 7 TOs to be a lot? MI had 9...

 

[perryhawk]

You consider 7 TOs to be a lot? MI had 9...

Facts....they matter. Good post BBHawk.

 

[Fran-Con-2]

Iowa passes around until they turn it over or fire up a last second deep shot. Illinois attacks the basket creating fouls and scores. Illinois played a lot of zone and Michigan scores 62. Iowa plays zone and Michigan scores 103. Thank goodness for the Herculean effort from Garza!!! Nice work Fran.

You kind of prove your own point wrong. We both played zone against Michigan. Zone generally leaves the 3-ball open with good passing. The difference:

Michigan shot 3-18 from 3 last night. That's 16%.
Against us: 10-24 from 3, 40%

Illinois was THE WORST defensive team in the B10 last year. With largely the same cast back, Im sure the defense got better but not by that much.

Look at their other games:
In their loss to Louisville, UM shot 3-19 from 3, 15%.
In their win over ISU, they shot 10-21, 47%

It's possible our defense isn't great (which it wasn't against UM). It's also possible that UM is an incredibly streaky shooting team and that will cost them several games this year.

 

[TritonHawkeye]

How do you score 91 with an overabundance of passing? Iowa lost because they didn't play good team defense. Has happened twice this season... DePaul and Michigan.

 

[Raptorpeeps]

You kind of prove your own point wrong. We both played zone against Michigan. Zone generally leaves the 3-ball open with good passing. The difference:

Michigan shot 3-18 from 3 last night. That's 16%.
Against us: 10-24 from 3, 40%

Illinois was THE WORST defensive team in the B10 last year. With largely the same cast back, Im sure the defense got better but not by that much.

Look at their other games:
In their loss to Louisville, UM shot 3-19 from 3, 15%.
In their win over ISU, they shot 10-21, 47%

It's possible our defense isn't great (which it wasn't against UM). It's also possible that UM is an incredibly streaky shooting team and that will cost them several games this year.

1. In terms of adjusted D efficiency, Iowa, not illinois, was the WORST defensive team in the Big Ten last year —111 vs 108. So far this year, Illinois is 53 and Iowa is 118.

2. If you haven’t watched Illinois play, they have dialed back their defensive pressure significantly. It’s really a completely different scheme now that they have some rim protection in place.

3. So contrary to your assertion, Illinois defense is a lot better than last year — 53 is a lot better than 108.

4. It’s more than a little odd to assert that Illinois has “largely the same cast back” while completely ignoring the addition of one of the best freshman players in the league who also happens to be a 7’1” 285 lbs shot blocking/rebounding machine. The kid has played in ten college games and has had 8 double doubles and been named Big Ten freshman of the week three times. Yeah...”largely the same cast”.... Lol

5. Illinois played some zone against Michigan but mostly m2m.

6. Michigan shot poorly on the road against one of the elite defensive teams in the nation (Louisville)? ... and well at home against an average defense (Iowa)? This is not streaky shooting. This is comfort level of the shooting team and defense plays a crucial factor in that.

Illinois plays better defense than Iowa. Significantly better — 53 is significantly better than 118.

Still ... I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Illinois get beat by 20+ at Michigan. Home court counts for a heck of a lot in this league, and Michigan is final four quality. It’s almost unfair how many high level scorers they have on that team and Simpson’s passing really puts them over the top. Illinois just doesn’t have the same combination of talent and experience to be at Michigan’s level.

 

[Jizzer]

Not that day. That day was dribble pass dribble pass oops. Second half Michigan played a high low for down cuts and pop outs. They basically put their center at the line while the other 4 roamed around creating a one on one. They did that against Illinois as well. Illinois noticed that and switched to man. Iowa stayed in zone.

With all the minor injuries going on, I think zone defense was/is the best to keep the guys going at this point.

 

[Raptorpeeps]

With all the minor injuries going on, I think zone defense was/is the best to keep the guys going at this point.

