Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
Agreed. Looks like wings/exterior and pinch post. I think the traditional 1 thru 5 designations aren't very helpful with the Underwood Way.
Illini Basketball 2017-2018
- Status
Agreed. Looks like wings/exterior and pinch post. I think the traditional 1 thru 5 designations aren't very helpful with the Underwood Way.
Correct.
As an example, our 2 (traditionally the 1 and 4) in the middle will be starting about as high as the volleyball line would be on a high school court. The wings (traditionally the 2 and 3) will start ft line extended. The 5 will start on the nail. We will start with nobody within 15 feet of the basket once the continuity begins. The 4 will start about 30-35 feet from the basket.
Sounds like the potential to have 2 more schollies for 2018 to me...
We get Smith/Frazier/Williams this year, maybe add Alstork or Tilmon yet...otherwise we carry over for 2018 class with loads of offers extended and with players BU has handpicked with staff to like better moving forward.
http://www.illinoishomepage.net/spo...ge-we-have-is-to-not-make-a-mistake/706064784
G-Lucas, Williams, Smith, JCL, Frazier, Alstork?, Jordan
Wings-Interior players - Williams, Nichols, Black, Finke, Tilmon?
We get Smith/Frazier/Williams this year, maybe add Alstork or Tilmon yet...otherwise we carry over for 2018 class with loads of offers extended and with players BU has handpicked with staff to like better moving forward.
http://www.illinoishomepage.net/spo...ge-we-have-is-to-not-make-a-mistake/706064784
G-Lucas, Williams, Smith, JCL, Frazier, Alstork?, Jordan
Wings-Interior players - Williams, Nichols, Black, Finke, Tilmon?
Captain Bubbles
- Fairfield, IL
Illini will win more than 4 or 5 games conference wise. I'm expecting 9 or 10. More? I'll be ecstatic.
Don't understand why 7 ****'s isn't much to work with here. High praises for new coach with lower expectations?
I just spent the longest time trying to figure out what 4-letter word you used that got censored....until finally I realized it's 7 4-stars.
Some of the 4 star recruits certainly haven't lived up to the expectations. You may believe that a new coach can make that happen. Who knows, DJW, AJ and Black might suddenly have the light switch flipped on. I just don't see it. There are a lot of 4 star recruits that never end up being good college basketball players. It's not always a coaches fault, sometimes the talent evaluation is off. That still falls on the coach who recruited them, but it doesn't mean they will get markedly better after that coach leaves. It's time to stop calling these kids 4 star recruits and evaluate them on what they have or haven't done. As bad as last season was if there was a glimmer of hope from AJ or DJW they would have been given more opportunity. I would love to be wrong but I expect very little from the remaining roster. A few nice role players but nobody that's going to be a difference maker. I'm hoping that's what we have coming in. We have had way more than our share of 4 star recruits that never produced over the last 10 years. It's time for a few of these kids to out perform their ranking. Here's to hoping!
Thanks for the link.
I choose not to read it that way. I remain optimistic that they'll pick up another big before the season starts. It's good to see they're being thoughtful and disciplined, and not willing to reach downwards in terms of character or ability. If you think about how difficult it must be to come in this late in the cycle, with a hole at center, jeeze they really have their work cut out for them.
Maybe they have to get by with an undersized team this season. I still think we'll be far more fun to watch than the crapola we've had since after Groce's first year.
Have not been used properly.
Yup. For example... Black can be an absolute MONSTER. He had several of those games with no offensive scheme and people just running around like chopped chickens. Imagine what can happen with an actual system in place
I am so looking forward to that, and the loads of offensive rebounds he'll be getting. I think he's our best player next year, or Smith.
Wasn't sure where to post this since there is a discussion of Northwestern in the transfer thread. At least one Northwestern writer is concerned about a resurgence of Illinois as a basketball force in the state of Illinois.
