Illini Basketball 2018-2019

[Dan]

There is a press conference tomorrow @ 2, let’s hear what the AD and the head coach have to say

2pm Monday. (presser is some sort of Ubben/hoops upgrade announcement with Whitman, Underwood, Nancy Fahey)

 

[Sizzler22]

2pm Monday. (presser is some sort of Ubben/hoops upgrade announcement with Whitman, Underwood, Nancy Fahey)

Thanks for the correction. :thumb:

 

[FC Illiniman]

Did Kane come in last week and scare the daylights out of Ebo? Maybe they moved the treadmill closer to the purse check outside the locker room? Just asking, seems we looking for reasons why a guy who took up basketball 5 years ago, has decided he wants to leave something he totally loved last year at this time. Was it time commitment, effort , and attitude? This guy was not highly recruited gang, UIC and William and Mary were is offers, committed to UIC because of Chin, then left because of same. Not sure BU can be blamed for his change of heart, but you damn well bet BU made him change his mind. Either you will play his way, or you will not play. We will get another big, I'm sure with a bit of effort, he fit right in and replace Ebo just fine.

 

[Illiniguy13]

In the interests of being productive, here is what I would do now if I were in Underwood's shoes:

1. See if Ebo and Matic are willing to entertain coming back. That may be unrealistic, but it's worth a shot. He should want both guys to return and be willing to address their concerns from their first year here.

2. If you can't get one or both of those guys back, hit whatever is left of the grad transfer market and find at least one big man who can soak up 10 minutes without getting annihilated on defense or fouling out. Two would be better still. It's totally unrealistic to expect Kane and Giorgi to give us much of anything as raw, fringe-y true freshmen who aren't even native English speakers.

3. Call Erik Pastrana, Underwood's assistant at SFA now at Florida Atlantic, and Stephen Gentry, also an SFA assistant who was our DOBO before leaving for the same position at Gonzaga, to see if they would be willing to join as an assistant. Failing them see if there is anyone else who is familiar with our offensive style in particular with experience who would be willing to take the job at this late juncture. If so, let go of Jamall Walker tomorrow. We need Chin to keep Ayo, Antigua has the big man coaching challenge of his life ahead of him, Walker's clearly the chair you open if you have to open one, and we really really do to get someone with a background in UnderwoodBall.

4. Reach out to both Kipper and AJ and gauge their comfort and willingness to totally redefine themselves as a full-time starting 4. Pick one of them (AJ is a guy who will do anything for the team so he'd put his heart and soul into it, but if Kipper is eager for it he probably has the more natural skillset for the role), and assign them all of the nutrition, weight training, and one-on-one coaching they can handle to make that transition. Rather than juggle nine million guys playing out of position, sacrifice one to the cause full-time.

5. Retaining as much terminology, base concepts, base skills and whatnot as possible, ease up on the pressure D for the time being. Do pre-emptively what OSU did on the fly during his year there. We just don't have the personnel for it physically or experience-wise, and it would be demoralizing for all these young kids to just get posterized over and over again.

6. Get your team together and level with them. As the coach, it's your job to make a balanced roster, and you've failed. You've put them in a bad position, and put them in a spot where they're going to face a lot of havoc and make a lot of mistakes. You coach hard, you're not going to change the way you coach, but you also understand that you have not put the pieces together in a way that can make everything fit the way it does in your head. Create some sort of a pathway outside of regular practice and meeting times where each player can discuss the way they're being coached and their concerns. Nurture those lines of communication. Make clear that if they're willing to work for you and willing to stick with you that they have not just a scholarship but a playing role on the team for the duration of that scholarship.

Then you have to go coach and recruit your behind off of course. But that's just my short-term idea to stop the bleeding.

