Illini Basketball 2022-2023

[St Michel]

Hearing the likelihood of Shannon coming back is pretty high. Conversations will be had in the coming week but his mom has left some hints as well

That would be fantastic. He has been getting some online flack but I think he's a great guy who works hard and does his best. He has every reason to be upset after being put in a position to fail as a point guard.

 

[WyattEarp]

This is what I'm referring to. Seems like players are tight and dribbling the ball off their feet n rhythm seems off on shots as if they are tired...Just an observation that it almost seems like players are a little over worked.

Seems like Fletch is pretty good at all of it. He’s played the sport himself. He knows it’s not all about just getting ripped. He gets it.

 

[illiniswish09]

I love me some Fletch but doesn't it seem like since he has been here our teams cant shoot the ball very well as a whole??? I just remember so many times over the years saying after the game if we would just make more of our open shots we would have won..... Our offense just seems to suck because we cant make open 3's or layups that all other teams seem to make...

We shot 36% from 3 last year and 37.3% from 3 in '21...

 

[Illini in Italy]

This is what I'm referring to. Seems like players are tight and dribbling the ball off their feet n rhythm seems off on shots as if they are tired...Just an observation that it almost seems like players are a little over worked.

 

[ChiefGritty]

That would be fantastic. He has been getting some online flack but I think he's a great guy who works hard and does his best. He has every reason to be upset after being put in a position to fail as a point guard.

I mean to give the counterargument its due, he's a high usage rate player who by his nature is going to kind of dictate the way you play in a direction away from free-flowing ball movement. Which is a similar effect to Kofi Cockburn, albeit in a very different way, and a way with a lower shooting percentage for him, and not quite so likely to generate open 3's for others.

Shannon coming back means Shannon hero-ball remains a main course in our offensive diet, and it's hard to blame skepticism of that after watching this season.

On the other hand though, we've been through a lot of different flavors of Underwood-ball, and we hit our highest peak when we just totally surrendered to Ayo playing hero ball. Ayo is a better, more difficult to defend player than Shannon is, but not by miles and while Ayo is a better natural passer, he wasn't asked to play that way during our big 2021 surge.

 

[ILLINI IN NE]

A few hot takes my son overheard from an Illinois fan sitting by him at the game yesterday.

Dain will enter the portal shortly.
Texas is going to offer UW big bucks to leave Illinois.
First choice for new coach is Sean Miller.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

I just went re read that schedule with results Dan posts on the front page

Im still shaking my head as to how we lost 3 friggin games in 3 1/2 months to Penn State

I saw all of the games in Des Moines yesterday/last night. Penn State is 100% legit. I would not be shocked, whatsoever, to see them beat Texas. Pickett is a flat out stud and he handed it to us three times. Never great to lose to anyone three times in a season, but quite frankly....the few weeks of the season, they were better than us.

 

[Illini in Italy]

A few hot takes my son overheard from an Illinois fan sitting by him at the game yesterday.

Dain will enter the portal shortly.
Texas is going to offer UW big bucks to leave Illinois.
First choice for new coach is Sean Miller.

A) I don't believe Dain is eligible for the portal as he used his freebie transfer to come to Illinois from Baylor.
B) could happen, some posters here see it as inevitable that the offer is at least extended to BU.
C)

 

[pruman91]

Too much Monster drinks and playing video games instead of going to Ubben and practicing shooting 3's.........

Could it be that simple ?????.............JMHO

 

[Rich]

As someone who grew up in an environment where yelling for motivation was not abnormal, I could deal with it. However, as I grew up and became more cognizant of people's reactions and emotions around me, I changed how I motivate, punish, and empower impressionable youth around me to adapt to what best suits each individual.

Do I think there are situation where motivational yelling has a place? I do. However, I also think basketball is a small enough team size to individualize how you talk to each player and try to get the most out of them. Tough love won't reach everyone.

That being said, I've also run in to situations where you treat everyone so individualized and they perceive things as favoritism if a kid has a thicker skin and get called out and someone's weak mental gets pat in the back. I don't envy the coaches and I have to trust they know what they're doing.

 

[Big Jack]

See Syracuse game … More freedom offensively

There’s a reason his top choice is a team that didn’t even get 5 wins last year … He don’t wanna play team ball …

Brad handled this whole situation better than I would’ve … All I’ve gotta say about that

I just wish someone would put the whole story out there for all of us to understand.. I was never a Skyy fan from the start seemed entitled! I knew there was issues when his brother backed out of his commitment. I dont wanna wait for Coleman to put out his book in 20 years.

