Coleman Hawkins returns to Illinois
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See Quincy coming in when Dain comes off. Maybe with Amani to maintain rebounding.
From ESPN article: Hawkins "The goal is to compete for another Big Ten title, which would be my third one in four years here, that's my goal."
Love it that the players believe they officially won the B1G title in 2020.
Love it that the players believe they officially won the B1G title in 2020.
texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
Master of propaganda
texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
This makes me sad
Maybe 2023 is their year?? Thanks for listening. Back to Coleman!
Well, he has already won 2, if you count the B1G tournament title
All last season the Illini gave off an aura of a group of guys coming together that just didn't quite gell as a seemless unit yet. The fact that these guys are coming back will close that chapter neatly one way or the other. And we won't have to agonizer over what 'might have been' this coming season if they had moved on.
It's a great vote of confidence for the Illini program and the dedicated guys who are leading it. Making the Illini a place you 'want' to return to even with the tempting lure of the pros at your fingertips.
Whether this group of Beloveds wins or loses in the end... Illini Nation has already won this round. And the table is set nicely for the next group of Beloveds.
sacraig
- The desert
I don't think they, at any point, really appeared to be "coming together," and that was the problem. They remained a collection of talented guys who didn't play well as a team.
Maybe by removing one or two people who were problematic, you still have improved chemistry, but it would sure be nice to have a real facilitator on the roster.
You don't want to be too predictable for the defense in how you react to a pass. But if Coleman develops a more tricky pump move it would also serve him well.
Former Bull -- the great Chet Walker -- had a damn fine career by pump-faking his opponents silly and he became a premier go-to closer type of player when the game was on the line. Won lots of game for the Bulls with that move.
InDaAZ
- Eugene, Oregon
More tricky would be doing it about 90% fewer times…
Agree 100% - the closest they ever were to "gelling as a seamless unit" would be for a 10 minute stretch, followed by (or proceeded by, or both) 10 minutes of stand around and let one or another play hero ball while the others pouted. Then add in a not listening to the coaches, a punch here or there, and all-in-all it was a forgettable middle-of-the-league and first game exit (twice) season.
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
Ok, we got the two back we wanted back and we got a PG, not the one we wanted, but we got one.
If there was any dressing room discord, I hope it didn’t come back with them.
i think we are out of excuses for next year, for me it’s time to put up or shut up.
If there was any dressing room discord, I hope it didn’t come back with them.
i think we are out of excuses for next year, for me it’s time to put up or shut up.
Illini in Indiana
- Indiana
Welcome back Coleman !! I think you have the most to gain this year. I hope you can be a solid 1st rounder next year.
To go back to Chet Walker again... every defender he had knew Chet was going to pump fake him. And Chet did it anyway and made them look foolish. He perfected a head-and-shoulders rapid-pump-fake-motion once he received the ball that he would do anywhere from once to about four times to a guy. And the defender never knew which one Chet was going to launch from. And Chet usually got the defender to bite on one and got the defender airborn and then Chet had him at this mercy. He would either score or get fouled.
I agree that Coleman should dial it back a bit. But if he truly loves the pump fake he's one of the many guys that find that habit hard to break. And if he likes it so much... that's when he needs to look at old video of Chet the Master at it.
If a tree falls in the forest with no one around to hear it... does it make a sound?
If Coleman pump-fakes but doesn’t shoot... was that really a Coleman pump-fake?
The answers aren’t always clear, are they?
This one got answered years ago when they started placing action and sound triggered recording devices in the forests.
According to the OID (Observant Illini Devotee), a Coleman pump-fake is: A pump-fake where everyone in the building knows that the ball will not be released. It should be ignored by the defender 100% of the time.
No they are not. These questions however wouldn't even make the PSAT.
One big reason why some guys pump-fake but never release... and why some guys take receive a pass down low but always put the ball on the floor before doing anything with it... is that they do not have the right and comfortable hands position on the ball when they receive the pass and are trying to reset their hold on the ball (to attempt a shot or make another pass). Many players go an entire career and never get this right.
As you indicated... you have to release a good percentage of the time to make that pump move sellable to the defender to do you any good. Gives you with the ball good options. BUT you have to learn how to set your hands right AS YOU receive the ball to have those good options or you are just letting the defender have time to get set on you.
And for the guy who chronically has to put the ball on the floor down low and take a dribble before deciding what to do next... you have just wasted a grand opportunity to go right up to the hoop with the ball once you caught it (often) before the defender has reacted. You put the ball down and the defender gets more time to react.
The answer? Learn how to receive the ball with your hands ready to react quickly and not waste time with movements that will do little to help you while at the same time helping your defenders.
These kinds of drills should be more prevalent for many guys in the practice reps these guys go through. This is a great weapon for them if only they'd take the time to work at it.
I think it’s mostly just habit/muscle memory. He’s done it 1,000s of times and it’s very hard to break the habit. Drills could help, but in live action he still may revert.
Psychologists have found that about 90% of everything a person does is unconscious (done without deliberate conscious thinking). Default programming gone wild. Things we learned or picked up in the past that we just put on autopilot and keep doing without thinking (often for the rest of our lives). This trait comes out often in sports.
Guys get into mental (including 90% subconscious) and physical (muscle-memory) habits that they do without the thinking process involved at all. It’s the guys who learn how to break these habits and develop better habits that really excel in their careers. Not to mention their larger lives.
In sports there are two kinds of needed behaviors... the lightning-fast reactions done in the microsecond to initiate or react to something... and the deliberate acts that require some conscious thinking. Again, the guys who get this balance right turn out to optimize their careers and be better team mates.
My take from the percentages you’ve mentioned, is that the guys who have the best of their “90% subconscious” mental as well the best “muscle memory habits” are the most successful in their sport,
I don’t think they need to “break those habits.”
If an athlete can only optimize the other 10% it’s not make them a great player.
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I agree. The habits I'm talking about are the bad habits embedded within the 90 percent... the default programming that is not productive or optimal.
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