Vaaks reminded me a ton of Matthew Mayer last night. A lot of off the dribble iso jump shooting. Not even looking to pass or drive/kick. I heard some say he was far more of a playmaker on Estonia, but he was basically very one dimensional on offense last night and you can’t hide him on defense. Maybe he will show more of what he can do if we go back to ball screens
Illinois vs Sam Houston, Friday, November 13th, 6:00pm CT, B1G+
Vaaks reminded me a ton of Matthew Mayer last night. A lot of off the dribble iso jump shooting. Not even looking to pass or drive/kick. I heard some say he was far more of a playmaker on Estonia, but he was basically very one dimensional on offense last night and you can’t hide him on defense. Maybe he will show more of what he can do if we go back to ball screens
100%. You can’t just abandon the ball screen.
And yes, was very helpful in the Tech game:
Captain Bubbles
- Fairfield, IL
Hello Illinois Loyalty! This is my first post in a while. I hope you all are doing good.
I will be attending tomorrrow's game with my girlfriend. This would mark my first game at State Farm Center since Kofi Cockburn stuffed Luka Garza in 2020. Looking forward to being there and cheering on the Illini!
Last month, I attended the Micah Tyler and Colton Dixon concert at Effingham Performance Center. I ran into Brian Barnhart while I was there. Very nice man. Was totally geeking out when I saw him. Got to have a photo with him.
I've been in sports broadcasting in some capacity for 18 years now. Started off as engineering college basketball games on the radio. Eventually, worked my way up to announcing play-by-play high school basketball on the radio, now I announce volleyball and basketball games on YouTube for the high school in town. I have always enjoyed listening to Barnhart. IMO, he's one of the finest sports broadcasters not only in Illinois, but in the entire country.
I-L-L
I will be attending tomorrrow's game with my girlfriend. This would mark my first game at State Farm Center since Kofi Cockburn stuffed Luka Garza in 2020. Looking forward to being there and cheering on the Illini!
Last month, I attended the Micah Tyler and Colton Dixon concert at Effingham Performance Center. I ran into Brian Barnhart while I was there. Very nice man. Was totally geeking out when I saw him. Got to have a photo with him.
I've been in sports broadcasting in some capacity for 18 years now. Started off as engineering college basketball games on the radio. Eventually, worked my way up to announcing play-by-play high school basketball on the radio, now I announce volleyball and basketball games on YouTube for the high school in town. I have always enjoyed listening to Barnhart. IMO, he's one of the finest sports broadcasters not only in Illinois, but in the entire country.
I-L-L
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I suspect as the season develops we will see a blend of ball screen & the more fluid 5 out type of cutter concepts that Tyler is leading the charge on. Of course it's gonna depend on personnel on floor, the matchup, etc.
A blend is probably best in the long run IMO. One thing with the ball screen action is that can really bog down at times. Not just Illinois but in general. There is a lot of stationary time waiting for the screens. In theory I like the free flowing constant motion & super up tempo action.
I do think our pace was wearing Tech down in the last 10 minutes. They were kinda gassed but we dug such a huge hole it's hard to get out of.
Whatever we run is going to be way way more effective when Mirk returns to the lineup.
A blend is probably best in the long run IMO. One thing with the ball screen action is that can really bog down at times. Not just Illinois but in general. There is a lot of stationary time waiting for the screens. In theory I like the free flowing constant motion & super up tempo action.
I do think our pace was wearing Tech down in the last 10 minutes. They were kinda gassed but we dug such a huge hole it's hard to get out of.
Whatever we run is going to be way way more effective when Mirk returns to the lineup.
Was my major concern with him coming in. He got away with A LOT with that garbage Providence team. (wasn't just him ....the program was a mess)
My first thought hearing he was coming in was "And people thought Ben was bad launching 3s from Bloomington...."
Jake is a master at positioning himself no deeper than he needs to be to get the 3 points
Andrej did a similar thing second half of the year last year.
This is more than just coach speak.
