IUBB vs Illinois - Saturday, 2/18/23 @ Noon on ESPN

[IUFAN1976 2,234]

10 hours ago, Hoosierfan1901 said:

Looks like the Iowa game and maybe at Purdue if they are pushing it

He needs as many games played as possible in order to be able to slightly help this team, right now we have 5 games guaranteed.  I can see Woodson waiting until the first home game against Iowa but that won’t be enough for him to get into a little game shape.  Look how long it’s taken Race!

[IUFAN1976 2,234]

1 hour ago, Honkyman said:

I don't think anyone knows how much Xavier Johnson might help when he returns. I attended IU-Maryland at College Park. Xavier was out shooting in the early warmups and looked great. The truth is that JHS is playing the same role that Xavier played at the end of last season and arguably better. So maybe Xavier mostly comes off the bench (at least for a while) to give Jalen a breather so he does't have to go 40 minutes. Woodson doesn't need to start him right off the bat--and maybe he doesn't need to start him at all.

For some reason I can see Woodson starting him.  I think for him to help us in the NCAA tournament, he needs to play in at least 5 games in order for him to get into any type of game shape, and we only have 5 guaranteed games left!

[Chris007 42,066]

I like to go back and read all of the posts from start to finish after the game is over. Boy, you learn a lot about the people here. You would have thought we lost. 

One thing I did see mentioned a few times but how we gave them an open look at the end. Which is true, but it actually was the right defensive play. We sent the double team to Mayer to get the ball out of his hands, which he passed to Mendez who was 0-5 on the day. You have to take your chances with him, instead of letting Mayer get it off. 

We're already in that survive and advance mode. It's going to be emotional tomorrow night for MSU but we can still one. 

[HoosierCoop 3,811]

Ugly, close games in the past = L

Ugly, close games in the present = W

This is what stands out to me as the "grown" factor in this team/coach.  They may have bad stretches, but they don't give up.

If everything suddenly clicks for 40 minutes, I can see a 2002 run coming.

[JerryYeagley23 2,878]

15 hours ago, IUFAN1976 said:

I know this probably doesn’t go here but it was reported just before the Illinois game that X is close to returning.  Has anyone heard when he exactly will return. I think if he returns on Tuesday then there is a chance he’ll get in ok game shape by the 1st round of the NCAA tournament but if it is any longer than that, then it probably won’t do much good to even bring him back, except to disrupt our team chemistry.  Thoughts?

In thinking about X getting back on the court, it’s important to understand his injury was a bone break. Different from a muscle or tendon injury in that it’s not about pain tolerance so much as it’s about waiting long enough to be comfortable it won’t break again. If you talk to X, he probably would have played by now. It looks and feels fine. But the extra precaution is being taken because you can’t really test the strength of a bone and the last thing you want to do is put him on the court a week too soon and have him break it again and ensure he’s done for the season. He’s supposed to get practice time this week and if there’s no setbacks he will be “back” for the big ten tourney. If he plays in the last conference games it will be because they feel comfortable it’s healed as much as it’s going to and X and the staff are ready to roll the dice it won’t break again. Play-wise, I expect X to be pretty much full-speed. If not it would be simply mental, being worried about re-injury. And he seems like the kind of kid who will get rid of those thoughts and just go for it. 

[Honkyman 1,670]

2 hours ago, IUFAN1976 said:

 I think for him to help us in the NCAA tournament, he needs to play in at least 5 games in order for him to get into any type of game shape, and we only have 5 guaranteed games left!

As I said, it is anybody's guess how long it will take for Xavier to come back and play at a high level. You may be right about Woodson. Woodson  was out 5 weeks with back surgery, came back and immediately began averaging 20 points a game. He probably assumes every 21 year old is super human like he was.

[Honkyman 1,670]

2 hours ago, str8baller said:

You’re only considering one end of the floor in this analysis. If he’s fully healthy he immediately becomes our best perimeter defender.  

You are correct. That is why I used the term "arguably" as a hedge. Clearly Xavier at full strength is a better defender than JHS. But there may be a trade-off in terms of what Xavier can do at the offensive end especially when he first returns. And, he may not be as quick as he was before he got hurt. We shall see.

[realTomCrean 1,470]

Listening to Underwood's post game presser. My gosh this guy threw every excuse he could possibly think of out in the first 5 minutes but then as typical coach speak "that's no excuse". Cannot stand the lack of true accountability

 

He's an absolute clown and I am glad he coaches for Illinois, the same as Juwan for the lil wolverines

[realTomCrean 1,470]

Just now, realTomCrean said:

Listening to Underwood's post game presser. My gosh this guy threw every excuse he could possibly think of out in the first 5 minutes but then as typical coach speak "that's no excuse". Cannot stand the lack of true accountability

 

He's an absolute clown and I am glad he coaches for Illinois, the same as Juwan for the lil wolverines

8 minutes in he's now making excuses for "dehydrated" players. This guy needs to read Jocko Willink's books

[Hovadipo 52,926]

3 minutes ago, realTomCrean said:

Listening to Underwood's post game presser. My gosh this guy threw every excuse he could possibly think of out in the first 5 minutes but then as typical coach speak "that's no excuse". Cannot stand the lack of true accountability

 

He's an absolute clown and I am glad he coaches for Illinois, the same as Juwan for the lil wolverines

He’s a perfect embodiment of Illinois fans. Bunch of freakin’ whiners. 

