Pregame: Illinois vs Purdue, Friday, March 7th, 7:00pm CT, FOX

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#226      
LvilleILL1
Illinifrank67 said:
That Sucks The Office GIF
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As a bench piece on a reduced price, not sure what the negative would be
 
#229      
TAK15illini
RockfordIllini said:
Curious to see how Ben does this game. Getting benched and having your role reduced can have one of two effects, it can either destroy whatever confidence is left or it can take the pressure off. For 2 games it’s seemed like the latter with Ben. Curious to see if it continues or if these were just a couple of good games in what has been a “good game/bad game” season for him.

For the record, I expect another good game (hit a couple of 3s, grab a few rebounds in 20ish minutes) as I think this Luke Goode type role fits him well and is what he should have been in months ago.

To me the adjustments we’ve made the last couple of games remind me of the movie the Founder. About halfway through the movie when Kroc is barely breaking even, he has a meeting with Harry Sonneborn who tells Kroc he doesn’t understand what business he’s in. He’s not in the burger business, he’s in the real estate business.

Likewise, I know we built this team to be a shooting team, but for whatever reason we aren’t that. But what we are is a team who can use our positional size and cutting and passing to be dominant from 2. By moving Humrichous to the bench I think that shows maybe they’ve finally realized what kind of team they have.
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I agree our positional size may be a problem for Purdue. They have some defensive weaknesses....

I watched Northwestern beat them last year (a better Purdue team) by giving the ball to Bouie and then he would maneuver through enough picks until he ended up with Loyer guarding him - then he went to work. If we play five out - and with Morez is still injured I am assuming we will - what if we go old school and simply post up the Purdue guards. Loyer is 6'4" / 180# and not athletic - who can he stop one-on-one? KJ? Tre? Will? I don't think so. Whoever finds themself being guarded by Loyer, get to the lane, put him on their back, and demand the ball. Force them to double, and then kick opportunities open up.

I think the same can be said of Smith. He is quicker and craftier on defense than Loyer, but he is 6' 0" (maybe)/ 170#. He plays good perimeter defense but if he is on an island close to the basket, can he stop Bam, or Tre, or KJ?? Cox is small, too.
 
#232      
Orangeandblue72
BalloonsTheElephant said:
As someone who has been off the Ben Bus for a while, I think he'd do well with an offseason working on his shot and some interior work like Domask. Seems like a good person, and has made some changes to adapt to B1G play.
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We’ve got have at least one two guys come back. Maybe he will be one of them. Gotta keep that everyday guys culture going ya know.
 
#234      
Second place is 1st loser
At a reduced price finding a nice niche coming off of the bench in spurts would be a phenomenal role for him. He just can't be part of the "bigs" rotation.

Having 6'9" coming off the bench to provide rebounding, shooting and energy....not many teams have that luxury. Not sure he'd take that role reduction however.

Also with much of the fanbase treating him like trash and using him as the resident whipping boy....I'm guessing he's going to want out immediately.
 
#236      
rtbritt
I’m not gonna ask how you know this about their guards.
 
#238      
Poe's Law
sacraig said:
As long as BH is okay being a bench piece.
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He’s a nice fall back option at the 4 if we can’t bring back Tomi and Morez.

It would be hard to play him at the 3, because of his defense. You could match Ben up on the 4 and let Morez guard the perimeter but you lose the rim protection and risk foul trouble. Only make that trade if Ben’s shooting well over 40% from 3.
 
#239      
pruman91
purdont is way overdue for an Illini beatdown in the house of Paign and tonight is the night we are going to do it.....I feel it in my
soul that we will come out ready to play another game like against the idiots and scUM........

The SFC will be rockin and the Illini will be buzzin all over the court applying the pressure on the boiler downs with abandon......

KB is going to attack smith on defense with pressure and strength......
Tomi is going to stop all those tippy-toes moves of kaufman-renn............
KJ will throttle the wimpish loyer who falls down with just a passing nudge.....so soft...

I have an idea this should be another double digit Illini win......................

Illini 83
purdont 69

psyc7.gif


everyone get medded up with your own choice of stimulant and cheer the Illini to another Quad 1 victory ..........
 
#240      
PepeSilvia
I definitely don't hate the idea of having a 6th year guy when most guys with COVID eligibility are gone(wouldn't mind adding another one from FSU).

However, I also just think the Illini need to get more athletic across the roster so I don't think a best case scenario roster for the Illini includes a role for both Ben and Jake Davis. Brad seems to love Davis so is assume he's back but he shouldn't be playing significant minutes if Ben is coming off the bench. I guess Davis could redshirt though.
 
#241      
PepeSilvia
Poe's Law said:
He’s a nice fall back option at the 4 if we can’t bring back Tomi and Morez.

It would be hard to play him at the 3, because of his defense. You could match Ben up on the 4 and let Morez guard the perimeter but you lose the rim protection and risk foul trouble. Only make that trade if Ben’s shooting well over 40% from 3.
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Ideally I think he would be a veteran 7th/8th man that can come off the bench and provide some size and shooting.
 
#242      
HensonHall71
LvilleILL1 said:
As a bench piece on a reduced price, not sure what the negative would be
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I agree - I'm certainly supportive of bringing Ben back - just as a rotation guy rather than starter. He seems to be a great teammate and he does all the right things, he's just not a 30 minute a game starter that you want taking a lot of shots type of guy. With a year of adjustment under his belt and more confidence, he can be a very good Luke Goode type of role for us and I would take that in heartbeat.
 
#243      
Illini4Chief
If we let Purdue guards rain those uncontested 3"s.....were done. A lot of Purdue's scoring in some of their games relied on these guards, just taking their time and doin the 3.
 
#245      
sacraig
HensonHall71 said:
I agree - I'm certainly supportive of bringing Ben back - just as a rotation guy rather than starter. He seems to be a great teammate and he does all the right things, he's just not a 30 minute a game starter that you want taking a lot of shots type of guy. With a year of adjustment under his belt and more confidence, he can be a very good Luke Goode type of role for us and I would take that in heartbeat.
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Who knows, maybe with an off-season of practice he will rediscover his consistency.
 
#248      
altgeld88
Get it done, boys. Rotate aggressively on D, deny open looks and entry passes, penetrate to create open perimeter looks, crash the boards on both ends, play for the name on the front of the uniform and the AH crowd.

And, please, give me just one more DGL breakaway tomahawk flush.

Close out the home slate strong. :illinois: 🏀
 
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#249      
Troop44
The 2 things that would be the hardest for me to take in a loss:

-Out-coached - game plan, adjustments, and rotation decisions
- Key players stepping up and making big plays when it counts.

I'm so sick of losing to Purdue the listed ways. We need Kylan and KJ to at least come close to matching Braden and Fletchers play.
 
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