"Underwood brings a fast-paced offensive scheme and a winning pedigree at the Division I level, and his staff has strong recruiting connections in Chicago and nationwide. Mark Smith’s commitment indicates that Illinois perhaps has a leg up on Northwestern in terms of in-state recruitment, and Chris Collins and his staff will have to work hard to compete for local standouts like Dosunmu and Horton-Tucker."
http://www.insidenu.com/2017/5/5/15...-chris-collins-poised-state-battle-mark-smith
"Underwood brings a fast-paced offensive scheme and a winning pedigree at the Division I level, and his staff has strong recruiting connections in Chicago and nationwide. Mark Smith’s commitment indicates that Illinois perhaps has a leg up on Northwestern in terms of in-state recruitment, and Chris Collins and his staff will have to work hard to compete for local standouts like Dosunmu and Horton-Tucker."
http://www.insidenu.com/2017/5/5/15...-chris-collins-poised-state-battle-mark-smith
TownieMatt
CU Expat
- Chicago
The fact that it's noteworthy that we have a leg up on NU in recruiting is a sad indication of how far the program has fallen. Despite NU's recent success, recruiting for 2017/2018 hasn't taken off for them. I just wonder if the talent level in that in that program has gotten as high as it can realistically get, especially given their admissions standards. If that's the case, the ceiling for them is likely mid-pack B1G and 7-10 seed in the dance.
I find it funny you are telling us to not talk about the 4 and the 5, but you are so sure of how the team is going to be ran. You can use what was ran at SFA as a starting point sure , but we are going to get bigger and better players " well we all hope " then he was able to get there. The staff will adjust the way we run things to fit the players we have. Saying we wont play different then how he had to play at SFA, is saying BU is a 1 trick pony and I do not think he is at all.
So he's gonna stop running the spread system that's gotten him to this point?
Cool :hand:
Im not saying that either, but to think he wont tweak the way he runs stuff based on who he has makes little to no since. If we land someone like JT or god forbid we get 2 or 3 guys like him down the road, you do not think he wont adapt to be able to play 2 Big at the same time.
The point is that BU won't recruit the players down the road that put him in a position to "tweak" his system. He will recruit to and teach the system that has made him a winner at all levels.
TBF we don't have a huge sample size at the P5 level. I don't anyone can confidently say he has the P5 game completely figured out.
Looking at his offers only two PG's under 6'4" and most in 6'5" and up. Looks like he wants interchangeable parts ala Flying Illini. Suspect the defense will see more adaptation to talent than offense per lessons learned last year. I can't judge speed from highlights but think that is critical factor for him. Ideally speed with size, but in long term won't recruit size without speed. Believe he will bring in size this year but may not be his ideal choice but a stop gap.
that's kind of my thinking. His first year he did what he could with what he was left, could say the same for year 2 as well. Yeah 3 he still hadn't got much in the way of size, so why change whats working. Year 4 he has what he is given to him for a team, so does what he can to win, and the biggest change was on D for them to get wins. lets see what kind of team we have and what we are doing in about 5 years.
He has more guards than bigs on the roster currently. He has an offensive system predicated on spacing the floor and cutting from the perimeter. The 4 spots on the outside are all interchangeable and all require guard skills. He has nothing he needs to "tweak" to run spread in its base form with his current roster setup. I also never said we'd never play two bigs. I said the 4 on the outside need perimeter skills. Finke could play on the perimeter if we had to go big.
He ran the same offense at Kansas State, South Carolina, SFA and Oklahoma State... totally going to try something new now
You're really gonna count years where he was an assistant? He wasn't in charge of the offense then...
And yes, he could, since he has only had one season in control at the P5 level
Yes. At K State when their offense was trash one year, frank Martin put Underwood in control of the offense. Underwood installed the spread, their offense immediately became more efficient. He was essentially martins offensive coordinator the rest of the time they were together.
http://www.kstatesports.com/news/new-pinch-offense-fits-wildcat-roster-02-26-2011
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700118269/Kansas-State-gambles-on-new-offense.html
- Status