Feliz had a very good practice, but Ayo stood out to me.
Illini Basketball 2018-2019
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I think where Felix will help tremendously this year is the "high pressure" situations. In the past few years, including last year, we often had some breakdowns under pressure, whether it was an inbound play, a wrong pass under pressure, not the best time/clock management. Feliz does not crack under pressure.
If only once these transfer pre-season practice reports become reality, could it please be this year. If Felix became our best player this team and if that included leadership and 3 pt shooting we could become legit immediately.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
4 more Ayos with a little class & position balance & we’d be pretty good.
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Sounds like we'd lack depth.
and consonants
Not with Bezhanishvili on the team.
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Kipper is supposed to be a leader at this point. I think having to tell him do something four times might require the fifth time to come with an edge.
I really can't say how he compares to other coaches and how it affects recruiting. I do know that at the end of the day, a coach at Illinois that is going to take us to the place I want to see is going to have to maximize talent. I can't imagine that is possible with a "soft" approach. What the right spot on the continuum is hard to know.
I'd also point out that I've heard of many coaches that have certain guys they'll drive harder than others because of how they respond and their ability to take it. Not sure if this plays into BU's style.
As to Kane, Jones, and Griffin. remember that Trent was barely on anyone's radar last year as all eyes were on Smith. Not saying we can expect the same, but it does take awhile for the light to really go off for some guys and when it does the improvement can be fairly dramatic.
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With the lack of front court depth and the inexperience there, does anyone think that one of our guys can top Tilmon's 3.7 fouls per game from last year? A foul every 5.2 minutes.
Tacomallini
- Washington State
This Felix?
Maybe how he played in FIBA championships and Pan Am games for Dominican
Nope, I do not pay much attention to practice reports until I see them play. I have mentioned before that I know some coaches who know him (and trust their judgement) and that is one of the things they mentioned as a positive. On the negative side, they did say that he can sometimes be erratic with his decision making, which I had also posted previously.
That is a rather interesting dichotomy. Good under pressure but a potentially erratic decision maker.
Given that 2 years ago Adonis De La Rosa fouled at pretty much the same rate and last year just a little less, there are always chances. I think fouling often has to do with some personal tendencies even more than experience.
He is very good. We will not miss tlj at all. He is by far the best passer on the team looks for others and some of his passes were so good and unexpected that they were dropped. He was solid with his on the ball defense didnt get picked off on the pick and roll and never lost his man. Nice stroke and has a bit of a mid range game.
Lots of team speed got up and down the court in hurry.
I was a little dissappointed with both ayo and trent they seemed to be willing to drive into the paint and take tough shots rather than passing to the corners where aj and griffin were both wide open. However ayo seems to have great body control and hangs in the air a bit and can finish with either hand. I think if we play with 3 guards opposing coaches r going to have a dilemma in deciding who to put the best defensive player on
About whether Bu is too tough I thought it was really really tame compared to some of the coaching I witnessed in high school. The people I was around were kind of surprised that he was that mild thought it was due to the open practice.
I also thought giorgy had great moves around the hoop better than ive seen for an illini big man maybe ever. real nice stroke from the free throw line most of his makes never hit the rim. However most of his 3 pointers were way off.I think he will b better than the loyola dude everyone faints over.
Neither damonte or aj stuck out in any way Samba and tevian r both struggling to understand much of anything.
regarding kipper he is a bad example for the younger players. He pretty much loafed around most the practice
Yes, but I do not think they are contradictory. Last few years we lacked player who really wanted the ball at the end of the game, had some problem with inbound plays, made some bad passes, and did not have the best time/clock management. Feliz is very solid at that. The erratic part relayed to me did not have to so with those, but more with sometimes taking ill-advised shots.
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I do not know BU or what is going on on/off the court, but imagine part of the "tough" yelling is from having to take inexperience and lack of real coaching (Groce) to Big Ten game ready players the past couple of years. My totally baseless assumption is that once he has a core of juniors and seniors who can run his offense and defense, he will lay off of the freshmen players. Obviously our team is not running optimally due to it being only the start of his second year, hince the yelling at everyone. Thus according to my nonfactual conclusions, we will hear yelling until a 5-7 man squad can run his offense and defense. I don't usually hope for the State Farm Center to be quiet, but if it means improvement I am all for it.
Saturday, must have been the worst practice of the year effort wise, because in the articles i've read thus far, Underwood, has stated he hasn't had to coach effort, yet.
This is a good resource.
What I'd really like to see though is a virtual reality training system (goggles, simulated scenes, and motion responses, etc) tailored around BUs systems on O and D. You have the simulator available for individual use year-round and could cut learning process from months to weeks for new guys like Samba. Recruits would love it too.
I didn't see any lack of effort. Confusion yes, effort no.
If these guys are confused all they gotta do is call somebody on last years schedule. Those players figured out the defense quite well. Yeah, they turned teams over, but the field goal percentages were record setting and the easy baskets and open looks were abundant.
So, what i read from those who were at the practice Jones and Griffin can't play defense and Kane doesn't have a clue on either end. Jones and Griffin excited BU because of their length and mobility, which is supposed to be an upgrade. For those that say they have to learn the scheme please tell what is so difficult about BU defensive scheme.
Relax, it's not that bad. They'll be fine.
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