Illini Basketball 2020-2021

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#77      
I can't even describe how dumb that would be. A complete farce.....ridiculous. I would refuse to watch, unless the Illini won the conference.

I think you hit the nail on the head there... Illinois fans would obviously watch (since we're going undefeated this year) but the all the other P5 school fans wouldn't care about the tournament at all since their teams wouldn't get in (except 1 from each of the other conferences).
 
#78      
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...g-bubbles-championships-2021-perfectly-viable

When he said 32 I just thought it would be conference champs only. They even talk maybe just 16 teams.

Okay, I think that's speculation, and highly unlikely. Playing in a bubble ≠ limiting conferences to a single team.

The national 7 day moving average of new daily cases, peaked the late in July (not true for Illinois, but nationally). Given how long the number of new cases has been in decline, playing gets safer, at least on average. Nothing's for sure, of course --we could have a mutation/new strain, etc., but even without a vaccine, I would expect colleges push to get that income generator back on line.
 
#79      
What is so hard about 4 bubbles of 16, followed by a Final 4 bubble? Seems pretty simple.

There are various arena's around the country that have space for 2 full sized basketball courts and on-site hotel accommodations and conference rooms where they could effectively quarantine the entire event (The McCormick Center in Chicago could house a lot more than 2 courts). It seems like it would be relatively simple (if the NCAA has the $$$) to quarantine 16 teams in a facility like that for 2 weeks before starting competition. They could set up each team with a conference room with weight lifting equipment and treadmills along with chalkboards and a few basketball hoops to practice shooting. They could probably set up a second conference room with laptops for the students to keep up with their studying and interact with their tutors via the internet. If they only have 2 courts at the facility they could also give teams 1.5 hour sessions for exclusive access to the real court with 10-15 minute cleaning windows between to wipe down or replace benches/chairs, rims, balls, floors, etc. from 7AM - 9PM each day. Event staff could be quarantined a week earlier and COVID tested before the athletes arrive so that they could prepare meals for the teams etc.

Instead of having the first 4 play-in games they could extend invites to an additional 3 teams for each location that would only get to play IF one of the other teams tested positive for COVID and was unable to play.

Locations could be set so that there's 1 in each geographic location in the US but within 1 days drive of the final location. That would put the final location somewhere like Iowa/Illinois/Missouri/Nebraska and would make the western most location probably be somewhere like Arizona/Nevada/New Mexico/Colorado so that the mountains are not in the way.

After the 2 week quarantine they could play a very similar schedule to the 2019 tournament adding just 1 day to the timeline (+ 2 weeks quarantine ahead of time):

Round of 64 (16 Teams at 4 locations):
Day 1 (monday) - 8 games @ 2 sites = 16 total games played
Day 2 (tuesday) - Rest & Test (remaining 2 sites play) = 16 games played
Round of 32 (remaining 8 teams at each location):
Day 3 (wednesday) - 4 games @ 2 sites = 8 total games played
Day 4 (thursday) - Rest (remaining 2 sites play) = 8 games played
Day 5 (friday) - Rest & Test all sites
Sweet 16 (remaining 4 teams at each location):
Day 6 (saturday) - 2 games @ 2 sites = 4 total games played
Day 7 (sunday) - Rest (remaining 2 sites play) = 4 games played
Day 8 (monday) - Travel by Bus. The 8 remaining teams (2 from each site) would all travel by bus(es) from their location to the final location with no stops along the way using a driver(s) that have been quarantined and bringing boxed meals on the bus(es).
Elite 8 (8 Teams at final location):
Day 9 (tuesday) - Rest & Test all teams
Day 10 (wednesday) - Rest/Practice
Day 11 (thursday) - Rest/Practice
Day 12 (friday) - Rest/Practice
Day 13 (saturday) - 4 games
Day 14 (sunday) - 4 games
Final 4:
Day 15 (monday) - Rest & Test all teams
Day 16 (tuesday) - Rest/Practice
Day 17 (wednesday) - Rest/Practice
Day 18 (thursday) - Rest/Practice
Day 19 (friday) - Rest/Practice
Day 20 (saturday) - FINAL 4 games
Championship:
Day 21 (sunday) - Rest/Practice
Day 22 (Monday) - Championship game
 
#80      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
make the western most location probably be somewhere like Arizona/Nevada/New Mexico/Colorado so that the mountains are not in the way.

In the way? Of what? You know we've reached the west coast...right?
 
#83      
In the way? Of what? You know we've reached the west coast...right?

I was just thinking they’d ideally be within a single days drive of the final location to limit exposure to potential Covid sources So they could be taken there directly without having to enter an airport or any other public spaces.
 
#85      
Who are you more excited about Curbelo or Miller?

Curbelo is so relaxing playing and grown.


Miller is the player I have been hoping begging for...


the two remind me of getting Malcolm (Curbelo) and Nunn (Miller).
 
#86      
Who are you more excited about Curbelo or Miller?

