billybaroo
- Pebble Beach, CA
The fact that he couldn't find the floor at Montverde has me cautiously optimistic on DGL. I realize that Montverde was stacked with 5 star players, but still...
Illini Basketball 2023-2024
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I somehow suspect Mayer didn’t bring that same tenacity to practice. Still excited about the Harmon add. Under the radar type pickups usually perform well for us.
PizzaHutParkingLot
- McPherson, KS
People on this board do understand that Harmon/Domask/Guerrier will translate to a lot more wins than Epps/Melendez/Clark ever would’ve..right? Like am I missing something with all of this pessimism?
Harmon was a starter on a very good team, balled out in the NIT & is a double-digit scorer and good defender
Guerrier & Domask track records speak for themselves….
Unless you’d rather have a kid that doesn’t want to check in because Boo Buie humbled him…. Or a kid that can go 3/30 from deep in conference play? Like what are people upset about??
Harmon was a starter on a very good team, balled out in the NIT & is a double-digit scorer and good defender
Guerrier & Domask track records speak for themselves….
Unless you’d rather have a kid that doesn’t want to check in because Boo Buie humbled him…. Or a kid that can go 3/30 from deep in conference play? Like what are people upset about??
Name checks out!
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Not to mention adding Hansberry, who's gonna be a real stud, plus another year older, stronger, and wiser Ty, Goode, TJS, Dainja, Sencire, and Coleman. And that's not even bringing DGL into the equation, who seems like he'll be playing with a lot to prove. Am I forgetting anyone?
"Very good team...in the NIT", is an oxymoron, I think.
IMO our floor is like a 9 seed, so I'm pretty optimistic about our team. But to answer your question, we had a lot of talent last year and everyone was excited and then it was a bit of a let down. Then, after the fact, some posters started saying it wasn't a let down, but our expectations were just too high for a team of new faces. So, as we enter this season with 4 or 5 new players in the rotation, people have lowered their expectations.
Plus, point guard is maybe the most important position in college. Adding a good one was a clear and public point of emphasis for the staff. They didnt get one, so the offseason very literally did not go according to plan which has introduced more doubt and pessimism.
All that said, I really see no reason for heavy optimism or heavy pessimism. I'm a little bit of both. I really like who we bring back and am intrigued by our new guys. The unanswered questions only add more intrigue for me. Should be fun.
the national
- the Front Range
I do agree that the new guys improve our overall talent & experience. I think a big thing as well is there’s actually an air of leadership with this group already between Hawkins & TJ. It’s going to come down to whether or not our offense is clunky. There’s major potential for that unfortunately but we shall see.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Tough to make a run without a true point.
You’d never know it but this was actually a pretty good recruiting year.
Off topic, but like the fifth worst thing about the pandemic was that we did not get to see Illinois humiliate Duke in front of a live audience.
Disrespectful to the NIT imo. A lot of those teams especially the mid major ones are just as good as and would likely beat the lower seeded power conference teams.
The teams that make runs in the NIT are generally pretty good.
Utah valley should have been a tourney team (lost by 1 in the conference tourney) and had 4 guys(Harmon, Woodbury, Bandaogo, and Darthard) that would be impact players at the major conference level.
North Texas and UAB with Jelly Walker were also very good teams that could won games in the tournament(stuck behind FAU in conference).
All 3 of those teams would have trounced Illinois at the end of the season and plenty of other teams that made the tournament.
Lasts year we won 20 games and made the tournament. That is way better than most of the last 20 years, but our expectations have certainly shifted. I agree that last year had too high of expectations and this year people will hopefully be pleasantly surprised.
I think the bigger issue with last years team was how awful it was to watch. They had absolutely no flow on either side of the ball. Mayer and Clark and to a lesser extent Epps with bad attitudes. Shannon and Hawkins trying to show for the pros. Underwood screaming too much, then not enough. Switching D then no switching D.
My favorite part of last year was watching sencire on D.
How is the world can pople predict how teams will do in next years NCAA tournament before a game has been played. If it was not for the internet much of this "cluelessness" would never see the light of day. Some of these writers could not get a clue if they " stood in clue field during clue mating season dressed as a clue and drenched in clue pheromones."
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