No mention of Higgs injury and mention of picking up a sophomore walk on big..
Great sign there was no injury talk!
No mention of Higgs injury and mention of picking up a sophomore walk on big..
Great sign there was no injury talk!
Well I mean... He's the only healthy true center we have. As much as I'd love this positionless thing to work out in our favor, having Kipper go against 7 footers just doesn't sound like a recipe for success. My biggest hope is that he can stay on the court 25+ mins a game and provide at least mediocre D.An extra body can't hurt, Griffith was an all around 6-5" player in high school, so? Glad Higgs is good and with Kane is progressing. Sounds as if Kane will play a very B1G part in the ILLINI plans this year!
A lot Kane's success will come from whether everyone else can play good defense. If he has to be relied on cleaning up someone else's mistake, he's going to foul out quickly. With good team defense, BU can give Kane less to focus on, but we have too many new pieces for that to be the likely outcome.Well I mean... He's the only healthy true center we have. As much as I'd love this positionless thing to work out in our favor, having Kipper go against 7 footers just doesn't sound like a recipe for success. My biggest hope is that he can stay on the court 25+ mins a game and provide at least mediocre D.
What does the rest of the teams in the conference look like for Bigs? Is the B1G loaded at the 5 spot that will pick us apart game in and game out, or did a lot of the quality big men graduate/move on?Well I mean... He's the only healthy true center we have. As much as I'd love this positionless thing to work out in our favor, having Kipper go against 7 footers just doesn't sound like a recipe for success. My biggest hope is that he can stay on the court 25+ mins a game and provide at least mediocre D.
I'm not convinced Freshman Kane > Sophomore Ebo, personally I thought we got all you should expect and maybe a bit more from a freshman big out of Ebo, but to me even if Kane is better than Ebo, you still need to find another 20 minutes of Big play, we really need 2 big men out of Kane, De La Rosa, Giorgi, and Higgs to be healthy and ready to play if we are 100% stretch 4.Freshman Kane>Sophomore Ebo
This is not a hot take.
If I'm wrong we iz in trouble.
If Kane can shoot the ball outside of two feet, then > Ebo. I liked Ebo, but I think there were low expectations, so any progress, scoring was a nice surprise and smiled upon easily.I'm not convinced Freshman Kane > Sophomore Ebo, personally I thought we got all you should expect and maybe a bit more from a freshman big out of Ebo, but to me even if Kane is better than Ebo, you still need to find another 20 minutes of Big play, we really need 2 big men out of Kane, De La Rosa, Giorgi, and Higgs to be healthy and ready to play if we are 100% stretch 4.
I liked Ebo, but I think there were low expectations, so any progress, scoring was a nice surprise and smiled upon easily.
Obviously you take Kane’s abilities over Finke’s any day. But defense is more than that. Can he stay on the court more than 5 min without getting in foul trouble? can he learn and understand where he needs to be? Will he be vocal and help out teammates? Will he be able to grab a rebound to finish off the defensive possession? These are all things freshmen bigs (especially ones as skinny as Kane) are bad at. Yes, Black and Finke were well below average defensively. But they were much much worse as freshmen. The list of bigs at UI and all around the conference who looked completely incompetent defensively as freshmen is endless.
With all the newcomers and BU’s unorthodox defensive strategy, we once again have no clue how our defense will be. Don’t forget many of these guys have never played a style like BU’s defensively or offensively.
I'm sorry, what?Pre-season defensive player of the year
Castleton Michigan,The Finke bros, JCL, DJW, and THT and Conditt at ISU are some guys I’ll be keeping an eye on this year. Interested to see how they do. Any other former Illini or guys with Illini connections you guys will watch/keep track of?
The Finke bros, JCL, DJW, and THT and Conditt at ISU are some guys I’ll be keeping an eye on this year. Interested to see how they do. Any other former Illini or guys with Illini connections you guys will watch/keep track of?
Castleton Michigan,
Nolley VT
Elias Valtonen ASU
Lukas Kisunas, U Conn
Okoro Oregon
Trice KSU
Not that I am keeping any kind of score.
I'm sorry, what?
Though I don't doubt for a second that he's going to have a good year.
Kisunas is going to Stanford.
He had to go all the way to Phoenix to find some clippers?!
The Finke bros, JCL, DJW, and THT and Conditt at ISU are some guys I’ll be keeping an eye on this year. Interested to see how they do. Any other former Illini or guys with Illini connections you guys will watch/keep track of?
Wish him nothing but success....but also wish he would have stayed.