Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Having had 24 hours to digest all that went down yesterday, I hope people realize just how massive a win that was on all levels. And how gut wrenching it would have been to lose.
Emotion: There was plenty of it. You could feel it listening on the radio which I was forced to do. The emotion level was up there with the 2014 Wisconsin SAFO game, the 2016 game where Yogi Ferrell ruined senior night, and the OT game vs Sparty a few years back.
If you sense a common theme there, those were all close games we lost. We usually did in Fran's first seven or eight years. In fact he had a .309 win percentage in games decided by six points or less between 2011 and 2018 (Bo Ryan's was .604 by comparison and it goes a long way towards explaining why we were always looking up at them in the standings)
Crowd Support: Massive. And it undoubtedly affected the players, especially Perkins. It could also have affected Illinois late. Gotta pack Carver for games like and players will respond.
Coaching: Fran outcoached Brad. Calling time out to get Murray and Sandfort back on the floor and cut it to one at the half was a gem of a move. Nursing Kris' foul situation with the delicacy of a cake decorater was another. Mixing defenses, a little 1-2-2, he was a maestro on the bench.
Do NOT underestimate what was at stake yesterday. Those players went at it like Ali-Frazier III. They knew what was stake.. In terms of emotion and the urgency of the situation, that was as big a regular season win as we've had possibly in the Fran era.
Why? Because we need this team to make waves. I sense a huge drop off next year until those incoming freshmen can come up to speed unless we get help in the portal.
Looking to rest of this year, I hope Fran gives the team a day or two off just to detox. They need to come back down to earth and get ready to put the nose to the grindstone again. They just had three games in seven days, all against teams who were in second place when they played them.
This team is going to be a tough out. Let's enjoy it while we can.
Emotion: There was plenty of it. You could feel it listening on the radio which I was forced to do. The emotion level was up there with the 2014 Wisconsin SAFO game, the 2016 game where Yogi Ferrell ruined senior night, and the OT game vs Sparty a few years back.
If you sense a common theme there, those were all close games we lost. We usually did in Fran's first seven or eight years. In fact he had a .309 win percentage in games decided by six points or less between 2011 and 2018 (Bo Ryan's was .604 by comparison and it goes a long way towards explaining why we were always looking up at them in the standings)
Crowd Support: Massive. And it undoubtedly affected the players, especially Perkins. It could also have affected Illinois late. Gotta pack Carver for games like and players will respond.
Coaching: Fran outcoached Brad. Calling time out to get Murray and Sandfort back on the floor and cut it to one at the half was a gem of a move. Nursing Kris' foul situation with the delicacy of a cake decorater was another. Mixing defenses, a little 1-2-2, he was a maestro on the bench.
Do NOT underestimate what was at stake yesterday. Those players went at it like Ali-Frazier III. They knew what was stake.. In terms of emotion and the urgency of the situation, that was as big a regular season win as we've had possibly in the Fran era.
Why? Because we need this team to make waves. I sense a huge drop off next year until those incoming freshmen can come up to speed unless we get help in the portal.
Looking to rest of this year, I hope Fran gives the team a day or two off just to detox. They need to come back down to earth and get ready to put the nose to the grindstone again. They just had three games in seven days, all against teams who were in second place when they played them.
This team is going to be a tough out. Let's enjoy it while we can.