The NCAA Tournament Thread

Mullins Revenge said:
Illinois played about as good as you can vs uconn and they are still down 5 at the half.

I expect Uconn to blow this open in the 2nd half.
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Disagree. Illinois had one player show up offensively. Rest of the team is panicking, passing up open shots and driving directly into Clingan which is exactly what uconn wants. They need to dig deep and find some confidence from the perimeter if they wanna win this game.

But I agree Uconn probably blows this open as their guards won’t play nearly as bad in the second half
 
Interesting, Clingan has scored, the rest of CT not so much. Maybe Illini’s plan is let Clingan score and shut everyone else down.
 
Jack Williams said:
Disagree. Illinois had one player show up offensively. Rest of the team is panicking, passing up open shots and driving directly into Clingan which is exactly what uconn wants. They need to dig deep and find some confidence from the perimeter if they wanna win this game.

But I agree Uconn probably blows this open as their guards won’t play nearly as bad in the second half
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Playing UConn is like being the kid with his thumb in the dike. You can run around plugging holes for awhile, but eventually the dam breaks and they flood you. Just too many answers. Only way to beat them is to run them, try to get Clingan and hopefully Johnson in foul trouble (SJU executed that part fairly successfully), defend as many shooters as you can, and hope they all go cold at the same time. So far that last part hasn't happened. Just a brutal opponent, no soft spots and reinforcements coming in from the bench with not a huge dropoff at some spots.
 
nettles said:
Interesting, Clingan has scored, the rest of CT not so much. Maybe Illini’s plan is let Clingan score and shut everyone else down.
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I guess that's the other choice, defend everyone else and make Clingan beat you two at a time instead of 3. Hadn't considered that as a strategy. Purdue could perhaps be the team to take a crack at that because they have Edey.
 
lawmanfan said:
Playing UConn is like being the kid with his thumb in the dike. You can run around plugging holes for awhile, but eventually the dam breaks and they flood you. Just too many answers. Only way to beat them is to run them, try to get Clingan and hopefully Johnson in foul trouble (SJU executed that part fairly successfully), defend as many shooters as you can, and hope they all go cold at the same time. So far that last part hasn't happened. Just a brutal opponent, no soft spots and reinforcements coming in from the bench with not a huge dropoff at some spots.
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Illinois should’ve watched some St John’s vs UConn BET semifinal tape.

We took good midrange looks when we got them instead of trying to force the ball to the rim. Got us a lot of buckets
 
Clingan is showing the value of an elite rim protector Although only getting credited with two blocks in the first half he not only altered many shots but just his presence kept Illini players from driving toward the basket.
 
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