Tacomallini
- Washington State
Thanks! Totally forgot about that game and had to look it up to confirm it happened. It was immediately before the legendary Wake Forest beatdown.
Illini Basketball 2022-2023
- Status
Agreed. Although I disliked Weber by the time he left (because of his incessant whining - a kid flakes on you, move on to the next). But he did a masterful job with that 2005 team. It was beautiful basketball.
But the '89 team was more pure thrill. Although I disagree with describing them as "interchangeable." Though they were all close in height, they actually had pretty typical functions, at least on offense. Bardo was definitely the 1, Gill the 2, Anderson the 3, Battle 4 and Hamilton the 5. OTOH Defensively the "interchangeable" description does indeed work as they were all very versatile defenders. Especially Battle and Bardo. It was said those two could defense all five positions.
I’ll just leave this here
“Our ability to be versatile is going to be incredible,” Alexander said. “You may see a lineup out there with 6’5” to 6’9” and you may have Dain Dainja bringing the ball up.”
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
We're going to have elite versatility and I love it.
I am intrigued by Dainja’s potential from changes to his physique. My recollection is that he was about 285 lb. when he arrived in Champaign. To his credit, he has worked very hard with Fletch to improve his conditioning and lose weight. There was discussion in May that he’s down to about 260 or so. What’s a reasonable expectation for him to be in another 5 months (November)? Losing another 15 lb of fat and gaining 5 lb of muscle? That would put him at about 250, almost a 15% loss of body mass.
At 250 lb with increased strength, I’d think he would be a very different athlete – laterally quicker, more explosive with better endurance. There are several board members who appear to know a lot about strength and conditioning, and I’d love to hear their thoughts on the Dain Dainja that will be suiting up this fall.
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
Here’s my best stab at the minutes breakdown as the roster sits on 6.12.22, as I have nothing better to do on this fine Sunday evening in the burbs:
TSJ 28
RJ 28
Clark 28
Hawkins 26
Mayer 25
Rodgers 20
Dainja 18
Epps 14
Goode 13
The past few years we’ve seen guys average over 30 MPG. BU and co. have the horses this year where that won’t be necessary. Some additional thoughts:
-We obviously won’t go 9-deep every game, but the plan is to use depth a lot more this year.
-The top 3 bench guys have a great chance to eat into the starters minutes. Rodgers may become BU’s favorite player he ever coached when it’s all said and done. I see Dainja filling a Trevion Williams-like role: an ultra-talented big coming off the bench for ~ 20 minutes per. Conditioning is still a concern, but he has come a longgg way and there’s a ton of optimism there. And I’ve already expressed my confidence in Epps-I think he can challenge for 20+ minutes if he performs to his potential. Who they would take minutes from remains to be seen, but a great problem to have.
November can’t get here soon enough. This is the type of talent and versatility BU has envisioned since his arrival in C-U. Final 4 or bust
TSJ 28
RJ 28
Clark 28
Hawkins 26
Mayer 25
Rodgers 20
Dainja 18
Epps 14
Goode 13
The past few years we’ve seen guys average over 30 MPG. BU and co. have the horses this year where that won’t be necessary. Some additional thoughts:
-We obviously won’t go 9-deep every game, but the plan is to use depth a lot more this year.
-The top 3 bench guys have a great chance to eat into the starters minutes. Rodgers may become BU’s favorite player he ever coached when it’s all said and done. I see Dainja filling a Trevion Williams-like role: an ultra-talented big coming off the bench for ~ 20 minutes per. Conditioning is still a concern, but he has come a longgg way and there’s a ton of optimism there. And I’ve already expressed my confidence in Epps-I think he can challenge for 20+ minutes if he performs to his potential. Who they would take minutes from remains to be seen, but a great problem to have.
November can’t get here soon enough. This is the type of talent and versatility BU has envisioned since his arrival in C-U. Final 4 or bust
Newmark4thFloor
- Houstown
Based on this, I am assuming if BU adds another piece, they would not be anyone in the starting 5, right? Just a depth piece?Here’s my best stab at the minutes breakdown as the roster sits on 6.12.22, as I have nothing better to do on this fine Sunday evening in the burbs:
TSJ 28
RJ 28
Clark 28
Hawkins 26
Mayer 25
Rodgers 20
Dainja 18
Epps 14
Goode 13
The past few years we’ve seen guys average over 30 MPG. BU and co. have the horses this year where that won’t be necessary. Some additional thoughts:
-We obviously won’t go 9-deep every game, but the plan is to use depth a lot more this year.
-The top 3 bench guys have a great chance to eat into the starters minutes. Rodgers may become BU’s favorite player he ever coached when it’s all said and done. I see Dainja filling a Trevion Williams-like role: an ultra-talented big coming off the bench for ~ 20 minutes per. Conditioning is still a concern, but he has come a longgg way and there’s a ton of optimism there. And I’ve already expressed my confidence in Epps-I think he can challenge for 20+ minutes if he performs to his potential. Who they would take minutes from remains to be seen, but a great problem to have.
November can’t get here soon enough. This is the type of talent and versatility BU has envisioned since his arrival in C-U. Final 4 or bust
Rodgers is going to be an amazing player, but everyone should slow their jets on him a little. He was playing against a bunch of scrubs in those Fiba U18 games and got beat off the dribble quite a bit against less athletic players than he will be against in college. He is still going to be a freshman and I would guess Rodgers will average around 10 minutes a game. This would be more than what Goode and Melendez averaged last year.Here’s my best stab at the minutes breakdown as the roster sits on 6.12.22, as I have nothing better to do on this fine Sunday evening in the burbs:
TSJ 28
RJ 28
Clark 28
Hawkins 26
Mayer 25
Rodgers 20
Dainja 18
Epps 14
Goode 13
The past few years we’ve seen guys average over 30 MPG. BU and co. have the horses this year where that won’t be necessary. Some additional thoughts:
-We obviously won’t go 9-deep every game, but the plan is to use depth a lot more this year.
