I am a fan of DGL and really hope he stays. The only problem I see is that we will have three small sophomore guards on the roster and it hurts to put two of them on court at the same time.
Illini Basketball 2023-2024
- Status
DGL, Nico, and ?? I don't see another small guard on the roster. Sencire is 6'3/6'4 with long arms so he's definitely not "small."
DGL and Nico aren't likely to be on the floor at the same time.
I'm more worried about having two guys on the floor that aren't a threat to score.
You’re right. Sencire can defend bigger guys.
This is an awesome interview. Thanks for sharing
After seeing this post, I went back and looked myself. Then I stumbled upon this gem that I posted. Holy crap! I know NOTHING about anything!
I consider these games to be mere appetizers we’ll before the main course — delicious and I’m glad they’re here, but offering nothing of nutritional value.
Having said that, we can probably extrapolate a few things, based on what we already know. Hawkins is in his fourth year. While he’ll improve on some things, he is what he is as far as three point shooting. He’s not going to radically become much better in that regard. Where he CAN improve is reducing his turnovers and looking to score more inside. If he does that, it’ll be a huge step toward us being a better team.
Likewise with TSJ. He’s in his fifth year and he’s likely not going to be a consistent three point shooter. He’ll get streaky from the arc, but he’ll have his clunkers as well. Where he can improve is providing constant leadership and not carelessly stepping back from that role at times throughout. His game is taking it to the hoop. Keep working on that.
The rest of the team has provided a small sample size to gauge whether they can make huge jumps in productivity, although the portal transfers probably won’t make much of a leap from what they provided at their previous stops. About the only thing we know for sure (or so it seems) is that Dain and Ty will continue to struggle from the free throw line. And Guerrier too. That might be our Achilles heel more this coming season than three point shooting.
At least I was right about Ty, Dain and Guerrier struggling from the free throw line. But if it's all the same, I'm just gonna stop offering opinions about things I obviously know nothing about.
This comment by MD Chicago in the Spain thread also stuck out to me, for obvious, timely reasons:
Over the last 25 tournaments, the NCAA champions average rank in adjOE was 6.2 and in adjDE was 8.6 (out of all D1 teams, ~363 at present).
Being ranked in the top 3 in offensive efficiency was more predictive of a champion (15 of last 25 champs) compared to being in the top 3 in defensive efficiency (4 of last 25 champs). 22 of the last 25 champs ranked 9th or better in AdjOE.
But very good defense remains critical, with all of the last 25 champs ranking in the top 22 for defensive efficiency and 18 of the last 25 champs ranking 11th or better in AdjDE.
Infer from this what you will.
Over the last 25 tournaments, the NCAA champions average rank in adjOE was 6.2 and in adjDE was 8.6 (out of all D1 teams, ~363 at present).
Being ranked in the top 3 in offensive efficiency was more predictive of a champion (15 of last 25 champs) compared to being in the top 3 in defensive efficiency (4 of last 25 champs). 22 of the last 25 champs ranked 9th or better in AdjOE.
But very good defense remains critical, with all of the last 25 champs ranking in the top 22 for defensive efficiency and 18 of the last 25 champs ranking 11th or better in AdjDE.
Infer from this what you will.
lol my favorite is probably that Gary A. should get "parked on the bench" because he missed some free throws in the Valencia game or that he'd be fighting with AH for minutes. And quite a bit of dissing on coach for not recruiting correctly, of course.
A couple of your comments stick out, and I'll paraphrase: "We're gonna be way better this year than last for a multitude of reasons" and "this team has great depth" and "I would say this team is a 3 or 4 seed"! Well done bro.
Honorable Mention to @skyIdub for coining the term "Hans-buried" even though there weren't too many opportunities to use it this season, I hope there will be in the future.
This doesn’t mean all that much at this point, but since the home loss to Maryland, Illinois is 16-4 (.800) with the following losses:
= Wins by combined 195 points (12 pts. avg.)
- Road, by 5, OT (tournament team)
- Road, by 8 (tournament team)
- Road, by 1 (fluke meltdown, game played in a band box)
- Home, by 6 (tournament team, #1 seed)
= Wins by combined 195 points (12 pts. avg.)
And add a 6th man, Trent, to resolve that issue
Illini in OC
In. The. Alley.
Agreed. This is one way to put him in the rafters.
While we're taking a stroll down Loyalty memory lane, thought I'd take a look back at my preseason prediction and see how it's looking.
25 wins - Failed successfully
Fluctuating between #15 - #25 - Failed successfully. Correct answer: fluctuating between #10 - #14
Finish 3rd behind PU and MD - Failed successfully. Still hard to believe what a disappointment Maryland was this year.