[NashvilleHoosier 3,634]

37 minutes ago, realTomCrean said:

Listening to Underwood's post game presser. My gosh this guy threw every excuse he could possibly think of out in the first 5 minutes but then as typical coach speak "that's no excuse". Cannot stand the lack of true accountability

 

He's an absolute clown and I am glad he coaches for Illinois, the same as Juwan for the lil wolverines

This compelled me to go watch the presser. I thought it was funny that at the 1:45 mark he says, unprompted, "I got a look at the technical on Coleman...that's just energy and passion..." then at the 8:45 mark he's asked what he saw on the technical on Coleman and he says "Taunting I guess....I haven't seen it..." He says some version of not having a chance to see it yet multiple times. It was a garbage technical, for sure, but interesting flip flop there.

[mbredenk101 524]

This compelled me to go watch the presser. I thought it was funny that at the 1:45 mark he says, unprompted, "I got a look at the technical on Coleman...that's just energy and passion..." then at the 8:45 mark he's asked what he saw on the technical on Coleman and he says "Taunting I guess....I haven't seen it..." He says some version of not having a chance to see it yet multiple times. It was a garbage technical, for sure, but interesting flip flop there.

In the first instance did he say "I got a look" or "I gotta look"? I took it as "I gotta look".

Sent from my SM-F936U1 using BtownBanners mobile app

[rcbowla 6,733]

Listening to Underwood's post game presser. My gosh this guy threw every excuse he could possibly think of out in the first 5 minutes but then as typical coach speak "that's no excuse". Cannot stand the lack of true accountability
 
He's an absolute clown and I am glad he coaches for Illinois, the same as Juwan for the lil wolverines

Every coach does that. Woody has even done that this year.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[IUFAN1976 2,234]

4 hours ago, JerryYeagley23 said:

In thinking about X getting back on the court, it’s important to understand his injury was a bone break. Different from a muscle or tendon injury in that it’s not about pain tolerance so much as it’s about waiting long enough to be comfortable it won’t break again. If you talk to X, he probably would have played by now. It looks and feels fine. But the extra precaution is being taken because you can’t really test the strength of a bone and the last thing you want to do is put him on the court a week too soon and have him break it again and ensure he’s done for the season. He’s supposed to get practice time this week and if there’s no setbacks he will be “back” for the big ten tourney. If he plays in the last conference games it will be because they feel comfortable it’s healed as much as it’s going to and X and the staff are ready to roll the dice it won’t break again. Play-wise, I expect X to be pretty much full-speed. If not it would be simply mental, being worried about re-injury. And he seems like the kind of kid who will get rid of those thoughts and just go for it. 

IMO, the B10 tourney would be too late to come back and help this team.  That is simply not enough games to get his legs, stamina and confidence back.  I am afraid that it could disrupt the current team chemistry, especially if he’s not effective 

[TheWatShot 13,335]

9 minutes ago, IUFAN1976 said:

I am afraid that it could disrupt the current team chemistry, especially if he’s not effective 

I see this comment a lot, and it always puzzles me. Xavier Johnson didn't suddenly disappear when he got injured. He's still with these guys at practice every day and during games. They played alongside him before, and they can do it again. It's not like we'd be bringing some douchebro off the streets to hunt for stats. 

[HoosierAloha 29,887]

3 minutes ago, TheWatShot said:

I see this comment a lot, and it always puzzles me. Xavier Johnson didn't suddenly disappear when he got injured. He's still with these guys at practice every day and during games. They played alongside him before, and they can do it again. It's not like we'd be bringing some douchebro off the streets to hunt for stats. 

Are you suggesting chemistry is the same cheering from the bench is the same as needing to make a play late in the game?

[TheWatShot 13,335]

4 minutes ago, HoosierAloha said:

Are you suggesting chemistry is the same cheering from the bench is the same as needing to make a play late in the game?

I'm suggesting that people are massively overthinking this, and worrying about something that's not likely to be an issue. 

[HoosierAloha 29,887]

1 minute ago, TheWatShot said:

I'm suggesting that people are massively overthinking this, and worrying about something that's not likely to be an issue. 

There are absolutely concerns with a player like XJ returning to play significant minutes. It would be completely different with a player like Gallo or Race but we're talking about XJ. He could come back and contribute to a run with his defense and picking his spots to impact the offense. It's possible he comes back and tries to make up for the last few months by doing too much and turning it over, taking bad shots, and disrupting the offense.

[JSHoosier 19,559]

12 minutes ago, HoosierAloha said:

There are absolutely concerns with a player like XJ returning to play significant minutes. It would be completely different with a player like Gallo or Race but we're talking about XJ. He could come back and contribute to a run with his defense and picking his spots to impact the offense. It's possible he comes back and tries to make up for the last few months by doing too much and turning it over, taking bad shots, and disrupting the offense.

This.  He won't be up to game speed right away either which doesn't help.  He already could be either really good or absolutely terrible, so I'd prefer he have time to acclimate.

[HoosierHoopster 6,027]

39 minutes ago, TheWatShot said:

I see this comment a lot, and it always puzzles me. Xavier Johnson didn't suddenly disappear when he got injured. He's still with these guys at practice every day and during games. They played alongside him before, and they can do it again. It's not like we'd be bringing some douchebro off the streets to hunt for stats. 

I understand where you're coming from and don't 100% disagree, but practice (and he hasn't been practicing with the team) and games are not the same, particularly at point where JHS has largely made it his team, running the O. It was X's O before, how they re-incorporate X into the on-ball play is a question mark. And even aside from point guard play, the re-incorporation of Race and his minutes after the team was soaring, out-scoring teams by 13-plus a game over that 3 game run and beatdown @Illinois reflects how just bringing a player back into his former role when the team is gelled causes at least hiccups. I'm a broken record on how I think that limited what the team was doing. I don't think re-incorporating X will be as problematic, but I do like the team's O with JHS running point better than it was before.