Baylor 95, Illinois 91 (Exhibition) Postgame

#126      
FloridaMan
Grandpa said:
Just because you are capable of playing 5 out doesn't mean that you always have to. If you can score inside, take them in occasionally, then drift out and pop a 3.
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Agree. Especially against a team that tops out at 6'7"

But the twins really need to focus on rebounding and defense because those are the areas we need them to be really good to exceed last year's run, IMO. Tomi finished with 4 rebounds, 0 blocks. Like to see him get closer to 8 rebounds in the 20 minutes he played. And I do realize it was an exhibition, but he oftentimes looks tentative and disappears against athletic teams.
 
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#127      
HoopsterMan
Uihoop2023! said:
Im so glad you can come to this conclusion based on a whopping 2 exhibition games. I wonder what you were saying about andrej early last season..or even keaton after the UCONN game. Trust the staff as evaluators and trust the process
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Vaaks isn't going to give anyone dawg vibes, that's not his game. That's why I though Coleman was so good playing next to him, especially on the defensive side where they can swap. Vaaks is a smooth, offensive minded tall guard. He sucks on defense.
 
#128      
Fr8trn16
EmeraldCityIllini said:
Exhibition thoughts…

1) glad we want to pick up the pace, but after two games, I think we need a tad more middle ground - this is too fast. I’ll chalk it up to rotations mostly, but I’m getting some Alabama PTSD from last year where we lose our minds a bit.

2) monitoring the rebounding results.

3) I like Ethan Brown. Loved how he played against Cincy. But to me, even if he defends a little more than Vaaks, the gap offensively seems notable

4) defense was there in second half. To a degree, I think Baylor’s shooting made the first half seem a lot worse than it was - but hey, they made them.
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I think the reason defense was better in the second half was because of our size on the ball with Lincoln Williams, and his ability to pressure them and contest the shots.
 
#129      
Fr8trn16
FloridaMan said:
Agree. Especially against a team that tops out at 6'7"

But the twins really need to focus on rebounding and defense because those are the areas we need them to be really good to exceed last year's run, IMO. Tomi finished with 4 rebounds, 0 blocks. Like to see him get closer to 8 rebounds in the 20 minutes he played. And I do realize it was an exhibition, but he oftentimes looks tentative and disappears against athletic teams.
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I agree and I also think that Mirk gives us an inside scoring presence from a big! Not having to only rely on jump shots and being able to score in the post. We need another big low post scorer on this team. And another rim attacker.
 
#130      
InDaAZ
Fr8trn16 said:
I think the reason defense was better in the second half was because of our size on the ball with Lincoln Williams, and his ability to pressure them and contest the shots.
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On defense, LW was giving me Sencire Harris vibes, but with more reach.

Unfortunately, he resembles SH on offense, too. But I think he will be a fan favorite all year. I predict numerous “bring in LW” cries on the Game Threads every time a guard is torching us. Game changer…
 
#131      
blackdog
Fr8trn16 said:
I think the reason defense was better in the second half was because of our size on the ball with Lincoln Williams, and his ability to pressure them and contest the shots.
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It was more than just that. The communication and positioning was vastly improved so they weren't leaving guys WIDE open like they did in the 1st. BU said in his post game interview it was mostly mental stuff and it surely looked that way.
 
#133      
SescIllini
This is both encouraging and discouraging. On defense Lincoln had the length, footspeed and leaping ability to give Baylor guards issues. They needed to adjust their shots to get over him which resulted in misses. Ethan Brown is a steady player, feels like a Purdue type player that sticks around for 4 years and wins a lot but doesn't go NBA.

The discouraging part is these two freshmen are bringing an intensity/competitiveness that I would expect from our upper classmen. I know just an exhibition but still this is what I saw. Lincoln is going to play, his defense will travel. A combination of Coleman, Lincoln and Andrej would contain most teams IMHO.
 
