Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Ayo Dosunmu B1G Players of the Week

#28      
It is amazing what Giorgi has done this year. He is one of the lowest ranked players in the league and a freshmen. With his brother in town I'm sure he gave it 125%.
 
#29      

haasi

New York
This is great, but also really dumb on the B1G part. It's probably never happened before cause the B1G has never been this dumb before. If Giorgi is the B1G Player of the week, then he's also the B1G freshman player of the week. Unless there is some rule that you cannot be player of the week and freshmen of the week.

I mean whatever. I'll take it.


There’s no rule against it - Nick Ward won both the same week as a frosh. https://www.theonlycolors.com/2017/...-wins-big-ten-player-and-freshman-of-the-week

No idea why they did it this way, I think they wanted to recognize both but give Giorgi top billing? 🤔 They could have just made both Co-players and freshmen OTW.
 
#32      

KrushCow31

Former Krush Cow
Chicago, IL
#33      
#35      
This is great, but also really dumb on the B1G part. It's probably never happened before cause the B1G has never been this dumb before. If Giorgi is the B1G Player of the week, then he's also the B1G freshman player of the week. Unless there is some rule that you cannot be player of the week and freshmen of the week.

I mean whatever. I'll take it.
I mean I think the simple answer is they wanted a way to honor both players.
 
#36      

JFGsCoffeeMug

BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
Looks like we're not the only ones who will be learning how to spell Giorgi's name.

Fans of other Big Ten teams will have a few more years to practice. They'll figure it out.
 
#37      
It both incredibly stupid and wonderful. I'll take it.
There’s no rule against it - Nick Ward won both the same week as a frosh. https://www.theonlycolors.com/2017/...-wins-big-ten-player-and-freshman-of-the-week

No idea why they did it this way, I think they wanted to recognize both but give Giorgi top billing? 🤔 They could have just made both Co-players and freshmen OTW.

Yeh, if Giorgi was the best player in the entire conference (no argument from me there), then he had to have been be better than Ayo. Though if you don't require a majority, you could get there with each voter voting consistently: Say it was five voters:
-Two vote for Giorgi as both the best player, and (ergo) best frosh.
-One votes for player x (Trent?) as best player, Ayo as best frosh
-One votes for player y (AJ?) as best player, Ayo as best frosh.
-One votes for player x (Adonis?) as best player, Ayo as best frosh.
 
#41      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
It's all about the narrative.

giphy (9).gif
 
#42      

the national

the Front Range
For the first time in Big Ten men’s basketball history, a school claimed both awards with two different freshmen


Player of the Week: Giorgi Bezhanishvili
Last Illinois Player of the Week: Malcolm Hill (Nov. 14, 2016)

Freshman of the Week: Ayo Dosunmu
Last Illinois Freshman of the Week: Trent Frazier (Feb. 12, 2018)


Illinois swept Big Ten men’s basketball weekly honors for the first time in school history


https://bigten.org/news/2019/2/11/illinois-sweeps-weekly-mens-basketball-honors.aspx
Awesome! Way to go guys! We are proud of you! 🇬🇪🇺🇸🔶🔷🔶🔷
 
#44      

breadman

Herndon, VA
Birthdates:
Giorgi: November 16, 1998
Ayo: January 17, 2000

This is a very good point.
First, congrats to both freshman!! Good for the O&B. Keep the awards coming. God knows we have the horses. I fully expect Tevian and Allen to be there at some point.

Now, how about looking at it from this perspective: Giorgi is a freshman in "basketball scholarship" years, but a junior in chronological years, while Ayo is a true freshman in both. It now makes perfect sense why Giorgi is behaving like he is. He is simply mentally and physically more mature than the "true" freshman. Hey, just keep bringing it!! There is a whole lot more basketball to be played this season.
 
#45      

KrushCow31

Former Krush Cow
Chicago, IL
but a junior in chronological years, while Ayo is a true freshman in both.

Not to nitpick or anything, but Giorgi is a Sophomore in age, not a junior. I turned 20 years old in the first few weeks of Sophomore year. His extra year though certainly does help.
 
#46      

IlliniKat91

Chicago, IL
Not to nitpick or anything, but Giorgi is a Sophomore in age, not a junior. I turned 20 years old in the first few weeks of Sophomore year. His extra year though certainly does help.

Depends on when you were born. I'm a September 1st baby and didn't turn 20 until the start of my junior year at Illinois. It's all a matter of perspective.
 
#47      
I'm hopeful that every high school player our staff is pursuing hears about this and our recent track record in developing Freshmen. The growth from the beginning of the season to now for all the Freshmen (especially these two) has been remarkable.

If you were an Illini recruiter, how would you position this?

I'd put together a video montage of Ayo and Giorgi's first dozen games and all their mistakes, then segue into another video of all their heroic moves these past few weeks. The tag line: "Other coaches say the best thing about Freshmen is they become Sophomores. We say the best thing about Freshmen is they quickly become studs in our system." Then have Underwood do a dramatic mic drop and walk away. It would be epic.
 
#48      

KrushCow31

Former Krush Cow
Chicago, IL
Depends on when you were born. I'm a September 1st baby and didn't turn 20 until the start of my junior year at Illinois. It's all a matter of perspective.

Right, but that's like the very very back end of the spectrum. The polar opposite of my August 31st. Giorgi was born in November so that would put him at slightly older than than the average Sophomore. Not that important of a point though haha.
 
#49      
Right, but that's like the very very back end of the spectrum. The polar opposite of my August 31st. Giorgi was born in November so that would put him at slightly older than than the average Sophomore. Not that important of a point though haha.

Before reclassifying was a thing (not that long ago) a good handful of kids were getting homeschool/"held back" to be a year more developed. I can think of a few off the top of my head.
 
#50      
Just to be clear, you are talking about this century correct?

Ah, yeah....but I think we were very good in the early 1900s as well. Ralph Jones who coached from 1912 to 1920 had a .674 B1G winning % and .714 overall winning % with 2 B1G titles and a National Championship.
 
Last edited: