What's the Consensus?

[CaliforniaZaggin']

A lot of good plays, but also a lot of bad ones. Too many quasi-unforced TOs. Need more cohesion on offense. Defense looked good. Nice intensity. If one more player can step up on O, then we're gonna be darn good.

[thickman1]

Disappointed but hopeful.

This.

There are definite positives with the youngsters, but veterans need to step it up. Carter needs to stop being a hot dog and Sam (sophomore - but third year in program) needs to play some defense. He can't shy away from contact.

[btzag]

I was very pleased overall today. First true road game of the year against a top level team in a crazy environment and we are counting on many young freshmen players. Many teams would have wilted and gotten blown out especially after they were on fire in the first half, but we fought hard all day.
I was looking hard at three areas:

How would our young guards fare? Personally thought they played well for their first road game. It will get better but they ran the offense OK, made some plays, and held up well against some good guards.

Would Harris, Carter and Dower step up? Harris was huge and I like his prospects for a great season. Carter has been just terrible and might not be starting in about five more games. Worst GU player on the court in my opinion. Dower was OK but a little disappointing. Still have hope for him but they will need Edi to be a impact player if Carter/Dower can't.

How would Sacre play against a great front line? Played fantastic and was the best player on the court. I know Meyers had 21 but he could not hold his own against Sacre at all. Great leader and almost carried us to a win.

[EricTheClown]

not too disappointed. Illinois shot lights out from the field. Was this our 1st road game? we had a lot of trouble getting open looks from 3. this could be a problem against real athletic teams. also it seemed like every time we were within a fg we had a TO which led to like a 7-0 run. I feel like it was a good learning experience for our young guys. Sucks that Bell got hurt, he was really coming on. I'd like to see more out of Carter. He's really disappointed me thus far

[Ezag]

Hudson said Dower at times looked like a deer in headlights. Seems kinda disturbing that he is still this way 3 years into the program and his defense is bad.

Still all in all, I am not that bothered by this loss. Our young guys hung in there and played well for the most part, the vets not as well.

[jazzdelmar]

poise

pangos and bell played w poise...great sign.

[Baseline]

I have mixed feeling on the game. The old timers didn't do as well as expected and the new guys did better than I had hoped. Pangos and Bell played good solid ball for their first road game. If we lose Bell it will be huge.

If Bell goes down, do we pull a red shirt or just wait and hope eddi is the answer.

I like Harris's hustle, he looks to becoming a bigger factor, but dower and Carter are my concerns. Don't mean to second guess Few, but maybe its time to try Spangler a bit.

I saw a lot of positives for the game.

[04ZagFan]

If we beat Michigan State next weekend, I'll be fine.. If we lose, I'll be very worried.

[23dpg]

Better team won at home.

Gonzaga is good but not great this year. Our best player has no "hops" and poor hands. Overall, we are not terribly athletic.

On the plus side this team seems to play well together. If we can find a good rotation and keep improving, I can see a sweet 16 with the right match up.

[04ZagFan]

Better team won at home.

Gonzaga is good but not great this year. Our best player has no "hops" and poor hands. Overall, we are not terribly athletic.

On the plus side this team seems to play well together. If we can find a good rotation and keep improving, I can see a sweet 16 with the right match up.

Yup. We lack athleticism and our guards/wings lack size AND athleticism. Edi needs to be as advertised for this squad to do a lot.

[DZ]

I was a little disappointed in Pangos not being able to get loose for his shot, I thought that him being able to get his shot off was important and not being able to do it against an above average athletic team is disappointing.

We never seemed to be on the same page. Sacre had a great first half, Harris had a great second, Bell had a great second half, Carter just cannot get it going, starting to wonder if we need to try Dranginis at the 3, especially if Bell is hurt for very long. Dower still is just a shadow of himself.

Lots of questions after this game. Unfortunately, they are the same questions we had coming in, how do we score? Can we defend good teams? But now - - far more important, when is Bell going to be back?

[bartruff1]

Forgetting about the Bell injury, how do you feel about this loss? Depressed? Dissapointed but hopeful?

Hard to forget about the injuries to Bell and Sacre...but I thought it was a good effort against a better tream....I understand they will be in the Kennel next season...now that will be fun...so....so put me down as hopeful even pleased ..

[ZaggyStardust]

the guys showed guts and poise in the first hostile arena. They hung in there, kept clawing back, never gave up and showed decent poise throughout. Some mistakes were made that hurt but all in all, a seven point loss in champaign is pretty much what i expected. We were competitive and i think the guys learned from this game, the coaches too. I'm fine with it. Now just work this week on the weaknesses and prepare for izzo.

+1000

[BobZag]

The "experts" claim the homecourt in college basketball is worth 6 points. Not sure just how true that is. It looked to me like Illinois came out playing hard and pumped up for us. They likely used our ranked status vs their unranked status as motivation. Leonard, Richardson, Paul, et al, Weber has serious talent and our guys stayed right with them by and large.

Also, I think when your big stud is injured and then your most promising young gun is injured, it has an effect on the team. Few suddenly can't play the lineup he feels he needs, and you know the team mates are trying not to think about these setbacks, even though they can't help it, while trying to hang with a good team in front of 16,000 fans who kinda hate you at that time.

The team is the sum of its parts and two were hurt. That whiplash neck bender of Sacre's hurt. The neck ain't made to do that.

Not easy. Lose by 7. Not bad, really.

[VinnyZag]

Well ... I guess I never really thought they were going 30-0. So I'm OK with this one.

They were competitive against a team that's probably going to finish 3rd or 4th in the Big 10, and Pangos and Bell get their first exposure to a big-time college road game.