Illini Basketball 2022-2023

Status
Not open for further replies.
#301      

IlliniLiveOn

Sierra Nevada
Hold on to your butt because I'm about to blow your mind. Do you know who has even fewer minutes than Dain coming into this season? All four freshmen. They have 0 minutes. Combined. That's right, 0. And yet, we're expecting major minutes from them, too.

In all seriousness, I think Dain more than passes the eye test. Everything I've seen from him has me extremely excited to see how BU uses him. His versatility, ability to create off the dribble, and shot could make him a very tough matchup for a lot of teams.
From Skyy, yes. From the others ... major mins might be a stretch. 8 from Epps, 6 from Ty, 4 from Harris, just an educated guess, I'll admit.

Please send me the links to the video of Dain that you have seen. I assume you have not seen him in practice or play when he was at Baylor. Coaches can brag a lot about a player's potential ... kind of like BU and 1500 career points Luke Goode.

Don't get me wrong. I would love Dain to be a beast that can do everything you say. I hope he and Coleman both contribute to a great season.
 
Last edited:
#303      

The Galloping Ghost

Washington, DC
From Skyy, yes. From the others ... major mins might be a stretch. 8 from Epps, 6 from Ty, 4 from Harris, just an educated guess, I'll admit.

Please send me the links to the video of Dain that you have seen. I assume you have not seen him in practice or play when he was at Baylor. Coaches can brag a lot about a player's potential ... kind of like BU and 1500 career points Luke Goode.

Don't get me wrong. I would love Dain to be a beast that can do everything you say. I hope he and Coleman both contribute to a great season.
Considering we have two point guards on the roster right now, I think it's a fair bet Epps plays more than 6 minutes per game. If BU didn't trust Epps to play serious minutes, he would have made bringing in an experienced pg a higher priority. We'll see what happens in the portal, though. I also think Rogers is gonna force his way into significantly more than 6 minutes by the middle of the season. We'll see.

As for Dain--
This is him after 5 months with Fletch:

Here he is in high school. Notice the handles at 1:20:

And then the classic high school mixed tape:

Look, I'm no soothsayer. I'm just a guy that's incredibly impressed with Dain's athleticism and skills for a player his size. His biggest question mark coming in seemed to be fitness. He wasn't in shape at Baylor. All indications are that he's taken his fitness seriously since he got on campus in the winter and Fletch has worked his magic. You're right, I obviously haven't seen him play in college yet, but I do think he passes the eye test and has a ton of potential.
 
#304      
Considering we have two point guards on the roster right now, I think it's a fair bet Epps plays more than 6 minutes per game. If BU didn't trust Epps to play serious minutes, he would have made bringing in an experienced pg a higher priority. We'll see what happens in the portal, though. I also think Rogers is gonna force his way into significantly more than 6 minutes by the middle of the season. We'll see.

As for Dain--
This is him now that Fletch has had him for 5 months:

Here he is in high school. Notice the handles at 1:20:

And then the classic high school mixed tape:

Look, I'm no soothsayer. I'm just a guy that's incredibly impressed with Dain's athleticism and skills for a player his size. His biggest question mark coming in seemed to be fitness. He wasn't in shape at Baylor. All indications are that he's taken his fitness seriously since he got on campus in the winter and Fletch has worked his magic. You're right, I obviously haven't seen him play in college yet, but I do think he passes the eye test and has a ton of potential.
Who said it’s not?
 
#305      
Hold on to your butt because I'm about to blow your mind. Do you know who has even fewer minutes than Dain coming into this season? All four freshmen. They have 0 minutes. Combined. That's right, 0. And yet, we're expecting major minutes from them, too.

In all seriousness, I think Dain more than passes the eye test. Everything I've seen from him has me extremely excited to see how BU uses him. His versatility, ability to create off the dribble, and shot could make him a very tough matchup for a lot of teams.
The four freshman played all or most of their senior seasons of H.S. ball, even Skyy who had an ACL last Summer. Dain has 9 total minutes of live game time in the past two years (due in large part to injury). Sure the FR haven't played college ball yet, but at least they have played. With Dain, it's reasonable to be a bit worried about his ability to stay on the court. FWIW, I'll be overjoyed if we can get 20 min/game out of him.
 
#307      

IlliniLiveOn

Sierra Nevada
Considering we have two point guards on the roster right now, I think it's a fair bet Epps plays more than 6 minutes per game. If BU didn't trust Epps to play serious minutes, he would have made bringing in an experienced pg a higher priority. We'll see what happens in the portal, though. I also think Rogers is gonna force his way into significantly more than 6 minutes by the middle of the season. We'll see.

As for Dain--
This is him after 5 months with Fletch:

Here he is in high school. Notice the handles at 1:20:

And then the classic high school mixed tape:

Look, I'm no soothsayer. I'm just a guy that's incredibly impressed with Dain's athleticism and skills for a player his size. His biggest question mark coming in seemed to be fitness. He wasn't in shape at Baylor. All indications are that he's taken his fitness seriously since he got on campus in the winter and Fletch has worked his magic. You're right, I obviously haven't seen him play in college yet, but I do think he passes the eye test and has a ton of potential.
Actually, I have seen that first video. I recall it now. Let's just agree that Fletch has done what Baylor's program has not. The guy has dropped 40 pounds, gained an inch in height, and feels better/stronger/quicker by his own admission. I really hope you are right in your projection to the court in performance. He certainly handles the ball better than Coleman, if that is indeed critical for a 4/5. We'll see what happens when he is guarded. Recall that Omar was gifted in his own way, but translating that to 5 on 5 in college ball was another thing. Also, I am still amused at IU coach Mike Woodson's comments before last season that TJD was hitting the outside shot and stretching the defense in practice. The Big Ten teams waited ... and waited... and waited ... for TJD to do that against them in a game.
 