Curbelo is so relaxing playing and grown.


Miller is the player I have been hoping begging for...


the two remind me of getting Malcolm (Curbelo) and Nunn (Miller).

Really excited about both Curbelo & Miller......how was it Forrest said it...They're like peas and carrots.....Curbelo could help make Miller one of the prolific scorers ever for the Illini and Miller could make Curbelo the all time assist leader for the O & B...the two I think will complement each other quite nicely......IF THEY both play more than a couple seasons for the Illini
 
#87      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
I was just thinking they’d ideally be within a single days drive of the final location to limit exposure to potential Covid sources So they could be taken there directly without having to enter an airport or any other public spaces.

I'm a teasah.

tenor.gif
 
#90      
What is so hard about 4 bubbles of 16, followed by a Final 4 bubble? Seems pretty simple.

Would they break the bubble in between? Normally there's just 1 week between E8 and F4 but if you're going to do a new 2 week quarantine you'd probably be looking at almost 2 months of quarantine for the teams that make it all the way to the end.

The costs would be much higher and there would be significantly less ticket sales (zero?) and less merchandise / concessions. Less business brought into the town that's hosting (no bar revenue, hotel revenue, etc.) so potentially less favorable taxation rules for the event.
 
#91      
Who are you more excited about Curbelo or Miller?

Curbelo is so relaxing playing and grown.


Miller is the player I have been hoping begging for...


the two remind me of getting Malcolm (Curbelo) and Nunn (Miller).
I am excited about both players. However it does appear to me that AM is much much more likely to be a pro with his shooting ability, athleticism, and being a bigger player. AM may not be here to use all his eligibility. I feel AC will use his up. He will certainly make us better ability and vision. Although i dont know how many of those below the net scoop shots will work in against B10 guys in the paint but the rest of those reels are very encouraging.
 
#92      
Who are you more excited about Curbelo or Miller?

Curbelo is so relaxing playing and grown.

Miller is the player I have been hoping begging for...

the two remind me of getting Malcolm (Curbelo) and Nunn (Miller).

To me it's a toss-up. Both look college ready, with Miller having more flash --he'll definitely get his share of highlight plays as the season goes on, and scouts will value his athleticism and high potential. I won't be upset if either makes the jump to the pros quickly. My hope is that Curbelo gives us that next level on the offensive end, knowing where the ball needs to be, and taking care of it until we break down the defense. He's a bit undersized for an NBA PG, so I'd expect him to spend more time developing if he makes it. And if Curbelo's value is as a pure PG, then it's a question in my mind of whether we have something of an issue with the overlap of Ayo being the primary ball handler. Obviously Ayo can handle being off the ball, but it's a question in my mind as to how effectively the 1-3 rotations work. I still think of Underwood's teams as aspiring to run pinch-post offense like SFA, but I just don't see us having the group that runs that. Fortunately, BU and crew have a plan and I don't have to figure any of that out :p

Both Curbelo and Miller have a great chance of success --love where the program is at. Not sure if either is going to give us an elite 3 point threat, but if we get that out of either, we'll be scary good. BIG is going to have a lot of nationally relevant teams --not going to be an easy season even with our roster looking so good.
 
#93      
To me it's a toss-up. Both look college ready, with Miller having more flash --he'll definitely get his share of highlight plays as the season goes on, and scouts will value his athleticism and high potential. I won't be upset if either makes the jump to the pros quickly. My hope is that Curbelo gives us that next level on the offensive end, knowing where the ball needs to be, and taking care of it until we break down the defense. He's a bit undersized for an NBA PG, so I'd expect him to spend more time developing if he makes it. And if Curbelo's value is as a pure PG, then it's a question in my mind of whether we have something of an issue with the overlap of being the primary ball handler. Obviously Ayo can handle being off the ball, but it's a question in my mind as to how effectively the 1-3 rotations work. I still think of Underwood's teams as aspiring to run pinch-post offense like SFA, but I just don't see us having the group that runs that. Fortunately, BU and crew have a plan and I don't have to figure any of that out :p

Both Curbelo and Miller have a great chance of success --love where the program is at. Not sure if either is going to give us an elite 3 point threat, but if we get that out of either, we'll be scary good. BIG is going to have a lot of nationally relevant teams --not going to be an easy season even with our roster looking so good.

Didn’t think Ayo was the prime ball handler. Their success started when they gave that assignment to Trent. Trent’s 3 pt shooting degraded at that point but team success was higher. This year they can use Curbelo as the ball handler and use two of Ayo, Trent, Alan, and Hutcherson as the shooters or continue to useTrent in that capacity. We will see all of these combinations but which will it be at crunch time.
 
