Illini Basketball 2019-2020

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#101      
I agree with this although as you mentioned to expect more rebounds with our line up and the agility and size of Kofi is my expectation. I expect him to be among the leaders in the B10 on the glass..
Another point I feel good about is that BU seems to have a vision and has been looking for pieces and a winning mindset. The most talented players dont always make the best team although it helps. Wisconsin and others n have been a good example of that in the past. I feel BU parts are falling in to place and he has a plan for the upcoming season and next years too with our transfers. He success will lead us to raise our expectations as time passes instead of temper them. Go Illini!

Not sure what your definition of "among the leaders" is. Last year 20th in league was 5.7 overall and 5.8 in conference. Player in 15th spot was 6.8/6.6; 10th place was 7.2/7.2 and 5th spot was 8.3/8.9. I could see Kofi averaging 6.5 rpg (what Fernando averaged his freshman year), which would put him about 15th in league. I just think he's going to have some off games caused by foul problems, match up problems and hitting the wall at some point for him to average more than that.
 
#102      
Not sure what your definition of "among the leaders" is. Last year 20th in league was 5.7 overall and 5.8 in conference. Player in 15th spot was 6.8/6.6; 10th place was 7.2/7.2 and 5th spot was 8.3/8.9. I could see Kofi averaging 6.5 rpg (what Fernando averaged his freshman year), which would put him about 15th in league. I just think he's going to have some off games caused by foul problems, match up problems and hitting the wall at some point for him to average more than that.
Like the top 5 and I wouldn't be shocked if he led the B10. IMO being a freshman as it applies to rebounding given his size and strength means very little. Sullinger averaged 10.2 as a freshman. I heard Kofi lead the EYBL this year against good talent and is likely going to be among if not the most physical 7 footer in the B10 and at 288 and 14% body fat he is not some lanky newcomer that will be pushed around or out jumped. Even Bruno Fernando isnt a good comparison. Kofi is taller, longer, and has a whopping 50 lbs of muscle over Fernando. I would be majorly disappointed if he only got one or two more boards a game than Arron Jordan . Wouldnt you be too? Kofi is unlike most guys that are 7ft as incoming freshman. Rebounding is pretty fundamental if you have the tools and are coached to be in the right place it should be fairly simple to out do your competition on the glass for a man like Kofi. That is just one reason I expect more from Kofi than AJ or any of our players from last year or this season and I imagine Kofi does too. The fact he is a freshman doesnt apply as much since he is the size of Shaq!

 
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#103      
I have high expectations from Kofi for Rebounding and providing a defensive force at the rim. The other skills may take more time to develop but i think he should be able to be the best we have at those skills from the day he steps on the court and likely vs any opponent that will be the case.
 
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#104      
Like the top 5 and I wouldn't be shocked if he led the B10. IMO being a freshman as it applies to rebounding given his size and strength means very little. Sullinger averaged 10.2 as a freshman. I heard Kofi lead the EYBL this year against good talent and is likely going to be among if not the most physical 7 footer in the B10 and at 288 and 14% body fat he is not some lanky newcomer that will be pushed around or out jumped. Even Bruno Fernando isnt a good comparison. Kofi is taller, longer, and has a whopping 50 lbs of muscle over Fernando. I would be majorly disappointed if he only got one or two more boards a game than Arron Jordan . Wouldnt you be too? Kofi is unlike most guys that are 7ft as incoming freshman. Rebounding is pretty fundamental if you have the tools and are coached to be in the right place it should be fairly simple to out do your competition on the glass for a man like Kofi. That is just one reason I expect more from Kofi than AJ or any of our players from last year or this season and I imagine Kofi does too. The fact he is a freshman doesnt apply as much since he is the size of Shaq!

2017 EYBL REB Stats
https://www.d1circuit.com/stats/lea...stat_tab=basketball_rebounds&subseason=380949
2018 EYBL REB Stats
https://www.d1circuit.com/stats/lea...tab=league_instance_player_stats&tool=2957276

Kofi lead in 2018 and was right up there with players like Oturu, Bol Bol, Bagley III, and Reddish in 2017 when he was a year younger then them. He's definitely not going to have a problem with defensive rebounding in the B10.

I expect Kofi to average 1 rebound for every 3 minutes he's on the floor.
 
#105      
Really, so you think the top centers in the nation from last year's class, all of whom played in the EYBL, aren't "college level opponents"? Interesting view, maybe you should tell Coach K and Squid this one and done thing will never work.
Fair enough, maybe I should said a full fledged, D1 team, coached by a D1 coach, playing college rules, rather than college talent, I just figured it was kinda obvious I didn't mean he played 5'8" centers every game in HS. But the fact remains the same. He isn't guaranteed to be a top flight B1G center this year, mainly because he hasn't played a minute of college ball.

