Illini Basketball 2019-2020

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#654      

Lovethechief78

L
Bellevue, WA
Lovethechief78
The game against Grand Canyon is Friday, Nov. 8 in Phoenix; the game against Arizona in Tuscon is sunday, Nov. 10
 
#655      

Soulberries

Soulberries
University of Illinois
Soulberries
stoney said:
Thought I'd give my 2 cents about this team. A while back I shared that I thought this team was the best collection of talent I have seen in C U for many years.

- Gorgi is a consistent jump shot away from being a pro.
- Kofi is a freshman and will need time and Antigua coaching to be all he can be (so be patient)
- Ayo is the best guard to grace C U since Deron and expect a big year.
- Frazier will be the quiet assassin and will start to get national attention with his play making.
- Andre is far better than we give him credit for and will be responsible for the Illini winning a ton of games.
- Tevian is a rhythm shooter and if defense steps up he will have a monster year.
- AG will establish a defensive presence and will be a knock down shooter.
- Kipper will find consistency and his contribution will move this team to vie for the top spot in the B1G.
- Samba (if he stays) will surprise with his defense and shot making ability (his hands during freshman year remind me of Egwu his freshman year)
- Other freshmen will be...well freshmen..with the kid from Norway or Belgium being more ready to contribute.

I like this team y'all.
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What? Da'Monte gets no love?
 
#656      

Illini_Jack

Illini_Jack
Illini_Jack
stoney said:
Thought I'd give my 2 cents about this team. A while back I shared that I thought this team was the best collection of talent I have seen in C U for many years.

- Gorgi is a consistent jump shot away from being a pro.
- Kofi is a freshman and will need time and Antigua coaching to be all he can be (so be patient)
- Ayo is the best guard to grace C U since Deron and expect a big year.
- Frazier will be the quiet assassin and will start to get national attention with his play making.
- Andre is far better than we give him credit for and will be responsible for the Illini winning a ton of games.
- Tevian is a rhythm shooter and if defense steps up he will have a monster year.
- AG will establish a defensive presence and will be a knock down shooter.
- Kipper will find consistency and his contribution will move this team to vie for the top spot in the B1G.
- Samba (if he stays) will surprise with his defense and shot making ability (his hands during freshman year remind me of Egwu his freshman year)
- Other freshmen will be...well freshmen..with the kid from Norway or Belgium being more ready to contribute.

I like this team y'all.
Click to expand...
I can appreciate the optimism but Ayo is no Dee Brown my friend. Ayo may end up being the better pro, but college ball, I'd take Dee every day of the week.
 
#658      

PtownIllini8

P
PtownIllini8
V
RIVERCITYCHIEF said:
What players do you expect to shoot over 35 or even 30% for the season from further back this year? I have not looked at least season but the new distance could hinder a players improvement,, So who do you expect to take 100 threes this year with the new added distance? I think Trent is our best bet for both. I hope AG, Tev, and Ayo improve. I do like the corner threes though.
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Verdonk shot over 35% from that distance last season.
 
#659      

ILLHangOut

I
ILLHangOut
I'm not so worried about Giorgi's shot, or how the minutes split across the 4/5. I think the best lineup potential has Giorgi and Kofi playing together. Ideally, the two of them require 2+ defenders.

It will be critical they can play off each other and the defensesive rotation. I liked reading Giorgi's comments that he's played with another big his whole career and feels comfortable doing so. I think that is going to be the key to the season.

If Giorgi and Kofi can read each other and the defense well enough to dictate the defensive rotation this team is setup for success on offense. They have the cutters and shooters to exploit poor or slow rotations. They have the two big guys capable of exploiting 1:1 matchups. As a team they just need to move the ball to the right place at the right time; pieces are there imo.

Obviously, easier said than done, but I enjoy the question being execution rather than talent or physical attributes for once heading into a season.
 
#660      

Ga65

G
Ga65
ILLHangOut said:
I'm not so worried about Giorgi's shot, or how the minutes split across the 4/5. I think the best lineup potential has Giorgi and Kofi playing together. Ideally, the two of them require 2+ defenders.