#308      
#310      
Actually, I have seen that first video. I recall it now. Let's just agree that Fletch has done what Baylor's program has not. The guy has dropped 40 pounds, gained an inch in height, and feels better/stronger/quicker by his own admission. I really hope you are right in your projection to the court in performance. He certainly handles the ball better than Coleman, if that is indeed critical for a 4/5. We'll see what happens when he is guarded. Recall that Omar was gifted in his own way, but translating that to 5 on 5 in college ball was another thing. Also, I am still amused at IU coach Mike Woodson's comments before last season that TJD was hitting the outside shot and stretching the defense in practice. The Big Ten teams waited ... and waited... and waited ... for TJD to do that against them in a game.
Fletch can add height to players????

Wow, that’s impressive
 
#312      

derrick6

Illini Dawg
Seattle
Everyone has to earn their minutes.

There is only one reason that Hawkins gets fewer minutes. It's because he doesn't deserve more. BU's job is to win games. If that's 2 mpg for Hawkins or 30mpg for Hawkins, so be it.

Coaches can promise starts I suppose without too much of a negative result when that player doesn't perform where you need or more likely gets outperformed. But the total minutes played is a different thing altogether.
Coleman will earn his minutes. His defense has shown to be more enticing than his offense at this stage, and BU plays defense first.
 
#313      
Dain will be a stud. It will probably take a while for him to adjust though. The benefit of practicing with Kofi this last year and a full year with Fletch will pull him over. Hopefully, he will mature quickly and we will see his full potential coming to fruition before tournament time. That's why we need another big. Dain needs to be seasoned and that will take some time. Hoping Nance will be available and answer the call. That would really round out this team.
 
#315      
As far as Dain, BU has significant experience working with bigs who have facilitating skill sets. It’s required for a big who plays in the spread, which used to be BUs base offense. It is my opinion that BU has been wanting a big like Dain for a while, but you take a kofi when he’s available. I don’t know that we’ll see a lot of full spread offense, even though with what we have I think it would be hard to guard. It would not surprise me, however, to see a bunch of those concepts built in as options/reads to the full offensive system they’re creating.
 
#317      

RedRocksIllini

Morrison, CO
Fletch can add height to players????

Wow, that’s impressive
stretch armstrong 90s GIF
 
#320      
Dain will be a stud. It will probably take a while for him to adjust though. The benefit of practicing with Kofi this last year and a full year with Fletch will pull him over. Hopefully, he will mature quickly and we will see his full potential coming to fruition before tournament time. That's why we need another big. Dain needs to be seasoned and that will take some time. Hoping Nance will be available and answer the call. That would really round out this team.
We also need another big because Dain and Coleman both aren't likely to play 40 min/game (Dain especially with injury history).

Yes I know we'll go small at times with a wing at the 4, but we still need another legitimate PF/C. Two isn't enough.
 
#321      
The four freshman played all or most of their senior seasons of H.S. ball, even Skyy who had an ACL last Summer. Dain has 9 total minutes of live game time in the past two years (due in large part to injury). Sure the FR haven't played college ball yet, but at least they have played. With Dain, it's reasonable to be a bit worried about his ability to stay on the court. FWIW, I'll be overjoyed if we can get 20 min/game out of him.
It looks like he is fairly quick with his feet....I'm going to guess he'll be a better defender away from the basket than Kofi....down low, probably not...but time and game experience will tell....me thinks it's possible to see him get 25 min/game🤞
 
#322      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
Wasn’t sure which thread to post this in since they cover so much ground but this was an enjoyable podcast with Jeremy and Trent. They talk about next year, transfer portal, and other stuff, but this seemed the best spot to post. Side note, Trent’s comments that he talked to Pete Nance who said he hasn’t heard from Illinois coaches is kind of funny. I think of all the folks covering Illini hoops, I enjoy these two the most.

 
#323      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
Considering we have two point guards on the roster right now, I think it's a fair bet Epps plays more than 6 minutes per game. If BU didn't trust Epps to play serious minutes, he would have made bringing in an experienced pg a higher priority. We'll see what happens in the portal, though. I also think Rogers is gonna force his way into significantly more than 6 minutes by the middle of the season. We'll see.

As for Dain--
This is him after 5 months with Fletch:

Here he is in high school. Notice the handles at 1:20:

And then the classic high school mixed tape:

Look, I'm no soothsayer. I'm just a guy that's incredibly impressed with Dain's athleticism and skills for a player his size. His biggest question mark coming in seemed to be fitness. He wasn't in shape at Baylor. All indications are that he's taken his fitness seriously since he got on campus in the winter and Fletch has worked his magic. You're right, I obviously haven't seen him play in college yet, but I do think he passes the eye test and has a ton of potential.
A lot to like there, seems to do a bit of everything, but I am impressed with his handles for how big he is (and was).
 
#325      
I’m content with our roster being good now and potentially great with a transfer, so … my things I’m honestly most looking forward to now are:

1. Uniform updates??
2. United Center game return?
3. Gotta get that Braggin’ Rights Game date so I can plan.

I-L-L!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.