Illini Basketball 2023-2024

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#176      

727ill

7
727ill
thefalcon5 said:
Explain Matthew Mayer and Terrance Shannon both increasing their FT percentage their first year here. I don’t buy either Ubben or SFC are even negatives to our guys percentages.
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Its a player-by-player thing. For some guys it doesn't matter. For others the depth perception piece really matters.

They have done studies on it..like why do teams shoot so poorly in football stadiums..

For guys like Dain, I'm sure the depth perception part of much bigger importance as he has less margin for error. Look how many of his free throws hit the back of the rim..
 
#177      

Ga65

G
Ga65
Like the simple approach. If we shoot well we will beat even the good teams. If we can’t shoot in a particular game we will lose in the BIG. A PG does not make a good shooter and not all depends on the position. Some nights particular players can’t shoot. If you have some that can and figure out who they are you can still beat most teams. Tough to drive the ball if no one can shoot. Believe it has a lot to do with confidence and seems to be determined fairly early in the game.
 
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#178      

Illini in Italy

Illini in Italy
Illini in Italy
Emerson Bigguns said:
. . . . Winning is beautiful even when its ugly.

All this hand wringing about beating the point spread and not having a "true PG"... for what? Is it more fun to lament all you don't have or be thankful the team is relevant. God knows it wasn't long ago that it felt like it never would be again.
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Preach John Stamos GIF by Fuller House
 
#179      

foby

foby
Bonnaroo Land
foby
Emerson Bigguns said:
Anyone who expected this team to operate with surgical precision was setting themselves up for disappointment from the get-go. This team isn't a scalpel. It's a bludgeon. We are going to run hard all the time, push the ball in transition. In the half court we will be deliberately trying to get the ball to the rim, while making the other team work harder than they want to work. We will throw big bodies at the opposition and sub relentlessly. We will attack the glass, close out on shooters, and make you make a bunch of mid-range shots.
The games will be ugly. We are what we are... but we can win ugly. Winning is beautiful even when its ugly.

All this hand wringing about beating the point spread and not having a "true PG"... for what? Is it more fun to lament all you don't have or be thankful the team is relevant. God knows it wasn't long ago that it felt like it never would be again.
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Season 6 Yes GIF by The Masked Singer
 
#180      

Illinicpa14

I
Chicago
Illinicpa14
thefalcon5 said:
Without putting a ton of thought into it (and recognizing some of these guys are more combo than pure point): Xavier Johnson, Tyson Walker, Boo Buie, Chucky Hepburn, Dug McDaniel, and Jahmir Young. I honestly don’t know who the PG is for teams like Minny, Rutgers, Iowa, Purdue, and maybe a couple other teams, but I’d wager at least one of theirs is better than Ty at the 1.

I think Ty is a good player and will only become better, but I think very early results show he just isn’t the kind of facilitator or scorer to be a dynamic PG. I still think we can be a really really great team and it’s not Ty’s fault we don’t have a true PG.

I will not get over BU and company not getting even a mediocre PG in the portal.
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What you are describing is the issue. Ty is a good player but in college sports your PG is often the most important and most influential player.

I don’t see Ty winning us a specific game himself in March. For example Trent who was not an all American, I did see when he had those big moments.
 
#181      

Emerson Bigguns

Emerson Bigguns
Emerson Bigguns
Illinicpa14 said:
What you are describing is the issue. Ty is a good player but in college sports your PG is often the most important and most influential player.

I don’t see Ty winning us a specific game himself in March. For example Trent who was not an all American, I did see when he had those big moments.
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When the game is on the line the ball will be going to this guy:
1700614605321.png

It doesn't matter who else we might have brought in. We are going as far as this guy takes us.
 
#182      

Calvin

C
Calvin
Question:

This far into the season, if you had to pick one, you are (more/less) confident we make the S16?
 
#183      

The Galloping Ghost

The Galloping Ghost
Washington, DC
The Galloping Ghost
Calvin said:
Question:

This far into the season, if you had to pick one, you are (more/less) confident we make the S16?
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I'm going to give a horrible non-answer. It's too early to tell. Last year at this time, we just beat the #8 team in the country and held our own against the #16. I thought that team had the goods to make a run. Then we know how everything played out.

Thus far, we beat the #1 in the preseason and gave the #4 team all they could handle, but there have been plenty of growing pains throughout. The major difference between last year and this year is we are old as heck. I believe in seniors to be able to stick it out, learn, and get better. And just about every single game we go into we will have the best player on the court. TSJ was good last year, but looks unstoppable going to the basket right now. There's a lot to be said for that, especially come March.