There’s no way that Iowa could play m2m against Michigan for an entire game and hope to win.

 

[Jizzer]

There’s no way that Iowa could play m2m against Michigan for an entire game and hope to win.

I know, not sure why people keep arguing this.

 

[RocknRollface]

There’s no way that Iowa could play m2m against Michigan for an entire game and hope to win.

Well, theres no way Fran could do it.

It could be done but would require slowing the game down as much as possible and playing Tousaint and Evelyn much bigger minutes.

 

[Chishawk1425]

Think back to the Michigan game, here is what stood out. Our O/Garza were excellent, Michigan either made a basket EVERY FT and if they DID somehow miss they got the Offensive rebound more times then not. That is why we lost.

 

[hawki1968]

1. In terms of adjusted D efficiency, Iowa, not illinois, was the WORST defensive team in the Big Ten last year —111 vs 108. So far this year, Illinois is 53 and Iowa is 118.

2. If you haven’t watched Illinois play, they have dialed back their defensive pressure significantly. It’s really a completely different scheme now that they have some rim protection in place.

3. So contrary to your assertion, Illinois defense is a lot better than last year — 53 is a lot better than 108.

4. It’s more than a little odd to assert that Illinois has “largely the same cast back” while completely ignoring the addition of one of the best freshman players in the league who also happens to be a 7’1” 285 lbs shot blocking/rebounding machine. The kid has played in ten college games and has had 8 double doubles and been named Big Ten freshman of the week three times. Yeah...”largely the same cast”.... Lol

5. Illinois played some zone against Michigan but mostly m2m.

6. Michigan shot poorly on the road against one of the elite defensive teams in the nation (Louisville)? ... and well at home against an average defense (Iowa)? This is not streaky shooting. This is comfort level of the shooting team and defense plays a crucial factor in that.

Illinois plays better defense than Iowa. Significantly better — 53 is significantly better than 118.

Still ... I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Illinois get beat by 20+ at Michigan. Home court counts for a heck of a lot in this league, and Michigan is final four quality. It’s almost unfair how many high level scorers they have on that team and Simpson’s passing really puts them over the top. Illinois just doesn’t have the same combination of talent and experience to be at Michigan’s level.

I haven’t really watched Illinois this year. Your second point about them dialing back their pressure is worrisome to me because I always thought Underwood’s scheme played right into Iowa’s hands: If you put Iowa on the line, you will most likely lose.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

Well, theres no way Fran could do it.

It could be done but would require slowing the game down as much as possible and playing Tousaint and Evelyn much bigger minutes.

Agree.

If Iowa had a very different head coach with the completely opposite offensive philosophy they could get away with predominantly m2m D even against an athletically superior team like um.

 

[paladinhawk]

Well, theres no way Fran could do it.

It could be done but would require slowing the game down as much as possible and playing Tousaint and Evelyn much bigger minutes.

We had 3 years of Lickliter-ball. No mas gracias

 

[kceasthawk]

You kind of prove your own point wrong. We both played zone against Michigan. Zone generally leaves the 3-ball open with good passing. The difference:

Michigan shot 3-18 from 3 last night. That's 16%.
Against us: 10-24 from 3, 40%

Illinois was THE WORST defensive team in the B10 last year. With largely the same cast back, Im sure the defense got better but not by that much.

Look at their other games:
In their loss to Louisville, UM shot 3-19 from 3, 15%.
In their win over ISU, they shot 10-21, 47%

It's possible our defense isn't great (which it wasn't against UM). It's also possible that UM is an incredibly streaky shooting team and that will cost them several games this year.

This, Its amazing how good teams, (Iowa or whom ever), look when their shooting the ball well, and how bad when their not. I'm not sure our defense is as bad as it looked against Michigan, nor as good as it looked against Minny. The gopher who killed us last year went 0-10 this year. How often would that happen, good defense or not.