College Basketball 2024-2025

[gflore34]

3 hours ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

If I recall correctly, the first and last could be considered legitimate fouls (although the first foul was called about 5 seconds after it occurred by the ref who was furthest from the play).  In between, there was one where the opposing player stepped and KJ's foot and fell down, one where KJ fell down and the opponent fell on him, and another one where he didn't make contact with anyone.  It was as if the referees went into the game deciding that they wanted to take out the best player on the court.  

On top of that, there was a play late in the game where it appeared the officials gave a Michigan St. player a timeout when he was on the ground without possession of the ball, which then led to a Technical Foul on Brad Underwood and two made free throws by Michigan St.

Those were the most egregious offenses, but it was a very one-sided game from the officiating crew.  No surprise really, with Tom Izzo on the other end.  But this was one of the worst refereed games I have seen in a long time and it's a shame that Big 10 refs frequently decide to insert themselves into the storyline of what could have otherwise been a great game.  I'm curious whether Underwood called them out at all after the game, or if he took the high road to avoid being fined.

I hope he did, horsefeathers the fines, they're a pittance to him.

The fourth one, just completely ridiculous, KJ goes up gets the rebound, MSU doofus jumps into him, pushes KJ to the floor as they both go down.  Somehow, magically, in front of the MSU, bench it's a foul on KJ.

Edited January 20, 2025 by gflore34

[BigbadB]

12 hours ago, gflore34 said:

I hope he did, horsefeathers the fines, they're a pittance to him.

The fourth one, just completely ridiculous, KJ goes up gets the rebound, MSU doofus jumps into him, pushes KJ to the floor as they both go down.  Somehow, magically, in front of the MSU, bench it's a foul on KJ.

The 4th foul was ridiculous. The 5th one was a freshman bonehead move at a time they could not afford for him to do that. He already had 2 fouls and on the bench when I turned on the game with 4 minutes gone on the clock. Will Riley impressed the hell out of me. 

[gflore34]

On 1/20/2025 at 6:34 AM, BigbadB said:

The 4th foul was ridiculous. The 5th one was a freshman bonehead move at a time they could not afford for him to do that. He already had 2 fouls and on the bench when I turned on the game with 4 minutes gone on the clock. Will Riley impressed the hell out of me. 

Frustrating, if he plays 30 or minutes Illinois wins, probably comfortably, we'll see what happens in Champaign.  My guess, Izzo' histrionics won't be quite as effective, KJ will play more than 8 minutes and the Illini will probably win.

Edited January 21, 2025 by gflore34

[Soul]

Went to the Bucks game Sunday and Olivier Rioux walks down and sits one section over.  First of all, no idea why he was at the Bucks game.  He stayed only the first half.

Second though, when you see someone 7’ 9” walk by, it’s astonishing.

[mul21]

On 1/19/2025 at 5:15 PM, Irrelevant Dude said:

If I recall correctly, the first and last could be considered legitimate fouls (although the first foul was called about 5 seconds after it occurred by the ref who was furthest from the play).  In between, there was one where the opposing player stepped and KJ's foot and fell down, one where KJ fell down and the opponent fell on him, and another one where he didn't make contact with anyone.  It was as if the referees went into the game deciding that they wanted to take out the best player on the court.  

On top of that, there was a play late in the game where it appeared the officials gave a Michigan St. player a timeout when he was on the ground without possession of the ball, which then led to a Technical Foul on Brad Underwood and two made free throws by Michigan St.

Those were the most egregious offenses, but it was a very one-sided game from the officiating crew.  No surprise really, with Tom Izzo on the other end.  But this was one of the worst refereed games I have seen in a long time and it's a shame that Big 10 refs frequently decide to insert themselves into the storyline of what could have otherwise been a great game.  I'm curious whether Underwood called them out at all after the game, or if he took the high road to avoid being fined.

The 4th foul on KJ was maybe the worst foul call I've ever seen.  My biggest gripe (and you touched on it) was the half dozen whistles that happened well after whatever they were calling happened and they just waited for the outcome to see if they were going to call anything.  And these were calls that went both ways, specifically a couple where the shot wasn't made and all of a sudden it's a foul and I guarantee had the ball gone in there wouldn't have been a whistle.  By far one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen.

[Old Style]

 

[soccer10k]

Kansas was up 6 with 18 seconds left in OT, they were about to shoot 2 FTs and they didn’t win the game.

[CubinNY]

 Boy I hope Auburn has an early exit in the tournament. 1) I can’t stand Pearl 2) their fans are awful and 3) see 1.

[Wilson A2000]

“The Porter case arose after the player allegedly amassed significant gambling debts by early 2024. In order to have the debts forgiven, Porter agreed to leave certain games early to ensure the success of prop bets that he would underperform expectations.”

[cwood218]

So ... It's the middle of year 4 and barring some magical turn around I don't see a good reason for Indiana to keep Mike Woodson. He's had plenty of time and honestly if they did have some magical turn around it would probably only be fools gold. Really hope I am wrong, but I think a new coach is needed next year.

[Irrelevant Dude]

On 1/8/2025 at 10:12 PM, Irrelevant Dude said:

That was something, and the scary part is that Illinois didn't even shoot well from three.  This team is absolutely a national title contender.

