I think the key to this splendid team Underwood is putting together is Dainja. How good will he be? We've never seen footage of him in a college game, even though we have seen AAU highlights, etc. We need him to be a lethal force in the paint as a scorer. We need him to attract double teams and know how to pass effectively out of them. We need him to feel free and be a threat in the mid-range game. And we need him to rebound. I believe he's got all those capabilities, but we haven't seen him bring them to the court, esp. against good competition. I have very high hopes for him, especially since he's had so much action in practice over these many months.
Illini Basketball 2022-2023
- Status
Giorgi's frosh year he averaged 12.5 ppg and I think we will see that from Dain. More important will be his rebounding and defense. The 7’8” wingspan (vs Kofi’s 7’4”) should make that possible but will depend on attitude. I agree that he is the key and good words from the staff are encouraging.
Would like the alpha dog to be Skyy but have no idea if he is the “guy”. Ayo scored 13.8 ppl his frosh year and would like a similar number from Skyy. Maybe Ty can be the guy but see Dain and Skyy as the positions that are key despite our positionless offense. My emotions say this is the year and my logic says we are a year away.
Great, a B1G game in Nov this season...
Well, to paraphrase Shakespeare, "Some are born leaders, some achieve leadership, and some have leadership thrust upon them". It seems to me in my years of watching Illinois basketball if there is not an obvious alpha dog on the team, the coaches try to encourage someone to assume that role. Or the coaches will pick someone they think should be the alpha dog and encourage that person to take that role. And other times just due to the team or player dynamics, someone assumes the role. That is, for instance, for both TSJ and Mayer, their situations are different than where they were last year so they may also have a different mindset in regards to becoming leaders. Maybe it was not needed where they were but now they may actually relish the role to show what they can do and impress NBA scouts or something. I am sure the coaches are telling them that they are more experienced, more mature, and whatever, and are being encouraged to become the leaders (unless there is someone already who, unbeknownst to us, has assumed that role). Unfortunately, unless we hear rumors about an emerging alpha dog, we are just going to have to wait and see.
MDchicago
- Lake Norman NC
Opponent (typically a lower level D1 team) agrees to play a road game with no contractual right to a reciprocal home game. Home opponent pays guaranteed amount to visiting team to get a home game with no strings attached.
Can be a significant source of budget $ for lower level programs with limited resources, but usually comes at the expense of adding Ls to their win-loss record (which in turn, can adversely impact, post-season chances/seeding, so the low/mid majors need to get the balance right if they have post-season tournament aspirations).
Last edited:
^This. As the link I provided in my original post showed, Illinois is paying these schools to come play in Champaign. EIU is getting $100,000. Alabama A&M is getting $92,500. Bethune-Cookman is getting $95,000.
Tacomallini
- Washington State
Can’t sleep on Miznoz either, even if it’s a rebuild year for them. Other than not having a Gavitt game, I’m pretty excited about the non conference. The ‘cupcakes’ will let BU get some different looks, hopefully see the Illini put up some 100 point games.
Basically irrelevant either way. Whatever way happens to their advanced ratings really (so how efficiently did they blow Bethune Cookman out, did they efficiently sort of hang around against Illinois?) NCAA/NIT are autobids or bust as is, and CBI/CIT will take whatever semi-decent mid-majors are willing to pay to play in it (usually more veteran teams that want to send their teams out in style).
What's the word on Sencire? I'm hoping he stays engaged even if his freshman peers end up getting more playing time.
- Status