Our record is certainly better, but a year ago today we almost beat then #1 Gonzaga. We had lost a close game to Georgetown without Trent and had blown out Evansville. I'm not at all sure we have played better basketball than that so far this year. Which is frightening to think about really.
Illinois 66, Hawaii 53 POSTGAME
The Dave
- CA
What's the old saying? The whole is greater than the sum of the parts? I fee like Illinois is the opposite of this. We have a lot of nice parts but they're just not gelling as a team right now. Hopefully that turns around in the next few weeks.
I was in AZ last week for both games and in person the offense looked way more disjointed than it did on TV. However, there were a few possessions last night where players seemed to be moving well and the ball was flowing smoothly. Gives me hope they can put it together.
I'm sure a week without any game action didn't help either. Had to knock the rust off in the first half. I'm not excited about what we're doing right now, but I can see a path to being a middle of the B10 team with a spot in the Tourney by the end of the season.
I was in AZ last week for both games and in person the offense looked way more disjointed than it did on TV. However, there were a few possessions last night where players seemed to be moving well and the ball was flowing smoothly. Gives me hope they can put it together.
I'm sure a week without any game action didn't help either. Had to knock the rust off in the first half. I'm not excited about what we're doing right now, but I can see a path to being a middle of the B10 team with a spot in the Tourney by the end of the season.
I’m sorry but whoever makes and records these videos needs to stop using the noise gate tool during the editing of these. It actually makes it worse. Not to be picky, it has always bothered me lol.
I think that we played a lot better down the stretch. Early in the game the timing wasn't there on the offensive end. They had quite a few plays where it looked like they just didn't let things develop, like trying to hit a moving Kofi or Giorgi with bounce passes 12 feet from the basket. They could have waited one more step to make those plays easy, but instead they ended up as turnovers. For the last 15 minutes of the game or so they got the timing right and it looked easy.
They basically turned the ball over once between the first TV timeout of the second half and garbage time, which is an exceptional stretch. What I think they'll need to learn to do if they're going to succeed is to get their timing straight without slowing down. You're wasting a guy like Ayo if you don't let him play downhill.
Playing fast and clean is not easy to do, but I expect that they will get better at it as the season goes on. (And if they don't, they're going to be in trouble.)
His lineups have not been terribly consistent....I'm all for consistency if that's what you mean.
I can also see plus in a little shorter bench for chemistry. I do believe if we see more of the energized Kipper that showed last night...it will be of great help.
Do you think that having two solid inside threats is going to change he role of the guards?
Absolutely. However, how things are working now, the offense is running through Kofi. I'm having trouble seeing how the guards are fitting into what they're trying to do. Neither Ayo, nor Frazier look comfortable at all. I guess I thought Ayo's role would have been that of being the facilitator. That's not happening. There's times where I have to double check that he's even out there. Same with Frazier. Unless he gets the open three, he's not overly involved.
They looked stagnant until about the 8 minute mark of the second half. They again had the problem with the ball being passed around the perimeter with no purpose, then Feliz ends up with it in a bail out situation.
What do you, or anyone else, see their roles being? When I see Ayo being 4 of 12(3 assists and 0/0 from the foul line), Frazier being 3 of 5(1 assist), but Kofi being 6 of 15(5 turnovers)...I don't see the guards facilitating offense.
i don't think that what they're currently doing is sustainable.
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I think we need more options on our offense. We like to put Kofi or Giorgi at the corner with the ball and then run a guard past. Half the time they take the handoff, the other half the big turns to the hoop and trys to create. I have not seen it a single time where they deny the handoff but then bounce pass it to the guard for the easy layup or where the big immediately kicks it to the corner when that defender sags in to get ready to help with the backdoor.
Well, I suppose you can make the case. But Georgetown was the start of losing 7 of the next 8, and the eye test for me personally, was fugly. We look a lot better IMHO, and while we're making a lot of mistakes, they are mostly things that look fixable. And the post presence of Kofi is a game changer. Time will tell, but I think this year's team beats last year's team, no problem.
Do those who are especially worried watch non-Illini games? Have you watched any this season?
IMO, our struggles so far don't look too different than the struggles I've seen from just about every other team I've watched this year. This is just what college basketball looks like for most teams in 2019.
UK, who will end up much better than we are, followed up a loss to Evansville with an 8-point win over Utah Valley. Everyone on this board would be freaking out with such results.
Whether or not the season goes well is entirely about how much we improve each week, as is the case for teams 11ish through 70ish. We have a few things going for us that not all teams in that range do, not the least of which is the fact that we've found ways to win games in which we've struggled.
IMO, our struggles so far don't look too different than the struggles I've seen from just about every other team I've watched this year. This is just what college basketball looks like for most teams in 2019.
UK, who will end up much better than we are, followed up a loss to Evansville with an 8-point win over Utah Valley. Everyone on this board would be freaking out with such results.
Whether or not the season goes well is entirely about how much we improve each week, as is the case for teams 11ish through 70ish. We have a few things going for us that not all teams in that range do, not the least of which is the fact that we've found ways to win games in which we've struggled.
And to add to Lonely Ty's comment; Would we be happy to have an undefeated early season resume like this: 48-34 @ Syracuse, 65-34 at home over James Madison, 60-42 home victory over Columbia, and tonight's gem of a 61-55 squeeker, again at home, over (a very good) Vermont!
With those low-scoring "yawners" our fans would be screaming "NO OFFENSE; fire the coach!"
BU may be a master of hyberbole. But he hit the nail on the head when he said, "we are a young team." Give it time.
Oh, who is the winning team now 4-0 in the above example? #7 Virginia.
Something has to change. I thought it was just a issue coordination and time as the team adjusted to running the offense through the post. Interesting, I also doubled checked twice to see if Ayo was on the floor. With a player of Ayo's caliber, that should never happen.------