Illini Basketball 2017-2018

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#776      
Illini_1979
TheFameProtector said:
After seeing that portion of the video, I'm looking to a combo of people to step up and be leaders, but I'm especially thinking/hoping that Trent will be that guy. He seems to have that excitement factor about him that will hopefully translate to vocal leadership.

On the note of vocal leadership, there was an article on The Ringer about Devon Booker and Jared Dudley was assessing his defense (or lack thereof) and had a theory that the younger kids these days spend so much time on social media that their ability to communicate verbally has decreased. He attributed Booker's poor defense at the moment to being a result of not communicating. I wonder if this phenomenon makes coaching (specifically finding leaders on your team) a bit more difficult than it once was.
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I would like to see TJL be one of the ones that steps forward. Thought he had some confidence last year and hopefully has even more this year.
 
#777      
americanoutlaw11
#778      
Kramer116
oldman said:
We play Augustana NOv 22. Augustana is a D3 school. According to the Augustana website, while the game is exempt for them, it will count as a regular season game for Illini. When is the last time we played a D3 school in a game that counted? They lost in the finals of the NCAA D3 championship game last year, have 4 starters back - why are we playing them in anything other than an exhibition?
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I don't think the Augustana game counts towards our official record at least for a NCAA berth
 
#781      
Peoria Illini
oldman said:
We play Augustana NOv 22. Augustana is a D3 school. According to the Augustana website, while the game is exempt for them, it will count as a regular season game for Illini. When is the last time we played a D3 school in a game that counted? They lost in the finals of the NCAA D3 championship game last year, have 4 starters back - why are we playing them in anything other than an exhibition?
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I'm assuming because we had a hole in our schedule and couldn't find a D1 opponent that would work. I'm sure Brad had contacts over at Augustana from his time as an assistant at Western and it worked out.

Not an ideal game, but I think the NCAA allows one non D1 game on your schedule each year. And I'm assuming they were pretty cheap to buy out for the game.
 
#782      
Peoria Illini
jrichisamazing said:
I don't expect this to be a problem, energy is always high when a new coach comes in. And if you don't want to play hard for a coach who has never missed the tourney and has the best offense in the country then you've got big problems.

But what many losing teams struggle with as they transform into a winning team is figuring out how to win close games. That is what will decide whether we make the tournament or not. We will win a handful of games easily, and get beat badly in a few games. But the majority of our games will come down to the last 3-5 minutes. Do we have guys who can execute and make shots with the game on the line? My fear is that we do, but those guys are freshmen who can't do it consistently yet.

If we do miss the tournament, I think it will be because we lost a ton of close games. And I would be ok with that because it's good learning experience for the young guys and we got beat badly way too many times under Groce.
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Well, if BU has to get on them in practice about it, then that energy from the players for a new coach isn't high. Energy and body language habits will need to be adjusted and improved. To me, this is the main battle for this team. We have talented players. We need tougher players, especially mentally.
 
#783      
IlliniDent
Peoria Illini said:
Well, if BU has to get on them in practice about it, then that energy from the players for a new coach isn't high. Energy and body language habits will need to be adjusted and improved. To me, this is the main battle for this team. We have talented players. We need tougher players, especially mentally.
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I think he also expects a certain level and energy that we havent seen in a long long time here
 
#787      
TheGMan
Peoria Illini said:
Well, if BU has to get on them in practice about it, then that energy from the players for a new coach isn't high. Energy and body language habits will need to be adjusted and improved. To me, this is the main battle for this team. We have talented players. We need tougher players, especially mentally.
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Practice and actual games are a lot different for players to be energized for. Coaches will always get on players for lack of energy in practice, because they want to see the same level as an actual game. But it's just human nature that you will be able to get more excited/energized for a game.
 
#788      
ILL in IA
Peoria Illini said:
Well, if BU has to get on them in practice about it, then that energy from the players for a new coach isn't high. Energy and body language habits will need to be adjusted and improved. To me, this is the main battle for this team. We have talented players. We need tougher players, especially mentally.
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Its cliché, but it only takes 1 or 2 guys and the attitude is contagious.
 
