Unless, of course, we purge a half dozen of them again.
Illini Basketball 2018-2019
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Unless, of course, we purge a half dozen of them again.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I'm willing to give BU a mulligan on a rocky start to his tenure with a team that clearly didn't buy in and gel with what was going on, but if it happens again that would be very disturbing and would lend a lot of strength to the argument that he's a coach players don't want to play for.
I just wish we had a better big man rotation so we didn't have to try and MacGyver this thing together in Year 2. It makes that gelling more difficult.
GortTheRobot
- North Bethesda, Maryland
It’s been said ad nauseum, but it’s all about winning. The experience of being a winning team will ALWAYS outweigh how demanding or tough it was to play for the coach, unless he crosses the line into abuse, which I don’t think is BU’s MO.
Extremely unlikely. No freshman since 2000 other than Augustine, and we had some good/great frontcourt players over that time span, including Cook, Mike Davis, Shaun Pruitt, Richmond, Leonard, Tisdale, Egwu, averaged more than 5 rebounds in his freshman year. And the great James Augustine averaged 5.8 (still under 6) but he also played almost 22 minutes per game (Kane is unlikely to average that).
So almost impossible.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Luckily we haven't had to play true freshman bigs very much in the past. But until De La Rosa is ready to go, true freshmen are our only players bigger than 6'6". Maybe they will play and rebound by committee, but I bet one of them averages 5+ boards just by being a tall person getting a lot of minutes on a team without other tall people.
Seems like Giorgi B. is likely to be that guy from what I'm reading on here.
Long time lurker rare poster with a question.
Most everyone here is being a Debbie downer about this team mostly it would seem about lack of size. What I see is a young team with arguably one of the best back courts in the country. I understand rebounding and rim defense are critical but you don't need to be 7 foot tall to do that.
My mind goes back to the Flying Illini whose tallest players were
Lowell Hamilton @ 6'7 and Kenny Battle @6'6 what they had was guard play.
My question is has the game changed that much? Or am I just looking through rose colored glasses?
Most everyone here is being a Debbie downer about this team mostly it would seem about lack of size. What I see is a young team with arguably one of the best back courts in the country. I understand rebounding and rim defense are critical but you don't need to be 7 foot tall to do that.
My mind goes back to the Flying Illini whose tallest players were
Lowell Hamilton @ 6'7 and Kenny Battle @6'6 what they had was guard play.
My question is has the game changed that much? Or am I just looking through rose colored glasses?
Bardo, Gill and Anderson were all 6'6", give or take 1/2 an inch, so we had 5 starters at 6'6" or more. Liberty came off the bench at 6'8". This enabled them to switch every screen. We'll have two starters at 6'6" or more this year.
No, it is actually mostly lack of skill that is associated with talent. Both Lowell Hamilton and Kenny Battle were forwards, pretty much PFs that we desperately need. and extremely athletic. Lowell Hamilton was a McD AA and Kenny Battle was a transfer from NIU were he was pretty much a 20ppg/6.5rpg player. Add someone like Liberty (another McD AA) off the bench and it is amazing talent. So no, the game has not changed that much. If Lowell Hamilton, Kenny Battle, and Marcus Liberty were on the team we would all be doing backwards flips in excitement. Comparing 1989 with today?
believe Gill was shorter than you describe
Tevo
- Wilmette, IL
They were all described as 6'6", but I think Hamilton was 6'7", Nick was 6'5", Kendall was about that, too. They were called clones, though, because they were all equally athletic and able to guard whomever they need to.
Kendall had those super looong arms, anyway they looked that way to me. Alan Griffin at 6'5" has those long arms too - maybe he'll develop like Kendall did!
But seriously all you doom and gloom, we are on the uptick, as we are a "fringe" tournament team...HA so there, goodnite!
https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...e-basketball-tournaments-and-events-to-watch/
https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...e-basketball-tournaments-and-events-to-watch/
I agree.... those three are gonna make some noise and raise some eyebrows.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
Always fun to watch Flyin' Illini highlights. That is some fantastic transition offense (less than 7 seconds)! Also, it is a pretty high percentage play to throw the ball near the rim and let someone dunk it. The defense led to a lot of those run outs.
Agreed. We are in danger of getting into a really bad cycle of binging on a bunch of lower ranked recruits, purging them, and then binging again because we have the roster space.
Deleted member 746094
D
Guest
A little harsh. I don’t think he was comparing talent levels as much as asking a question on whether or not we need a 7 footer for this team to be successful.
So many on here need to turn off the VCR and let go of the Flyin Illini. I grew up watching the Flyin Illini and thought they were the greatest- most phenomenal players, but some on this board talk about them like they were the greatest group of assembled talent to step on a court. Hell, we talk about them more than Dee and company and they are technically the best team in the history of our program.
I agree with your post, and probably a little too harsh, but there is not much comparison in height either. Adonis, Samba, and Giorgi all have more height than the 1989 team.
Bottom line is that we need to stop with these comparisons with the Flyin' Illini, 2005 team, and the Golden State Warriors. The talent differential and skills levels are not even comparable.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
And the 2005 team, but the skill differential expects to be significant. Hopefully, less than we fear.
I wonder if 18-19 Illini would beat this team?
Te'Jon Lucas
Mark Smith
Jalen Coleman-Lands
D.J. Williams
Austin Colbert
Michael Finke
Greg Eboigbodin
Te'Jon Lucas
Mark Smith
Jalen Coleman-Lands
D.J. Williams
Austin Colbert
Michael Finke
Greg Eboigbodin
You think we will win more than 10 games this coming year?
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