3 seed -
️
Knock off the #2 seed to go to the Elite Eight - TBD
TSJ gets first team AA - VOID
Coleman is 2nd Team All B1G - BS
TSJ and Coleman get drafted 2nd round - TBD
Definitely didn’t hit the parlay. But in some ways, this season has kind of played out the way I expected. I had a pretty good feeling we'd be consistently solid given our experience. I underestimated our ceiling though mostly because I underestimated Domask. Ironically, I thought we would be more of a defensive minded team.
Been a good ride. Let's keep it going.
25 wins - Failed successfully
Fluctuating between #15 - #25 - Failed successfully. Correct answer: fluctuating between #10 - #14
Finish 3rd behind PU and MD - Failed successfully. Still hard to believe what a disappointment Maryland was this year.
3 seed -
️Knock off the #2 seed to go to the Elite Eight - TBD
TSJ gets first team AA - VOID
Coleman is 2nd Team All B1G - BS
TSJ and Coleman get drafted 2nd round - TBD
Definitely didn’t hit the parlay. But in some ways, this season has kind of played out the way I expected. I had a pretty good feeling we'd be consistently solid given our experience. I underestimated our ceiling though mostly because I underestimated Domask. Ironically, I thought we would be more of a defensive minded team.
Been a good ride. Let's keep it going.
While we are going down memory lane, here is one I’m particularly proud of.
The Wisconsin Milk Man
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
Think you have to consider Luther head for that role - love Trent but Head was also an all American and NBA draft pick.
Luther has merit, but I am looking to find a way to get Trent up there despite him not meeting any of the other metrics. Trent had a very solid career, but means way more to the program during the time he was here than what his statistics and accolades could ever capture.
Ty is shooting a higher FT rate than shooters Luke and DGL.After seeing this post, I went back and looked myself. Then I stumbled upon this gem that I posted. Holy crap! I know NOTHING about anything!
I consider these games to be mere appetizers we’ll before the main course — delicious and I’m glad they’re here, but offering nothing of nutritional value.
Having said that, we can probably extrapolate a few things, based on what we already know. Hawkins is in his fourth year. While he’ll improve on some things, he is what he is as far as three point shooting. He’s not going to radically become much better in that regard. Where he CAN improve is reducing his turnovers and looking to score more inside. If he does that, it’ll be a huge step toward us being a better team.
Likewise with TSJ. He’s in his fifth year and he’s likely not going to be a consistent three point shooter. He’ll get streaky from the arc, but he’ll have his clunkers as well. Where he can improve is providing constant leadership and not carelessly stepping back from that role at times throughout. His game is taking it to the hoop. Keep working on that.
The rest of the team has provided a small sample size to gauge whether they can make huge jumps in productivity, although the portal transfers probably won’t make much of a leap from what they provided at their previous stops. About the only thing we know for sure (or so it seems) is that Dain and Ty will continue to struggle from the free throw line. And Guerrier too. That might be our Achilles heel more this coming season than three point shooting.
At least I was right about Ty, Dain and Guerrier struggling from the free throw line. But if it's all the same, I'm just gonna stop offering opinions about things I obviously know nothing about.
Illini in OC
In. The. Alley.
Agree Luther is probably the right choice on an assembled fantasy team.
Jack Ingram is the best true 6th man IMHO.
Still, need to get Trent in the rafters somehow. .. then on to DMFW
After seeing this post, I went back and looked myself. Then I stumbled upon this gem that I posted. Holy crap! I know NOTHING about anything!
Same. Went and looked at my old posts. Didn't really commit to anything, but I remember what my opinions were. I said this in Oct
I didn't expect Coleman to make much improvement and boy was that wrong. Somewhere the light went on for him to be more aggressive, and every aspect of his game is noticeably better. I was skeptical of the PG situation too --thought Underwood was using coach-speak when he said he wasn't worried. I was big on TSJ, and even he's exceeded my expectations. Pretty much true for the entire roster --guys developing more than I would expect.
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
Lucas Johnson to this day is still my favorite Illini player - love the hard hat guys
“We’ve tried to establish a work ethic, we’re a program of development,” Underwood said.
Looking up and down the roster, a strong argument can be made that EVERY player improved this year. Between being "Fletched" and the work of the incredible coaching staff, the "we are a development program" mantra of Brad may end up being second in importance only to the NIL piggybank in luring the right type of experienced "Every Day Guys" to the ILLINI. It only takes convincing a couple of Domask/TSJ type of players to transfer in to reload every season in this brave new portal world where college basketball now resides. In Brad We Trust will hopefully be the ILLINI Fan mantra for the next decade.
FOUR MORE WINS!!!
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