Illini Basketball 2021-2022

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#201      
Lol...this could be one of those stories where the kid (Lieb) goes head to head with a guy/s like Kofi and now Payne every day in practice for 4 years.....gets an extra year..now 2...of eligibility....and goes on to have a solid 10 year NBA career because he's smart and steady super experienced.

Wait...are there even any of these stories? Did I just create a story?
Might be thinking of Swen Nater. Back up to Walton at UCLA, never started a college game and got drafted. Closest I can think of.
 
#202      
Might be thinking of Swen Nater. Back up to Walton at UCLA, never started a college game and got drafted. Closest I can think of.
So, we're comparing our 15th man to a 1st round draft pick?...I think I need more kool-aid.
Larry David Reaction GIF
 
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#204      

orange100

time to hop on the wife
Everybody is talking about losing Ayo’s transition skill, and I agree that it won’t be replicated fully.

But I recall several times Curbelo got the outlet or even the rebound and took it coast to coast for a bucket. Even when we didn’t seem to have numbers.

His transition game is slightly different, but still “pretty good” when compared to Ayo.😁
Yep. No way we have seen the best of Curbelo in transition yet. Loren Tate was struggling to find adjectives for the kid this morning on the sports talk show. Curbelo is simply a magician, a generational player. We are crazy lucky to have him.
 
#205      
Yep. No way we have seen the best of Curbelo in transition yet. Loren Tate was struggling to find adjectives for the kid this morning on the sports talk show. Curbelo is simply a magician, a generational player. We are crazy lucky to have him.
Like Kofi at the 5. We’ve had a lot of really great players but don’t have any comparisons to either of them. Hope the results are also generational.
 
#206      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
Yep. No way we have seen the best of Curbelo in transition yet. Loren Tate was struggling to find adjectives for the kid this morning on the sports talk show. Curbelo is simply a magician, a generational player. We are crazy lucky to have him.
200w (7).gif


Belo is gone in the blink of an eye.......................
 
#207      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
Mild hot take: Curbelo stays for year three, wins NPOY and B1GPOY next year and goes top 5 in the 23' draft.

Ayo and Kofi decisions, and NLI make this a real possibility.

Neither Kofi nor Curbelo mentioned in 22' mock draft.

Kofi ranked 11th best C in 22'. Curbelo 5th ranked PG in 23'
 
#208      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
Mild hot take: Curbelo stays for year three, wins NPOY and B1GPOY next year and goes top 5 in the 23' draft.

Ayo and Kofi decisions, and NLI make this a real possibility.

Neither Kofi nor Curbelo mentioned in 22' mock draft.

Kofi ranked 11th best C in 22'. Curbelo 5th ranked PG in 23'

If Curbelo plays himself into a sure-fire lock of a 1st round pick (say ~20th or better), I imagine he'll be gone. I really don't think the national college honors mean nearly as much as getting to the show ASAP.
 
#209      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
If Curbelo plays himself into a sure-fire lock of a 1st round pick (say ~20th or better), I imagine he'll be gone. I really don't think the national college honors mean nearly as much as getting to the show ASAP.

Hotter take: If he does...we are a FF team this year.
 
#214      

GrayGhost77

Centennial, CO
7 BIG teams in the Top 25 and 4 in the Top 10. Seems about right. Also, it warms my schadenfreude heart to see Indiana at 31, UNC at 40, Arizona at 47, and Miznoz way down at 96 (below even powerhouse Missouri State).
 
#215      
Mild hot take: Curbelo stays for year three, wins NPOY and B1GPOY next year and goes top 5 in the 23' draft.
My first take on this was that juniors going high in the draft doesn't happen much. The same things that kept them from coming out early keep them from rising to the lottery. Then I checked the last 5 years for the top junior/senior draft picks.

2021 Davion Mitchell 9
2020 Payton Pritchard sr 26
2019 Rai hachumura 9
2018 Mikal Bridges 10
2017 Justin Jackson 15

Clearly, top tourney performances are a key in going high in the draft for juniors. Now I'm all in on ACL23.
 
#216      
What strikes me about the KenPom preseason ratings is how high Gonzaga is. They're #1, but at least 10 points ahead of all but a small group.

Also see that he projects Michigan with the best defense in the country, with Illinois #2.
 
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#217      
What strikes me about the KenPom preseason ratings is how high Gonzaga is. They're #1, but at least 10 points ahead of all but a small group.

Also see that he projects Michigan with the best defense in the country, with Illinois #2.
Kinda missed Michigan’s defensive capabilities in Illinois game. Seemed like Belo and Trent owned them. Were not quick enough to stop either. Guess they will have a couple more chances. Of course no one scored on them when they didn’t play so they have that going for them.
 
#220      

foby

Bonnaroo Land
7 BIG teams in the Top 25 and 4 in the Top 10. Seems about right. Also, it warms my schadenfreude heart to see Indiana at 31, UNC at 40, Arizona at 47, and Miznoz way down at 96 (below even powerhouse Missouri State).
If we were graphing CM at mizzery and BU at the beloved, it would look something like this;

X
 
#221      
Mild hot take: Curbelo stays for year three, wins NPOY and B1GPOY next year and goes top 5 in the 23' draft.

Ayo and Kofi decisions, and NLI make this a real possibility.

Neither Kofi nor Curbelo mentioned in 22' mock draft.

Kofi ranked 11th best C in 22'. Curbelo 5th ranked PG in 23'
Read something the other day it was the top 100 nba prospects for 2022 and they had Curbelo ranked 35 and Kofi 98
 
#222      
I’ve been thinking about the exhibition games, particularly number 2. The kids from IUP—that’s Indiana University of Pennsylvania, located in Indiana, Pennsylvania—normally play in a field house, with pull-out bleachers on one side of the court. Think the Armory. They’re good, probably the best players in their respective high schools. But they’re still Div II. My wife taught at one of their rivals.

These kids have never played anywhere like the Assembly Hall. They’ve never played before 16,000 fans, 16,000 hungry fans screaming for their opponent, against the one of the best college teams in the country with some of the best players they’ve seen, much less played against.

Once in a lifetime experience…
 
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