-The top 3 bench guys have a great chance to eat into the starters minutes. Rodgers may become BU’s favorite player he ever coached when it’s all said and done. I see Dainja filling a Trevion Williams-like role: an ultra-talented big coming off the bench for ~ 20 minutes per. Conditioning is still a concern, but he has come a longgg way and there’s a ton of optimism there. And I’ve already expressed my confidence in Epps-I think he can challenge for 20+ minutes if he performs to his potential. Who they would take minutes from remains to be seen, but a great problem to have.
November can’t get here soon enough. This is the type of talent and versatility BU has envisioned since his arrival in C-U. Final 4 or bust
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
My projection has zero to do with Ty’s performance in U18s. If he is not a significant contributor this year I’ll eat my hat.
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
You are acting like we dont have at least 5 guys in front of him (Shannon Jr, Mayer, Goode, Melendez, Hawkins). All these guys are currently better than Rodgers. I think he will contribute, but 20 minutes a game is a lot of minutes for someone that cant make outside shots compared to his competition on this team.
Trying to put these to "position"
1) Clark 28, Epps 12
2) TSJ 28, Epps 2, Rodgers 8
3) RJ 28, Rodgers 12
4) Mayer 25, Goode 13, Hawkins 4
5) Hawkins 22, Dainja 18
Am I missing something and RJ can play the 2? If not is this allocation short guard time? After watching Rodgers this weekend, I don't see him as a 1 or 2. Having him play out front with Epps might be interesting and a second facilitator.
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
Agree to disagree. Goode will not be in front of him.
If DMW can play twenty nine (29) MPG then Ty certainly can play 20+.
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Pretty sure Mayer will split a lot of minutes at the 3 with RJ and Hawkins will play more at the 4 than the 5. There is just no way Rodgers gets that much time at the 3 with Mayer, Melendez and even Goode being able outside shooters. I also fully expect to see spurts where TSJ is running the point when Skyy is out.
Goode is not better than Ty. And let’s not forget that Damonte got plenty of minutes the last 5 years and he couldn’t shoot outside of the anomaly that was his 2020-2021 season.
Goode is a year older, knows the system, can actually shoot, and is a proven defender. I think Ty will be all of these things soon, but I will always have less expectations for Freshman. And yes Damonte played a lot because of his defense, but we have a lot of guys now that can defend. It's not like Rodger's defense is light years ahead of everyone we have now and those guys at the 2 and 3 need to be able to hit 3s. Maybe he will get some time at the 4. Guess we will see.
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Bigtex
- DFW
I remember being underwhelmed by ayo numbers in similar national team. Good amount of playing time but numbers were flat. Based on how that situation played out, I feel great about TY and his illini future. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for Ty the roster doesn’t force him heavy minutes. IMO coach is going to be challenged to get him off the floor.
Good problem to deal with
Good problem to deal with
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And this is what will frustrate a fan base if he is ineffective on offense yet getting major tick.
Hopefully he will be serviceable at making the opposing team guard him.
You’ve got 200 minutes covered. So Harris is playing zero minutes? Even Lieb will not play zero minutes this season. Walden and Serven will get minutes in blowouts. And that’s without any new players which you mentioned. Every minute counts over the season.Here’s my best stab at the minutes breakdown as the roster sits on 6.12.22, as I have nothing better to do on this fine Sunday evening in the burbs:
TSJ 28
RJ 28
Clark 28
Hawkins 26
Mayer 25
Rodgers 20
Dainja 18
Epps 14
Goode 13
The past few years we’ve seen guys average over 30 MPG. BU and co. have the horses this year where that won’t be necessary. Some additional thoughts:
-We obviously won’t go 9-deep every game, but the plan is to use depth a lot more this year.
-The top 3 bench guys have a great chance to eat into the starters minutes. Rodgers may become BU’s favorite player he ever coached when it’s all said and done. I see Dainja filling a Trevion Williams-like role: an ultra-talented big coming off the bench for ~ 20 minutes per. Conditioning is still a concern, but he has come a longgg way and there’s a ton of optimism there. And I’ve already expressed my confidence in Epps-I think he can challenge for 20+ minutes if he performs to his potential. Who they would take minutes from remains to be seen, but a great problem to have.
November can’t get here soon enough. This is the type of talent and versatility BU has envisioned since his arrival in C-U. Final 4 or bust
But I like your ideas about who will play the most.
How many games did Podz get in and what was his minutes? How many games did Lieb play in this year? Sencire is the most raw of the freshman and he plays a position we’re incredibly deep at. If you look at minutes from conference games down the stretch you’ll notice the short bench and the minute distribution.
20 MPG is way too much for a freshman who can't shoot at a spot that Illinois is on paper "loaded". He will get some tick but not half the game. Good insurance incase of an injury though.
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
My projection is based on non-blowout games. And in close games the bench will not be getting 65 minutes, so my projection is probably a bit optimistic in that regard.
I think the top of the rotation is about set. But the battle for 4-9 in the rotation will be up for grabs. Just my best guess as of now.
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
Staff would disagree
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
Clark 28 Epps 10 Ty 2
RJ 28 TSJ 8 Epps 4
TSJ 20 Ty 18 Mayer 2
Mayer 23 Goode 13 Hawkins 4
Hawkins 22 Dainja 18
Something something positionless but throwing darts here. Far more math than my brain wanted to do on a Sunday night.
- Status