Illini Basketball 2021-2022

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#152      
I am super excited about the upcoming year. I cannot remember so much talent on an Illini team before Underwood came. This team is stacked with Shooters. Guards win championships, not centers aka Baylor. Belo, Frazier, DaMonte, Podz, Plummer, Goode, Melendez all vying for playing time at guard. I cant wait to hear _________ for 3. Fill in the blank. Podz scored 50 poiints in one game, Goode hit 10 threes in one game, Melendez shot 50% from 3. Plummer holds record for most 3's in a Pac 12 game against a good Oregon State . Belo is the best PG in Big Ten.
 
#155      

illini80

Forgottonia
I am super excited about the upcoming year. I cannot remember so much talent on an Illini team before Underwood came. This team is stacked with Shooters. Guards win championships, not centers aka Baylor. Belo, Frazier, DaMonte, Podz, Plummer, Goode, Melendez all vying for playing time at guard. I cant wait to hear _________ for 3. Fill in the blank. Podz scored 50 poiints in one game, Goode hit 10 threes in one game, Melendez shot 50% from 3. Plummer holds record for most 3's in a Pac 12 game against a good Oregon State . Belo is the best PG in Big Ten.
I’m not here to rain on the parade, but I guess that’s what I’m doing. We don’t know the final roster yet, but at this point, we’ve had much more talented teams in the past. It may go back further than you so not trying to be critical. Projecting freshman as stars comes with a lot of risk. Adam Miller was one of the best scorers we‘ve recruited in years and he struggled a good part of the season. Plummer is a great piece, but I don’t see him as a starter nor do most people. He wasn’t a starter last year on a 12-13 team.

It’s ok to be excited and I agree Belo is the best PG in the B10. We have a chance to be good. But minus Kofi and Ayo we will play a lot teams that are more talented on paper going into the season. Guards are our strength. How we fill or compensate for our weakness will determine how far we can go imo.
 
#156      
I am super excited about the upcoming year. I cannot remember so much talent on an Illini team before Underwood came. This team is stacked with Shooters. Guards win championships, not centers aka Baylor. Belo, Frazier, DaMonte, Podz, Plummer, Goode, Melendez all vying for playing time at guard. I cant wait to hear _________ for 3. Fill in the blank. Podz scored 50 poiints in one game, Goode hit 10 threes in one game, Melendez shot 50% from 3. Plummer holds record for most 3's in a Pac 12 game against a good Oregon State . Belo is the best PG in Big Ten.
LOL With the departures of Ayo, Kofi and Adam Miller, I don’t think the 2021-22 team will even be as talented as the 2020-21 team. But I’ll take a glass of your Kool-Aid.
 
#157      
LOL With the departures of Ayo, Kofi and Adam Miller, I don’t think the 2021-22 team will even be as talented as the 2020-21 team. But I’ll take a glass of your Kool-Aid.
Definitely won't have the top end talent of some of the previously mentioned squads, but will likely have a very competitive team in terms of playing time. Trent and Andre are the only players I'm sure will get over 20 minutes a game. (probably Payne too unless we can another legitimate 5) It's going to be a rock fight everyday in practice for everyone else. The last man on the bench is going to be a pretty good player, which I think was more the original poster's point.
 
#161      
The 21-22 team will look completely different from 20-21 with the loss of two all-Americans. Think Ayo’s loss can be covered with a lot of depth and experience but frontcourt huge question. Will need huge improvement from Hawk and Omar and a surprise BBV. Will need to change defensive system and pretty confident it will but BU will need to prove again that he is adaptable. Be surprised if we don’t struggle early.
 
#164      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
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Memories of becoming a father.......

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ALL HAIL DAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#165      
The 21-22 team will look completely different from 20-21 with the loss of two all-Americans. Think Ayo’s loss can be covered with a lot of depth and experience but frontcourt huge question. Will need huge improvement from Hawk and Omar and a surprise BBV. Will need to change defensive system and pretty confident it will but BU will need to prove again that he is adaptable. Be surprised if we don’t struggle early.
How many games did we lose while Ayo was out with his concussion?
 
#169      
This is correct. Kofi created gravity on the court unlike anyone else on the roster. He enabled the guards to take the defense off the dribble in many cases.
If anything I would have thought differently as most teams would sag to help the post defender, and the fact that he didn't draw any real attention outside the block.
 
#170      
If anything I would have thought differently as most teams would sag to help the post defender, and the fact that he didn't draw any real attention outside the block.
Agree, Kofi drew a ton of attention in the lane and hardly ever passed out, so he didn’t really open up much space in the lane. He was just so efficient it was hard not to make him a key feature of our offense. I’m really excited to see how the offense evolves post-Kofi. I see much better spacing with Belo running PnR with Payne or some other big with 3 shooters to space the floor. We may not be as good this year overall but may be even more dynamic offensively.
 
#171      
If anything I would have thought differently as most teams would sag to help the post defender, and the fact that he didn't draw any real attention outside the block.
Yeah, right. That's actually what creates the space. As soon as the ball is put on the floor, the sagged defense has to recover.

I'm not trying to say that Ayo didn't attract attention, but Ayo didn't dunk on the center every time he touched the ball like Kofi did :)

Man i'm gonna miss Kofi.
 
#172      
One thing Ayo and Kofi did was provide a physical prescence that most teams couldn't match. It allowed the rest of the team to things they may not be left unguarded this next season.
 
#173      
One thing Ayo and Kofi did was provide a physical prescence that most teams couldn't match. It allowed the rest of the team to things they may not be left unguarded this next season.
This is true, but it did not create a balanced team. AM, DMW, Trent, etc. would often be passive in the offense. If Ayo and Kofi were not having a good game, the team had trouble adapting. We are going to have to rely on more than 2-3 players this year to be successful.
 
#174      
How many games did we play without Kofi?
Not an answer to my question. The simple fact is that we can-we did-win without Ayo. And we can win without Kofi. Would I have liked to see them back? Sure. But the world isn’t going to end without them.

I’m amused, actually, by all the experts who are certain that Illinois will be middle of the B1G this year.
chicken GIF by floatingwoo
 
#175      
This is true, but it did not create a balanced team. AM, DMW, Trent, etc. would often be passive in the offense. If Ayo and Kofi were not having a good game, the team had trouble adapting. We are going to have to rely on more than 2-3 players this year to be successful.
Yeah everyone gets some. It's going to have to be that. I'm a little selfish but I wouldn't mind if Frazier averaged about 20 this year.
 
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