Illini Basketball 2017-2018

Status
Not open for further replies.
#826      

IlliniBrave75

IlliniBrave75
IlliniBrave75
Derek Piper Retweeted
Trent‏ @_Trentfrazier1 17h17 hours ago


Excited for the season , what coach has in mind for us is BIG
203c.png
203c.png
We're going to be a problem this year
26a0.png
#WeWillWin
 
#827      

illiniguy24

illiniguy24
illiniguy24
Adnarel said:
WF, Mizzou, and UNLV. Not a stretch, but of course we all hope for better. Probably more accurate to say that these are feasibly "losable" games and all of the rest are quite winnable (and most are should win).
Click to expand...



No way we lose all three of those


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#828      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
Love Trent's enthusiasm. I really think we can upset a few people, and I certainly expect a "WTF loss" along the way, as well; it happens with a new coach and young team. The former is what I'm most excited about, as we can really build on something going into 2019!

P.S. If anyone wants to hear an alarmingly depressing statistic, last season was the first season where the Illini did not beat at least ONE team ranked in the AP top 25 at the time since ... 1974-75. :eek:
 
#829      

FiveStar

F
FiveStar
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Love Trent's enthusiasm. I really think we can upset a few people, and I certainly expect a "WTF loss" along the way, as well; it happens with a new coach and young team. The former is what I'm most excited about, as we can really build on something going into 2019!

P.S. If anyone wants to hear an alarmingly depressing statistic, last season was the first season where the Illini did not beat at least ONE team ranked in the AP top 25 at the time since ... 1974-75. :eek:
Click to expand...

Underwood has been able to avoid those in his career. He's been a new coach with a new system in a new place twice before this.
 
#830      

FC Illiniman

F
FC Illiniman
Adnarel said:
I'd argue the JFG hype was justified after that first season. Very little warning signs. Yet.
Click to expand...

Was right with you, but Groce was to intense for his own good. BU is much more laid back, but focused. His intensity seems to be in the way of " get it in gear" rather than rah rah rah rah rah like Groce did. Kids sense the intensity and are hyped, good things coming.;):illinois:
 
#831      

ChiefIllini

C
ChiefIllini
I think (now at least) it's easy to attribute Groce's first year here as an injection of of that rah rah spirit. Bruce's teams were always (well, relative to what we saw JFG's teams) fundamentally sound and played good old fashion basketball. They heavily lacked motivation and really took on the bland style Bruce exuded. With the defensive coaching those guys had in 2012-2013 and Groce's upbeat demeanor, the team had a unique situation. Impossible to predict that kind of leap, and I'd argue we would've had a similar year record wise under Bruce, but there was so much hope brought on by that season anyone would've been hard pressed to say it was a bad hire.

I think Underwood's emphasis and fundamentals and up tempo play can carry teams with deficencies far, which is why I wish we had a tougher non con. I'm worried our team is going to look like NW did a couple years ago. They played the cupcakiest non con you can imagine, had 20 wins, and didn't see the field. Now, they had seriously 0 good wins, but really didn't have any awful losses.
 
#832      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
ChiefIllini said:
I think (now at least) it's easy to attribute Groce's first year here as an injection of of that rah rah spirit. Bruce's teams were always (well, relative to what we saw JFG's teams) fundamentally sound and played good old fashion basketball. They heavily lacked motivation and really took on the bland style Bruce exuded. With the defensive coaching those guys had in 2012-2013 and Groce's upbeat demeanor, the team had a unique situation. Impossible to predict that kind of leap, and I'd argue we would've had a similar year record wise under Bruce, but there was so much hope brought on by that season anyone would've been hard pressed to say it was a bad hire.

I think Underwood's emphasis and fundamentals and up tempo play can carry teams with deficencies far, which is why I wish we had a tougher non con. I'm worried our team is going to look like NW did a couple years ago. They played the cupcakiest non con you can imagine, had 20 wins, and didn't see the field. Now, they had seriously 0 good wins, but really didn't have any awful losses.
Click to expand...

