Illini Basketball 2019-2020

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#76      
At this point Alan looks like he has the skills to be a great scorer ala Malcolm Hill. Can shoot from 3, can take it to the basket, and gets 2nd chance points. Hill was better at the guarded twos but Alan matches up at the rest. Needs to do it after he becomes the oppositions target.
 
#77      

foby

Bonnaroo Land
So today we have a better overall record than tOSU, and we are alone in 2nd place in the B1G, while they are alone in 13th place. A few weeks ago, who'd of thunk it?
 
#78      
It's funny, but I feel like BU has really had to adjust to rules changes that affected his systems. A coworker and I have a theory that the intense pressure defense that he wants to run was hurt when they got rid of the 5 second closely guarded call

I’ll never understand why they got rid of that. With freedom of movement it’s already hard enough to guard. Now you’re gonna tell me that if a kid is good enough to actually cover somebody tightly for 5 seconds without fouling you’re not gonna reward him for it? What trash.
 
#79      
At this point Alan looks like he has the skills to be a great scorer ala Malcolm Hill. Can shoot from 3, can take it to the basket, and gets 2nd chance points. Hill was better at the guarded twos but Alan matches up at the rest. Needs to do it after he becomes the oppositions target.
MH could create his own shots. Someone pointed out Brandon Paul also creating shots ... and I agree.

AG is quick to basket, but will need to work on creating shots away from rim. I think athletically AG is superior to MH...and I absolutely love AGs nose for the ball, but he'll need to add some tools and get a more reliable shot away from the basket before we can put him in the same category as MHill or Brandon Paul.
 
#80      
It's funny, but I feel like BU has really had to adjust to rules changes that affected his systems. A coworker and I have a theory that the intense pressure defense that he wants to run was hurt when they got rid of the 5 second closely guarded call

I heard an announcer mention recently (not sure which game) that a kid almost got a 5 second call?

I think they got rid of the dribble 5 second call.
 
#81      
MH could create his own shots. Someone pointed out Brandon Paul also creating shots ... and I agree.

AG is quick to basket, but will need to work on creating shots away from rim. I think athletically AG is superior to MH...and I absolutely love AGs nose for the ball, but he'll need to add some tools and get a more reliable shot away from the basket before we can put him in the same category as MHill or Brandon Paul.
Until AG does more ( and I mean MORE) you cant even put him in the same breath as MH or BP.
 
#83      
For the 1st time in like 5 years I'm checking to see if we're ranked. I think I'm getting ahead of myself 😅
 
#84      

illini80

Forgottonia
I keep thinking, “What about next year?” I don’t really see a path for both of these guys to be their best selves together. Will we see Giorgi’s best season as a freshman?? That’d be sad.
We know Giorgi is a hard worker. My thought is that this season is going to make him a more versatile player and a better player in the long run. His weaknesses are clear. When he fixes them he will become much more of a threat at all levels. At this time last year, there were a few speculating whether he would test the draft. That would have ended poorly. But if he can reinvent himself he may have a much better chance in a couple more years of sticking.
 
#85      

illini80

Forgottonia
For the 1st time in like 5 years I'm checking to see if we're ranked. I think I'm getting ahead of myself 😅
I think we get a few votes, but other than Michigan, who I still think is over ranked, we haven’t beaten a top 25 team and have been crushed by a couple. Keep taking care of business and it will come.

Speaking of overrated, I‘ll be amazed if OSU keeps that ranking. As I expected, B10 teams beating each other up is causing a slide in the top 25 rankings even though the NET and others stay pretty strong.
 
#86      
Right now if you bench Giorgi you're putting Kipper or Tevian on the floor in his place.

Regarding Tevian: I know this board is high on Tevian's potential but if you take away last years Maryland game he hasn't shown much. In Italy he was out played and in the minutes he's gotten since coming back from his suspension he's making a lot of mistakes.

Regarding Kipper: Giorgi's a better 3 point threat and better in the paint. The numbers back this up. Kipper's got some great athleticism but it so often comes with terrible terrible luck? mental lapses? idk what it is but Kipper's not better than Giorgi right now.

The only other option is to run a shorter lineup that consists of Trent(6-2), Ayo(6-5), Williams(6-3), and Griffin(6-6) but as soon as you sub in Feliz(6-0) for Ayo or Griffin that lineup gets way too short. So until Tevian or Kipper improve, Giorgi's going to be seeing minutes at the 4 (and by the time they improve Giorgi will have hopefully improved as well).
I just wish Verdonk could get healthy so we could actually see what a healthy version of him.can do. We have yet to see that. I have to feel he would be ahead of Tevian if health just because he is more physical and supposedly a good shooter
I just wish he could get to 100% and get some experience in practice or games. That may not happen this year. I think that is exactly eh as t we were looking for when we added him. Get vvv.cvv well young man.
 
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#87      
Like to see Giorgi shoot like Black did his last year but I guess I miss the nuisances because my take is the combination of Kofi and Giorgi is like taking boulders to a rock fight. He is blocking two guys frequently on those drives to the basket by Ayo and Dre. Even though he isn’t getting the rebounds he has effectively blocked out the opposition. It appears to me that scoring seems to be the only thing some posters look at in players or recruits. Defense travels!
 
#88      

illini80

Forgottonia
I just wish Verdonk could get healthy so we could actually see what a healthy version of him.can do. We have yet to see that. I have to feel he would be ahead of Tevian if health just because he is more physical and supposedly a good shooter
I just wish he could get to 100% and get some experience in practice or games. That may not happen this year. I think that is exactly eh as t we were looking for when we added him. Get vvv.cvv well young man.
At this point is seems like a medical redshirt is his best option. Very unlikely he is a meaningful contributor. He wasn’t before he was hurt either.
 
#94      
The article makes it seem shocking that we could have become a ranked squad this year.

*face palm*
Yeah, I don't know what that guy was talking about. It was probably 50/50 we'd be ranked at some point this year. Hell, we had votes in the first week's poll.
 
#97      
https://www.sportsrec.com/college-basketball-redshirting-rules-6716421.html

According to this 1 min disqualifies them for a red shirt year. Medical red shirt allowed if less than half a season and less than 20% of games. He has played in 9 games so unless I am misinterpreting he does not qualify unless there is some other exception.
https://www.news-gazette.com/sports...cle_8f6a8a09-fa0b-5224-ac36-620a9c4f2952.html According to this article the NCAA amended the rule to 30% instead of 20% of all games in the schedule and if Illinois has a 30 game schedule then Verdonk is still eligible for a medical redshirt unless they have amended it again back to 20% since 2007. Who knows, that’s for the compliance director to figure out
 
#98      
I think worst case, but honestly a realistic scenario is below (10-10):

NW - W
@PU - L
@MI - L
MN - W
@IA - W
MD - L
MSU - L
@RU - L
@PSU - L
NE - W
@NW - W
IN - L
@OSU - L
IA - W

I wish we were playing @RU and @PSU earlier, because those games will be rough, and after @PU, @MI, MD, MSU - we could be in a bit of a hole.

My top 3 games to flip to wins are:

IN, @PSU, MD (2 day turnaround for them, and after getting beat up a bit against RU).

...


Also, for you forever optimists: http://www.seed-madness.com/

And the best tool for conference forecasting: http://bball.notnothing.net/big10.php?sport=mbb
 
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