Quick Q about Cockburn, Illinois...

[MdWIldcat55]

I suspect there are Illini lurkers here, and I know there are people who are big time basketball fans. So I have a question:

How in the hell did Illinois lose by THIRTEEN POINTS to Loyola-Chicago with a team that included Kofi Cockburn, projected first round pick Ayo Dosumnu, a guy Kentucky went after hard in Adam Miller before he signed with LSU, and lots of other talent? How did Illinois only score in the 50s?

I remember I was driving to Kentucky from Maryland that day and just following the scores on the radio. That game was a stunner.

I guess it just goes to show that talent ain't everything, and, of course that the Big Ten is always vastly overrated. You don't win ONE TITLE since the 1980s as a conference without the collective ability to choke in March.

 

[Lempface]

I don’t think it was anything other than one team having an amazing game and the other laying an egg. Sometimes the stars just align oddly.

 

[chroix]

You are definitely going to get lots of positive responses from the Illini lurkers.

 

[RunninRichie]

the big ten is like the celtics. Both have 1 title the past 20 years

 

[TOMCATS1990]

Illinois way to confident and tight, thought showing up would win the game. How the Hell did KY lose to Evansville in Rupp. One game elimination tourney gives Cinderella a chance.

 

[kelzer]

When it comes to the tournament, the Big Ten is its own worst enemy. The teams aren't choking, they are simply struggling to adjust to a completely different style of play than they're used to. For reasons that I don't understand, the conference has chosen to promote a very ugly, slow, physical style of play. Maybe because they're a big football conference?

When teams get away with pushing, bumping, holding, grabbing, hand checking, etc. for the entire conference schedule, it's hard to suddenly have to start playing real defense instead of this crap that's reminiscent of the Dennis Rodman Pistons or the Big East in the 80's.

Look at Kofi - averaged about 18 and 10, with 1.3 blocks, and shot 65%. Sixty Five percent! 7', 285 lbs, playing for a top team in a power 5 conference. Twenty years ago he might have gone #1, but may not even get drafted this year because he's such a throwback center who doesn't really fit in today's NBA. But he fits perfectly in the Big Ten.

 

[YardCat]

Just like when we had Wall, Cousins and Bledsoe verses West Virginia. Shit happens!

 

[cats#1again]

If Kofi cockburn comes back to college...
It would be a travesty if someone doesn't offer him an std med commercial.

 

[Larry Skaggs]

Illinois played like they had Cockburn

 

[TheOtherGreatOne]

I suspect there are Illini lurkers here, and I know there are people who are big time basketball fans. So I have a question:

How in the hell did Illinois lose by THIRTEEN POINTS to Loyola-Chicago with a team that included Kofi Cockburn, projected first round pick Ayo Dosumnu, a guy Kentucky went after hard in Adam Miller before he signed with LSU, and lots of other talent? How did Illinois only score in the 50s?

I remember I was driving to Kentucky from Maryland that day and just following the scores on the radio. That game was a stunner.

I guess it just goes to show that talent ain't everything, and, of course that the Big Ten is always vastly overrated. You don't win ONE TITLE since the 1980s as a conference without the collective ability to choke in March.

It is amazing what a team full of 3 stars that actually know how to play the game can complete with these 5 stars with a weak basketball iq. Basketball skills and iq that is how Loyola beat them

 

[Deli owl]

One thing I’m sure of on him. If UK gets him, Illini message boards are gonna be fun.

 

[TOMCATS1990]

One thing I’m sure of on him. If UK gets him, Illini message boards are gonna be fun.

Already are!!! They are suicidal already.

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

Illinois allowed Loyola to dictate the terms of the game--they controlled tempo and the strategy of Underwood was odd--he told Cockburn to lay off the Loyola Big and that allowed him to get anywhere he wanted and he had a huge game.

But like most upsets--the best player for Illinois (Dosunmu) was awful. He was arguably the worst player on the court that day. He didn't play aggressively he didn't create for others, they pushed him to his left and blitzed him out front and he just stunk.

Cockburn and Adam Miller were their best players that game, Curbelo played hard but didn't play great and Frazier and Frank Williams--who both are back in Champaign this year no-showed.