Going to disagree on point 5. I think folks need to accept the pressure D isn’t going away. There was some bad & ugly mixed in with a lotta good on the defensive front. The opponent turnover percentage & steals is something we just have to hang our hats on now. Interestingly, we weren’t athletic or long, but managed to be effective. The good news is now we are longer, more athletic and more talented at the 1-3. I’d also think Kipper shows up more consistently. Call me an optimist, but being able to actually do something in transition off turnovers is going to be big for us. In terms of the ugly front court issue, it’s gonna be much of the same. Depth is a nightmare right now. FWIW, I do think Kane can be about what Ebo was to us last year. And one day Bez might be the next Karem Kanter. So there’s that. But yeah. No depth. Zilch.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

FWIW, I do think Kane can be about what Ebo was to us last year.

I do too.

Ebo didn't play more than 15 minutes, score more than 2 points, or grab more than 3 rebounds in a game until January last year.

 

[Serious Late]

Hey guys, this fellow is the only one on this board not wildly speculating about what is happening. Faith. Listen to the man.

Or this is the fellow with the most uniquely biased opinion on the board... [emoji848]

Illinois basketball is in a very bad place, no two ways around it. The loss of Ebo, or Smith, or Vesel, or non-Underwood recruits like Lucas, Black or Finke are, in isolation, not the issue. It is a factor in the concern, no doubt. Also of concern is the '18 recruiting. Hard to point to Ayo as validation of recruiting chops, when it required hiring an assistant to seal the deal. No other signed recruit was even a plan D option in the fall. That isn't to say that Jones/Griffin/Kane/etc. cant be productive members of the team, but to suggest recruiting is an exhibited area of strength at this point is a real reach.

Okoro was, in my opinion, a REALLY glaring indictment of this staff's ability to attract talent. That is a miss that can't happen and is a big red flag. You compound that with the misses in the fall and some of the head scratchers this spring, it is impossible to sit here and not wonder what the H. E. Double Hockey Sticks. is going on.

What concerns me most is the amount of stock we put into his season at OSU. It feels undeniable that Underwood's tenure at SFA was better than Groce's at Ohio, but his ONE year at a P5 school was uncannily similar to Groce's first year at Illinois. It is not enough to validate coaching skills.

I certainly hope that Underwood figures this out, but his first year on the job has been bad. Real, real bad. We need talent, we need highly sought after talent. Diamonds in the rough are great, and who knows, maybe he found a few. But he missed wildly on his first year's pursuit of diamonds in the rough, I am struggling to believe he nailed it in year two.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Newman]

We might need to reach out to Lovie and get Julian Pearl to play a bit.

 

[Newman]

Or this is the fellow with the most uniquely biased opinion on the board... [emoji848]

Illinois basketball is in a very bad place, no two ways around it. The loss of Ebo, or Smith, or Vesel, or non-Underwood recruits like Lucas, Black or Finke are, in isolation, not the issue. It is a factor in the concern, no doubt. Also of concern is the '18 recruiting. Hard to point to Ayo as validation of recruiting chops, when it required hiring an assistant to seal the deal. No other signed recruit was even a plan D option in the fall. That isn't to say that Jones/Griffin/Kane/etc. cant be productive members of the team, but to suggest recruiting is an exhibited area of strength at this point is a real reach.

Okoro was, in my opinion, a REALLY glaring indictment of this staff's ability to attract talent. That is a miss that can't happen and is a big red flag. You compound that with the misses in the fall and some of the head scratchers this spring, it is impossible to sit here and not wonder what the H. E. Double Hockey Sticks. is going on.

What concerns me most is the amount of stock we put into his season at OSU. It feels undeniable that Underwood's tenure at SFA was better than Groce's at Ohio, but his ONE year at a P5 school was uncannily similar to Groce's first year at Illinois. It is not enough to validate coaching skills.

I certainly hope that Underwood figures this out, but his first year on the job has been bad. Real, real bad. We need talent, we need highly sought after talent. Diamonds in the rough are great, and who knows, maybe he found a few. But he missed wildly on his first year's pursuit of diamonds in the rough, I am struggling to believe he nailed it in year two.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Anyone with more than message board info on Okoro knew that it was going to be almost impossible to get Okoro.

 

[Serious Late]

At the end of the day, the silence on these boards is the most glaring indictment of it all. I would love to see Illinois Loyalty's page impressions monthly, year over year. Annectdotally, someone recently said they had to catch up on FIVE PAGES in one day. That feels like what was the norm a few years back.