You're basically arguing because he's done real well in HS, and is highly ranked, that he will instantly be a good college player. There are countless examples of top 50 players, who performed exceedingly well HS, that either had below average freshman years, or never panned out entirely.

And honestly, I agree, I think he's going to be a great player, and should instantly help this team. This whole thing started when you basically stated he's obviously a better center than the 7th best B1G center. Literally nobody knows this until he actually starts playing for this team. #1 overall picks bust constantly--there are no guaranteed stars when you jump up a level, full stop.
 
#107      
Like the top 5 and I wouldn't be shocked if he led the B10. IMO being a freshman as it applies to rebounding given his size and strength means very little. Sullinger averaged 10.2 as a freshman. I heard Kofi lead the EYBL this year against good talent and is likely going to be among if not the most physical 7 footer in the B10 and at 288 and 14% body fat he is not some lanky newcomer that will be pushed around or out jumped. Even Bruno Fernando isnt a good comparison. Kofi is taller, longer, and has a whopping 50 lbs of muscle over Fernando. I would be majorly disappointed if he only got one or two more boards a game than Arron Jordan . Wouldnt you be too? Kofi is unlike most guys that are 7ft as incoming freshman. Rebounding is pretty fundamental if you have the tools and are coached to be in the right place it should be fairly simple to out do your competition on the glass for a man like Kofi. That is just one reason I expect more from Kofi than AJ or any of our players from last year or this season and I imagine Kofi does too. The fact he is a freshman doesnt apply as much since he is the size of Shaq!


I just think BU's offensive system as well as foul trouble will negatively impact him. I agree Fernando isn't a good comp, but he has proven he can put up big rebounding numbers in the B1G. So last year Juwan Morgan (also not a good comp) was fifth leading rebounder overall in the B1G with 8.3 rpg and Fernando was number 2 with 10.4. Neither of those guys were freshman and both had proven that were pretty good college rebounders -- Morgan averaged 7.4 and Fernando 6.5 year before. That is the area that you expect Kofi to be in.

If you look at our latest freshman big just from the minutes per game perspective, last year Giorgi had 6 games where he played 19 or less minutes, 9 games between 25-29 minutes and 11 games 30 or more minutes. In averaging his 8.3 last year, Morgan had 3 games under 19 minutes, 9 from 25-29 and 17 games he played 30 or more minutes. In averaging 10.4, Fernando never played less than 19 minutes (that was his season low one game), had 7 games where he played between 25-29 minutes and 20 where he played 30 or more minutes.

I'm not saying that Kofi isn't a unique talent or that he won't have some big rebounding games, but I think he would have to have an incredible rebounds per minute average to do what you're saying. He's just not likely going to be on the floor enough to do what you're suggesting. Last year Oturu led the conference in rebounding for freshman bigs with 7.2 rpg in 23.6 mpg. I would be thrilled with that number from Kofi Sure I'd love to see even more and he has skill/body to do that but I'm just not expecting it because of games when he'll get in foul trouble and the pace at which the Illini play.
 
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#109      
Fair enough, maybe I should said a full fledged, D1 team, coached by a D1 coach, playing college rules, rather than college talent, I just figured it was kinda obvious I didn't mean he played 5'8" centers every game in HS. But the fact remains the same. He isn't guaranteed to be a top flight B1G center this year, mainly because he hasn't played a minute of college ball.

You're basically arguing because he's done real well in HS, and is highly ranked, that he will instantly be a good college player. There are countless examples of top 50 players, who performed exceedingly well HS, that either had below average freshman years, or never panned out entirely.

And honestly, I agree, I think he's going to be a great player, and should instantly help this team. This whole thing started when you basically stated he's obviously a better center than the 7th best B1G center. Literally nobody knows this until he actually starts playing for this team. #1 overall picks bust constantly--there are no guaranteed stars when you jump up a level, full stop.
I do not think it is unrealistic to expect him to be our best rebounder and post defender from day one and that is really what we need from him. If He turns out to be top 7 fine but i am more worried about the team and that he will fill those voids at the 5. He will make us a much better rebounding team from day 1 and i think BU would say that is guaranteed.
 
#110      
Leading Illinois freshman rebounder of all time--Efrem Winters @ 6.9 and 2nd was Deon Thomas @ 6.8 rpg.
Highest number for 1 game-Deon with 16 in 1990 against Memphis.
Shot Clock was 45 seconds until 1993 and BU wants a shot up in 7 or 8 seconds. I was there and Efrem was one of my favorite players. He was a beast. He nor Deon are built to rebound the ball like Kofi. We never have had a player coming in built like this to accurately compare to him.. A more reasonable expectation would be someone with his size, weight, body fat and mobility. Id take the bet that we have a new leader in that stat after this season.
It may matter some to start to adjust as it pertains to fouls hopefully with practing with coaches, and game officails will prepare him. He will adjust. He isnt guarding bigger stronger men like GB had too. . He is outside the norm compared to most freshman due to his size for rebounding. Much like Sullinger was when he joined the B10.
 
