Whitmans Sampler
- Eastern Iowa
And how do you know it wasn’t a drill rewarding the team that ends up with the ball in their hands? Such drills exist to instill rebounding mentality.
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Illini Basketball 2022-2023
- Status
Or just toughness/don’t quit in general.
FWLIW, my team doesn’t play out of bounds in our practices. So you better go get the ball.
When folks get to complaining about Hawkins tic, we can point to this hustle play. Getting outhustled by a freshman in practice. They are supposed to be leading by example, not learning by example. If Hawk lays out too he gets that ball. He was way ahead of Rodgers. Hopefully he learned that these freshmen are gonna try and take his minutes. And they will if he doesn't step it up.
Exactly right. I'm guessing any loose ball immediately turns into that drill until somebody winds up with possession no matter if its "in bounds" or not. Floor burns are your trophy, no participation ribbons awarded.
We made it close to the mountain top of being able to have a class of A-1 talent each class. Sometimes we have to realize that when we picked up previous talent they were the best we could get at the time. We are a bit higher on the climb and can be more selective on what we need to finish the climb. Players we have grown to want to see may be eclipsed by the light of new stars.
Boricua Illini
- Puerto Rico
What happened to Lucas Johnson?
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Yes, should definitely include Lucas there. Apologies, guess I was thinking of his play as the Dennis Rodman of the team to mess with the other guys' heads. But, yes, he was a scrapper. period.
"I don't need to be seen. I've been seen enough."--The Artist Formerly Known as "Ratface" on why he won't attend Duke home games next season
Can we find it in ourselves to bury the hatchet? Don't get me wrong...hope we play the team he coached and beat them like a rented mule who just got its drumset demolished. But he reeks of class, and very few ppl in this sport can have that said about them.
Can we find it in ourselves to bury the hatchet? Don't get me wrong...hope we play the team he coached and beat them like a rented mule who just got its drumset demolished. But he reeks of class, and very few ppl in this sport can have that said about them.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
He reeks of illegal payments to recruits , getting family members jobs and countless other things , to me.....When I think of coach k , class is way down the list.........
JMHO
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
I agree with one thing he said. He has been seen enough.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
20 bucks says that in at least 1 Duke home game this year K is interviewed on TV via Zoom.
And $100 says that he's physically at the game in Chapel Hill.
Maybe there was no out of bounds. ? Maybe it was go get the ball no matter what & co hawk got out hustled. That’s what I thought when I watched it. Never mind. Posted before I kept reading.
Yep. Sanctimony pure and simple.
Didn't he replace Bontemps once Mizzu stole it from Kevin one too many times?
I really can’t wait to watch next year’s team.
I loved the grit of last year’s team and originally thought they had F4 potential, but now that the season is in the rear view mirror, I can see that team had some obvious limitations. Our lack of size and/or shot creators meant we generally only had a matchup advantage at 1/5 of the positions, and we were reliant on making 3’s, and it’s tough to win 6 games that way.
Although dominant, Kofi’s limitations as a passer and free throw shooter meant you could throw double teams to frustrate him, or alternately, just hug our shooters and live with what he would get down low.
And although our drop coverage gave us a top 30 defense, we had no plan B such that if a guard did get going on the mid range, we didn’t have an answer. Happened against Purdue, Michigan State, OSU, and, ultimately knocked us out of the dance as Schead is a career night against us.
As much fun as that team was, I think our ceiling was probably S16 or Elite 8. I thought both the AZ game and the first Purdue game felt like elite 8 games and of course we didn’t win either.
Next years team has much more length and shot creation and I think should be able to exploit a mismatch at at least 2-3 positions on any given night, depending on matchups. We should be more versatile on defense and run more. It may take some time to gel but come March we should be a handful. My only question is who can do “Us” better than us. Early contenders to me are Baylor, Nova, Houston, Arkansas and Auburn. But roster wise I think we are right there with anyone in the country.
I hope Brad figures out how to identify where we have a matchup edge and then just pick on it until the other team adjusts, then move onto the next mismatch.