As a data nerd, I would be very interested in Illinois Loyalty "statistics" that get at fan interest over time. :cough: Dan :cough:

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Serious Late]

Anyone with more than message board info on Okoro knew that it was going to be almost impossible to get Okoro.

The failure speaks louder than the why.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Second and Chalmers]

At the end of the day, the silence on these boards is the most glaring indictment of it all.

A thousand times this

 

[tpbradley]

At the end of the day, the silence on these boards is the most glaring indictment of it all. I would love to see Illinois Loyalty's page impressions monthly, year over year. Annectdotally, someone recently said they had to catch up on FIVE PAGES in one day. That feels like what was the norm a few years back.

As a data nerd, I would be very interested in Illinois Loyalty "statistics" that get at fan interest over time. :cough: Dan :cough:

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Is this one of those back when I was a kid stories where you had to type uphills, both ways, just to log into an Illini forum?

 

[Love the Illini]

Whether you are an Underwood supporter or not his first year as head coach did not go very well. That does not mean things cannot change but the arrow needs to start going in the right direction soon or it is going to be harder and harder to turn things around. Need to sign players in the fall recruiting period which has been a struggle. If their recruiting signings are going to continue to be mostly in spring we are going to get way more project type players than top recruits the vast majority of the better players sign in the November period.

 

[Pitbull14]

Calm down Strokes

Havent posted in awhile. Had to after reading all the post from strokes freaking out about BU and program. BU had to get rid of the terds and players that didn't want to be an illni bb player. After last year BU knew he had to start over basically. Only real loss was Black. The rest of players that left transfer were a terd fest. Have a great class coming in. Not sure why everyone worried about thin front court. Look Golden State Warriors don't need a center. Need shooters and guys that can score we have that with incoming class. Will be a much better and improved team from last year. Young and fun team to watch. In BU we trust will make Illni great again.

 

[GForce]

In the interests of being productive, here is what I would do now if I were in Underwood's shoes:

1. See if Ebo and Matic are willing to entertain coming back. That may be unrealistic, but it's worth a shot. He should want both guys to return and be willing to address their concerns from their first year here.

No, just no! This is all kinds of wrong. What would he say? 'So guys, even though we know you don't possess the skills or cajones to be an effective big man in the B1G, and probably never will, and no one's going to mistake you for Kevin Garnett when it comes to work ethic, I'd like you to stay for another year because we're so thin at the 5.'



The one bad thing about Ebo leaving is he was are only current player 6'9" or over, and that's it. Full stop. Even if all our bigs had stayed (save Black), the 5 still would have been our weakest position. So what the heck, might as well throw a couple freshman bigs out there. And it wouldn't be earth shattering if they turned out to be better than what we had.

 

[IllinistuckinGopherland]

Or this is the fellow with the most uniquely biased opinion on the board... [emoji848]

Illinois basketball is in a very bad place, no two ways around it. The loss of Ebo, or Smith, or Vesel, or non-Underwood recruits like Lucas, Black or Finke are, in isolation, not the issue. It is a factor in the concern, no doubt. Also of concern is the '18 recruiting. Hard to point to Ayo as validation of recruiting chops, when it required hiring an assistant to seal the deal. No other signed recruit was even a plan D option in the fall. That isn't to say that Jones/Griffin/Kane/etc. cant be productive members of the team, but to suggest recruiting is an exhibited area of strength at this point is a real reach.

Okoro was, in my opinion, a REALLY glaring indictment of this staff's ability to attract talent. That is a miss that can't happen and is a big red flag. You compound that with the misses in the fall and some of the head scratchers this spring, it is impossible to sit here and not wonder what the H. E. Double Hockey Sticks. is going on.

What concerns me most is the amount of stock we put into his season at OSU. It feels undeniable that Underwood's tenure at SFA was better than Groce's at Ohio, but his ONE year at a P5 school was uncannily similar to Groce's first year at Illinois. It is not enough to validate coaching skills.

