Illinois has simply been terrific in the 1st half. Their perimeter defense was smothering - neither Gordon or Dowdell had a clean look all half. Brian Randle showed what a sparkplug he can be when healthy. Shaun Pruitt has to get going in the 2nd half - that nice spin away from the double team showed what he can do when he gets room to operate in the post. And Rich McBride, who annoys me more than any player in college ball, has to keep knocking down those 3's. The Hokies have to find a way to get their guards some open looks in the 2nd half. Coleman Collins needs to be more involved, too. He's seen a dip in numbers, and while I agree that he hasn't been his best this year, the Hokies haven't gotten him enough quality touches in the paint.
<div class="quote_poster">Schaddy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Illinois has simply been terrific in the 1st half. Their perimeter defense was smothering - neither Gordon or Dowdell had a clean look all half. Brian Randle showed what a sparkplug he can be when healthy. Shaun Pruitt has to get going in the 2nd half - that nice spin away from the double team showed what he can do when he gets room to operate in the post. And Rich McBride, who annoys me more than any player in college ball, has to keep knocking down those 3's. The Hokies have to find a way to get their guards some open looks in the 2nd half. Coleman Collins needs to be more involved, too. He's seen a dip in numbers, and while I agree that he hasn't been his best this year, the Hokies haven't gotten him enough quality touches in the paint.</div> Yeah, headed into the game, you knew one style would prevail. Either Illinois was going to come out and shut down Va Tech defensively, or Va Tech was going to get out and run and be hard for the Illini to contain. It looks like the former is what's happening so far. Randle's been a huge spark for them alright, but I think the real story in this game so far is the play of Rich McBride. He's really struggled in the Illini's last few games, especially from long range, but when he's shooting like he is tonight, the Illini have a legitimate third option offensively and don't have to rely on Carter and Pruitt to carry the entire load. I was worried he'd continue his slump into this game and really throw off the Illini's offense.
Illinois > * This is great, hopefully they keep it up. The Big 10's grinding, phyisical style is imposing its will in every region. Rich McBride, streakiest of the streaky, is having a big game.
Wow, what a great comeback by Virginia Tech. Their fullcourt press the last 8 minutes really got them back in the game with getting deflections and converting them on the other end. VA tech's up by 2 now. C'mon.
Wow, rough loss for Illinois. They just couldn't make a basket down the stretch. How many people out there had NO 12 over 5 upsets? I doubt many of us did.
That was a poor final 10 minutes for Illinois. However, and I'm not the type of person to say these things and you all know this, but I feel Illinois were screwed twice on fouls. First there was a foul against Carter on that one play and at the end, total BS. I'm not sour anyway, I'm just telling it how I see it. Great pressure by Virginia Tech, that was crazy.
<div class="quote_poster">Schaddy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Wow, rough loss for Illinois. They just couldn't make a basket down the stretch. How many people out there had NO 12 over 5 upsets? I doubt many of us did.</div> I did.
<div class="quote_poster">M Two One Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">That was a poor final 10 minutes for Illinois. However, and I'm not the type of person to say these things and you all know this, but I feel Illinois were screwed twice on fouls. First there was a foul against Carter on that one play and at the end, total BS. I'm not sour anyway, I'm just telling it how I see it. Great pressure by Virginia Tech, that was crazy.</div> Yeah, that no-call on Carter was the most bullshit no-call since all the one's flying in the Duke/VCU game. I guess you really have no one to blame for this loss other than the Illini when it's all said and done though, because that collapse under Va Tech's pressure defense was pathetic, but you do have to wonder what the outcome would have been if they did call that elbow slap by Deron Washington.
<div class="quote_poster">Voodoo Child Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, that no-call on Carter was the most bullshit no-call since all the one's flying in the Duke/VCU game. I guess you really have no one to blame for this loss other than the Illini when it's all said and done though, because that collapse under Va Tech's pressure defense was pathetic, but you do have to wonder what the outcome would have been if they did call that elbow slap by Deron Washington.</div> Yeah of course, that's why I wrote that I'm not sour about it. They just caved and tried to basically hold their lead down the stretch, which wasn't going to happen. I was just pointing out that it was bullcrap on those two plays with no calls. Not sure if they still would've won it with the calls, but I'd prefer to think they lost based on that pressure by VT alone and not "what if?" You know what I mean?
Upsetting game, Illini had control all throughout then game until the end where they couldn't score at all. They've gone through that all season when they have those really long droughts because they aren't that good of an offensive team. I agree with you guys on the Carter call, I was pissed because Illinois was only down 1 and we could have gone up with less then 20 seconds left. But, Illinois blew it by turning over the ball every time they got it and leaving Washington open at the 3 point line everytime. And then Randle pretty much isn't a good shooter at all.
<div class="quote_poster">Schaddy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Wow, rough loss for Illinois. They just couldn't make a basket down the stretch. How many people out there had NO 12 over 5 upsets? I doubt many of us did.</div> I didn't have any 12 seeds winning in any of my brackets....too bad I can't say much else about my bracket
I know I'm late on this, but watching this game was basically re-watching the Illini's entire season. They never had a go to guy who they could count on to get a big bucket when it counted, and it ended up costing the team many close games. The defense was incredible, but when you can't score it doesn't mean anything. Hopefully, Frazier has a big year next year and we are able to put together a nice season. Losing Gordon after he committed to us was a huge blow.
