on December 13, 2025, 23:25:46, in reply to "My best guess is that we’re trying to mix and match depending on personnel "
We just seem to be flat out confused or not communicating well so often, even when we get away with it.
I don’t think we’ve been handed a great deck when it comes to defensive players in general this year, but it also certainly doesn’t seem like we’re maximizing it. 
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Sometimes we play drop, sometimes we switch everything, sometimes we hard hedge, sometimes we go under, sometimes we bring pressure and a token trap.
Brad said in the offseason we wanted to find ways to optimize pressure and generate more possessions, but this seems to be backfiring.
I can’t help but wonder if it’s too much and too complex and guys can’t keep it straight. Seems like the players heads are spinning and they’re never sure what they’re supposed to be running, constantly getting mixed up and blowing assignments.
And Brad can complain all he wants about guys not being focused, scouting report mistakes, and bad practices. But we’ve had mid to outright horrendous defense for 5 years running. At least three different defensive assistants, 5 different rosters. Seems clear defense is a Brad problem at this point.
(Also, it seems that there have been way more games so far this year where the scout itself was a disaster, which is also not on the players.) Previous Message
It's one thing if it's just Wagler, Mirkovic, freshman getting it wrong.
But it's often Kylan, Humrichous, etc. that are screwing up. We spend a lot of time pointing and waving to teammates that don't seem to be getting the message.
And these aren't screw ups for 3s. It's screw ups for free 2s. Can't give up 10 PPG in free 2s. Previous Message
the last several years is running teams off the line and preventing three point attempts. Year in and year out we were among the best at this nationally. Prevent threes, force tough twos, rebound. Now the drop coverage had issues as we know, and we let guards live in the lane and get to the rim, but we simply did not give up threes. To wit, our rank nationally:
2022: 6
2023: 16
2024: 7
2025: 3
Even before that, we were 39 and 38 in 2020 and 2021.
So far this year? 181st nationally. I really want someone to ask Brad why the philosophical change and what we’re trying to do instead.
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Game is also gonna be on that NBC Sports channel on YouTube.
Nebraska is undefeated and currently #14 in the Net. Their best win (currently) is against #56 New Mexico. This was part of a 3 win neutral site tournament where they also beat Kansas State (#76) and Oklahoma (#70).
All their other wins have been at home, including a drubbing of Wisconsin this week by 30 points. The return of Rienk Mast from injury last year has been good for them. They have one of the Sandfort brothers from Iowa last year. They score a lot, and do the same things defensively where they allow you to shoot threes all day but gum up the paint.
Saturday is their first Q1 game. Saturday is their first road game (granted, the students will probably be gone).
Please kill them, Illini. Rebound and make threes.
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