Illini Basketball 2019-2020

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#526      
I have a good feeling about Bosmans-Verdonk. Looked really good in highlight videos (since removed), and he's big and athletic. I'll temper my expectations but I could see him getting some minutes at the 4. I'm tired of seeing 2's and 3's playing the 4 and getting overmatched.
 
#527      
Aaron Jordan for example. Great player at the wrong position getting bad matchups because of an unfortunate distribution of talent. This year I hope we have the depth to see guys at their natural positions.
 
#528      
Really like the team of Giorgi, Kofi, Ayo, Trent, and Tevian. However with no backup at the five there is a max of ten minutes (assuming Giorgi 30 mins/game and Kofi 20) that Kofi and Giorgi can play together. That leaves us undersized at the 4 for 75% of the game. We need Kouma in the short term.
 
#529      

ILL in IA

Iowa City
I'll take "Things you say in 2019 that would have made you choke down your vomit in 2005", Alex.
I was 21 in 2005. The list of things I say now at 35 with 3 kids that would induce vomit in 2005 is a long list.
 
#530      
....imo no way. ...A guy that made one free throw out of seven attempts and maybe one shot outside 10 feet all season isnt gonna just play because is tall and can jump. We have other options now at the 4. GB and Kofi will play most of the minutes at the 5 and when they are both out of the game then we have better options to play smaller. 6'8" to 6'10" with skill and a but strong ger is likely what would have happenned. Samba wouldnt have played it a tight game this year imo. That is likely why he bolted and why he didnt last year. I think BK and Verdonk both have much more skill than Kane and others have likely got better. He left because he saw that imo.
Without Kane, very likely that GB is mostly a 5 again this year sharing time there with Kofi, but it doesn't seem like there was much doubt that the plan was for GB to be primarily a 4 this year alongside Kofi; in that scenario Kane seemed to be a clear leader to be the back up Big in that rotation, ahead of Kouma & Verdonk...personally I would be surprised if either freshman, both coming in late, would have been more ready than Kane or even in a position to win time over Kipper/Tev/DW as the stretch 4. Kane would have needed to improve, but as I look back that is the case for most of our freshman bigs. Think Leonard or Egwu where they made relatively huge jumps from Freshman to Sophmore year. It was way too early too write off Kane. Also there seems to be enough speculation that I'm buying that the staff expected him to be in the back end of the rotation at big.
 
#531      
Really like the team of Giorgi, Kofi, Ayo, Trent, and Tevian. However with no backup at the five there is a max of ten minutes (assuming Giorgi 30 mins/game and Kofi 20) that Kofi and Giorgi can play together. That leaves us undersized at the 4 for 75% of the game. We need Kouma in the short term.
Or Verdonk...I'm not really expecting either, but it sure would be a nice surprise if one of them showed up ready to play. If we are undersize at the 4, I would like it to be by choice this year, not that we don't have another big that be even an adequate replacement level solution.
 
#533      
I don't think you understand player development or how you motivate players. Ever coach?

Edit: tone of this was harsher than I intended. I can tell you that most kids these days expect coaching to be a two-way street. I.e. it's not all about coaches drawing a hard-line stance about getting PT. There needs to be a development plan and some effort to work with the player or you'll lose their buy-in. High level talent has a ton of options, and taking them for granted is a recipe for turnover.

Kane is "high level talent?" That seems a stretch. I have zero doubt that the staff had a plan for developing and working with Kane. But maybe he had issues we don't know about or wanted starters minutes, which he wasn't going to get.
 
#535      

Deleted member 628259

D
Guest
I'll take "Things you say in 2019 that would have made you choke down your vomit in 2005", Alex.

Yeah, that occurred to me too. But I've had tickets for a terrible team for five years and I'm sick of it.
 
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#536      

illini80

Forgottonia
I didn't realize he was not going to improve at all between his freshman and sophomore years.
That happened when he decided to transfer.

Funny how 12 months ago, most on here had him pegged as the starting 5 from day 1. I don’t think I’d give much credence to any of our player evaluations abilities. 🤣
 
#537      
I think people were hoping for 10-12 quality minutes which wasn't a stretch
He stayed 20 n I do think it was a stretch for a player that made one free throw and only 1 shot I recall outside often feet. I think a 6'8" to 6'10" guy with skill is a much better option. I remember last year most on here, not me or a few others but most thought Kane was better skilled than GB. That wasnt close. You could look at tape and see that easily. I think that Kane leaving was wise is he ever wanted many minutes. He will get recruited over or beat out just like this year. He was smart to.leave if he wants to play much imo.
 
#538      

Dan

Admin
Also, Why doesn't Illinois ever put out a schedule for the overseas games. Last time they didn't release a schedule, or tell when you could buy tickets or anything...
As Illinois has done in the past, I'd expect a tentative Italy schedule to be released a few days prior to departure (August 4th). If you plan on being in Italy, best to contact Illinois directly to see if those gyms/arenas will be open for the fans during their practices or games. I wouldn't count on any live streaming being available, but Illinois has done a good job of providing highlight videos immediately after overseas games and I wouldn't expect this time to be any different.
 