I certainly hope that Underwood figures this out, but his first year on the job has been bad. Real, real bad. We need talent, we need highly sought after talent. Diamonds in the rough are great, and who knows, maybe he found a few. But he missed wildly on his first year's pursuit of diamonds in the rough, I am struggling to believe he nailed it in year two.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Great post.

 

[Serious Late]

Havent posted in awhile. Had to after reading all the post from strokes freaking out about BU and program. BU had to get rid of the terds and players that didn't want to be an illni bb player. After last year BU knew he had to start over basically. Only real loss was Black. The rest of players that left transfer were a terd fest. Have a great class coming in. Not sure why everyone worried about thin front court. Look Golden State Warriors don't need a center. Need shooters and guys that can score we have that with incoming class. Will be a much better and improved team from last year. Young and fun team to watch. In BU we trust will make Illni great again.

You are spelling "turd" wrong.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Elgin7680]

This is not Dr. J, Ebo what did he avg like 2 pts and 2 rebounds, lets wait to see who transfers in before freaking out.

 

[TooHot4Tots]

Sucks for depth purposes but other than that this is what happens when you bring in lower D1/mid major talented kids and hope they magically develop their freshman year. Would have been nice to see him stick it out but he obviously wanted a change. You need guys that want to be here and actually have the skill set and IQ to be here competing at this level. Next year will be tough with lack of bigs barring a miracle or two.

 

[TCTORNADO]

This is not Dr. J, Ebo what did he avg like 2 pts and 2 rebounds, lets wait to see who transfers in before freaking out.

An awful lot of people on here were very bullish on Ebo.

 

[IllinistuckinGopherland]

BU Pros (since UI hire):
- “kept” Illinois Mr Basketball in Mark Smith. Kept in quotes as he had not yet committed but in good position
- awesome year from Trent (not his recruit, but flourished)
- best year yet from Leron (better than anything under Groce, but somewhat expected with health/experience)
- breakout year from AJ (maybe BU’s best accomplishment as Ayo is really Coleman’s)
- top 30 recruit signed

BU Cons:
- top 30 recruit decommitted (Tilmon)
- previous top 40 / top player transferred (JCL)
- brought stain of FBI/recruiting infractions on his watch
- most emabarrasing recruitment in memory with THT (Cliffmas was embarrassing, but at least it was the kid who lacked class)
- worst Big Ten record in memory
- six kids leave program after year one including Mr Basketball he signed

Whitman Con:
- we can’t afford to make a change

Dumpster. Fire.

If you don’t agree - ask yourself where we are if Ayo or Trent leave. 2-18?

 

[Illini B-Ball Fan]

I don't think BU is in over his head either, we're not done recruiting this year yet and we still may land one or more decent players that fit the program, we'll see. The real concern will be if any of the new recruits leave or one or more of the assistant coaches leave unexpectedly - that will really set the fans off in oblivion as to what's going on.

 

[gbfn4life]

The biggest recruiter is winning. Like it or not the reality is that Ebo was an important part of this years team as he provided size, depth, and was the most experienced player at the biggest position of need. The attraction to Ebo was his raw athleticism and untapped potential. Relying on two freshman to play big minutes at the 5 come BIG season will really hurt this years teams potential. I hope we surprise everyone and are successful and put a good product on the court that will market well to future recruits. I think the biggest area losing Ebo is as the potential to be a solid rim protector and rebounder with the ability to run the floor, especially in this high pressure defense. Whatever your view might be on losing Ebo, I think everyone should agree that this years team is not better without him.

 

[StateFarmCenter]

In all honesty, his "hand-picked" guys were brought in on an incredibly short recruiting window. I'm sure he found what he thought was the best options or possibly the best upside that was available at the time, save for Mark Smith.

We'll be fine.

What makes that different than this class? Obviously a huge exception in Ayo. Aside from that though were bringing 5 spring recruits after missing on so many targets. That's not a lot different than last year where we had to pick over leftovers.

 

[SKane]

I am available if the team needs me.

I am only 5'8". However, I am also skinny, slow, and uncoordinated.

So let's get the ball rolling. I look great in orange and blue.