It will be critical they can play off each other and the defensesive rotation. I liked reading Giorgi's comments that he's played with another big his whole career and feels comfortable doing so. I think that is going to be the key to the season.

If Giorgi and Kofi can read each other and the defense well enough to dictate the defensive rotation this team is setup for success on offense. They have the cutters and shooters to exploit poor or slow rotations. They have the two big guys capable of exploiting 1:1 matchups. As a team they just need to move the ball to the right place at the right time; pieces are there imo.

Obviously, easier said than done, but I enjoy the question being execution rather than talent or physical attributes for once heading into a season.
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Not worried about them playing together, just about their backups.
 
#665      

ILLHangOut

I
ILLHangOut
Ga65 said:
Not worried about them playing together, just about their backups.
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Fair enough, but to what end? If the goal is Final Four, then yeah I completely agree. I think for a sweet 16 ceiling we're fine. When I look at the rosters for other teams there are very few who have more than 2 reliable bigs. Texas Tech for example had 2 guys taller than 6' 5" who averaged more than 5 mins, 2 pts per game. There are plenty of similar teams, imo.

I agree that forward depth is a weakness, but I don't think it's limiting unless expectations are elevated.
 
#667      

Illwinsagain

Illwinsagain
Cary, IL
Illwinsagain
ILLHangOut said:
Fair enough, but to what end? If the goal is Final Four, then yeah I completely agree. I think for a sweet 16 ceiling we're fine. When I look at the rosters for other teams there are very few who have more than 2 reliable bigs. Texas Tech for example had 2 guys taller than 6' 5" who averaged more than 5 mins, 2 pts per game. There are plenty of similar teams, imo.

I agree that forward depth is a weakness, but I don't think it's limiting unless expectations are elevated.
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The tourney is such a crap shoot. Match-ups/upsets/whistles blown and not blown, if a team can make the S16, they can make F4. The key is getting in and winning the first game.
 
#668      

Illiniguy13

Illiniguy13
Illiniguy13
Illwinsagain said:
The tourney is such a crap shoot. Match-ups/upsets/whistles blown and not blown, if a team can make the S16, they can make F4. The key is getting in and winning the first game.
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Exactly. You obviously want to be talented enough to be considered a sweet 16 team, but that all goes out the window come March. A couple years back Jay Bilas made a comment that I thought was interesting; he believed in order for a team to have any viable shot at making a deep run, it required talent in the front court. Basically talked about how any team can get hot from deep, but once you inevitably go cold in a tournament setting you'll eventually have to rely on production down low.
 
#669      

ugottabjoshinme

ugottabjoshinme
ugottabjoshinme
RIVERCITYCHIEF said:
With the line being moved back i think if more than a few are taking a lot of shots from that distance they will not shoot 30% unless they are wide open. I would still have my doubts. I also think a strong mid range open shot like Malcolm hill or Maverick Morgan had later in his career is a better than 45\% shot. contested maybe i agree but a good look these guys will shoot better than that if they are a focal point in our offense. Even more so if they are open. I hope to see a lot of GB from, 8 to 10 feet on a smaller player this season. I cant see Kofi not drawing the our oppositions big man. I expect a lot of offensive boards and dunks if that is the case.
I expect us to shoot 15 threes or so a game. and a bunch at the basket and inside of 12 feet. The shots that i would call MID RANGE that we take i expect to be great looks by good shooters and will be better than a 3 by the wrong player.
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Shooters will definitely still shoot over 30% from 3. I'm not expecting the % to change much, maybe 1 or 2 %
 
#670      

Calvin

C
Calvin
Do we need a separate thread for the Italy trip/games? I'm wondering if they'll be much coverage....
 
#671      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
Calvin said:
Do we need a separate thread for the Italy trip/games? I'm wondering if they'll be much coverage....
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I’m pretty sure I heard that Piper is making the trip, so there should be a lot of information available.
 
#673      

WizardBill

WizardBill
WizardBill

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