texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
This will just add another chip to Trent's shoulder. Channel that anger and weaponize it. 
Illini Basketball 2021-2022
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Sorry in advance. It hurts me to type this:
I'm not wanting to bash on DaMonte, but we don't need to look too far to find his weakness.
His 2-pt shooting on the year is 10-44. You can do the math.
Unless he has a clear path to the rim, if it's available he should shoot the three, where he's making 33%.
Otherwise, it looks like he's hurting the team. At least on the offense side.
This isn't taking into consideration the times where when he drives, finds himself in trouble, then turns it over.
I'm not wanting to bash on DaMonte, but we don't need to look too far to find his weakness.
His 2-pt shooting on the year is 10-44. You can do the math.
Unless he has a clear path to the rim, if it's available he should shoot the three, where he's making 33%.
Otherwise, it looks like he's hurting the team. At least on the offense side.
This isn't taking into consideration the times where when he drives, finds himself in trouble, then turns it over.
Compare the above to R.J. who is shooting 10-19 on two's and 4-6 on three's. Just say'n.
Note: I realize most of his minutes were against much inferior competition or in mop-up time.
The freshmen, other than Goode I don't think will get a ton of meaningful minutes unless it's a blowout the rest of the season. Maybe they should maybe they shouldn't, I'll leave that up to the coaching staff to figure out, as they know players capabilities or limitations better than any of us. But if going up against Trent, Belo, DM and Kofi everyday in practice doesn't make you better, then I'm not sure you're going to get better. Playing time is important, but practicing against some of the best players in the B10 and all of college basketball has to make you better.....hoping that the Freshmen will realize they're not wasting away here.....they are becoming the next best players in the B10 and college basketball....patience....their time will come to show everyone what they have learned
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Or asking any B10 player that's had Trent guarding him. That would do it as well.
It's no secret his weakness is on the offensive side of the ball. It's also no secret he can defend about every position on the floor and do it at an "elite" level. BU knows what he's doing. Can we just accept it and move on? RJ will play if and when coach feels he won't be a massive liability on defense.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
yep....the frosh are what we called years ago , paying their dues with the experienced players we have this year......I doubt any transfer as i see them lookng bought in when there is a timeout and the interaction on the bench....
As someone stated earlier , we have some players leaving the program that are playing 30 + minutes each game so I would bet the frosh see that also and are trying in practice each day to carve out their own niche as far as PT next year......The incoming frosh next year will also be biting the bit to gain court time...
we have a nice mixture of skills and this truly is an exciting time to be an Illini fan.......Special times are upon us with BU and staff leading the way.....
GO ILLINI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps our point is, in games of recent memory, during the last 5+ minutes of these games we can't buy a basket. Or hit the broad side of a barn. This is where we ask RJ to take off his pullover and get in there.
So the answer is, put in a freshman who will give up buckets in hopes he can score more than he gives up??? It would have been an absolute disaster decision in the last 5 minutes of the MSU game. This board would have imploded if that happened.
Hawk is 6'10. He has to have quite a bit of foot quickness to stay with 6'4 and 6'5 wings in the manner that he does. How many 6'10 types do you know that has the foot quickness of a much shorter wing outside of the NBA? Also, none of us know what BU has said to different guys in playing D against particular opponents. The consensus is that a defender is generally supposed to channel a good offensive player into help.
soupy17
- MI
Goode said it himself:
"The way you get on the court as a Freshman is play defense and work hard."
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
I didn't know where else to put this, but nice to see Abrams getting some props from his high school
Yeah, BUT FRESHMEN. Top 10 wins can freakin’ suck it.
The board implodes in a loss, regardless of how we get there. Everyone second guesses losses be it sports, or personal life, or business.
We would be a better team if Damonte shot better. Or Plummer defended better. Or Kofi passed better. Or Hawkins rebounded better. You name it. If players perform better we get to be a better team.
So musing about the what ifs is what we do as a fan base. But it's pretty clear that BU thinks we're a better team with Damonte and his weaknesses and strengths than we are with RJ and his weaknesses and strengths.
"At least on the offensive side" is the key take away from your post. On the defensive side, nobody is asked to do more than him. Izzo went out of his way to point him out because he makes things difficult.
When healthy, this team has scoring options. His value is on the other end, healthy or not.
Almost every coach will tell you that. Unless you're talking a top 10 recruit with spectacular offensive skills, the only way for a FR to gain their coach's trust is to play good defense. Again, this isn't just for BU but for virtually all coaches.
And no coach is going to play a FR "just to see what he can do" in a close game. The coach sees what they can do every day in practice.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
This is an amazing analysis. Thank you for posting. BTW, everyone should keep reading through to the comments section. One reader astutely asked what about the last five minutes when we didn’t score, and the author provides further analysis. Lots of things going on here, but it gets to one of my pet peeves, which is running the clock down at the end of the game when you are up, with only enough time to run one set play. I would argue fine, run off a little clock, but keep enough time to run a couple sets. It absolutely kills your offensive efficiency to put all your eggs in one basket (no pun intended). That’s how you blow leads.
Edit: one more thought. I also think that when you leave so little time at the end of the shot clock, everyone “tightens up” and plays get forced. Ayo was a true gift in still finding a way to play loose even in those crunch times.
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This assumption is based on what just them being freshmen ? Ive watched far too many college games this year to buy into this line of thinking. I think all the freshmen could contribute in some way if given the minutes . The problem is that you'd have to sit an upperclassmen to do it and BU is committed to them all the way. Now thats not necessarily a bad thing to do but you also have to weigh the potential long term consequences for the short term gain.
I'm almost always against this also. And it's worth pointing out that BU usually doesn't do this. You're right - it tends to kills your offense and the players tighten up.
However, I think the situation with Andre and Kofi out (and Trent and Plummer exhausted) changed the approach in this specific circumstance.
No wonder KY plays so many freshmen. They love first cousins there.
I'm glad you said this...I've thought the exact same thing. It's just the intrigue of the unknown. Too irresistible for some.
The funny thing is, in football, you usually just hear the back up QB stuff when things aren't going well. In basketball, the team could be firing on all cylinders and people are still asking to see the freshman.
Just a peculiar thing about fans.
There is an opportunity cost to every action. Most of the games in this conference are going to be close, often decided by a few possessions. So the question is, do we want to win a B1G title, or play the freshmen more? The 7-8 guys who give us the best chance to win are going to play the most minutes. Experience certainly contributes to staying calm, and that leads to winning close games.
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