Biggest ? I had and often have when teams are in single elimination tournament, why not increase the pace and try something else? Illini were content with playing half court and letting Loyola grind them down. No pressing/trapping. Just frustrating to watch when a team doesn't exhaust every possible adjustment to a game and it's also when you find out that many coaches are too stubborn to change from what they do or aren't strong in making in game adjustments. Whatever it was, it wasn't fun to watch if you had Illini going to at least the Final Four as I did in my bracket. lol

 

[The_Answer1313]

Well.......for starters Loyola Chicago was a good team.

To me it was very similar when in 2014 we were seeded 8th and knocked off undefeated Wichita St.

Generally for the most part the committee gets stuff right but they to have some major issues with seeding some of the mid major teams.

It's hard to judge teams when they only play one power conference team during their entire regular season. They lost by 12 @ Wisconsin and that's really the only game of note on their entire schedule. But they completely ran through their conference.

They were 10th in effective FG% among division 1 schools. If you can shoot that well, you can surprise a team or two. They were also 3rd in defensive rebounding % and 11th in not sending teams to the line. The last two stats made them the 2nd most efficient defensive team in the NCAA.

And if you look at the game it played out just that way. Illinois only had 5 offensive rebounds and only went to the line 13 times.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I suspect there are Illini lurkers here, and I know there are people who are big time basketball fans. So I have a question:

How in the hell did Illinois lose by THIRTEEN POINTS to Loyola-Chicago with a team that included Kofi Cockburn, projected first round pick Ayo Dosumnu, a guy Kentucky went after hard in Adam Miller before he signed with LSU, and lots of other talent? How did Illinois only score in the 50s?

I remember I was driving to Kentucky from Maryland that day and just following the scores on the radio. That game was a stunner.

I guess it just goes to show that talent ain't everything, and, of course that the Big Ten is always vastly overrated. You don't win ONE TITLE since the 1980s as a conference without the collective ability to choke in March.

I don't think this is a question that only Illi fans can answer. Just ask yourself how in the world did we lose to Evansville? How did we lose to Kansas St? How did we miss the NCAA tourney?

Everyone of the guys on our team is wanted by UK so how did we lose?

 

[Diggers_Matching_Highlighter]

Two words:

Brad Underwood

 

[Fox2monk]

When it comes to the tournament, the Big Ten is its own worst enemy. The teams aren't choking, they are simply struggling to adjust to a completely different style of play than they're used to. For reasons that I don't understand, the conference has chosen to promote a very ugly, slow, physical style of play. Maybe because they're a big football conference?

When teams get away with pushing, bumping, holding, grabbing, hand checking, etc. for the entire conference schedule, it's hard to suddenly have to start playing real defense instead of this crap that's reminiscent of the Dennis Rodman Pistons or the Big East in the 80's.

Look at Kofi - averaged about 18 and 10, with 1.3 blocks, and shot 65%. Sixty Five percent! 7', 285 lbs, playing for a top team in a power 5 conference. Twenty years ago he might have gone #1, but may not even get drafted this year because he's such a throwback center who doesn't really fit in today's NBA. But he fits perfectly in the Big Ten.

I believe this as well, I watch most IU games and they let them beat each other down. I compare that to the SEC who calls the ticky tacky fouls and everyone is used to playing like that in the tournament and the BIG isn’t.

 

[cats#1again]

I don't think this is a question that only Illi fans can answer. Just ask yourself how in the world did we lose to Evansville? How did we lose to Kansas St? How did we miss the NCAA tourney?

Everyone of the guys on our team is wanted by UK so how did we lose?

Kansas state wasn't a terrible loss
It wasn't great because it ended the season, but they were a decent team while we were freshmen

 

[Jaycg15]

I don’t think it was anything other than one team having an amazing game and the other laying an egg. Sometimes the stars just align oddly.

It was definitely a lot of this, but Moser had an excellent gameplan. Illinois relied on talent to win in ballscreen matchups, but Loyola took that away. Our weakness was shooting/ballhandling at the 4/5. A short roll or guy that could flare for a 3 would've nullified their defensive gameplan, but we didn't have the personnel. Also, for some reason our gameplan was to sag off Krutwig which allowed him to orchestrate their offense from the top of the key. He's a really good and savvy player, and he made us pay.

Illinois allowed Loyola to dictate the terms of the game--they controlled tempo and the strategy of Underwood was odd--he told Cockburn to lay off the Loyola Big and that allowed him to get anywhere he wanted and he had a huge game.

But like most upsets--the best player for Illinois (Dosunmu) was awful. He was arguably the worst player on the court that day. He didn't play aggressively he didn't create for others, they pushed him to his left and blitzed him out front and he just stunk.

