One of my main concerns, I’m sure after being committed for nearly 3 years he thought he would be given a larger role
Tennessee 66, Illinois 64 Postgame
- Status
I came across rigid, apologies, but the fact is that we have two players that are giving us very little and until Wisconsin, we can add Tre as a third.
We have two players that show up every night and that's Boswell and KJ. We're singling guys out, but outside of those two guys, we don't have consistency. They both effect that game in their own ways... especially Kylan. That guy goes balls out for 40 minutes and his fingerprints are all over the game.
The theory being thrown around is that Morez is a better option, but based on what? If he gets 30 minutes, that's more touches, it's more free throws, he has to cover the three point line, he has to stay out of foul trouble....
There's a ton that goes into this, but the reality is that every guy in the roster needs to do their part every game. I count only two guys that consistently show up.
This is a wildly inexperienced team that most reasonable people understood was going to be a work in progress. The daggers being sent at some of these guys is pretty bad. We've played 9 games.
blackdog
- Champaign
I don't know what happened to some of the actions we've seen before but it's a lot of one on one dribbling right now especially when Will has the ball. Idk why they haven't tried to set him up like Ayo or TSJ where he is catching the ball on the move to attack or shoot. Make decisions simple for the players.
From the sounds of it Brads already done just that.
We keep using this word as if there's something we can do about Brad's or our other coaches' decisions. Our coaches aren't politicians. They have autonomy. And I don't know about you, but I'm no bigtime Illini basketball booster. All us ordinary Illini basketball fans can do is offer our own critiques here and express our opinions on social media (as if that's going to change anything). From Brad's point of view, if the boldface evidence on the court hasn't proven that Morez should play and Ben should sit, and what we're hearing from reliable insiders about the decline in the relationship between Brad and Morez is true, I don't think it's reasonable to expect that the PT situation will change during the next game or the game after that or the game after that, etc.
Last edited:
But even Brad said he should have played Morez more, I believe it was after the Wisconsin game. So why would he say that if the relationship is that bad? And yet, here we are talking about a game that Morez played 12 minutes after playing 13 against Wisconsin. It's all very confusing.
Last edited:
I didn't realize that he said that. But does that amount to a hill of beans given that Brad played Ben 30 minutes and Morez 12 minutes today?
I agreed with you about Will escaping critique in your earlier post, before I posted my question.
For me, playing Morez and Will more, earlier, is a better long game. We should be preparing for March now.
Maybe Ben is built for March, not sure. But I'd allow Will and Morez to take their lumps in Dec, Jan, and Feb, which I think has higher upside than Tre and Ben getting more tick all season.
JMHO
Exactly, this foolishness may cost us Morez. He is a cornerstone for next year. Don't expect KJ or Riley back due to their current NBA draft projections.
On rebounding Morez is just bigger and stronger, Ben will not be this player. I have more confidence in Tomi taling 3s and Morez playing perimeter defense.
The Ben experiment has not worked. The sooner this staff moves on from this folly the better it will be for the fortunes of this team. Ben's value as a starter can no longer be credibly defended. He can make great contributions here, for sure. Those contributions, however, are not as a 30 minute a game player. Ben either takes and makes shots or he sits. He is just too soft a player for the position that he is being asked to play. The staff must move on to Riley and Johnson.The high-low with Ivisic and Johnson has a much better chance of being effective than what is going on now. Riley needs as many minutes as this staff can give him. Onward and Upward. ILL!
I was surprisingly in a pretty good space after this game.
And then I came on this board and have been triggered by my one real concern about Brad. And that is his player turnover average.
It really bugs me that he seems to have a hard time hanging on to players. Which is confusing, because the few players who stick around will bend over backwards for him.
If Brad chases Morez away, I will be pissed. And for what?? Morez seems to be the type of player Brad wants. Accept for shooting threes. And we can all see that he provides quality minutes.
I shouldn’t get so worked up over internet gossip, but there it is.
End of game lineup: KJ, Kylan, Tre, Will, Morez.
Or: KJ, Kylan, Tre/Will, Morez, Tomi.
Ben should not be the guy, and Morez's energy (especially on D and rebounding) is just going wasted by not having him out there.
Or: KJ, Kylan, Tre/Will, Morez, Tomi.
Ben should not be the guy, and Morez's energy (especially on D and rebounding) is just going wasted by not having him out there.
Well maybe if we started Morez and played him 30 minutes a game he might come around but so far I haven't seen 5 star performance from him. Other than post defense and rim protection he has a ways to go. He supposedly has strong hands yet very seldom handles a pass or rebounds cleanly. Doesn't go up strong with ball when he does get a board. He should have a lot more dunks with and one opportunities and that's about his whole offense right now, put backs and layups. I thought he and Tomi would look a little more polished around the rim than they do. Isn't coach O supposed to be a good big man coach?
He is our best defender in the paint. We need to play him more and not piss him off.
ginabackes00
CrazedUIFan
I love the potential of Rez and would like to see him play more, however, is it possible the way this offense is designed with our personnel it makes it difficult to play him a lot of minutes? I hope he sticks with it and continues to develop.
Fair points…BUT…
Morez isn’t as much of an offensive threat as he could be, because:
1.) The limitations of our scheme for the most part…The dribble weave into ball screens …pick n pop with Tomi…shooters in the corner scheme doesn’t play to his strengths. He’s odd man out…like you said: largely putbacks and clean-up garbage buckets are what he’s gonna get most nights. The high post roll usually goes through Tomi and not Rez…and even if Rez is in that high post roll…let’s say teams guard it well and take that away. Then, what are you left with? What opportunities does he really have? Unless a guard drives into the paint dumps it off to him, he doesn’t get the ball in a position to do what he does best. The kids a 5-star…can’t we run some sets specifically designed to get him involved?The Dainja situation was different…yet similar in some ways. I hope that doesn’t play out. I don’t see Rez sticking around that long.
2.) Rez simply needs more playing time. It’s hard for anyone to be a steady scorer with those minutes. According to some metrics Morez is our best defender. He’s a freshman and needs to play through some mistakes.
* I certainly agree that a 50 % freebie shooter ain’t gonna get it in crunch time, however.
Last edited:
Who runs the inbound plays? Seriously.
It's not too late to fix it. Is it?
it wasnt brad today thats for sure, he was arguing with the refs for some reason
DICKnaggie
- Champaign
This is great, and thanks. I think you and I are actually saying the same thing, to be honest. Nonetheless, Tomi was shut down tonight with pick and pop. Looking at the shot chart, we got nothing from the corners. All of our scoring was one-dimensional, coming from the top of the key and high post. We are dribbling an incredible amount and passing very little. We are not moving the ball from side to side and, as such, are giving the defense and easy cover.
- Status