Illini Basketball 2020-2021

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#103      
I cant wait but I think we need to cool our jets just a bit. after Kofi, Ayo, Trent, Georgi and Da'Monte we have virtually to minutes experience. Lots of potential but its hard to evaluate how quickly those others are going to help.
this could be a top 25 team or a top 5 team depending on how quickly they mesh.
Nah it's a top 5 team. 2 AA and another top senior guard back, plus the transfers and top 50's. We goin places
 
#104      
Believe major reason for success last year was willingness of players to accept their roles. For DaMonte that meant playing defense and rebounding not shooting. He never took enough shots to get in a rhythm so I’ve never been sure he couldn’t shoot or he wasn’t supposed to in his role. Trent also was focused on defense and getting Ayo his shots. Not sure what their role will be this year but believe it will be based on defense not offense and necessarily so as that what brought their success last year. If it was offense, Hawk would be starting at the four.
Basketball is s two way sport! It's not football! You gotta play defense and offense! Focusing on defense does not mean you can't shoot on offense! Hw just want assertive on offense last year for some unknown reason! Ayo had nothing to do with that! Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, never have issues with scorers all trying to score! Or play defense! It's basketball man! It's simple! You score and stop the other team from scoring! No excuse! Especially when you're one of the best offensive players on the team!
 
#105      
Basketball is s two way sport! It's not football! You gotta play defense and offense! Focusing on defense does not mean you can't shoot on offense! Hw just want assertive on offense last year for some unknown reason! Ayo had nothing to do with that! Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, never have issues with scorers all trying to score! Or play defense! It's basketball man! It's simple! You score and stop the other team from scoring! No excuse! Especially when you're one of the best offensive players on the team!
Guess you can look at at it that you have to score more than the other team or that you don’t allow them to score more than you. 2019-20 we scored 75.2 vs 2018-19 scored 75.7. Defensively we gave up 65.3 vs 75.2 and won 21 games vs losing 21. Alan Griffin was a great offensive player but DaMonte was starting because of his defense. If you are always matched up against their best offensive player it will affect your offense. If the roles didn’t change why did Trent have 263 FGA in 19-20 vs 360 in 18-19. Trent and Giorgi sacrificed their offensive stats for the teams success. Kudos for a coach recognizing roles required and convincing players to adapt.
 
#106      
DMW hit threes at a very respectable clip down the stretch last year. He wasn’t taking a ton of shots obviously but hit about 50% during a fairly decent stretch of games towards the end of last year iirc
 
#107      
Every player on the floor must at least be threat to score for a top 10 team. Not all players need to score, but they at least need to be enough of a threat that they’re guarded.

I remember games last year where the other team wasn’t even guarding DW in a zone.

Whether it’s because he couldn’t make the shot, or he didn’t get the opportunity to take the shot - it doesn’t matter.

I’m not knocking him. He just needs to shoot the ball enough that he’s not scouted as a non-factor on offense. I’m sure he can make these shots, just shoot it.
 
#108      

texillwek

🔶🔹🔸🔷
Basketball is s two way sport! It's not football! You gotta play defense and offense! Focusing on defense does not mean you can't shoot on offense! Hw just want assertive on offense last year for some unknown reason! Ayo had nothing to do with that! Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, never have issues with scorers all trying to score! Or play defense! It's basketball man! It's simple! You score and stop the other team from scoring! No excuse! Especially when you're one of the best offensive players on the team!
Period.
 
#109      
Every player on the floor must at least be threat to score for a top 10 team. Not all players need to score, but they at least need to be enough of a threat that they’re guarded.

I remember games last year where the other team wasn’t even guarding DW in a zone.

Whether it’s because he couldn’t make the shot, or he didn’t get the opportunity to take the shot - it doesn’t matter.

I’m not knocking him. He just needs to shoot the ball enough that he’s not scouted as a non-factor on offense. I’m sure he can make these shots, just shoot it.
Not necessarily, I’ve you’re only talking about 1 player who isn’t a threat you can still be very efficient on offense. Especially when you have 2 pre season all Americans and plenty of other scoring options as well. DMW is also very athletic and can crash the glass better than most guards, so you cant say off him too much and give him a free run at the rebound. Besides, he WAS taking and making those shots the last quarter of the season. If he just knocks down open shots like he did last year at a 35-45% clip then that’s plenty good enough to be in the other teams scouting report.
 
#110      
Don’t believe many teams will have a matchup for both Ayo and Kofi. Teams will be forced to double team one or both and will open up easy shots. Replacing the defense and toughness of Dre is the only suspect part of improvement from last year. However do tend to forget what a critical part Kipper played in the defeat of Iowa. Can have off nights shooting the ball but no off nights playing defense.
With no fans, home court advantage will shrink considerably. Don’t think 6 losses will win championship in 21.
 
#111      
I haven't seen much chatter about Giorgi this offseason. He might be the difference between a good team or a national title favorite. I'm not expecting him to be as good as his freshman year...but we don't need him to be. If he can find that happy medium between his freshman and soph years that would be a huge boost to our front court.
 
#112      
Don’t believe many teams will have a matchup for both Ayo and Kofi. Teams will be forced to double team one or both and will open up easy shots. Replacing the defense and toughness of Dre is the only suspect part of improvement from last year. However do tend to forget what a critical part Kipper played in the defeat of Iowa. Can have off nights shooting the ball but no off nights playing defense.
With no fans, home court advantage will shrink considerably. Don’t think 6 losses will win championship in 21.
It will still be 8 vs. 5 in Durham.
 
#113      
I know its a weird year and all that, but just this morning I was thinking "Gosh, the season starts in less than 3 weeks. Wouldn't it be neat to have a schedule?".
 
