Looking at his stats, he's very comparable to Aaron Jordan. Good defensive rebounder, low turnover rate, high offensive rating, and shoots often and well from three, usually assisted. Most notably, they both play a lot of minutes but have the lowest usage of all starters. Aaron Jordan has been described as a role-player, so I don't think it's unreasonable to describe Smith as the same.
Pregame: Illinois vs Missouri, Saturday, December 22nd, 7:00pm CT, BTN
- Status
Looking at his stats, he's very comparable to Aaron Jordan. Good defensive rebounder, low turnover rate, high offensive rating, and shoots often and well from three, usually assisted. Most notably, they both play a lot of minutes but have the lowest usage of all starters. Aaron Jordan has been described as a role-player, so I don't think it's unreasonable to describe Smith as the same.
MSmith playing man to man looks a lot like zone to me. It looked like a mild 2-3 match up zone against most parts of the Xavier game.
I'm gonna be so happy with MS graduates. Him and Tilmon are such black clouds over this program and its getting old reading so much about them.
MS is a good player, he was a good player last year. Role player or not, you're kidding yourself if you don't think he could win them the game. Perhaps not on the takeover level Frazier gets on, but his shot is as solid as anyones, we can continue debating his defensive and creator aspects of his game, but he can knock down threes. Tilmon was a borderline 5 star for a reason. This game is going to come down to which team wants it more, and I think that's us.
MS is a good player, he was a good player last year. Role player or not, you're kidding yourself if you don't think he could win them the game. Perhaps not on the takeover level Frazier gets on, but his shot is as solid as anyones, we can continue debating his defensive and creator aspects of his game, but he can knock down threes. Tilmon was a borderline 5 star for a reason. This game is going to come down to which team wants it more, and I think that's us.
Brad saying more than once that this is jsut 40 minutes, another game on the schedule ... coachspeak. Regardless, this is a huge game for us. If you've ever been, you know. And I recall one of the team's alums coming into the locker room and saying, "We don't lose to Missouri." I've thrilled to these clear back to Lou vs Norm.
AJ is about 4 pts lower in usage, and lower in most categories. Call Smith whatever you want, I really don't care. I think he's a very important part of their offense, and one of a couple guys we need to plan for.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Certainly the consensus opinion of the MU fan base ... that is the only reason we have dominated them for 30 years, after all.
LOL, if anyone wants a truly good laugh and feels up to the challenge of reading this forum that a Mizzou grad personally designed in his mom's basement ~15-20 years ago:
http://www.tigerboard.com/boards/list.php
I really do not think I have seen a discussion board or web site as primitive as that since the early 1990's. Can you say Compuserve, Delphi and Prodigy. SMH
I hear this a lot but can you explain what this actually means?
Does every game pretty much come down to this or just some of them? Did the Illini only "want it more" for 4 games so far this year? If they happen to lose do you question the leadership and actually all players on the team for not "wanting it more"? Have you ever thought the Illini were going to probably lose a game because the other team was just going to "want it more"?
Just curious.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Deleted member 746094
D
Guest
I think this is the most overrated/overused phrase in athletics. Talent and execution win 99% of the time in sports. How do you measure the desire to win?
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I watched part of that game and it sure looked to me like a zone D...i think the announcers even mentioned misery playing zone many times..
Hands Malone
- Quad-Cities, IL
Actually its more of a matchup zone. He has to do that to keep Tilmon and others out of foul trouble. According to the Mizzou announcers, Mizzou has trouble with the 1-2-2 press. I did notice when they did get through it, they found Smith who seems to camp out in the corners. Mizzou doesn't move fluidly on offense but is deliberate. I think Illini will fluster this team early but have to play an entire forty minutes.
Just looking at that website makes me want to donate money to Dan. Didn't we used to do donations here? Is that still a thing?
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/col...cle_619fb6c6-3433-59ad-ba22-fff4bb19dbcd.html
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. • It’s no secret that Brad Underwood wants his team to get out and run.
Actually, the goal of most college coaches is to push the pace and crank 3-pointers out, but the Illini do it and do it well.
Pace is a staple of this team. Before last Saturday’s victory over East Tennessee State, Illinois sophomore guard Trent Frazier said that Illinois (4-7) had used an increased amount of practice time after a difficult opening portion of its schedule to run and “get back to seven seconds or less.”
No matter the opponent, Illinois players thrive on playing their own fast-paced style of game.
“Tempo is to our advantage,” Jordan said. “We like to get up and down and we like to get out and run. Our point guards are quick and wings get our and run and move the ball up. When we’re scoring in transition, we’re a hard team to beat.”
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. • It’s no secret that Brad Underwood wants his team to get out and run.
Actually, the goal of most college coaches is to push the pace and crank 3-pointers out, but the Illini do it and do it well.
Pace is a staple of this team. Before last Saturday’s victory over East Tennessee State, Illinois sophomore guard Trent Frazier said that Illinois (4-7) had used an increased amount of practice time after a difficult opening portion of its schedule to run and “get back to seven seconds or less.”
No matter the opponent, Illinois players thrive on playing their own fast-paced style of game.
“Tempo is to our advantage,” Jordan said. “We like to get up and down and we like to get out and run. Our point guards are quick and wings get our and run and move the ball up. When we’re scoring in transition, we’re a hard team to beat.”
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Their board might be a nightmare to read and they obviously hate us like you'd expect ... but there are a few good posters, and you can tell they love Mizzou. Have to link this one post with total credit to the poster named FIJItiger; he put together a list of Braggin' Rights quotes about halfway down the page, and there are some really good ones:
http://www.tigerboard.com/boards/view.php?message=16022875
Some that stand out:
- "I've never lost on this court, and I'm not gonna lose tonight." Illinois' Stephen Bardo during a pregame talk in 1989. Bardo was right, finishing 4-0 for his career.
- "Well, whatever I said the last two or three years…. eight years…. use that. Just change the names." Stewart after his team lost its eighth straight in the series in 1990.
Let's get that sixth straight, eh??
http://www.tigerboard.com/boards/view.php?message=16022875
Some that stand out:
- "I've never lost on this court, and I'm not gonna lose tonight." Illinois' Stephen Bardo during a pregame talk in 1989. Bardo was right, finishing 4-0 for his career.
- "Well, whatever I said the last two or three years…. eight years…. use that. Just change the names." Stewart after his team lost its eighth straight in the series in 1990.
Let's get that sixth straight, eh??
But, as I've said before, I will always root against Mizzou. But I will not root against a player for merely deciding he wanted to play someplace else. Now there may be other things that player says or does that might cause me to root against them (so far that has not been the case with Mark), but not just for transferring.
I see Mizzou usually as a friendly rival and want them to win other than v Illinois b/c it helps us, since we play them every year. But Cuonzo's little stunt turning up at ESL before Tilmon decommitted makes me a bit more down on them than usual.
Yeah, I definitely think Cuonzo is behind a lot of the recent animosity. That whole thing about turning down the Illini job before taking the Miznoz one was a slime ball move.
I still hated Miznoz when Kim Anderson was there...but I don’t think quite as much.
Definitely feel the same. It was always a fun rivalry, but when 46% of Missouri's scoring is coming from former Illini commits, it takes it up a notch.
The coaching search took it up a notch, and the player situation definitely makes it more intense. As bad as these programs have been lately, this should be a good game.
Looking at KenPom, Mizzou is about a point better than us on the season so it should be a pretty tight line.
It's called Heart.
DrewD007
- Woodridge, IL
You guys must've not grown up in the Metro East. I hate them so much.
- Status