Cockburn and Adam Miller were their best players that game, Curbelo played hard but didn't play great and Frazier and Frank Williams--who both are back in Champaign this year no-showed.

Biggest ? I had and often have when teams are in single elimination tournament, why not increase the pace and try something else? Illini were content with playing half court and letting Loyola grind them down. No pressing/trapping. Just frustrating to watch when a team doesn't exhaust every possible adjustment to a game and it's also when you find out that many coaches are too stubborn to change from what they do or aren't strong in making in game adjustments. Whatever it was, it wasn't fun to watch if you had Illini going to at least the Final Four as I did in my bracket. lol

Underwood waited until 3 minutes left to make an adjustment. Loyola ran a set something like 11 times before Underwood adjusted to it - Loyola had only run that set maybe 2-3x prior to that game so I think he was caught off guard.

 

[GonzoCat90]

They had fatal weaknesses that Loyola had the personnel to exploit.

We're about to add the most dominant but least versatile piece to that equation. If Cal leaves him out front to drown we'll be asking ourselves the same question next summer.

 

[KYCAT78]

I suspect there are Illini lurkers here, and I know there are people who are big time basketball fans. So I have a question:

How in the hell did Illinois lose by THIRTEEN POINTS to Loyola-Chicago with a team that included Kofi Cockburn, projected first round pick Ayo Dosumnu, a guy Kentucky went after hard in Adam Miller before he signed with LSU, and lots of other talent? How did Illinois only score in the 50s?

I remember I was driving to Kentucky from Maryland that day and just following the scores on the radio. That game was a stunner.

I guess it just goes to show that talent ain't everything, and, of course that the Big Ten is always vastly overrated. You don't win ONE TITLE since the 1980s as a conference without the collective ability to choke in March.

Same way we lost to Dwayne Wade.

 

[Cats192]

Loyola was a top 15-20 team. They probably had an even bigger chip playing the 1 seed from their own state. They came out swinging. Illinois spent the entire fight feeling them out.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Same way we lost to Dwayne Wade.

So, Loyola-Chicago, like Marquette, had a future NBA hall of famer (Wade) more size in the paint than their opponent (Robert Jackson) , two other future NBA players (Travis Diener, Steve Novak) on the wing, including one who would later lead the NBA in 3-point percentage (Novak) and meanwhile, the other team’s best player (Bogans) was injured?

I missed all that, but you are right, that would explain it.

 

[jameslee32]

Pretty sure Dosumnu wasn't 100%. They relied heavily on Kofi after he got hurt.

 

[billCgmx]

Kansas state wasn't a terrible loss
It wasn't great because it ended the season, but they were a decent team while we were freshmen

Kansas State was missing their best player.

Terrible loss

 

[jimmybuffet123]

Let’s not throw stones haha. I still have trauma from some of our losses

 

[king of cali]

the big ten is like the celtics. Both have 1 title the past 20 years

Make that 1 in 35 years for Boston.

 

[king of cali]

Kansas state wasn't a terrible loss
It wasn't great because it ended the season, but they were a decent team while we were freshmen

Come on man, no need to try to sugar coat it. That was a terrible to a team without its best player down in Catlanta.

 

[Justwar]

Because in the pick and roll they ate cockburn alive. He can't defend on the perimeter

 

[cats#1again]

Come on man, no need to try to sugar coat it. That was a terrible to a team without its best player down in Catlanta.

We were a 4 point favorite. Because our fans think it was a given don't mean it was.
Being young and inexperienced hurt us that year more than any. Didn't have a stud to go to on the block . Pj was unrecognizable that whole season really

 

[ganner918]

We were a 4 point favorite. Because our fans think it was a given don't mean it was.
Being young and inexperienced hurt us that year more than any. Didn't have a stud to go to on the block . Pj was unrecognizable that whole season really

PJ was the only reason we were in that game. 5/7 from the floor and they started hacking him because they couldn't stop him. Unfortunately he choked on the free throw line.

 

[gossie21]

Make that 1 in 35 years for Boston.

And 1 in 32 years for the Big Ten.

 

[cats#1again]

PJ was the only reason we were in that game. 5/7 from the floor and they started hacking him because they couldn't stop him. Unfortunately he choked on the free throw line.

True. He was very inconsistent all year though. I knew the kid had star potential out of highschool and waited 4/5 months to really start seeing some of it

 

[CatPhight]

Intervention...