Illinois 97, Chicago State 38 Postgame

#3      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
I'm going to repeat a hot take of mine from earlier this year after watching some Curbelo video.

Curbelo has the longest NBA career of all our potential pros.
 
#4      
Curbelo...

That kid is gonna make Underwood smile, frown, cheer and pull his hair out for the next 4 years. He does things you can't teach, hand speed, quickness and anticipation. Man, he was fun to watch.

We're good, gotta wait til we play someone, but we're good.
 
#6      
Really wanted that 100 but oh well...

Glad Curbelo had some fun there at the end, gaining confidence.

The real test will be the Baylor game. Tough to tell just how good we are until the competition improves. But we certainly look like legit National championship contenders. Deep and talented all across the board. Solid coaching. Great team defense. Superstars to turn to when we need to create a shot. Inside and outside. We can play fast or slow. Also a perfect blend of youth and veteran leadership. Very versatile.
 
#9      

JSpence

Evansville, IN
When the biggest concern for a team's depth is that they only have two guys down low capable of taking over a game, that kind of bodes well.

So many preseason write-ups justifiably focused on the questionable outside shooting. With that put to bed, what's the next weakness to discuss? These guys clearly put in some serious work and look nothing like a team playing its first games of the year.

Ice those legs and let's do it again tomorrow!
 
#11      

JSpence

Evansville, IN
The real test will be the Baylor game. Tough to tell just how good we are until the competition improves. But we certainly look like legit National championship contenders. Deep and talented all across the board. Solid coaching. Great team defense. Superstars to turn to when we need to create a shot. Inside and outside. We can play fast or slow. Also a perfect blend of youth and veteran leadership. Very versatile.

I'm really curious so see how this team play in a slow game. Baylor may give us a decent look at that, but their COVID situation will hang an asterisk on our game... win, lose, or draw.

But yeah, the make-up of this team looks excellent. I'm sure that many of us know Illini fans that have stepped back in recent years for mental health reasons. Reach out to them to let them know it's safe to expect a fun year!
 
#14      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
Curbelo's just scratching the surface. He's gonna be flat out clowning and it'll be joyous. JOYOUS, dammit! The kid has it, in spades. Honestly, don't think we've had another PG like him.
 
#17      
One more to go before Baylor. Was at the game when we played them last at the Orleans in Vegas. Was able to snag up some floor tickets for both games. Heckin of a good time. Now that I think of it. We actually played Baylor on Thanksgiving for the Championship.

Well played all around ball today. When you have a season as whacky as this one. I don’t care about if it seems like we are running the score up. We have to get our guys the minutes, and when we do start going to the bench. Welll they aren’t going to be playing let’s see how many passes we can make before putting it up with 2 on the shot clock. No they will be bustin their butt off on both ends of the court.
 
#21      
I'm going to repeat a hot take of mine from earlier this year after watching some Curbelo video.

Curbelo has the longest NBA career of all our potential pros.
That's a lot of kool aid..he had 4 TOs today in 20 minutes against a very weak opponent. He also had 4 TOs yesterday in 10 minutes. He has some potential for sure but these teams caused TOs and gave up easy buckets late in a blow out. I think AC himself would evaluate his play with 8 TOs on 30 minutes vs a very weak team as average at best. He can do a lot better and he will need to vs B10 teams, Duke and Baylor if he expects to play much vs those teams and much more intense defense. Let's see what happens then before we make a big deal about how he played and took care of the ball the past 2 games. The NBA assessment is a bit much imo at least for now. I want see him vs a top 50 team and talent first.
 
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#22      
That's a lot of kool aid..he had 4 TOs today in 20 minutes against a very weak opponent. He also had 4 TOs yesterday in 10 minutes. He has some potential for sure but these teams caused TOs and gave up easy buckets late in a blow out. I think AC himself would evaluate his play with 8 TOs on 30 minutes vs a very weak team as average at best. He can do a lot better and he will need to vs B10 teams, Duke and Baylor if he expects to play much vs those teams and much more intense defense. Let's see what happens then before we make a big deal about how he played and took care of the ball the past 2 games. The NBA assessment is a bit much imo at least for now. I want see him vs a top 50 team and talent first.
This is where I’m at right now too. Future for him is bright, but not ready to declare that the future has arrived based on these two games. He was clearly more talented then the Chicago St., kids and that won’t be true again this year. I’d guess this game marks his season high in points.
 
#23      
Yesterday's game with 31 3 point attempts reminded me of the UNLV Running Rebels of the 80's and 90's. Today's game with only 18 attempts and pounding the ball inside shows they are so much more than that.
 
#24      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
That's a lot of kool aid..he had 4 TOs today in 20 minutes against a very weak opponent. He also had 4 TOs yesterday in 10 minutes. He has some potential for sure but these teams caused TOs and gave up easy buckets late in a blow out. I think AC himself would evaluate his play with 8 TOs on 30 minutes vs a very weak team as average at best. He can do a lot better and he will need to vs B10 teams, Duke and Baylor if he expects to play much vs those teams and much more intense defense. Let's see what happens then before we make a big deal about how he played and took care of the ball the past 2 games. The NBA assessment is a bit much imo at least for now. I want see him vs a top 50 team and talent first.

All reasonable....this is why It's called a "hot take".
 
#25      
Felt better about what Curbelo brings to the table despite the turnovers. Hawkins looks somewhat lost now and a little tentative. Would like to see more aggressiveness.