Southern Illinois - 01/29/2023 - 2:00 PM - ESPN+

[Jus]

What a win!

Yes indeed! Don’t ever underestimate Redbirds!

 

[Jus]

They were pretty quiet as they were exiting CEFCU Arena.

Well, they sure lost their voice after making all that noise…. for nothing!

 

[stats]

There was a lot that reminded me of a college game from many years ago. Instead of worrying about players getting their proper rest, we pretty much told the starters to go out and play 40 minutes. Even though SIU had a player score over 30 points, we stuck to our team defense and basically took the other 4 guys out of the game. Our fundamentals were strong with the blocking out, free throws and had a purpose on offense. We even went against a team that was playing a full court press. Fun atmosphere. Great job by our cohesive coaching staff!

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

If we have Burford back, I could see us capable of beating anyone and a chance to win 2 games. I have not seen enough, yet, that makes me think we could win 3 in 3 nights with our depth.

It seems there are always senior hero’s in this tournament. We have several seniors that are capable of putting this team on their backs and carrying us to a win or two. That’s not including what MP or a healthy DB could do.

To note: we got more production from Kotov than I expected. If Sissoko can stay out of foul trouble, he can help throw off any team’s star player. We’re going to have to see more guys contribute like this to make a deep run. Playing 7-8 guys may not hurt you night 1 or 2, but it would make it tough to win 3-4 in a row.

Thursday:
Win the 8/9 game @ 12:00
#5 seed beats #12 seed
Friday:
Beat #1seed @ 12:00
#5 seed beats #4 seed
Saturday:
Beat #5 seed (also playing 3rd game in 3 days)
Sunday:
Hope 2nd semifinal winner is #6 or #7 seed
Championship game Illinois State vs #6 or #7 seed (will also be playing 4th game in 4 days)

#5 Northern Iowa
#6 Indiana State
#7 Missouri State
#8 Murray State

 

[MadBird]

I love this guy. He sounds like he's really grounded, not up too much or down too much, has the long view. Totally committed to his players, behind them all the way. He's gonna do just fine. Love what he said about Doug the Jet too.

 

[Redbird82]

We’re 2-1 vs the 2 teams tied for first place!

And 1-2 against the others in the bottom 4, makes no sense but that’s sports

 

[Popsto4]

Thursday:
Win the 8/9 game @ 12:00
#5 seed beats #12 seed
Friday:
Beat #1seed @ 12:00
#5 seed beats #4 seed
Saturday:
Beat #5 seed (also playing 3rd game in 3 days)
Sunday:
Hope 2nd semifinal winner is #6 or #7 seed
Championship game Illinois State vs #6 or #7 seed (will also be playing 4th game in 4 days)

#5 Northern Iowa
#6 Indiana State
#7 Missouri State
#8 Murray

For some reason I don’t think we matchup well with them at all. I’d rather the Birds play anyone else.

 

[Popsto4]

Agreed. Depth will be the issue come STL. I do believe they can take one on Thursday, but going against fresh legs and likely the 1 seed after Mal, Sen, Luke and Klew likely play 95% of Thursday game, tough ask.

I haven’t seen anyone say it yet but Kotov had his best game as a Redbird. Sure, he made some mistakes but he had some clutch rebounds and hustle plays that they really needed off the bench.

Someone said that Liam should start the game with 3 fouls, I’d say Sissoko should.

I think Kotov upped his case for more minutes. He also defined his roll on the team as well. He passed the ball extremely well leading to open buckets for the Birds.

 

[Popsto4]

Sometimes in just about every sport one team or another have the other’s number for some reason. To me that team seem to be Indiana State. When we played them it just looked and felt different for some reason.

 

[Phantom]

Really good W. Everyone stepped up in Burf's absence. The league is as goofy as ever. Now just cannot crap the bed on Wednesday.

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

Sometimes in just about every sport one team or another have the other’s number for some reason. To me that team seem to be Indiana State. When we played them it just looked and felt different for some reason.

Would hope that Missouri State would beat Indiana State so we would play the Bears.

 

[DaveBird10]

Kotov grabbed 6 boards and had a 4\1 assist to turnover ratio today. Plus a steal. Should consider sliding him to point guard

My thought exactly!! Tied for team lead yesterday in assists with 4, we may have found our new backup point for Mal or created a point center position.

 

[Popsto4]

Would hope that Missouri State would beat Indiana State so we would play the Bears.

Looking at the schedule down the stretch I still believe the Birds can still finish at minimum 7th, who knows

 

[SlackBooDom]

Few things after a rewatch.

1. Can we stop planning out the Arch Madness run? We've won four conference games this season and just talked about how gassed we were against Bradley in one game and now we are saying we could win four times in four days. Realism is a good thing this year.