I mean, let's look at our schedule (CBS preseason rankings used https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...cky-moves-up-to-no-5-in-the-top-25-and-one/):

vs. Southern
vs. Tennesee-Martin
vs. DePaul
vs. Marshall
vs. Augustana
vs. NC Central
at Wake Forest
vs. Austin Peay
at UNLV
vs. Longwood
vs. New Mexico State (Chicago, IL)
vs. Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
vs. Grand Canyon

vs. Indiana
at Indiana
vs. Iowa
vs. Maryland
at Michigan
vs. #3 Michigan State
at #3 Michigan State
at #14 Minnesota
vs. Nebraska
at Nebraska
at #15 Northwestern
at Ohio State
vs. Penn State
vs. #24 Purdue
vs. Rutgers
at Rutgers
vs. Wisconsin
at Wisconsin

I would also much prefer a harder non-conference schedule, but we are going to have chances at MSU (that game will be a wild atmosphere) and Purdue at home, and we travel to MSU, Minny and NU. Those would all be really great wins, and I have a sneaking suspicion that at least another Big Ten team ends up being a lot better than expected and ranked. Additionally, maybe Missouri is a little better than expected, and that might be a quality neutral site win. The Committee is going to favor road wins this year, and we will have our fair chance to score some nice ones. They have always liked neutral site wins, and that has usually helped us with the annual St. Louis and Chicago games.

I don't know, just trying to look on the bright side. :p
 
#833      

RichBradIllini

RichBradIllini
Peoria
RichBradIllini
ChiefIllini said:
I think (now at least) it's easy to attribute Groce's first year here as an injection of of that rah rah spirit. Bruce's teams were always (well, relative to what we saw JFG's teams) fundamentally sound and played good old fashion basketball. They heavily lacked motivation and really took on the bland style Bruce exuded. With the defensive coaching those guys had in 2012-2013 and Groce's upbeat demeanor, the team had a unique situation. Impossible to predict that kind of leap, and I'd argue we would've had a similar year record wise under Bruce, but there was so much hope brought on by that season anyone would've been hard pressed to say it was a bad hire.

I think Underwood's emphasis and fundamentals and up tempo play can carry teams with deficencies far, which is why I wish we had a tougher non con. I'm worried our team is going to look like NW did a couple years ago. They played the cupcakiest non con you can imagine, had 20 wins, and didn't see the field. Now, they had seriously 0 good wins, but really didn't have any awful losses.
Click to expand...

The same team that quit on BW the year before? No way Weber would have had the same success with that team Groce did.
 
#834      

ChiefIllini

C
ChiefIllini
RichBradIllini said:
The same team that quit on BW the year before? No way Weber would have had the same success with that team Groce did.
Click to expand...

Most of his teams quit on him. Look at what happened to Groce, he lost a ton of games towards the end of the season. Bruce's problem was indeed that his teams lost steam, the difference with Groce was that it was much more up and down. That team had talent and experience. Bruce would've gotten close if not just as far as Groce did.

But by no means am I saying we should've kept him another year. I'm merely stating that what coaches do in Nov + Dec doesn't mean much if they cant replicate it in March.
 
#835      

battle

battle
battle
RichBradIllini said:
The same team that quit on BW the year before? No way Weber would have had the same success with that team Groce did.
Click to expand...

Agree. It's revisionist to say we weren't optimistic about the future after the Miami NCAA game, beating Gonzaga on the road ... after the way the previous season ended ... just as I'm pumped about this year and the next ... "Yes, Mortimer, we're back in business"

BU, to me, has similarities with Chris Petersen - in his approach to preparation, player development, running practice, strategy, tactics, ...

After the first couple of seasons, you could infer the shortcomings in how Groce did things and preparing players to succeed
 
#836      

RichBradIllini

RichBradIllini
Peoria
RichBradIllini
ChiefIllini said:
Most of his teams quit on him. Look at what happened to Groce, he lost a ton of games towards the end of the season. Bruce's problem was indeed that his teams lost steam, the difference with Groce was that it was much more up and down. That team had talent and experience. Bruce would've gotten close if not just as far as Groce did.