#135      
Uihoop2023!
rdk573 said:
When there was some talk during the pre-season that he was a potential 1st round draft pick after season and the coaches spoke very high on him during his first few practices, it is a disappointment. He ain't no NBA 1st rounder..He's a work in process..
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First round pick? Thats a high bar. We have gotten spoiled with having 4 in the last 4 years considering we have had 19 TOTALsince 1948. We need to have more realistic expectations
 
#137      
Calvin
My notes:
First half was sad. Real sad.
No problem with the loss considering the second half.
Baylor plays hard and is good, maybe top-10 good, but for sure top-25. If they were picked 12th in the Big12, the press got it wrong. They will make the dance, and probably have a good seed.
It's early and we have a lot of newcomers. Team is a work in process. Really hope we're healthy soon to see if that high ceiling we all believe is there can come true.
Loved the alt-cast. MLT has a ton of insight, and the two of them worked well together.
 
#138      
PasadenaIllini
From what I see, I don't think we're a top three team. If our starting lead guard is going to be unable to keep opposing point guards from going to town on us, and we have to somehow make up that issue everywhere else on the court every game, we're going to have a considerably lower ceiling than top 3.
 
#139      
jimbo72
Mr. Tibbs said:
I take that to mean we won’t see him until January
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I have always believed Mirks return would be late January, early February. Gives him and team 6 weeks to run into March madness fully healthy. Rushing back does not get us our first ever Natty!
 
#141      
RollChief
#142      
March2TheArch
jimbo72 said:
I have always believed Mirks return would be late January, early February. Gives him and team 6 weeks to run into March madness fully healthy. Rushing back does not get us our first ever Natty!
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I mean given how limited info we all have I would just stick with the official statements and insider takes (i.e. late Nov / early Dec return).
 
#143      
hoopsfan47
HoopsterMan said:
Vaaks isn't going to give anyone dawg vibes, that's not his game. That's why I though Coleman was so good playing next to him, especially on the defensive side where they can swap. Vaaks is a smooth, offensive minded tall guard. He sucks on defense.
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He seems to have a bit of want to....and that little spark can turn into a sufficient defender with work and good coaching. I expect him to improve slowly during the season and become acceptable.
 
#144      
HoopsterMan
hoopsfan47 said:
He seems to have a bit of want to....and that little spark can turn into a sufficient defender with work and good coaching. I expect him to improve slowly during the season and become acceptable.
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I'm sure he will, but do expect him to be a guy that gets beat off the dribble fairly easily. He's coming from a system with Kim English that was void of defense. He had a negative defensive efficiency on PC last year, 2nd to last on team. Lot's of habits to break there.
 
#145      
JKR
Rebounding Dog said:
Keep in mind…we played 12 guys and a lot of ticks to non starters. Baylor pretty much kept their top 7-8 guys in. We used the game to evaluate and learn, they wanted to win !
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Both teams played nine guys for double digit minutes. They had one guy play more than 30 minutes, as did we. We did have three guys who played single digit minutes vs. zero guys for Baylor. Part of the reason for that is that we had three of our guys go down with injuries.
 
#146      
ejam21
rdk573 said:
When there was some talk during the pre-season that he was a potential 1st round draft pick after season and the coaches spoke very high on him during his first few practices, it is a disappointment. He ain't no NBA 1st rounder..He's a work in process..
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agree hes a work in progress but dang, disappointment seems harsh

Game 1: 19 pts, 7/13, 2-6 on 3s, 2 assist, 3 boards 3 tos
Game 2 18 pts, 5-11, 4-8 3s, 5 assist, 1 board, 0 tos

So in two games he's averaging 18.5 on 50% FG, 43% from 3, 3.5 assist 1.5 TOs, 2 boards, yeah thats horrible

He, like most of the team need to get in gear on defnese and rebounding, but like another poster said, mad weird that he's being singled out by some over the first two games
 
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