It’s been easy for Illini basketball fans to scapegoat Aaron Cosby. How poorly he’s shot the ball speaks for itself. He was 1-9 tonight, and here are his last 5 games before the loss to Oregon: 1-8, 2-6, 1-10, 0-6, 3-10.
Illini basketball coach John Groce subbed Cosby for Kendrick Nunn in the starting five. However, Cosby, not Nunn, received the bulk of the minutes in crunch time.
Groce explained that as a decision based on defensive capabilities in the post game press conference. It’s not fair to single out Cosby for what’s gone wrong this season. There are plenty of issues all around. We’ll go through all of them, with accompanying presser comments from Groce.
All that you see wrong with this team right now, Groce was asked about it. And for the most part he owned it. Let’s break down the major issues Illini basketball has:
1. Aaron Cosby
“I thought we was great defensively. The field goal percentage defense is great when he’s in there,” said Groce about Cosby.
The Illinois Coach raved about Cosby’s defense, and mentioned how he’s now shooting much lower than his career percentage. Yes, that’s true- WAY LOWER. As disappointing as Cosby has been, the Seton Hall transfer was a double figure per game scorer in the Big East. He’s not this bad; he’s just going through a brutal stretch right now. Remember he’s better than this and will be better than this.
2. Showings versus High-Major opponents has been bad
Illini basketball has dominated the mid-majors and low-majors that they’ve faced. As they should. That’s not anything to get excited about, but at least they have taken care of business in those situations. You can’t say the same about Nebraska and Michigan.
“I’m not going to just say we played poorly tonight, we did some good things, we played much better than the other night in Madison Square Garden,” said Groce.
Groce is right; but the #7 Villanova Wildcats are also light years, and I mean light years, better than Oregon. Also, Illinois was playing a semi-home game tonight; versus the Nova game which was a neutral court game much closer to their opponent’s home in Philly.
In all four games versus high-major competition (W vs Baylor 62-54, L at #15 Miami 70-61, L vs #7 Villanova 73-59 and tonight 77-70 loss to Oregon) the Illinois offense has been bad. Every single time the Illini have faced a quality opponent, we’ve seen an offense that is much worse than what we’ve seen versus the cupcakes.
3. Really missing Tracy Abrams
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. I’ve come around now on seeing the true value of Abrams. I still don’t regard him as an all-conference type of player, because he’s not. However, he’s much more valuable than I gave him credit for. This team could really use his leadership and intangibles right now.
“We always miss Tracy,” said Groce when asked about Abrams this evening.
Last year, and perhaps in year one as well, it seemed like Abrams was Groce’s favorite player. Given the way that he talks about him, anyway. This year, we see why, if we didn’t before.
4. What to do at the third guard spot?
Groce on Kendrick Nunn and Aaron Cosby:
“We need them to be a two headed monster at that position, we need both of ’em.”
This dilemma is reminiscent of last season, when everyone was calling for Groce to insert the freshmen Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill in the starting line-up much earlier than he finally did. The Illini record improved significantly once he made the switch. Groce admitted this preseason that had he made that switch earlier, perhaps that might have been the difference in getting a NCAA bid over a NIT berth. Groce justified his decision to leave the freshmen on the bench back then as being all about defense. He also explained his decision to play Cosby over Nunn down the stretch due to defense. Is this history repeating here?
5. a whole host of fundamental problems
“Obviously, we need more balance in our scoring,” said Groce.
Agreed. This team has pretty much been all Rayvonte Rice and Malcolm Hill, and not much else, all season long. Remember how the 2010-11 Illini basketball team was pretty much all Demetri McCamey? Felt like that again with Rayvonte Rice tonight at the U.C.
“I thought Hill settled, a little too much, for jump shots,” said Groce.
We knew the Illini were going to be guard heavy this season. This team is small, and lacks front line depth. \
What concerns you the most? Groce was asked.
“Defending, we’ve got to defend better.”
Agreed, again. The improvements on offense over last season have been negated by the decline on the other end of floor. Especially dribble penetration, this Illini basketball team has had plenty of issues with that.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2