Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
He's in Fletch's dungeon.
Illini Basketball 2018-2019
- Status
He's in Fletch's dungeon.
Black was also a great rebounder. Tough to see us not take a step back on the glass with him gone. Although, DaMonte was our best rebounder at the guard position so him getting more minutes could help.
Deleted member 4333
D
Guest
So both Higgs and Kane will be enrolled and starting classes Monday?
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
5.2 per game last season. Not sure if I would call that "great" or if it will not be easily replaced at least by committee.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Good rebounder? Sure. Great? Nope.
Black averaged 5.2 rebounds per game (4.8 in the conference) and Finke averaged 4.6 (3.2 in the conference). I think we should improve on that.
Great not a chance, overall good yes, but when guards start approaching the possibility of averaging that or more, I think Great might be some hyperbole at least?
I'm thinking Fletch's dungeon counts as enrollment.
Dan, do we have a locker for Higgs?
Dan
Admin
The entire @IlliniMBB team is now on campus, that includes Samba Kane and Anthony Higgs. Now the workouts begin..
https://www.wcia.com/sports/illini/illini-mbb-using-yoga-to-help-development/1398323121
https://www.wcia.com/sports/illini/illini-mbb-using-yoga-to-help-development/1398323121
Seemed like Black's rebounding (and defense, which was never very good) took a step back with his offensive game flourishing last year. I doubt we have someone that converts 65%+ from post ups like he did last year but we can definitely get more from a defense and rebounding stand point.
If you look at Leron's conf stats, it's true his rebounding numbers dropped a little, but stats happen in the context of a game. He went from 6 to 16!! points a game. That's a very different role out on the court. He was by far our best offensive weapon, even though teams knew that. I wasn't in the huddle, but I tell my best offensive guy to stay on the court, and that means picking your battles defensively. IMO he did everything he was asked, and I don't see us replacing that this year.
I wasn’t digging on Leron who was far and wide our most consistent and best player last year. He wasn’t an all-conference performer despite being one of, if not the, most efficient scorers in the B1G because he couldn’t/didn’t play both ways a lot of the time. His offensive improvement was amazing game though.
His offense was outstanding particularly from an effiency standpoint but Kipper's rebounding was about the same for the minutes played. We need a huge improvement in rebounding from the center position which may be possible if DeLaRosa is healthy. Really don't believe scoring will be the issue. Replacing Alstork, Smith and Lucas with any of the possible lineups has to be a huge improvement.
Last year's team was one of the worst rebounding teams of modern Illini history. Ebo was actually the most efficient from a TRB%.
Last edited:
According to what or who?
RedRocksIllini
- Morrison, CO
Not arguing that we weren't a bad rebounding team, but these numbers can be misleading. The problem is that teams shot some outrageous percent against us on two point shots that there weren't very many DRB's to be had. If we don't improve our defense inside the arc, it really doesn't matter much whether we rebound or not.
To this point, we had more offensive rebounds than our conference opponents (10.6 vs 8.8) but defensive rebounds were (18.7 vs 24.7). Product of our lousy shooting and poor defense. We missed 33.2 shots per game vs 25.1 for our opponents giving them 8 more rebound opportunities per game. Statistically says we had more of a defensive and shooting problem than a rebounding problem.
Our biggest obstacle is by far youth and inexperience. It's hard to not see us getting consistent positives from the 1-3 position, just too many parts their to not find a combination that works. A lot of this season will hinge on Kipper. I think even with very poor play at the 5, if he can be an above average B1G 4 defender, this team can surprise. Those are big ifs, especially with 7 newcomers. There are very few teams in CBB history that have that kind of freshness that perform well enough to make any kind of noise. That's just the nature of the game.
I disagree strongly. Ga65 is right, those numbers (and many other statistics) are funky due to our style of play and poor defense. We held our own on the glass despite the size disadvantage. Last year's team played extremely hard. Hopefully this years team does the same but adds a little more skill/athleticism/smarts.
Hello everybody!
I am an x's and o's junkie, as well as a fellow Illini, who has started to write some blogs, specifically about college basketball, and basketball strategy.
I am in the process of creating/gathering enough diagrams and clips of BU's Spread Offense before I begin a piece.
If possible, could you all take no more than 5 minutes of your time to read my recent piece and provide feedback?
https://medium.com/@evankurland/college-basketball-needs-to-study-abroad-93f732e38f97
I sincerely apologize if this post doesn't belong in this thread, but I didn't know where else to post.
Thank you in advance to anyone that reads, you have no idea how much this means to me.
I am an x's and o's junkie, as well as a fellow Illini, who has started to write some blogs, specifically about college basketball, and basketball strategy.
I am in the process of creating/gathering enough diagrams and clips of BU's Spread Offense before I begin a piece.
If possible, could you all take no more than 5 minutes of your time to read my recent piece and provide feedback?
https://medium.com/@evankurland/college-basketball-needs-to-study-abroad-93f732e38f97
I sincerely apologize if this post doesn't belong in this thread, but I didn't know where else to post.
Thank you in advance to anyone that reads, you have no idea how much this means to me.
Interesting read. Explained well. I have never heard of the Spain P&R. I look forward to your write up on the BU offense!
- Status