This post did not age well...

[InSeungHo]

Sad to say but this Illini team isn't going far in March...

[mul21]

On 2/16/2025 at 11:41 AM, Irrelevant Dude said:

This post did not age well...

They've absolutely quit on this season.  The closeouts on 3s are pathetic, they aren't fighting through screens, and they have zero healthy bigs at this point.  Ivisic is like 60% at best right now but they can't sit him because they literally don't have anyone else to play.

[BigbadB]

9 hours ago, mul21 said:

They've absolutely quit on this season.  The closeouts on 3s are pathetic, they aren't fighting through screens, and they have zero healthy bigs at this point.  Ivisic is like 60% at best right now but they can't sit him because they literally don't have anyone else to play.

Losing Morez likely for the rest of the season doomed their chances of being good.

[gflore34]

12 hours ago, mul21 said:

They've absolutely quit on this season.  The closeouts on 3s are pathetic, they aren't fighting through screens, and they have zero healthy bigs at this point.  Ivisic is like 60% at best right now but they can't sit him because they literally don't have anyone else to play.

Davis was throwing up at halftime, apparently Ivisic has had just one full practice this month, don't know what is about Underwood' teams and illness.  They're so sick that Underwood chose to skip the handshake.  Throw in numerous injuries and you have this disaster, don't think there's much that can be done.

Edited February 19, 2025 by gflore34

[gflore34]

If, and it's currently a big if, the Illini sneak into the tournament, they're going to be a low seed with no expectations.  They could be one of those high talent low seeded teams that puts it together for few a games.  Between illness and injuries things have piled on them, all it takes is a little health and some good things to happen.  Anything, a good shooter who's been in a season long slump putting it together for a half, a talented player finally playing to his talent level, something positive could spark good basketball from a capable team.

Edited February 20, 2025 by gflore34

[Rex Buckingham]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

If, and it's currently a big if, the Illini sneak into the tournament, they're going to be a low seed with no expectations.  They could be one of those high talent low sided teams that puts it together for few a games.  Between illness and injuries things have piled on them, all it takes is a little health and some good things to happen.  Anything, a good shooter who's been in a season long slump putting it together for a half, a talented player finally playing to his talent level, something positive could spark good basketball from a capable team.

I think more than anything this team needs rest and health. I wish we could pull a Michigan c.2021 and say "we don't have enough healthy players" for the Duke game and just take a break instead of a beating.

I think they're solidly in the tournament if they beat Iowa - they've got a lot of good wins, even if they do have lots of ugly losses too. The wins over Wisconsin and Missouri keep looking better and better, and they've got enough solid wins (Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA, etc.) to prop them up even as they limp to the finish

[SouthSideRyan]

They're an absolute lock with 1 more win. No bad losses, 11 Q1/Q2 wins. And there's an extra at-large bid with the PAC-12 collapsing. Gun to my head, I'd say they make it losing out and finishing 17-15.

Last 4 in right now on bracketmatrix are:

Vanderbilt, 6 Q1/Q2

Oklahoma, 7 Q1/Q2, 1 Q3 loss

Wake Forest, 7 Q1/Q2, 1 Q3 loss

Arkansas, 4 Q1/Q2

[javy knows my name]

Northwestern isn't a bad loss?

[mul21]

26 minutes ago, javy knows my name said:

Northwestern isn't a bad loss?

Nah, they're 52 in KenPom and 55 in NET so that's not even close to a bad loss.  Plus the way they do Quad 1 that loss is a Quad 1 loss since it was a top 75 team they played on the road.

Edited February 21, 2025 by mul21

[javy knows my name]

27 minutes ago, mul21 said:

Nah, they're 52 in KenPom and 55 in NET so that's not even close to a bad loss.  Plus the way they do Quad 1 that loss is a Quad 1 loss since it was a top 75 team they played on the road.

I forgot about the road thing, that makes sense, thanks

[gflore34]

The Ilini suffer an all-time worse loss in program history last Saturday, given the current state of the team.  We all knew a beat down was coming guess, the margin doesn't really matter.  The lack of 3-point shooting is just mind boggling, decent shooters missing open 3 after open 3, 7-33 vs. MSU, 2 for whatever vs. Duke.  It's definitely starting to affect other phases of their game, most especially on defense and rebounding.  One of these games, from the 3-point line, they're going to regress to the mean, maybe, it'll be vs. Iowa tomorrow.  Once they start hitting some shots other phases of their game will pick up.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Have no fear, you get the mighty Hawkeyes next. I'm not even sure who's still on the team at this point. They've had enough injuries that this should be an easy W for Illinois.

[SouthSideRyan]

Michigan isn’t as annoying without Juwan and Dickinson, but still fun to beat.

[gflore34]

12 hours ago, SouthSideRyan said:

Michigan isn’t as annoying without Juwan and Dickinson, but still fun to beat.

True that, I’ve a feeling the success of this season will not sustained by May.  He’s got a great combination in Wolf and Goldin something of which he’ll never have again.  Maybe, the Illini are getting healthier, Ivisic is looking better.  Hopefully, the regress to mean game from 3 is coming, be nice if it comes vs. Purdue.

Edited March 3, 2025 by gflore34