We're lucky that we have an extended period right now where we can practice and get healthy. Ask again on December 9th. We should have a pretty darn good idea then.
 
#184      

lstewart53x3

lstewart53x3
Scottsdale, Arizona
lstewart53x3
The Galloping Ghost said:
I'm going to give a horrible non-answer. It's too early to tell. Last year at this time, we just beat the #8 team in the country and held our own against the #16. I thought that team had the goods to make a run. Then we know how everything played out.

Thus far, we beat the #1 in the preseason and gave the #4 team all they could handle, but there have been plenty of growing pains throughout. The major difference between last year and this year is we are old as heck. I believe in seniors to be able to stick it out, learn, and get better. And just about every single game we go into we will have the best player on the court. TSJ was good last year, but looks unstoppable going to the basket right now. There's a lot to be said for that, especially come March.

We're lucky that we have an extended period right now where we can practice and get healthy. Ask again on December 9th. We should have a pretty darn good idea then.
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The tourney’s a crapshoot.

Last year, we started off strong, fizzled out towards the end of the year and made no noise in the tourney.

Ayo’s last year, we started off poor, finished strong by winning the B1G tourney and getting as high as number 2 in KenPom - made no noise in the tourney.

There are teams every year who play poor down the stretch of the regular season, yet make a run and vise versa.

No one has a clue how *any* team will perform in the tourney until they get there.
 
#186      

Ilanoy

I
Ilanoy
At least the Marquette loss is a bit better...they seem to be the best team right now.

Illinois HAS to beat one or both of FAU/Tenn to have a shot at the tournament (unless Illinois just destroys b1g conf play) because there is nothing on the non-con schedule to help with resume as of yet....
 
#187      

Second place is 1st loser

S
Second place is 1st loser
Calvin said:
Question:

This far into the season, if you had to pick one, you are (more/less) confident we make the S16?
Click to expand...
Less.

Though it's only been 5 games, seeing the same issues as last year. Hard to feel more confident.

Slow starts
Turning the ball over
Poor foul shooting
Heavy reliance on the three
Questionable guard play
Relying on a TSJ heater to win
 
#188      

Second place is 1st loser

S
Second place is 1st loser
Ilanoy said:
At least the Marquette loss is a bit better...they seem to be the best team right now.

Illinois HAS to beat one or both of FAU/Tenn to have a shot at the tournament (unless Illinois just destroys b1g conf play) because there is nothing on the non-con schedule to help with resume as of yet....
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To put that much emphasis on two games, what you're saying is that, less Purdue, the entire conference sucks, which pretty much puts every team, other than Purdue, in the same boat as us.

The bulk of "resume building wins" generally comes within conference. There should be 14 to 15 chances at "quality wins". Those should be there. There might not be a marquee win on the schedule, but there should be a bunch of good ones. Just avoid bad losses and they'll be fine.

P.s...Beating UT would be great, but we're going to be significant dogs in that game and we're probably going to get curb stomped.
 
#189      

mysterio2525

mysterio2525
mysterio2525
Calvin said:
Question:

This far into the season, if you had to pick one, you are (more/less) confident we make the S16?
Click to expand...
Honest answer: not confident. We aren't versatile to adjust to someone taking us out of our comfort zone.. that means players and coaching. Sounds familiar. Can we? For sure.. But we have to a great draw which we haven't. But I still think we will have a good year. It is what it is.
 
#190      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
Calvin said:
Question:

This far into the season, if you had to pick one, you are (more/less) confident we make the S16?
Click to expand...
Since you say that we have to pick one, I’ll go with less. In actuality I pretty much feel the same though, which wasn’t particularly confident. I’ve spent the last few years believing in the “high ceilings” the teams have had when it came to tourney outlook. So while there have been some great seasons that make the year tremendous successes overall, tourney results have left a bitter taste in the mouth. And I know some people on here are fond of saying “too much luck involved,” “tourney is a crap shoot,” we’ve been facing teams that were under seeded,” etc.. You know who says things like that? Fans of teams not going far in tourney. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a fan of a team making E8 saying we got lucky and finally beat the crap shoot because we didn’t face any under seeded teams.

The reasons I’m still about the same on the confidence meter is that thus far there are too many similarities between how this team is playing and previous teams’ weaknesses. Shannon’s play has been the one thing that has been different. I really think he has taken a step forward. Just not sure yet/if we have the players to play Robin and Alfred to his Batman that are needed to move forwarded through the tourney. We certainly have some good candidates, but we have in the past too.