Dre was hurt and by the time he got back we were rolling so we didnt want to upset the apple cart. He was also getting starter minutes when he started earning them latwr in the season. If we were instantly healthy right now vaaks would be getting 8th man minutes. Not what any of us expected when he transfered in
I was just going to ask if we were going to start playing more ball screen oriented offense going forward lol.your right about our bigs they are definitely made for it maybe when we get mirk back can try some of the nba iso ball and on a side note hopefully this will be the game that gets Vaaks going forward
I got the sense that the hostility of that environment Tuesday night was sort of a shock to the system for not only the freshman but also Vaaks ... none of them have experienced anything like it before. When you are playing wide-eyed you forget the game plan and revert to natural tendencies, which for Vaaks is to just jack up every shot he sees. We saw a little bit of it with Q as well ... e.g. he shot an early-clock mid-range fadeaway in the first half that I guarantee he's been told not to take. And there were times when Lincoln/Ethan/Zavier looked just sort of frozen and moving in slow motion.
Vaaks has shown some great passing and playmaking in the exhibitions and first couple of games, and I expect he'll get back to more of that as he gets further acclimated and used to playing in that kind of intense environment.
Baptism by fire! They will adjust over the next few games. Playing an early tough schedule gets the young (and new) players really quicker IMO.
I also add the notion that if you asked anyone how confident they felt heading into the Tournament after the second loss to Wisconsin and a capstone of sucky losses to round out the season, no one would have pegged much for the team. But all the experiences with adversity, all the gutting out comeback attempts (still hate how much we lost our close games), and hostile environments we played in like UConn at MSG, or MSU at Breslin… truly prepped us for March. This games did a vast amount for us so we didn’t buckle when lights shone brightest, and made our freshman that much stronger and resilient. Vaaks will settle into his rhythm. There’s a lot of narrative right now about him coming in and being our big splash. The “I’m not regretful” of leaving Providence remark, etc. Whether or not these are the case needs to be put behind him honestly.
He’s here now, just play his best game and be apart of the team. The shots will fall and he will be a major asset to the team. He’s a sharp shooter with a quick trigger. That’s a dagger combo in college basketball on opponent momentum.
I see a lot of Andrej in Vaaks in terms of their start of their Illini tenure. I also think he was pressing hard towards the end of the game and while the first 3/4th wasn’t great for him either the last bit really killed his game.
I think Vaaks needs to understand he isn’t going to have the util he had last year and in reality is at best the 3rd option once mirk comes back.
And I think he will. He’s saying the right stuff to the media. I think he’s skilled enough to start showing it on the court (and we’ve seen it).
Your last point is critical. We miss Jake badly. He is an EXCELLENT shooter and the defense has to keep a guy glued to him. That opens up the court dramatically.
Was my major concern with him coming in. He got away with A LOT with that garbage Providence team. (wasn't just him ....the program was a mess)
My first thought hearing he was coming in was "And people thought Ben was bad launching 3s from Bloomington...."
Jake is a master at positioning himself no deeper than he needs to be to get the 3 points
love your sweatshirt....
Im hoping he accepts that role as well especially when mirk is back but itd be really nice to see him get on a heater i think he could definitely use a confidence boost and see some shots go down could possibly really help his free throw shooting to just to see some shots go down.i think the adjustment has hit him a little harder then many would of thought if he is the 3rd or 4th option and starting out shooting pretty poorly and his usage rate going down i just dont want to see him go in spiral and crater its hard to come back when your confidence is lowered it can get in his head idk yipps or whatever theyd call it.but itd be nice just to see him have a good and efficient game
Instead of the usual Monte Carlo 100x sim, lets just do a single game:
Vaaks with the microwave action off the bench
Ethan Brown with a double double
Quentin 15 & 9 rebs
Nice games from Lincoln and Zavier
10/18 from the FT line as a team
Tomi only 4 rebounds and 1/6 from three
Big Z misses 2 threes
Sam Houston 6'3" guard goes off for 23
Seems realistic lol
Vaaks with the microwave action off the bench
Ethan Brown with a double double
Quentin 15 & 9 rebs
Nice games from Lincoln and Zavier
10/18 from the FT line as a team
Tomi only 4 rebounds and 1/6 from three
Big Z misses 2 threes
Sam Houston 6'3" guard goes off for 23
Seems realistic lol
I think Steph was just as rattled as the Freshmen. At Providence, he didn't play in high profile, nationally televised games. Here, he'll have two in one week.
Have to give these guys some time to settle in. Carrying that #3 ranking was probably some unneeded weight. Rankings are for the fans. Being there at the end of the year, playing for a conference championship is the goal. If we do what we're supposed to do in December and beyond, you won't give a damn about that game. It'll just be one of 30+.