#115      

Deleted member 29907

D
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Guess you can look at at it that you have to score more than the other team or that you don’t allow them to score more than you. 2019-20 we scored 75.2 vs 2018-19 scored 75.7. Defensively we gave up 65.3 vs 75.2 and won 21 games vs losing 21. Alan Griffin was a great offensive player but DaMonte was starting because of his defense. If you are always matched up against their best offensive player it will affect your offense. If the roles didn’t change why did Trent have 263 FGA in 19-20 vs 360 in 18-19. Trent and Giorgi sacrificed their offensive stats for the teams success. Kudos for a coach recognizing roles required and convincing players to adapt.
Nice response. If its a two way sport - defense counts and so many are quick to favor offense over d. If a player shuts down or holds the assigned player under their normal point total - that counts and people forget the points on that side of the court.
 
#117      
Guess you can look at at it that you have to score more than the other team or that you don’t allow them to score more than you. 2019-20 we scored 75.2 vs 2018-19 scored 75.7. Defensively we gave up 65.3 vs 75.2 and won 21 games vs losing 21. Alan Griffin was a great offensive player but DaMonte was starting because of his defense. If you are always matched up against their best offensive player it will affect your offense. If the roles didn’t change why did Trent have 263 FGA in 19-20 vs 360 in 18-19. Trent and Giorgi sacrificed their offensive stats for the teams success. Kudos for a coach recognizing roles required and convincing players to adapt.
I hear your point of view. And just my opinion that if you sacrifice offense just because you're playing defense, then somethings wrong there! One does not usurp the other. I understand you may pass up a shot yourself to get the ball to a team mate who has a better shot. But you do not stop being aggressive on offense because you decide defense is important also! Imagine if Kofi and Ayo did that... And they played great players as well! Kofi made huge plays against the best player in the Big Ten arguably also to win major games! (Iowa😉) Giorgi was struggling to find his footing and had Struggled offensively all season at the 4 with his jump shot and being out of the post like the previous season more. Just my thoughts on it. But I hear your argument and I'm very happy with being able to recognize your role. What you do well to help your team. But it's too easy to take away a player and beat a team when players are not assertive offensively! You have to do it on both ends of the floor to be great! Especially when you want to be great! And Trent has that ability! Griffin and Andres were proof of that last year!
 
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#119      
I hear your point of view. And just my opinion that if you sacrifice offense just because you're playing defense, then somethings wrong there! One does not usurp the other. I understand you may pass up a shot yourself to get the ball to a team mate who has a better shot. But you do not stop being aggressive on offense because you decide defense is important also! Imagine if Kofi and Ayo did that... And they played great players as well! Kofi made huge plays against the best player in the Big Ten arguably also to win major games! (Iowa😉) Giorgi was struggling to find his footing and had Struggled offensively all season at the 4 with his jump shot and being out of the post like the previous season more. Just my thoughts on it. But I hear your argument and I'm very happy with being able to recognize your role. What you do well to help your team. But it's too easy to take away a player and beat a team when players are not assertive offensively! You have to do it on both ends of the floor to be great! Especially when you want to be great! And Trent has that ability! Griffin and Andres were proof of that last year!
Don’t dispute that having players with skills at both ends is ideal. DaMonte and Kipper were important parts of the Iowa victory as they scored in critical situations. Trying to say that frequently a coach must choose between players that are better at one end then the other. To me DaMonte and Alan were the epitome of this in that Alan is a great offensive player who was frequently out of position on defense (and not because he didn’t put out the effort) and DaMonte who is a great defensive player who doesn’t score (for whatever reason). BU successfully mixed his lineups to try to optimize the skills of each. I also believe the energy required to guard the opponents #1 scoring threat affects their shooting. Believe (but not sure) that Ayo was generally assigned a lesser scoring threat (and not because he isn’t good defensively). Defining these roles and players acceptance of these roles is my definition of chemistry. Just feel that we frequently undervalue the defensive roles because they don’t always show in the stats and they were the major reason for last years success.
 
#120      
I haven't seen much chatter about Giorgi this offseason. He might be the difference between a good team or a national title favorite. I'm not expecting him to be as good as his freshman year...but we don't need him to be. If he can find that happy medium between his freshman and soph years that would be a huge boost to our front court.
If he can make putbacks and layups that is huge! Struggled around the rim last year.
 
#123      

blackdog

Champaign
Don’t dispute that having players with skills at both ends is ideal. DaMonte and Kipper were important parts of the Iowa victory as they scored in critical situations. Trying to say that frequently a coach must choose between players that are better at one end then the other. To me DaMonte and Alan were the epitome of this in that Alan is a great offensive player who was frequently out of position on defense (and not because he didn’t put out the effort) and DaMonte who is a great defensive player who doesn’t score (for whatever reason). BU successfully mixed his lineups to try to optimize the skills of each. I also believe the energy required to guard the opponents #1 scoring threat affects their shooting. Believe (but not sure) that Ayo was generally assigned a lesser scoring threat (and not because he isn’t good defensively). Defining these roles and players acceptance of these roles is my definition of chemistry. Just feel that we frequently undervalue the defensive roles because they don’t always show in the stats and they were the major reason for last years success.

Playing defense at that level for a guard/wing is exhausting mentally and physically. It takes a lot more energy to play defense and chase another player than it does to play offense. Just look at the way that Trent fought through off ball screens and stayed locked in on shooters. Its hard to play at that insensitivity level all the time at one end of the court let alone both. Theres a reason you don't see too many players show that kind of defensive effort because its HARD.
 
#125      

IlliniReb

Dallas-Fort Worth
Have you watched a Mizzou home game during the Clownzo era? They will draw as many fans post covid as they did pre covid.
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