Illinois 86, Xavier 73 Postgame

[Illiniindian]

Dear Mr Humrichous,

I disagree. Morez and Jake deserve his minutes.

But I love your kid's attitude in spite of what I consider to be lackluster play.

So we agree to disagree. Based on the fact that he is getting so many minutes, I would say Coach Underwood is taking my advice.

 

[2qtslow]

See the Pavia ruling.
It grants a year of eligibility if you attended and played at a non NCAA program. Such as NAIA or JUCO.
There are some additional parameters involved.

This is Ben's second year with an NCAA program. I suspect there is a good argument that he has two more years of remaining eligibility.

Then again, given the unbridled rage expressed towards Ben by more than a few Loyalty regulars, we might all have heart attacks before he finishes that term.

 

[OrangeBlue98]

If you watch how other teams play defense against him he is 100% a gravity guy. His defender is almost always very tight to him and teams DONT help off him. A really high percentage of his shots are with a hand in his face because he absolutely can make them at volume if he gets hot.

I'm not saying that laying off him IS what's happening. I'm saying that's what WOULD be happening if Illinois was game-planning against itself. While I agree you have to make the other team's best players as uncomfortable as possible, I'm not sure I've ever seen a team just say, "here, (random fourth or fifth scorer on your team), have your shots and see if you can make them." We do that all the time, and it's why said random guys always seem to have career games against us.

 

[blackdog]

I'm not saying that laying off him IS what's happening. I'm saying that's what WOULD be happening if Illinois was game-planning against itself. While I agree you have to make the other team's best players as uncomfortable as possible, I'm not sure I've ever seen a team just say, "here, (random fourth or fifth scorer on your team), have your shots and see if you can make them." We do that all the time, and it's why said random guys always seem to have career games against us.

Playing off someone who has made single digits 3s all season is not exactly the same as someone who was 16th in the B1G in 3s made. I do agree it's sometimes a little too extreme at times and after they make one there should be an adjustment but it's not completely crazy with a guy who literally made 4 all season long.

 

[DirtyBurgIllini]

But if a guy is sitting in the corner and he's not shooting well, is he really affecting "gravity"? Sure, if he's actually a legit threat from 3 then put him in the corner.

Humrichous is the guy other fan bases are saying "let him shoot and try to get his" like we talk about guys who always seem to get their career highs against us. I would imagine Pope and his staff are game-planning to help off of Humrichous and dare him to beat us. I know that would be my plan, kind of like how Illinois played off of Swaim Friday night.

Other teams respect him as a shooter, so yes. And this would be why you don’t coach… if teams guarded Ben like we guarded swain, he would score 30