Speaking of Miller, after about his third miss, I saw a camera shot of him, and he did not look like a guy who was expecting to make his shots. He looked rather dejected and out of it. I am sure BU saw it and that is why Miller got a little less tick later.
Illinois 80, Iowa 75 Postgame
blackdog
- Champaign
Can we talk about the play by play guy saying something along the lines of "its 69 69 a very nice game so far" i was cracking up. It sounded like he did it on purpose.
Fun game to watch, and very happy for the team. Especially happy for Trent — what a game. Really liked seeing him go to the basket with confidence. And loved that his defense was as good as ever. Have never understood stood all the clamoring for Curbelo to start over Trent. Hopefully this game keeps those people and thoughts away.
Ayo keeps the team in it during first half (as well as a big 3 in second half) and Kofi helped keep Garza off the court in second half. Kudos to Kofi for not hanging his head after missing that FT and hustling to get the rebound.
Great time for Grandison to have his best game of the year. He does so many of the little things right. But have to get DMW and Miller on track. Don’t think we’ll win many more games going forward when they combine for 0 points and 5 rebounds in 30 minutes of court time. Especially troubling were DMW’s two bad passes late in second half. To their credit though, I didn’t notice their offensive struggles carrying over to their D.
Ayo keeps the team in it during first half (as well as a big 3 in second half) and Kofi helped keep Garza off the court in second half. Kudos to Kofi for not hanging his head after missing that FT and hustling to get the rebound.
Great time for Grandison to have his best game of the year. He does so many of the little things right. But have to get DMW and Miller on track. Don’t think we’ll win many more games going forward when they combine for 0 points and 5 rebounds in 30 minutes of court time. Especially troubling were DMW’s two bad passes late in second half. To their credit though, I didn’t notice their offensive struggles carrying over to their D.
Updated per possession conference standings:
Now that almost everyone has played everyone, the numbers are fairly normalized for schedule, aside from teams that haven't had their free Nebraska booster game.
Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin have pretty well established themselves as the class of the league, with Rutgers, Indiana, Purdue, and Minnesota sitting a step back as still quality teams. Those 9 teams are probably your "safe" tourney bets at this point assuming none of them collapse. Beyond that, Penn State, Maryland and Michigan State could envision themselves on the bubble if they can pull a few wins together, while Northwestern has come back to earth after a hot start, and Nebraska has a ton of makeup losses to cover over the next 6 weeks.
Illinois has 8 games left on the conference schedule, and 2 makeup games, but just 3 at home thanks to the COVID quirks. 5 of their remaining games are against the top half of the conference (@Michigan, @Ohio State, @Wisconsin, @Indiana, Wisconsin), and 5 are against the lower half of the conference (@Minnesota, @Michigan State, Northwestern, @Nebraska, Nebraska). Win 3 of the 5 against the top half and 4 of the 5 against the bottom half, and they're looking at a top 3 finish in conference. Go 8-2, outside shot at conference champs.
Now that almost everyone has played everyone, the numbers are fairly normalized for schedule, aside from teams that haven't had their free Nebraska booster game.
Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin have pretty well established themselves as the class of the league, with Rutgers, Indiana, Purdue, and Minnesota sitting a step back as still quality teams. Those 9 teams are probably your "safe" tourney bets at this point assuming none of them collapse. Beyond that, Penn State, Maryland and Michigan State could envision themselves on the bubble if they can pull a few wins together, while Northwestern has come back to earth after a hot start, and Nebraska has a ton of makeup losses to cover over the next 6 weeks.
Illinois has 8 games left on the conference schedule, and 2 makeup games, but just 3 at home thanks to the COVID quirks. 5 of their remaining games are against the top half of the conference (@Michigan, @Ohio State, @Wisconsin, @Indiana, Wisconsin), and 5 are against the lower half of the conference (@Minnesota, @Michigan State, Northwestern, @Nebraska, Nebraska). Win 3 of the 5 against the top half and 4 of the 5 against the bottom half, and they're looking at a top 3 finish in conference. Go 8-2, outside shot at conference champs.
Their D is horrid, Frazier with very little effort drove around Bohannon like he was standing still. They are not a east west team when it comes to guarding players. We had the most open looks we have had in a while. Grandy had the 10 ft zone in the paint all night if he wanted it. There was no pressure around him but when they did guard, he passed to the open shooter.
Grandy has a reliable shot at elbow...he is ideal swiss army knife like alan was last year. I loved when BU plays him at high post too...seams to be a really good distributor.
altenberger22
- South Carolina
I got into a debate a couple of weeks ago regarding the significance of Kofi's defensive presence in the paint. Someone else mentioned that Nnanna was effective too, which is valid. However, I still argue that Kofi is much more dominant defensively and will be nearly impossible to replace once he departs.
Calillini
Now appearing in Tampa
Even though Belo had no one open on the five count, I think he was a little off guard because by the time he got the ball from Ayo, he was 1.5 to 2 seconds into the count.
Clearly that was the worst possible play call that could have been made at that point in the game. Our out of bounds play calling needs a lot of help.
Deleted member 29907
D
Guest
It will be interesting to see what Hawkins develops into inside the paint. He's already had several very nice blocks, has good feet and high shoulders. Needs to add quite a bit of strength but he has the potential to be a big help inside on defense. Nnanna was clearly not a banger, just long and very good off the ball help blocking shots.
Agreed needs a midrange
Need to get into the weight room in the off season
Needs to have a better idea of what he wants to or or might do before he penetrates
Just needs some time and experience, massive growth potential.
And his baskets were timely ones.
Interesting team stats. Numbers would suggest the game was won at the free-throw line.
Deleted member 747903
D
Guest
Weight room? Dude has one of the most prepared bodies of any freshman in the country.
Its just comfort with him.
Weight room helped improve Ayo's game, in addition to practicing 8 hours a day.
It will do the same with Curbelo.
Deleted member 747903
D
Guest
I think weight room helped Ayo because he was pretty skinny as a freshman. Adam is jacked as a freshman.Weight room helped improve Ayo's game, in addition to practicing 8 hours a day.
It will do the same with Curbelo.
I think the issue is he knows his role is to stretch the floor and make threes. That’s why he jacks them up with no fear.
He has the interior game in him, just needs to be unleashed by BU.
The dude is a good speaker with lots of postgame experience. I'm not going to claim he's the bEsTeVa or some kind of savant, but... I consistently get the feeling that we're hearing EXACTLY what he wants us to hear.Ayo’s postgame response to “making it difficult for Garza” is a classic. “We made him guard” LOL. Also said that Iowa is known for zone and plays zone in an attempt to hide Garza on defense. His tone is professional per usual but you can sense the shade
Zorak
- Naperville
I was in the building for Nnanna Egwu. He was great, but not in the same league as Kofi Cockburn.
AEX
- Danger Zone
Turnovers is an important stat missing from this picture. Another outlook is that we would have won this game by double digits if we could cut down on some of the silly turnovers. This was a great game, but we’re not even hitting our ceiling yet. The big question is whether we will and if we can do so consistently.
I agree...strength is not his problem at all. However, I'm really not sure if he has it in him. I haven't seen the athletic ability for him to finish at the rim. Not sure he has the length to do it either. Also, he is very mechanical. Doesn't have a feel for the game. Some guys are just ball players. Feliz for example...didn't necessarily have the height or athleticism. But he just knew how to play. Miller might only be a 3 point shooter. Kinda reminds me of dj Richardson. Except not as good of a shooter. Haven't been very impressed with him at all. I hope my opinion is proven wrong next year or we are going to be hurting!
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Wrong.