Knowing where to go on offense and defense does you absolutely no good when you get blown by consistently and simply cannot score the basketball. Would just love to see a guy like AG who is young and has a ton of potential get more opportunities. It's okay to have different opinions for discussion purposes and not get bent out of shape. AG has not been in foul trouble either so TU coming off of the bench before him shouldn't fall into that category IMO. Also, BU clearly knows what AG is capable of because he did start a game early in the season as well.
Pregame: Illinois vs Michigan, Thursday, January 10th, 7:00pm CT, FS1
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Knowing where to go on offense and defense does you absolutely no good when you get blown by consistently and simply cannot score the basketball. Would just love to see a guy like AG who is young and has a ton of potential get more opportunities. It's okay to have different opinions for discussion purposes and not get bent out of shape. AG has not been in foul trouble either so TU coming off of the bench before him shouldn't fall into that category IMO. Also, BU clearly knows what AG is capable of because he did start a game early in the season as well.
Could it be possible that the coach set a limit on what is acceptable and what's not regardless of wins and losses. Like someone else stated, you earn your minutes in practice. Prove in practice that you can execute what we call. Until someone that watches them practice on a daily basis says that he is being cheated out of playing time it's all just garbage spewing out of a frustrated fans mouth.
Deleted member 645583
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Exciting. Watching "2005 Illini Basketball" right now on BTN. Man, paint that hall orange again!!! It can happen.
DMW flashes some crazy potential at times. If he can get his shot to start fall (I still think his form is great), I wouldn't be surprised to see him end up having a huge career. He fouls a little too much right now too, but that might be system dependent. I think one of the easiest ways for this team to improve would be to have DMW take a step forward. Last game shows he's capable of scoring and heavily impacting a game without making shots.
We will just have to agree to disagree. Everyone's learning curve is different. Giorgi is picking it up ok. Trent picked it up fine last year. Is it not possible that it's a personal issue and not the coaching staffs issue.
Deleted member 746094
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So with your logic of “practice equals playing time...”.
If he brings more to the team or is less of a liability out there in games in regards to execution and positioning, why isn’t he getting more consistent minutes? It’s because knowing where to be, knowing what to do and then physically being able to do it in a way in which it positively impacts the game are very different things. The potential playmaking ability of AG and TJ is exponentially higher than TU.
We don’t know what goes on in practice. You are correct. But the side of the discussion opposite your view is more than “garbage”. BU has been coaching for a while. I trust he has forgotten more than any of us will ever know about basketball. The main point some of us are trying to make is it is bad optics for a program that has struggled to attract high level recruits and had a mass exodus of players last year. Say what you will, it is easy ammo for opposing coaches out on the recruiting trail. Recruits don’t see what happens in practice either. They just see a coaches walk-on son playing minutes, significant or not, in meaningful parts of games over 3/4 star recruits and when he is out there he looks like an average D3 player trying not to make mistakes.
In conjunction with developing chemistry it’s also worth noting how much difference the amount of experience the players have as well as the positional options that are available. If you think about Leron on this team, what kind of effect do you think that would have? It changes the experience and skill level as well as allowing a player like Kipper to play a different role and perhaps be more effective.
That's why I'm not up in arms over it. I would rather see the freshmen out there, but I don't have all of the info, so I'm not going to get bent out of shape over it.
UncleBob
- San Clemente, CA
IMO this is the main problem. These kids were all HS stars and have played several years of organized ball. They are smart enough to graduate HS and get accepted to one of the best universities in the country. If they can’t understand the offense and defense concepts being taught after 4-5 months maybe it’s time to make some changes to simplify the schemes. That’s on BU.
DMW also draws the top 1 or 2 defensive matchup every game. He is definitely one of our best defenders but it is a tough go for him most of the time, especially when asked to apply the type of pressure BU demands.
I completely agree. I'd rather see TU sweeping the floor and handing out water bottles. If Alan were on fire and not making any mistakes whatsoever I'd be irate as well. Truth is nobody has been consistent this year. All the players are making mistakes. We have a young team of 3 and 4* kids that need coached up and time to develop. Until the actual players speak out about it or transfer out after this year it's just opinion from us outsiders.
Deleted member 554798
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Not really sure what some of the posters were expecting from this team. It’s loaded with freshman and sophomores and two upperclassmen whom nobody would argue belong on a starting five of even a decent team. I grew up in the era of good Illinois basketball and it’s tough to watch these past 8 years but keep a healthy perspective on reality. Unless you’re program is Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina(whom always get top freshman recruits) you won’t win with this youth. We most likely won’t win even next year though we will see progress. Until we consistently have five to six quality upperclassmen it’ll look rough so stay patient.
Deleted member 554798
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I find this very short sided. Besides eating is there anything that anybody has done for five months which made them good at what they were doing?
The problem is if you run off most of your players before they become sophomores, the freshman have to learn to play that fast, or you won't win.Lmao! Ok...so now freshmen are supposed to have P5 D1 BB down in 4-5 months.
Tacomallini
- Washington State
I honestly think DMW disturbed an ancient Indian burial ground or unleashed a mummy's curse on a class trip to the Field museum or something. I cannot think of any player with a shot that consistently looks as good as his that simply never goes in. Cub fans - how do we reverse this curse?
There is a difference between understanding and executing. The decisions have to be instantaneous.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Lmao! Ok...so now freshmen are supposed to have P5 D1 BB down in 4-5 months.
" Generalissimo Fransisco Franco is dead !!!!! "
An important AG stat - 7.16 TOs/40min. Compare that to TU - 0.85, to Tev - 1.38, to DW -1.15, to Kip - 1.88, to Samba - 3.44.
As for playing freshman, do you not want these guys to possibly win a few games and have some success, or just go down in flames game after game? I think the prior is the better thing for the team and the players, including the freshmen. BU needs to try to win by playing who he thinks gives him the best chance, period.
It would be so IL to win this game...
Nah, it would be so illini to take this game into OT on a 30 ft pull up by Fraizer, just to lose by 10+ in OT.
I don't think it's quite that cut and dried since a couple extra (theoretical) wins this year don't really mean much, so he should be focused on getting players ready to win going forward. Now, if he thinks that playing AJ, ADLR and TU helps the young guys who are on the court by providing leadership, understanding of the system, etc, then that's a solid argument for continuing to play them. Like I said before, I would just like AG, SK and TJ to get minutes this year to hopefully speed up the process, but if they're not ready to have success, then so be it.
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