#789      
IlliniDent
The best thing about having this many freshmen is that this attitude will be instilled in them from day 1 with BU. They won't have the ability to learn anything else while here. That will be critical over the next few years and will help to make it the standard here for all incoming classes.
 
#790      
JFGsCoffeeMug
Illini Basketball Preview Show

Fighting Illini Basketball Preview Show has been posted online:

[YOUTUBE]Gtdk5fM0QYQ[/YOUTUBE]
 
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#792      
Dan
[YOUTUBE]5P6svFPy2Nw[/YOUTUBE]
 
#793      
FeelYourPaign
Love watching these teaching films. We now have an offensive system! We don't own it yet, but we will.
 
#794      
TownieMatt
FeelYourPaign said:
Love watching these teaching films. We now have an offensive system! We don't own it yet, but we will.
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The story of this season will be how quickly the players adopt the system. One of the reasons it's so effective is because it's unorthodox. The handoffs, dive-cuts, rotations, constant movement off the ball — it's a big departure from Groce's ball-screen and watch offense. And for the freshman, it's an even bigger adjustment. These kids are used to having the ball in their hands in HS. Now they're going to have to work hard off the ball to get open shots.

I believe we'll get there in the end, but the learning pains could be ugly early (as we've already seen).
 
#796      
haasi
FiveStar said:
Our screening was atrocious for the cutters vs eastern.
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FiveStar, given your knowledge of the system and Underwood, did you expect us to be farther along at this point? Anything else that you saw that we did better or worse than you expected at this point? And how long do you think it’ll take for us to run the system reasonably well? Also any thoughts on our defense?

Appreciate your posts.
 
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#797      
haasi
Also one more for FiveStar or the group - given Underwood’s system and what we’ve seen so far, do we think that our weakness at big is surmountable, or are we basically screwed until we get more guys who can do a good job guarding bigs and rebounding?


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#799      
TownieMatt
haasi said:
Also one more for FiveStar or the group - given Underwood’s system and what we’ve seen so far, do we think that our weakness at big is surmountable, or are we basically screwed until we get more guys who can do a good job guarding bigs and rebounding?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Not to steal FiveStar's thunder, but our lack of size shouldn't keep us from scoring points. Underwood has always had undersized lineups and scoring hasn't been an issue. The challenge will be at the defensive end. Can we keep bigger teams from scoring in the paint? Can we keep them from getting offensive rebounds and easy buckets? Those are the questions for me.
 
#800      
FiveStar
haasi said:
FiveStar, given your knowledge of the system and Underwood, did you expect us to be farther along at this point? Anything else that you saw that we did better or worse than you expected at this point? And how long do you think it’ll take for us to run the system reasonably well? Also any thoughts on our defense?

Appreciate your posts.
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I think we are further along than we showed against Eastern. It was very, VERY vanilla. Super basic sets and nothing outside basic entries. I think the breakdowns were not system based. When I finally saw the second half, there were some hero ball issues. The one time we ran spread all the way through BU put his hands up like LOOK, IT WORKS! As far as when we will really be clicking, probably Feb-BTT time. We will have been defended as many ways as possible, and the counters, and counter counters will be more incorporated. When teams have 3-4 options to guard off one look, and they know it, we're gonna have some fun. We supposedly put up 90 vs. Vandy, so at some point in that game it was really hummin.

haasi said:
Also one more for FiveStar or the group - given Underwood’s system and what we’ve seen so far, do we think that our weakness at big is surmountable, or are we basically screwed until we get more guys who can do a good job guarding bigs and rebounding?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

BU has played lineups vs hi majors and in the NCAAT with no players over 6'4, and won or been in position to win. We really only need one guy who can guard a post player, whether he is 6'6 or 6'10. It's more about perimeter ball pressure to make passing difficult, either to another guard or to the post. BU's rebounding style is to gang rebound the weak side (76-80% of shots go to the weak side he says), so with more numbers, the size should be offset. I also saw vs Eastern we switched big/little A LOT. He doesn't seem to be concerned with guards guarding posts down deep.
 
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