AGREED!
Illinois 88, Ohio State 80 Postgame
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altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Great news, brother Pru. The Beloved need you in top cheering shape.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Three Doctors for Three NLs.
We know what you mean
. Hang in there. It will get better.I said the same thing a couple times while watching the game…lol
Hah! Funny and well played!
Finally got a chance to watch the highlights after not being able to watch the game last night. Seriously impressive stuff by Wagler and Mirk, love seeing Andrej have a big game again as well. Big Z and Tomi stepped up when it mattered most and I see Ben had a few key winning plays again.
Was Bam on Thornton? What’s up with his defense lately?
Also bummed that Petro has essentially been demoted to a scrub role, doesn’t feel like good vibes there.
But huge win! Love not having a let down game after Nashville and starting off with a big time #Roadkill to kick off conference play
Was Bam on Thornton? What’s up with his defense lately?
Also bummed that Petro has essentially been demoted to a scrub role, doesn’t feel like good vibes there.
But huge win! Love not having a let down game after Nashville and starting off with a big time #Roadkill to kick off conference play
blackdog
- Champaign
Haywood mentioned this on the broadcast but a big part of what makes Keaton so successful is that he knows where his spots are. You can tell he has spent a lot of time on his go to move, then counter move, then the counter to the counter, etc. With that he is so comfortable being able to play off whatever the defense does because he's already practiced that exact move untold number of times. Its preparation and doing the work pure ahead of time and what makes it so special is you dont often see that in guys as young as he is.
Right now, we're the #5-ranked offense in CBB based on KenPom, and one of the stats that is carrying this ranking is non-steal TO%, which currently sits at 4.7% (good for #4 in the country).
Not fully relevant to the conversation but I find it interesting, this team plays with a lot of control & discipline.
Boswell didn't have a great game, but a lot of credit needs to go to Thornton as well. He was just draining NBA level stepbacks that 1st half. He just went nuclear. The only thing that stopped him in the first half was OSU's supporting cast deciding for some reason to start chucking bad shots instead of giving him the ball. Thornton was unbelievably great until he started wearing down in the 2nd half.
As for Petro, he just has a ton of work to do at this point. He's had a difficult time dealing with physicality on offense, and his defense just is nowhere near close to the rest of the team. He's really really struggling and the only thing that's going to help right now is just more time getting familiar with the team and our defensive schemes. I think he'll get there, but he's just really far behind right now compared to the rest of the team.
KJ had 40 turnovers through 10 games last year.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
We might be extremely lucky as a fanbase that this is the most loaded draft in a generation.
KBLEE
- Montgomery, IL
He did play AAU, not sure how prominent or notable the particular team he played on was. Obviously you have to be a very good player to even be a Top 150 guy and get offers from D1 schools, let alone Big Ten schools to begin with. There doesn't appear to be any magic bullet explanation, it seems he was just overlooked and maybe a late bloomer (kids are obviously still very young when they are going through the recruiting process and projecting how teenage players will be as they fill out and develop physically, mentally and emotionally is more art than science).
This has probably also been mentioned in the past, but KJ tied Demetri McCamey's record last year for most turnovers in a season. Not necessarily great but not terrible considering his company:
Here's a link to other single season record holders. It's crazy how many records TSJ took in 2023-2024:
Illinois Men's Basketball Leaders & Records - Season | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Illinois Men's Basketball Leaders & Records - Season
www.sports-reference.com
This has probably also been mentioned in the past, but KJ tied Demetri McCamey's record last year for most turnovers in a season. Not necessarily great but not terrible considering his company:
View attachment 45622
Here's a link to other single season record holders. It's crazy how many records TSJ took in 2023-2024:
Illinois Men's Basketball Leaders & Records - Season | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Illinois Men's Basketball Leaders & Records - Season
Big Z with an outside chance to break Derek Holcomb's single season blocks record (86)
Not me, after wagler had a couple of good games against lesser competition I figured he would drop off considerably once we started playing tougher competition leading to us needing Petro more and more on the floor. Boy has has he proved me wrong to my delight. Not only has he been just as good against the tougher competition, he has excelled and has shown nobody is taking his playing time. Self really messed up letting him getting out of his backyard. Mirk has just been a steady plodding force that seems to find a way to make an impact in every game. When was the last time we had two freshmen starters that were so good on a top 15 team?
He could also eclipse Nnanna Egwu's block percentage record of 8.4%- right now Z is at 13.4%. A menace!
Also Dee Brown, a small guard, having a true shooting percentage of 65.3% to take the #6 spot for this category is nuts.
Hopefully Mirk will learn what he can and can't get away with when working towards the basket. He's playing against a lot better athletes with quicker hands than what he has been.
Side note: I enjoyed Fanta and Haywood. Just a couple of dudes who love hoops. As over serious as I can be when I watch games, I think I prefer their style over a more technical analyst like Hummel or someone like Bilas who makes every game he calls sound like an imminent threat to national security.
Apologies if this was already addressed somewhere above, but is Petrovic in the doghouse or injured or just not playing because Wagler has been playing so well? 1 minute of playing time last night???
At around 1:45 a few teammates show up and start recording Mirk and he is laughing a little bit (enough that he was having issues actually answering questions). One of the reporters had to get all serious and tell them to knock it off, they're on a time limit, etcetera.
At around 2:45 someone asks him about an interaction he had with some Tennessee fans after the game. Paraphrasing: "There was a fan who was talking a little sh1t, I heard him in the first half, just winked at him. I was waiting for something, and I think that dagger three was the perfect opportunity to say something. I just said a short, Serbian word, can't repeat it here"
hooraybeer
- Peoria, IL
i went back and read his lips after the play, looked like he said “лаку ноћ кучко”
At around 1:45 a few teammates show up and start recording Mirk and he is laughing a little bit (enough that he was having issues actually answering questions). One of the reporters had to get all serious and tell them to knock it off, they're on a time limit, etcetera.
At around 2:45 someone asks him about an interaction he had with some Tennessee fans after the game. Paraphrasing: "There was a fan who was talking a little sh1t, I heard him in the first half, just winked at him. I was waiting for something, and I think that dagger three was the perfect opportunity to say something. I just said a short, Serbian word, can't repeat it here"
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