#542      
Kane is "high level talent?" That seems a stretch. I have zero doubt that the staff had a plan for developing and working with Kane. But maybe he had issues we don't know about or wanted starters minutes, which he wasn't going to get.

Maybe, but if you believe they tried hard to convince him to stay (as was said here), then he's high enough to warrant a development plan that keeps him here. If you believe a quarter of what they said about him and the view that he had very high upside, same. Anyway, it's moot at this point and he's just another player that left early.

“I’m quietly very, very excited about his upside. And when you watch him, I’m not comparing him to Thon Maker, but you watch the Milwaukee Bucks and what Maker does and those are things Samba does.”

- Brad Underwood
 
#543      
Last year most thought dancing. dribbling , and all that that Samba was better than him. I used to live at Huff and IMPE. I cant recall any big men other than Meyers with a better skill set. Weber just screwed up. GB is the most skilled guy we have ever had since 1975 that's over 6'10". The main reason he ended up here is he is from Europe. I'd bet he had a high school coach that didnt see his skill set. I'm glad BU did.
 
#544      
Thanks Dan... Unfortunately last time time around, I sent a message to Shaun Harrington, who was sports information director, and got NOTHING...
Kent Brown is Sports Info Director. Derek Berson works for him and is in charge of BB sports info. Sean Harrington has never worked for sports info??? Maybe you emailed the wrong dept. Sports Info (Derek) is usually great at getting info that he can share to the public.
 
#545      

Deleted member 746479

D
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Last year most thought dancing. dribbling , and all that that Samba was better than him. I used to live at Huff and IMPE. I cant recall any big men other than Meyers with a better skill set. Weber just screwed up. GB is the most skilled guy we have ever had since 1975 that's over 6'10". The main reason he ended up here is he is from Europe. I'd bet he had a high school coach that didnt see his skill set. I'm glad BU did.
I like GB and all but this is almost all untrue. First, GB is generously listed at 6'9". Second, he is nowhere near the best big since 2000 let alone 1975. Did you forget about Brian Cook, Marcus Griffin and Dion Thomas to name a few? Third, Meyers Leonards skillset sucked when he came in as a frosh, he needed a ton of coaching and Weber did a good job giving him that going into his second year.
 
#546      

illini55

The Villages, FL
I like GB and all but this is almost all untrue. First, GB is generously listed at 6'9". Second, he is nowhere near the best big since 2000 let alone 1975. Did you forget about Brian Cook, Marcus Griffin and Dion Thomas to name a few? Third, Myers Leonards skillset sucked when he came in as a frosh, he needed a ton of coaching and Weber did a good job giving him that going into his second year.

None of the players you list were at or over 6 feet 10 inches. You can quibble with Georgi’s height, if you like, but he simply left out of his equation the players you listed. He never said anything about players at the height of your examples; he “forgot” no one. Clearly, the freshman Georgi was light years ahead of the freshman Meyers.
 
#548      
None of the players you list were at or over 6 feet 10 inches. You can quibble with Georgi’s height, if you like, but he simply left out of his equation the players you listed. He never said anything about players at the height of your examples; he “forgot” no one. Clearly, the freshman Georgi was light years ahead of the freshman Meyers.

It didn't hurt Giorgi that he came in as a 20 year old freshman.
 
#550      

Deleted member 746479

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None of the players you list were at or over 6 feet 10 inches. You can quibble with Georgi’s height, if you like, but he simply left out of his equation the players you listed. He never said anything about players at the height of your examples; he “forgot” no one. Clearly, the freshman Georgi was light years ahead of the freshman Meyers.
I didn't say they were over 6'10". He said "I can't recall any big men other than Meyers with a better skill set". I brought up a few better big men with better skill sets.

GB is a good player and a better person. I love that he is an Illini but I hope people temper their expectations of him because he is close to being a finished product already. He is a good but not great college 5. I expect KC to immediately challenge him for the starting spot though and unless GB dramatically improves his outside shot, he will not start at the 4.

If GB does somehow improve his outside game dramatically (unlikely imo) then they start together.

I think Samba and possibly the staff saw that GB was not going to be the starting 4 and realized there would be almost zero mins and hence the transfer. We will play KC and GB together a little (2-5 mins per game).

I do expect 40 solid mins at the 5 this year and Honestly I am not worried at all about the 4. I expect Jones to gobble up 20+ and KN and Verdonk to battle for the rest.

Not the best frontline in the BIG but not bad at all. I would put them at around 4th to 8th best.

Without going into detail I think our guard play will have a chance to be top 5 in the BIG as well so I am a little surprised that anyone would project us to not make the tourny. Very few teams will be as deep and have good front and backcourts. Some teams will be be better at one or the other but only Michigan St and maybe Maryland will be better at both.

I predict no worse than 7th and as high as 2nd in the BIG. Of course this is assuming Underwood is for real which I believe he is.
 
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