 

[Se Il Illini]

As someone who grew up in an environment where yelling for motivation was not abnormal, I could deal with it. However, as I grew up and became more cognizant of people's reactions and emotions around me, I changed how I motivate, punish, and empower impressionable youth around me to adapt to what best suits each individual.

Do I think there are situation where motivational yelling has a place? I do. However, I also think basketball is a small enough team size to individualize how you talk to each player and try to get the most out of them. Tough love won't reach everyone.

That being said, I've also run in to situations where you treat everyone so individualized and they perceive things as favoritism if a kid has a thicker skin and get called out and someone's weak mental gets pat in the back. I don't envy the coaches and I have to trust they know what they're doing.

The last paragraph is the Chuck Tanner school of coaching philosophy.

 

[Illiniwiththechief]

That is a tough pill to swallow

This team was 3 minutes from tying Purdue for the conference title. They were tied with Purdue, Indiana and Iowa in the last minute. We just don't have someone who can be counted on to win that last minute.

 

[One Man Fast Break]

That is a tough pill to swallow

Meh we had some close wins as well. They balance out a bit. This team wasn’t that good as all metrics show.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

I mean to give the counterargument its due, he's a high usage rate player who by his nature is going to kind of dictate the way you play in a direction away from free-flowing ball movement. Which is a similar effect to Kofi Cockburn, albeit in a very different way, and a way with a lower shooting percentage for him, and not quite so likely to generate open 3's for others.

Shannon coming back means Shannon hero-ball remains a main course in our offensive diet, and it's hard to blame skepticism of that after watching this season.

On the other hand though, we've been through a lot of different flavors of Underwood-ball, and we hit our highest peak when we just totally surrendered to Ayo playing hero ball. Ayo is a better, more difficult to defend player than Shannon is, but not by miles and while Ayo is a better natural passer, he wasn't asked to play that way during our big 2021 surge.

While I wouldn’t use the word “hero ball,” I think you DO have to have a clear go-to guy … and I’d be ecstatic for that to be Shannon next year. I feel the problem this year is that we had Shannon AND Mayer crowding each other’s space a bit. JMO.

 

[ChiefGritty]

I just wish someone would put the whole story out there for all of us to understand.. I was never a Skyy fan from the start seemed entitled! I knew there was issues when his brother backed out of his commitment. I dont wanna wait for Coleman to put out his book in 20 years.

I would also love to hear the backstory, but at the end of the day it seems pretty clear that Brad Underwood's Illinois was nowhere even close to what Skyy thought he was signing up to and whatever the specifics were, there was no world it which it was ever going to be anything other than a very short marriage.

It happens. No hard feelings, best of luck to him. He'll need thicker skin and more willingness to evolve himself and his game to make the most of his talent, but hopefully for him the environment at Louisville will be more conducive to taking those steps.

 

[Illini in Italy]

As someone who grew up in an environment where yelling for motivation was not abnormal, I could deal with it. However, as I grew up and became more cognizant of people's reactions and emotions around me, I changed how I motivate, punish, and empower impressionable youth around me to adapt to what best suits each individual.

Do I think there are situation where motivational yelling has a place? I do. However, I also think basketball is a small enough team size to individualize how you talk to each player and try to get the most out of them. Tough love won't reach everyone.

That being said, I've also run in to situations where you treat everyone so individualized and they perceive things as favoritism if a kid has a thicker skin and get called out and someone's weak mental gets pat in the back. I don't envy the coaches and I have to trust they know what they're doing.

I certainly grew up in the era of coaches being stoned "motivators". See the movie "One on One" with Robby Benson and Annette O'Toole (ah, be still my beating heart - I've always had a special place for that sultry redhead). Loved that movie back in '77 when it came out . . .

 

[One Man Fast Break]

Another year of bad retention, and if we slip and are nowhere near the tournament, and time to think about a new coach. Grateful for what BU did to rebuild the program but we can’t let it slip or the recruits will dry up quick. Other programs would have had Kofi as a NPOY candidate, Miller and Curbelo as a dominant back court playing at an all big ten level. Podz as the big ten sixth man of the year. And Illinois would be gearing up for a big game tomorrow with a lot of people thinking they have the makings of a final four team.