I’m expecting a very good to great regular season and will be rooting hard for such. And I’ll be rooting even harder during the tourney and am hopeful as we have a good team. But confident? Can’t go that far.
 
#191      

iron

I
iron
Ilanoy said:
At least the Marquette loss is a bit better...they seem to be the best team right now.

Illinois HAS to beat one or both of FAU/Tenn to have a shot at the tournament (unless Illinois just destroys b1g conf play) because there is nothing on the non-con schedule to help with resume as of yet....
Click to expand...

Illinois does not HAVE to beat FAU or Tennessee to make the tournament (but I think we will beat FAU)
 
#195      

altgeld88

altgeld88
Arlington, Virginia
altgeld88
Emerson Bigguns said:
Anyone who expected this team to operate with surgical precision was setting themselves up for disappointment from the get-go. This team isn't a scalpel. It's a bludgeon. We are going to run hard all the time, push the ball in transition. In the half court we will be deliberately trying to get the ball to the rim, while making the other team work harder than they want to work. We will throw big bodies at the opposition and sub relentlessly. We will attack the glass, close out on shooters, and make you make a bunch of mid-range shots.
The games will be ugly. We are what we are... but we can win ugly. Winning is beautiful even when its ugly.

All this hand wringing about beating the point spread and not having a "true PG"... for what? Is it more fun to lament all you don't have or be thankful the team is relevant. God knows it wasn't long ago that it felt like it never would be again.
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This^^^ Bolded portion particularly appropriate on the eve of Thanksgiving.

Sadly, I believe the implicit answer is that for many complaining is indeed satisfying. Gratitude is an attitude. :illinois: [EDIT: and complaining when a program is in a relatively strong place is a luxury for those who can indulge in it.]
 
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#196      

RockfordIllini

R
RockfordIllini
Calvin said:
Question:

This far into the season, if you had to pick one, you are (more/less) confident we make the S16?
Click to expand...

About the same. TJ looks a little bit better, Luke’s shooting is a piece we were missing from last year. But we are still building connectivity on defense and guys are still finding their roles. Hard to remember, but that 20-21 team started off so so and didn’t really take off until Grandi found his role and moved into the starting lineup.

Think we will take a jump when ~2 of the following things happen:
Domask settles into a clear # 2/consistent 13-15 ppg scorer
We get good Coleman more than bad Coleman
Quincy’s wrist heals and he gets back to knocking down 3’s at 35%+
Harmon settles into a Feliz-lite role
The lightbulb goes on for DGL
The lightbulb goes on for Amani

I am cautiously optimistic we will take a leap at some point this year. It’s just a question of seeding and if we get stuck on the 8/9 line again. Really need TN or FAU, probably Tenn more so.

And just as an aside I still contend we sweep Purdue this year if Sencire plays. Purdue’s guards did not look comfortable at all against Tenn. Took a transcendent Loyer game to win that one.
 
#197      

Emerson Bigguns

Emerson Bigguns
Emerson Bigguns
RockfordIllini said:
About the same. TJ looks a little bit better, Luke’s shooting is a piece we were missing from last year. But we are still building connectivity on defense and guys are still finding their roles. Hard to remember, but that 20-21 team started off so so and didn’t really take off until Grandi found his role and moved into the starting lineup.


We get good Coleman more than bad Coleman
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Any Coleman will help with establishing roles and rotations. We are a better team when he is on the court.
 
#199      

Point-Illinois

P
Point-Illinois
Without Sencire Harris, we don’t make the tourney last year. We all know of his impact on the UCLA game, but the Michigan game at home is the real key.

Go back and watch his impact in that game if you forgot. I know it’s a team game but he made some CLUTCH plays at the end to keep us in that one and help us win.

That loss would have been a bad one, and could have put us on the wrong side of the bubble.

Man I hope in 2 years Sencire is lighting up Purdue at Mackey (with 4 steals against Fletcher Loyer) and we all look back at this as the best decision ever.

Edit: In case anyone wonders why I randomly posted this all of a sudden, I was going back reading through the Sencire Harris thread and forgot that it’s been 2 weeks since the last post. 🤣

Looks like it got moved up here so Dan could close that thread down. Sorry for resurrecting the old thread Dan! I’m like that guy who watched Lost 8 years after it ended and wanted to talk about it with everyone.
 
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