#94      
To me it's a toss-up. Both look college ready, with Miller having more flash --he'll definitely get his share of highlight plays as the season goes on, and scouts will value his athleticism and high potential. I won't be upset if either makes the jump to the pros quickly. My hope is that Curbelo gives us that next level on the offensive end, knowing where the ball needs to be, and taking care of it until we break down the defense. He's a bit undersized for an NBA PG, so I'd expect him to spend more time developing if he makes it. And if Curbelo's value is as a pure PG, then it's a question in my mind of whether we have something of an issue with the overlap of Ayo being the primary ball handler. Obviously Ayo can handle being off the ball, but it's a question in my mind as to how effectively the 1-3 rotations work. I still think of Underwood's teams as aspiring to run pinch-post offense like SFA, but I just don't see us having the group that runs that. Fortunately, BU and crew have a plan and I don't have to figure any of that out :p

Both Curbelo and Miller have a great chance of success --love where the program is at. Not sure if either is going to give us an elite 3 point threat, but if we get that out of either, we'll be scary good. BIG is going to have a lot of nationally relevant teams --not going to be an easy season even with our roster looking so good.

Our team took off last year when Frazier ran the point and Ayo played off the ball. Ga beat me to the punch.
 
#95      
Didn’t think Ayo was the prime ball handler. Their success started when they gave that assignment to Trent. Trent’s 3 pt shooting degraded at that point but team success was higher. This year they can use Curbelo as the ball handler and use two of Ayo, Trent, Alan, and Hutcherson as the shooters or continue to useTrent in that capacity. We will see all of these combinations but which will it be at crunch time.

I won't pretend to have memorized every play of every game, but Ayo certainly had the ball in his hands on a large number of trips up the court, or initiating the offense. And when it mattered, it seems to me that Ayo was where the ball resided. Certainly from a usage measure, Ayo was more than 50% higher than Trent.

I won't dispute that Trent did a share of primary ball handling, but I'm skeptical of the characterization that Trent was the primary ball handler, or that we'll just pull touches from Ayo/Trent and give them to AC. Not saying I'm right, or can't be convinced, but that's my sense of it, and it makes me wonder how we'll utilize them optimally.
 
#96      
This year they can use Curbelo as the ball handler and use two of Ayo, Trent, Alan, and Hutcherson as the shooters or continue to useTrent in that capacity. We will see all of these combinations but which will it be at crunch time.

I would wager 1 beach house that we wont see much of Alan this year. I think you probably meant to say Adam though - in which case I agree 100%. Our team's shooting should be significantly improved from last year. Maybe they'll try to shoot from 6 ft beyond the arc to remain socially distant?
 
#97      
To me it's a toss-up. Both look college ready, with Miller having more flash --he'll definitely get his share of highlight plays as the season goes on, and scouts will value his athleticism and high potential. I won't be upset if either makes the jump to the pros quickly. My hope is that Curbelo gives us that next level on the offensive end, knowing where the ball needs to be, and taking care of it until we break down the defense. He's a bit undersized for an NBA PG, so I'd expect him to spend more time developing if he makes it. And if Curbelo's value is as a pure PG, then it's a question in my mind of whether we have something of an issue with the overlap of Ayo being the primary ball handler. Obviously Ayo can handle being off the ball, but it's a question in my mind as to how effectively the 1-3 rotations work. I still think of Underwood's teams as aspiring to run pinch-post offense like SFA, but I just don't see us having the group that runs that. Fortunately, BU and crew have a plan and I don't have to figure any of that out :p

Both Curbelo and Miller have a great chance of success --love where the program is at. Not sure if either is going to give us an elite 3 point threat, but if we get that out of either, we'll be scary good. BIG is going to have a lot of nationally relevant teams --not going to be an easy season even with our roster looking so good.

I think when Kofi and Ayo move up we actually do have a pretty solid spread team. The hardest player to fit is Hamlin but he’d have 2 years of development under his belt.
 
#98      
I would wager 1 beach house that we wont see much of Alan this year. I think you probably meant to say Adam though - in which case I agree 100%. Our team's shooting should be significantly improved from last year. Maybe they'll try to shoot from 6 ft beyond the arc to remain socially distant?
Yeah, I meant Adam, darn name checker isn’t any better than the spell checker.
 
#99      
Didn’t think Ayo was the prime ball handler. Their success started when they gave that assignment to Trent. Trent’s 3 pt shooting degraded at that point but team success was higher. This year they can use Curbelo as the ball handler and use two of Ayo, Trent, Alan, and Hutcherson as the shooters or continue to useTrent in that capacity. We will see all of these combinations but which will it be at crunch time.
Are you saying we won't see much of Adam Miller this year? If so why not? Great player, excellent shot, and good free throw shooter, am I wrong?
 
#100      
I think when Kofi and Ayo move up we actually do have a pretty solid spread team. The hardest player to fit is Hamlin but he’d have 2 years of development under his belt.

I share your optimism. I think staff have done an amazing job of adapting to where the recruits are, so to speak, and modified the way they scheme to fit the players. And my sense of it, is that it's a win-win, with guys pushed to learn more than a lot of coaches would try to do.
 
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