Is it all Underwood’s fault we keep losing players? No but the buck stops up top.

 

[Big Jack]

I mean to give the counterargument its due, he's a high usage rate player who by his nature is going to kind of dictate the way you play in a direction away from free-flowing ball movement. Which is a similar effect to Kofi Cockburn, albeit in a very different way, and a way with a lower shooting percentage for him, and not quite so likely to generate open 3's for others.

Shannon coming back means Shannon hero-ball remains a main course in our offensive diet, and it's hard to blame skepticism of that after watching this season.

On the other hand though, we've been through a lot of different flavors of Underwood-ball, and we hit our highest peak when we just totally surrendered to Ayo playing hero ball. Ayo is a better, more difficult to defend player than Shannon is, but not by miles and while Ayo is a better natural passer, he wasn't asked to play that way during our big 2021 surge.

Think alot of us got frustrated with what you call hero ball.. However I contend that it was needed since no one else seemed to want to move in the offensive flow. I am no coach but it will look like hero ball if others do not get into the right place on the play. If the screeners dont get their man to move away to clear the lane then you have a problem. If you have 2-3 guys on the floor who cant shoot from the outside then their man sluffs off clogging the lane.. Its just not TJS listen to CH talk about the guys not running plays. I will agree sometimes his 3 pt shots were out bad and but again with the rest just standing around someone has to shoot

 

[Illini in Italy]

Another year of bad retention, and if we slip and are nowhere near the tournament, and time to think about a new coach. Grateful for what BU did to rebuild the program but we can’t let it slip or the recruits will dry up quick. Other programs would have had Kofi as a NPOY candidate, Miller and Curbelo as a dominant back court playing at an all big ten level. Podz as the big ten sixth man of the year. And Illinois would be gearing up for a big game tomorrow with a lot of people thinking they have the makings of a final four team.

Is it all Underwood’s fault we keep losing players? No but the buck stops up top.

No . . . . As has been documented by Robert and many others, every coach change comes with a huge dip in performance, not always followed by increased success.

 

[Joel Goodson]

Kofi leaving and Shannon staying. The world is a mysterious place.

If the NBA was a legit option for Shannon, he'd be gone. G League/Euro leagues v high D1 (and high NIL) is a completely different story.

 

[ChiefGritty]

If the NBA was a legit option for Shannon, he'd be gone. G League/Euro leagues v high D1 (and high NIL) is a completely different story.

Kofi's in Japan my dude. There was never the slightest chance he was getting drafted, regardless of what some were pretending to themselves at the time. Great basketball player, totally unplayable in the game the NBA has become.

Shannon might have an NBA future. His game is better suited to the NBA than college.

And if anything Kofi's NIL opportunities were bigger. Thus my comment.

 

[Joel Goodson]

Kofi's in Japan my dude. There was never the slightest chance he was getting drafted, regardless of what some were pretending to themselves at the time. Great basketball player, totally unplayable in the game the NBA has become.

Shannon might have an NBA future. His game is better suited to the NBA than college.

And if anything Kofi's NIL opportunities were bigger. Thus my comment.

Wasn't referring to Kofi, my dude.

 

[ChiefGritty]

Wasn't referring to Kofi, my dude.

The NBA is absolutely a legit option for Shannon. He's most likely a 2nd round pick, would probably do well in the draft process, and should reasonably expect to occupy an NBA roster spot next season, and probably doesn't have a ton of upside coming back for another year (unlike Coleman Hawkins IMO who has room to elevate himself in scouts eyes).

It's a surprise if Shannon comes back, I don't see how anyone could say otherwise.

And it is natural to compare that to Kofi, for whom the NIL money he left on the table was unequivocally the largest remaining earning potential in his basketball career.

The world is a mysterious place.

 

[Eternal Optimist]

Too much Monster drinks and playing video games instead of going to Ubben and practicing shooting 3's.........

Could it be that simple ?????.............JMHO

Not trying to knock you (@pruman91 … aka MM) too hard, but for a kid that came in wanting to be Big10 DPOY he sure did pick and choose a lot of when he wanted to show up vs. when he wanted to just go through the motions on D. He had some awesome games, but to act like you care as much as you say in your talk, it unfortunately wasn’t in his inner self. Want the best for him… you () but I’m sad to say I’m glad it’s time to move on.