2. The biggest thing I've liked about what Pedon has done this year is he isn't afraid to change things. He'll play Stadelman. He'll play Kotov. He is okay with admitting that he doesn't have the answers. So many coaches are so strict in their view of things. Take a look at the other side - Mullins has had the exact same offense for four years now and never, ever changes it. Could be the reason he's exactly .500 in the Valley in his career.

3. Losing Darius Burford was a blessing in disguise that I hope shows up on film to the coaches because we stopped running ball screen offense. With DB in the lineup, we're so dribble-heavy. You can get back to some of it with the right personnel and in moments of games, but look at these numbers and tell me the offense isn't better without dribbling and in more of a traditional motion. A necessary improvement and change to close the year to sustain the offense we saw yesterday.

SIU: 119.9 offensive efficiency, 13 assists on 22 FG, 13 turnovers.
Bradley: 97.4 offensive efficiency, 9 assists on 25 FG, 24 turnovers.
Valpo: 84.3 offensive efficiency, 6 assists on 19 FG, 15 turnovers.
UNI: 96.2 offensive efficiency, 6 assists on 23 FG. 13 turnovers.

 

[Popsto4]

Few things after a rewatch.

1. Can we stop planning out the Arch Madness run? We've won four conference games this season and just talked about how gassed we were against Bradley in one game and now we are saying we could win four times in four days. Realism is a good thing this year.

2. The biggest thing I've liked about what Pedon has done this year is he isn't afraid to change things. He'll play Stadelman. He'll play Kotov. He is okay with admitting that he doesn't have the answers. So many coaches are so strict in their view of things. Take a look at the other side - Mullins has had the exact same offense for four years now and never, ever changes it. Could be the reason he's exactly .500 in the Valley in his career.

3. Losing Darius Burford was a blessing in disguise that I hope shows up on film to the coaches because we stopped running ball screen offense. With DB in the lineup, we're so dribble-heavy. You can get back to some of it with the right personnel and in moments of games, but look at these numbers and tell me the offense isn't better without dribbling and in more of a traditional motion. A necessary improvement and change to close the year to sustain the offense we saw yesterday.

SIU: 119.9 offensive efficiency, 13 assists on 22 FG, 13 turnovers.
Bradley: 97.4 offensive efficiency, 9 assists on 25 FG, 24 turnovers.
Valpo: 84.3 offensive efficiency, 6 assists on 19 FG, 15 turnovers.
UNI: 96.2 offensive efficiency, 6 assists on 23 FG. 13 turnovers.

This post started off making me chuckle. However I do agree about the offense. It was different yesterday for sure. Realism to me wouldn’t exist without progress. I must say Pedon and this staff is turning the corner at a good time of the season I believe. So with that said, with more progress this team actually can make a postseason run. Sorry bud but that’s exactly how I see it.

 

[SlackBooDom]

This post started off making me chuckle. However I do agree about the offense. It was different yesterday for sure. Realism to me wouldn’t exist without progress. I must say Pedon and this staff is turning the corner at a good time of the season I believe. So with that said, with more progress this team actually can make a postseason run. Sorry bud but that’s exactly how I see it.

We're 3-9 in away/neutral games this year. I feel like that's more of an indicator of Arch Madness than "turning the corner" because we won a game. Just how I see it pal.

 

[Popsto4]

We're 3-9 in away/neutral games this year. I feel like that's more of an indicator of Arch Madness than "turning the corner" because we won a game. Just how I see it pal.

I understand your point, but 3-9 is exactly where it’s at in the past. Progress have a way of leaving things behind ya know. Truth be told I think the Birds actually turned the corner in the loss to Bradley although I wouldn’t call the loss a moral victory. Now will they go undefeated the rest of the way? I don’t think so but do believe more people will be jumping in the bandwagon by season’s end.

 

[SgtHulka]

Can we stop planning out the Arch Madness run?

If pointless extrapolations aren't made on a message board, then what are we even doing here?

 

[Phantom]

It would be the most ISU thing to do to break the tourney drought by limping into STL under .500 and running the table. That said, it won't happen. Good W yesterday. Now get ready for Wednesday - because it would also be a very ISU thing to have UIC break their losing streak by sweeping us this season.

 

[BirdGrad2011]

I understand your point, but 3-9 is exactly where it’s at in the past. Progress have a way of leaving things behind ya know. Truth be told I think the Birds actually turned the corner in the loss to Bradley although I wouldn’t call the loss a moral victory. Now will they go undefeated the rest of the way? I don’t think so but do believe more people will be jumping in the bandwagon by season’s end.

Also, todays team doesn’t get destroyed in the MTE. Do we win 3 games? No. Do we look like we don’t belong again? Hell no.