But by no means am I saying we should've kept him another year. I'm merely stating that what coaches do in Nov + Dec doesn't mean much if they cant replicate it in March.
Click to expand...

Let me rephrase that. Weber's last team utterly and completely collapsed, lost faith and totally gave up. If you think Weber could have restored the faith and gotten them to the level Groce did 2012-13 well, think what you want.

The 12-13 team did replicate Nov/Dec in March
 
#837      

ChiefIllini

C
ChiefIllini
RichBradIllini said:
The 12-13 team did replicate Nov/Dec in March
Click to expand...

Comparing winning Maui and beating a top 10 ranked team in their arena (not to mention not losing until Mizzou) to squeaking by Minny and getting man handled by IU in the BTT at the UC and beating a decent CU and losing to Miami on a controversial call is wrong.

I get it was unlucky we didn't advance to the S16, but we were lack luster in the post season. I would argue our best game was actually that loss to Miami. I think Weber more than proved he could achieve that kind of mediocrity.
 
#838      

HR217

H
HR217
ChiefIllini said:
Comparing winning Maui and beating a top 10 ranked team in their arena (not to mention not losing until Mizzou) to squeaking by Minny and getting man handled by IU in the BTT at the UC and beating a decent CU and losing to Miami on a controversial call is wrong.

I get it was unlucky we didn't advance to the S16, but we were lack luster in the post season. I would argue our best game was actually that loss to Miami. I think Weber more than proved he could achieve that kind of mediocrity.
Click to expand...
That CU team had at least 2 NBA players on it. That was more than a decent team.
 
#839      

Dren1

Dren1
Glenview, IL
Dren1
RichBradIllini said:
Let me rephrase that. Weber's last team utterly and completely collapsed, lost faith and totally gave up. If you think Weber could have restored the faith and gotten them to the level Groce did 2012-13 well, think what you want.

The 12-13 team did replicate Nov/Dec in March
Click to expand...
Totally agree that there is no way Weber would have gotten the same results as Groce did with that team. By the way, if the end of that season was mediocre, sign me up for more mediocrity.
 
#841      

FiveStar

F
FiveStar
Illini0114 said:
Wondering if the grid behind him is in the same place/at the same height? The top of his ear is just barely touching the bottom of the thick line in the "before" and the whole ear is above it in the "after". The body comp and vert improvements are impressive enough, but I would be really happy if he also grew a inch or so taller

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

He might be standing on something. All the thick lines are moved down a bit from the first pic. Or he's standing on tip toes, or grew a couple inches only in his legs. But he was young for his grade, so no doubt his growth plates are still open.
 
#842      

FC Illiniman

F
FC Illiniman
FiveStar said:
He might be standing on something. All the thick lines are moved down a bit from the first pic. Or he's standing on tip toes, or grew a couple inches only in his legs. But he was young for his grade, so no doubt his growth plates are still open.
Click to expand...

TJL has filled out like the rest of the team. Think it will be a great thing for the defense, strength to be aggressive, poke at ball, and body up on the other guards. We have alot of strong guards, we will give other teams fits bringing ball up. I see alot of TJL to Mark Smith lob dunks. :D:illinois:
 
#844      

ballislife17

ballislife17
ballislife17
FiveStar said:
Really excited to see plays like this. All it takes is the defense to misplay the first cut in the offense. We should get a couple especially against the cupcakes.
Click to expand...



Any guesses on who will have the coolest dunk this year?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#847      

BillyBob1

BillyBob1
Champaign
BillyBob1
FC Illiniman said:
TJL has filled out like the rest of the team. Think it will be a great thing for the defense, strength to be aggressive, poke at ball, and body up on the other guards. We have alot of strong guards, we will give other teams fits bringing ball up. I see alot of TJL to Mark Smith lob dunks. :D:illinois:
Click to expand...

When was the last time we had a lob dunk in our offense? Probably had some fast break lobs.
 
#850      

ILL in IA

ILL in IA
Iowa City
ILL in IA
Joe B threw down some good ones. And all those could be Ekey tip dunks.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.