Illini Basketball 2019-2020

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#251      

foby

Bonnaroo Land
Year 3 for one of my All-Time faves, and he should be a huge reason the Illini dance again this year.......
 
#252      

201154JC

Rockford, IL
Year 3 for one of my All-Time faves, and he should be a huge reason the Illini dance again this year.......
Thank you for that my man as I fell asleep at the switch and missed all but the last few seconds of that game. Hope Trent is working on more off the ball shooting as he will be open a lot this season.
 
#253      
...I will not temper my excitement for this year.

Me neither. This is the best I have felt about our team for a long time. I will say, I had some hope after Groce's first year going into his second, but it is not nearly as positive looking. Remember, after Groce's first year, we expected great things after the "loss" to Miami. Since then, NOTHING positive. IF you are not feeling quite optimistic about this upcoming season, I am not sure what it will take for you to get excited.
 
#254      
Those skills look like they’ll translate to the B1G immediately. Thanks for the link. I hadn’t seen him before.

After watching that video, I just noticed one thing. The competition was horrible. Sure, he dominated, but there was not much in the way of defense against him. So, I am going to hold off on expectations.
 
#255      

Deleted member 4333

D
Guest
Me neither. This is the best I have felt about our team for a long time. I will say, I had some hope after Groce's first year going into his second, but it is not nearly as positive looking. Remember, after Groce's first year, we expected great things after the "loss" to Miami. Since then, NOTHING positive. IF you are not feeling quite optimistic about this upcoming season, I am not sure what it will take for you to get excited.

Actually winning some basketball games.
 
#257      
After watching that video, I just noticed one thing. The competition was horrible. Sure, he dominated, but there was not much in the way of defense against him. So, I am going to hold off on expectations.

That game was against Khalil Whitney & Roselle Catholic...not a scrub team by any means
 
#259      
Curious about when Giorgi hurt his thumb. He was 4/7 on 3 pt shots in the first three games and 0/9 in the next three. Believe he will surprise on his shooting capability and if so may be the most valuable piece.
I also wonder how much Trent was affected by injury last season as well. He was playing pretty banged up for a fair bit and probably played more minutes than he would have otherwise. I think our bench looks much deeper this year and expect improvement year over year from pretty much everyone. If we get solid wing play we will have a very good season.
 
#260      
I also wonder how much Trent was affected by injury last season as well. He was playing pretty banged up for a fair bit and probably played more minutes than he would have otherwise. I think our bench looks much deeper this year and expect improvement year over year from pretty much everyone. If we get solid wing play we will have a very good season.

Depth was a big issue last year, especially for a team trying to learn and execute a pedal-to-the-metal system like ours that relies more on its bench to spell tired players. This year it should be a strength since most of our players, starters and bench, will have at least a year experience.
 
#264      
Since then, NOTHING positive.
Going into year 3 of Groce, we were returning the whole core of a team that was one missed runner from the tournament. Nunn and Hill were both coming off really good freshman years. There was definitely excitement and positivity. But don't let me rain on the Groce revisionism.
 
#265      
After watching that video, I just noticed one thing. The competition was horrible. Sure, he dominated, but there was not much in the way of defense against him. So, I am going to hold off on expectations.
LOL that was roselle catholic bro...…..thehy were a preseason top 25 team, in the nation
 
#266      
LOL that was roselle catholic bro...…..thehy were a preseason top 25 team, in the nation
Really? Wow, cause NO ONE came close to putting a body on BK.
Whitney was playing center against him as they had no one taller. Reason I want to see Samba or Kouma backing up Giorgi and Kofi. Tired of seeing us eaten alive on the boards and at the rim. Just wish Kouma was going to be here in the summer.
 
#268      

Good video on Kouma. Might be a year or two before he contributes, but there’s a lot to work with here.

