Illini Basketball 2023-2024

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#251      

Old Farm Illini

O
Old Farm Illini
PasadenaIllini said:
The problem with the eyeball test against the competition we've been playing is that the competition hasn't been good. As another poster pointed out, every visiting team has blown out these European teams we've played. I would love it if Ty beat the odds or our 3 point or foul shooting improved drastically. I don't think it's fair to expect any of these outcomes.
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Regardless of the quality of competition, DGL and Moretti showed enough promise to prove that Ty is not going to be the only option at the point. The stats don't show how much better we looked moving the ball and how players looked playing off the ball. We look like a top 25 team even if we don't improve our perimeter shoot and I'd bet a lot of money that it'll be higher than last season.
 
#253      

Combo

C
Combo
PasadenaIllini said:
Agree with 1-5. I don't agree with "Illinois is basically right there with everyone else." Until our team proves it can handle the basketball against a decent team without piling up more turnovers than your average bakery and proves it can knock down the three point shot and free throws, I think you have to put us down as middle of the pack. Teams are going to harass the bejesus out of Ty full court until he proves he has the skills to actually play the position that Brad thinks he can play, and they're going to sag off of most of our perimeter players and make it really difficult to get the ball inside. The advantages of having good frontcourt players are greatly reduced when you don't have a point guard who gets them the ball in places where they can be successful.
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Pretty much what I’m thinking. In fact i think middle of the pack is being generous.
 
#254      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
ChiTown said:
The more I see Moretti the more I like this young man,he looks like a decent/serviceable true point guard.
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I think offensively that’s true. But the insider reports seem to indicate he can’t play both sides at a level to be on the floor. Can’t have guy getting destroyed on defense in the B10.
 
#255      

ChiTown

ChiTown
ChiTown
illini80 said:
I think offensively that’s true. But the insider reports seem to indicate he can’t play both sides at a level to be on the floor. Can’t have guy getting destroyed on defense in the B10.
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Remember what the insider reports said about the other guy that got drafted in the lottery too…..
 
#258      

aaeismacgychel

A
aaeismacgychel
PasadenaIllini said:
Agree with 1-5. I don't agree with "Illinois is basically right there with everyone else." Until our team proves it can handle the basketball against a decent team without piling up more turnovers than your average bakery and proves it can knock down the three point shot and free throws, I think you have to put us down as middle of the pack. Teams are going to harass the bejesus out of Ty full court until he proves he has the skills to actually play the position that Brad thinks he can play, and they're going to sag off of most of our perimeter players and make it really difficult to get the ball inside. The advantages of having good frontcourt players are greatly reduced when you don't have a point guard who gets them the ball in places where they can be successful.
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It's still really early but I get the concern. Point guard, half court offense, and 3pt and free throw shooting are likely to be dodgy next year. And really there is a possibility it will be worse than last season.

That said, this trip showed that we should be an extremely formidable team on the offensive boards and we should be light years ahead of where we were last year defensively. 2nd chance points, transition buckets, and tenacious defense is what will need to be our calling card, and I think that in itself can take us decently far.

Will we lose some games in frustrating fashion that will get the fans up in arms? Yeah, probably. But we should also win our fair share of ugly bare knuckle fights in the B10. And if B10 refs allow for physical play from our guards, we should be an absolute pain to play against.

I see promise from this team, even if it's imperfect. This team could certainly make a S16 run.
 
#259      

iron

I
iron
One Man Fast Break said:
I think our median outcome is probably an 8 seed, half the outcomes being better, half being worse. Harmon/Domask/Guerrier all being veteran players making an uncertain transition up to Big Ten level play will be the difference in how the season goes. The Point Guard play is less an uncertainty than just a known weakness at this point.
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Generally concur. I would set the over under at like 7 seed or like 27 Kenpom rank. Most of this board would say under but I would put up money on the over for both. The only way I'd say under is if you told me we would have a top 10 KP defense
 
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