Apologies for the long post, just had some thoughts I wanted to share. Look forward to watching this group develop!
I loved the grit of last year’s team and originally thought they had F4 potential, but now that the season is in the rear view mirror, I can see that team had some obvious limitations. Our lack of size and/or shot creators meant we generally only had a matchup advantage at 1/5 of the positions, and we were reliant on making 3’s, and it’s tough to win 6 games that way.
Although dominant, Kofi’s limitations as a passer and free throw shooter meant you could throw double teams to frustrate him, or alternately, just hug our shooters and live with what he would get down low.
And although our drop coverage gave us a top 30 defense, we had no plan B such that if a guard did get going on the mid range, we didn’t have an answer. Happened against Purdue, Michigan State, OSU, and, ultimately knocked us out of the dance as Schead is a career night against us.
As much fun as that team was, I think our ceiling was probably S16 or Elite 8. I thought both the AZ game and the first Purdue game felt like elite 8 games and of course we didn’t win either.
Next years team has much more length and shot creation and I think should be able to exploit a mismatch at at least 2-3 positions on any given night, depending on matchups. We should be more versatile on defense and run more. It may take some time to gel but come March we should be a handful. My only question is who can do “Us” better than us. Early contenders to me are Baylor, Nova, Houston, Arkansas and Auburn. But roster wise I think we are right there with anyone in the country.
I hope Brad figures out how to identify where we have a matchup edge and then just pick on it until the other team adjusts, then move onto the next mismatch.
Apologies for the long post, just had some thoughts I wanted to share. Look forward to watching this group develop!
Seems you forgot UNC. With Bacot, Love, Leaky, Pants and Puff they look to be a cut above the Illini on paper.
don't forget one of our current coaching staff
I remember flipping through various games last season and distinctly remember noticing how long & athletic 3 teams in particular were - Texas Tech, Arizona & Houston. For giggles, I took a look at the size of our 1-8 vs those TT, Houston & Arizona teams from last year. We are a bigger/longer team than both Houston & TT from last year, and pretty close to Arizona, who had the tallest roster in college basketball. There is not a single team in the country next year who will out-athlete us.
Not sure what the bold is supposed to mean 🫤
I mean, we all believe Harris is going to be good. We literally all believe that every player we get is going to be good. We convinced ourselves that Reggie Bass was going to be a stud, until he decommitted.
Either way, looks like we’re in agreement.
Harper started from day one. Bontemps started 10 total games in his career but zero during Harper’s freshman year.
I remember watching OSU game at C-U in 2007. As I watched John Diebler light us up, I thought, we do not have the athletes to play with this team. No more, as stated by Illiniguy13. We got the athletes.
B-ILL
- Working From Home
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Yep, Chet should be in there, too. Apologies. Didn't mean to eliminate some of the better defenders over the modern history (since Lou). Mainly, went back to early years (80s) and reflected forward to today. Should have clarified that. Lucas and Chet were definitely memorable on that side of the ball for obvious reasons.
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I actually think one of the biggest problems may be chemistry.
Shannon and Mayer have already won at the college level. I’m sure they want to win here too but I’m guessing are looking for increased usage and raising their draft stock first and foremost.
I’m sure Coleman has seen his name start to pop up on 2023 mock drafts. Does he understand his path to the league is defense/rebounding/energy(I think I saw someone reference Noah for him and I absolutely love that comp! His ideal role to me in the NBA is a “modern” Noah. Basically all the things Joakim did but also stretch the floor)? Or does he decide he needs to average 15+ppg to make it in the league?
I don’t think Skyy is planning on being here more than 2 years.
And I’m sure RJ thought he was due for a much higher usage and, if so, maybe is eying leaving after next year as well.
I realize Brad isn’t here to make everyone happy, but will take some excellent coaching to get everyone to buy into accepting their role and not focusing on improving their draft stock. It’s ultimately a good problem to have and one the elite programs deal with every year.
- Status