+1

Watching that video, I had flashbacks to Self's teams and the high-low offense. He does a nice job of drifting behind his defender when there's ball movement, and his height/length/hands let him do a lot around the basket.
 
#269      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
There's no telling if Kouma will pan out, but he shows enough in those clips to warrant a schollie. He's not going to get any significant tick this year, but it should be great year for his development, nevertheless. I know staff isn't big on redshirting, but Kouma could be the exception. If he doesn't transfer out after this year, think he'll carve out a role down the road.

Looks like he has a frame/physique that Fletch and hard work can transform into a specimen in a couple of years.
 
#270      
I also wonder how much Trent was affected by injury last season as well. He was playing pretty banged up for a fair bit and probably played more minutes than he would have otherwise. I think our bench looks much deeper this year and expect improvement year over year from pretty much everyone. If we get solid wing play we will have a very good season.

Beyond the physical injuries, i worry he may have been hampered on the mental side as well. I am not a doctor, but i have had a couple concussions and have watched a family member recover from a traumatic one. THIS IS NOT A DIAGNOSIS, but i would certainly allow for the possibility that Trent's concussion impacted him and his game on a deeper level than anything we really heard about. While the physical abilities return quickly (and sometimes don't fail), the mental recovery can take a much longer time (a year/longer). Confidence and swagger are are two of Trent's defining qualities, and to my (non-medically trained, and wouldn't be diagnosing from afar even if they were) eyes, he just wasn't 100% Trent afterwards. I don't think it's any coincidence that his highlight package game was Gonzaga beforehand.

Which is a very long way of saying that even in one of our best player's cases, i have found reason to expect a better year.
 
#271      

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL
Beyond the physical injuries, i worry he may have been hampered on the mental side as well. I am not a doctor, but i have had a couple concussions and have watched a family member recover from a traumatic one. THIS IS NOT A DIAGNOSIS, but i would certainly allow for the possibility that Trent's concussion impacted him and his game on a deeper level than anything we really heard about. While the physical abilities return quickly (and sometimes don't fail), the mental recovery can take a much longer time (a year/longer). Confidence and swagger are are two of Trent's defining qualities, and to my (non-medically trained, and wouldn't be diagnosing from afar even if they were) eyes, he just wasn't 100% Trent afterwards. I don't think it's any coincidence that his highlight package game was Gonzaga beforehand.

Which is a very long way of saying that even in one of our best player's cases, i have found reason to expect a better year.

However, Gonzaga was the NEXT week after the concussion.
 
#273      
Yeah, I understand that, but I still contend that things are looking up. Big UP compared to the last ten YEARS.
Those BP teams were better on paper than our current team. I'd rather have BU than Groce or Weber hands down though.

Either way, I think it's hard for me to see a 10ish win jump in record, but I don't think it's totally out of left field. There's gotta be at least two guys that step up if we really want to make noise, excluding contributions from Kofi, Giorgi, Trent, and Feliz. Personally, don't care who that is, but we need more than what DMW, AG, KN, and TJ showed last year.
 
#274      

The article states: Since he is not currently in summer classes, Bosmans-Verdonk can't take part in skill workouts and other team-organized activities during the four on-court hours per week that the NCAA allows each program in the summer.

Does anyone know what Verdonk will be able to do practice wise? Can he practice with the players, work with managers, meet with coaches, etc?
 
#275      

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL
The article states: Since he is not currently in summer classes, Bosmans-Verdonk can't take part in skill workouts and other team-organized activities during the four on-court hours per week that the NCAA allows each program in the summer.

Does anyone know what Verdonk will be able to do practice wise? Can he practice with the players, work with managers, meet with coaches, etc?

It looks like he missed most of the other sessions, I wonder if he signs up for this one, if it would be enough to qualify. I would guess, yes.
S2B = Second 4 weeks of S2 (7/8/2019 – 8/1/2019 plus finals)

https://registrar.illinois.edu/academic-calendars/summer-academic-calendar-19/
 
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