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#111      
I do not think it is unrealistic to expect him to be our best rebounder and post defender from day one and that is really what we need from him. If He turns out to be top 7 fine but i am more worried about the team and that he will fill those voids at the 5. He will make us a much better rebounding team from day 1 and i think BU would say that is guaranteed.
Don't disagree, but being our best rebounder/post defender and making this team a better rebounding team is about as easy a task as a top 50 center would have anywhere. So yes, Kofi will almost certainly make this team better (hard to argue otherwise), but the question/statements that I've thrown out there are by how much?

Kind of an arbitrary benchmark, but setting a realistic goal of him being about 7th in the conference sounds right to me. There's a ton that goes into that to try and quantify what that would be, mostly true value to a team is probably specific to each individual team, but if I had to, I'd say ~ 20mins a game, 7 PPG, 5 rebounds, and a little over a block. That probably makes him better than the 7th best center, and certainly would add more value than that to our team, but thats what I come up with.
 
#112      
Fair enough, maybe I should said a full fledged, D1 team, coached by a D1 coach, playing college rules, rather than college talent, I just figured it was kinda obvious I didn't mean he played 5'8" centers every game in HS. But the fact remains the same. He isn't guaranteed to be a top flight B1G center this year, mainly because he hasn't played a minute of college ball.

You're basically arguing because he's done real well in HS, and is highly ranked, that he will instantly be a good college player. There are countless examples of top 50 players, who performed exceedingly well HS, that either had below average freshman years, or never panned out entirely.

And honestly, I agree, I think he's going to be a great player, and should instantly help this team. This whole thing started when you basically stated he's obviously a better center than the 7th best B1G center. Literally nobody knows this until he actually starts playing for this team. #1 overall picks bust constantly--there are no guaranteed stars when you jump up a level, full stop.

Where do you think Daniel Oturu ranked out of all the B10 Centers in 2018-19? Oturu played 23.8 minutes, 7 REB, 1.3 BLK, and 10.8 Points per game. I think that Kofi can come in and exceed all of those stat lines (except perhaps PPG).
 
#113      
While I am anxious to see Kofi I think I have a reasonable expectation of what his skills and weaknesses are. Our returning players should get better and hope we have a major jump by one or two but likely they will improve some. A major leap would be awesome but I am tempering expectations, hoping for some growth, better shooting, a bit more physical, and more consistent play from someone in the group of AG, Tev, Kip, or DW.
For me the person I want to see play is BenV because of his size and what has been said by the coaches and players. He is the player I really look forward to seeing play. I dont know what to expect. if he is as advertised then he brings something no other player really does being able both to hold up down low physically at the 4 and a effective shooter at 6'8" 235. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed. I have no idea what to expect.
 
#116      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
It will be interesting to see how the Illini respond this season now that there are some higher expectations for the team. I think there will be a lot of pressure to get some wins early in the conference schedule, which won't be easy. The first five games are @Maryland, Michigan, @Michigan State, Purdue, @Wisconsin.
 
#118      
Where do you think Daniel Oturu ranked out of all the B10 Centers in 2018-19? Oturu played 23.8 minutes, 7 REB, 1.3 BLK, and 10.8 Points per game. I think that Kofi can come in and exceed all of those stat lines (except perhaps PPG).

TRank, last year, had Oturu the #41 player in the B1G and Giorgi was #42. Rebounding only for Oturu,both OR and DR had him in the top 10 in both.
 
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#119      
It will be interesting to see how the Illini respond this season now that there are some higher expectations for the team. I think there will be a lot of pressure to get some wins early in the conference schedule, which won't be easy. The first five games are @Maryland, Michigan, @Michigan State, Purdue, @Wisconsin.

Go 1-4 or 0-5 in that stretch and it could be a long season.
 
#122      
Go 1-4 or 0-5 in that stretch and it could be a long season.
Gotta win at home and get those on the road that you have a chance in. We cant lose games at home anymore no matter who we are playing. We didnt used to and gotta get back to a full house and a W every night.
 
#123      

sacraig

The desert

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#125      
If you pass over the kool aid for the scotch:
Ayo is player of the year
Giorgi has Leron's shooting stats
Kofi matches Shaq's freshman stats 12 rbs and 13 pts
Trent shoots 45% from 3 and is defensive player of the year.
Alan plays like a smaller version of Jordan Murphy
BBV is Giorgi11
Tevian just misses sixth man award
Another Oban please.
 
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