Illinois 92, Illinois State 65 (Exhibition) Postgame
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Looks like we're doing something different in response to the complaints about postgame interviews. Now we are not broadcasting sound for the answers as well as the questions.
Not that there's anything wrong with that... /sLooks like we're doing something different in response to the complaints about postgame interviews. Now we are not broadcasting sound for the answers as well as the questions.
Noice game, team, really looking forward to playing the many ranked teams to see how we do - Go Illini!
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I just hope we can also get some good sound bytes from him so we can start calling him the Mirk with the mouth.
Alright busy day as a new father of a second little girl! Someone hit me with the good stuff! Who played well other than Mirk? I saw we started in a 2-3 zone. Love that. Are there full highlights anywhere yet?
Yeah, seemed like a lot of bum slaying (no offense to ISU) by Mirk & Lee with some steady but jittery play by Wagler, nice aggression by Kylan and some really poor spot up shooting by Z.
Definitely an exhibition. Mirk reminds me of Giorgi, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
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chiefini
- Rockford, Illinois
@illiniguy24 Congratulations! Maybe since your daughter and @IlliniKat91 ’s daughter are birthday twins, they can be besties and room together when they both end up as freshmen at Illinois!
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DICKnaggie
- Champaign
Congrats! Wishing you and your family all the best.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
He looks a little more Fletched, which is a good thing for him.
Speaking of Fletched, I ran into Brandon Lieb (actually the entire ISU team) at a volunteer event in BloNo several weeks ago and got to chat with him a bit. He said that Fletch put 50 pounds on him in the time he was in Champaign. Coach Pedon had some nice things to say about Lieb later on when Lieb wasn't around. This ISU program is coming up, little by little, and I'm happy Pedon is in town, he seems like an up-and-comer with a lot of passion.
This was a nice solid first outing. I wrote some comments as I watched the replay.
In general
- The screens need to be held a 1/2 second longer. The chaser is getting through too easily.
- I like the high hedge on some of the defensive screens.
Boswell
- In the first half he was trying too hard to push the fast break at the expense of control. He did better in the second half.
Davis
- Showed a much better court awareness. It really benefited several of his passes. He knew where the ball was going before he got it.
Humrich
- Needs to watch out for palming and carrying the ball when working solo inside.
Lee
- I loved Sencire's game. I'm going to really like Lee. That defense is wonderful.
Mirkivic:
- He seems to have issues maintaining his position when setting a screen. The slightest bump from the chaser knocks him back. In at least one case, he fell into the person for whom he was screening. He is clearly attempting to set himself; it just isn't working. It may be time to visit a martial arts teacher.
- His block out positioning could be improved. He got several defensive rebounds by overpowering a smaller player or reaching. I'm not sure he will be able to do this against B10 caliber players.
Z
- He was out of position defensively a fair bit. He tries to recover by reaching or blocking from behind. If he continues like this, I'm expecting him to be in consistent early foul trouble come B10 play.
- Needs at least one hand up when recovering from a high screen hedge.
- Needs to move after shooting a 3 vs. standing and watching for 1/2s after it hits the rim.
In general
- The screens need to be held a 1/2 second longer. The chaser is getting through too easily.
- I like the high hedge on some of the defensive screens.
Boswell
- In the first half he was trying too hard to push the fast break at the expense of control. He did better in the second half.
Davis
- Showed a much better court awareness. It really benefited several of his passes. He knew where the ball was going before he got it.
Humrich
- Needs to watch out for palming and carrying the ball when working solo inside.
Lee
- I loved Sencire's game. I'm going to really like Lee. That defense is wonderful.
Mirkivic:
- He seems to have issues maintaining his position when setting a screen. The slightest bump from the chaser knocks him back. In at least one case, he fell into the person for whom he was screening. He is clearly attempting to set himself; it just isn't working. It may be time to visit a martial arts teacher.
- His block out positioning could be improved. He got several defensive rebounds by overpowering a smaller player or reaching. I'm not sure he will be able to do this against B10 caliber players.
Z
- He was out of position defensively a fair bit. He tries to recover by reaching or blocking from behind. If he continues like this, I'm expecting him to be in consistent early foul trouble come B10 play.
- Needs at least one hand up when recovering from a high screen hedge.
- Needs to move after shooting a 3 vs. standing and watching for 1/2s after it hits the rim.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Sleepers podcast on Mirkovic’s ‘breakout game’ in 5….4….3….
They need content. We all know they aren't gonna talk Michigan loss...
You nailed the Z scouting.
Not following his shot.
Dependency on size for rebounding and doesn't box out like he should.
You can tell Z has had those same bad habits for a LONG time defensively. He's probably been able to use his length and athleticism to get himself out of trouble for most of his life. Let's himself get behind the driver or out of position cause he's used to baiting them into a shot he will affect from behind.
Hoping he can break this habit. Watching him last year he was constantly in foul trouble for things I'd call lack of discipline plays.
I think these are the expected results going forward between the power 5 teams with 5-8 million payroll and the midmajor teams that pay nothing. Illinois has Euro pro level players at the very least and ISU has midmajor amateurs.
If you are a fan of midmajor basketball I think the days of the Cinderella are done
If you are a fan of midmajor basketball I think the days of the Cinderella are done
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Great analysis. Keep this up
I only got to see the highlights the fighting illini YouTube page put up but I think what stood out to me with Mirkovic is that he looks like he’s in far better shape than his film from the Euro league showed. The Euro league games he looked like a plodder. But he looked lean out there yesterday and was moving great.
Those 3 Euro pro bigs (Ivisic twins and Mirk) are going to be hard to deal with for lot of teams. Mirk just from watching one game reminds me alot of George Niang who had a great career at Iowa State and a long career in the NBA. He may be better but just have to see it against better competition
Those 3 Euro pro bigs (Ivisic twins and Mirk) are going to be hard to deal with for lot of teams. Mirk just from watching one game reminds me alot of George Niang who had a great career at Iowa State and a long career in the NBA. He may be better but just have to see it against better competition
That's THREE starters we were missing. And yet, we put up 92 points. Looks like we may have a diamond in the rough in Mirkovic. I listened to this game on the radio. Pretty cool--reminded me of when I was a little kid, fussing around to skirt the static. But can somebody answer a question for Me: Why was Petrovic missing in action? And yes, I'm aware ISU was missing key players too.
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