Illini Basketball 2024-2025

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#401      
the juiceman cometh
Illini4Christ said:
Did you see DGL walk past the bench when he was taken out at the end of the game? He is frustrated and I don’t blame him. Brad wants athletes? You won’t find one better than DGL and for two more years after this season. Remember TSJ’s improvement in his last two seasons? DGL can have the same jump. Two similar players.
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I do not have inside info, but I feel like part of the issue with DGL not getting opportunity is also the main difference between TSJ and DGL. DGL is listed at just 6-1. One of the key things Brad has emphasized in recruiting is positional size. DGL doesn't have it. TSJ did.

Again, I'm just guessing, but I can't really think of another reason that makes sense. Maybe I'm way off and if so I hope one of the insiders will correct me. I think positional size is a great thing to have, but it shouldn't be the end all, be all. It's a data point in player evaluation, possibly a very important one. But it shouldn't be disqualifying for a guy like DGL who checks a lot of other boxes.
 
#402      
jumpingjack
LvilleILL1 said:
Booth is already driving to the airport packing his bags the minute our last game ends
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Glasses Lol GIF by Robert E Blackmon
 
#403      
ChiTown
the juiceman cometh said:
I do not have inside info, but I feel like part of the issue with DGL not getting opportunity is also the main difference between TSJ and DGL. DGL is listed at just 6-1. One of the key things Brad has emphasized in recruiting is positional size. DGL doesn't have it. TSJ did.

Again, I'm just guessing, but I can't really think of another reason that makes sense. Maybe I'm way off and if so I hope one of the insiders will correct me. I think positional size is a great thing to have, but it shouldn't be the end all, be all. It's a data point in player evaluation, possibly a very important one. But it shouldn't be disqualifying for a guy like DGL who checks a lot of other boxes.
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There’s always the saying that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.Some bigger players play much smaller than their size(Ben) while some smaller players play bigger(DGL).
 
#404      
Toews
Boswell has been a huge disappointment as well as Ben. People say his defense is what's kept him valuable but his defense hasn't even been that good the last month. He's just way way too much of a black hole on offense for his usage rate.
 
#405      
Birdus
ChiTown said:
As a coach/leader you have to reward effort and production not play favoritism….but what do I know?.
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I had an 8th grade coach that started his son over players that were better than him. That did not change the whole year. Unfortunately, the team paid for it.
 
#406      
TheGMan
LvilleILL1 said:
It is. Hummer has been a massive bust though. This staff has evaluated talent really well but that was a huge miss
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My issue is not that Hummer was an evaluation bust. Nobody is gonna be perfect with that, and I think it's clear that BU is one of the best at talent evaluation. So he gets a lot of trust from me on that. However, continuing to give Hummer the minutes he is getting (at the detriment of someone like DGL) is just mind boggling.
 
#407      
HailtotheChief
I am not a Bobby Knight fan but he was a winning coach on one of his saying was the greatest motivator is when !!! meets bench and bench meets !!!. I agree with him that point.
 
#408      
LvilleILL1
TheGMan said:
My issue is not that Hummer was an evaluation bust. Nobody is gonna be perfect with that, and I think it's clear that BU is one of the best at talent evaluation. So he gets a lot of trust from me on that. However, continuing to give Hummer the minutes he is getting (at the detriment of someone like DGL) is just mind boggling.
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Agreed. I really hope that starts to change Sunday.
 
#409      
the juiceman cometh
ChiTown said:
There’s always the saying that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.Some bigger players play much smaller than their size(Ben) while some smaller players play bigger(DGL).
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No disagreement from me. My favorite Illini player of all time was listed at an inch shorter than DGL.
 
#410      
OrangeBlue98
LvilleILL1 said:
It is. Hummer has been a massive bust though. This staff has evaluated talent really well but that was a huge miss
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While I fully realize you're not going to roll a 7 on every single prospect, that particular miss was harmful. We really needed a good like for like replacement for Domask in that position given how important Domask was to the team last year. I get the rationale behind the move, but the big issue was Domask was a very good player in the Valley. Humrichous just did not have the same type of production at that level, and unless you clearly saw something at some point you have to look at what's happening on the court.

It's a similar issue I see with talent evaluators for NFL teams. You can look at measurables and what a guy looks like in his underwear all you want, but at some point you also have to look at what the player did on tape.
 
#411      
CoalCity
TheodoreRex said:
It will be criminal if we lose Dra.. The amount of chances Underwood gave Epps & Sky who weren't playing anywhere near the level of Dra and yet it feels like Underwood can't get out of his own way playing Gibbs... The kid has been the only consistent for our team lately and ALWAYS brings the energy. Legit is the one guy I feel confident in saying he is an EVERY DAY guy... Yet Underwood doesn't start the kid and benches him in crunch time situations (like Nebraska last night).

It's the same as what was happening with Morez... Everyone but Brad could see that the kid deserved more playing time.. again, it took Tomi getting sick to FINALLY play Morez meaningful minutes.
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When Morez has two fouls as soon as he takes off his warmups it's very difficult to give him more minutes. Until he stops fouling or they increase the limit to 10 per game, he'll get about the same minutes. He's gotta clean that up because he's a star when he's out there
 
#412      
OB positive
CoalCity said:
When Morez has two fouls as soon as he takes off his warmups it's very difficult to give him more minutes. Until he stops fouling or they increase the limit to 10 per game, he'll get about the same minutes. He's gotta clean that up because he's a star when he's out there
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Except that the more he plays it seems like the less he rebounds. Earlier in the year when he was getting fewer minutes he had one of the highest rebounding efficiencies in the conference. It has to have fallen off dramatically since then.
 
#413      
ginabackes00
OB positive said:
Except that the more he plays it seems like the less he rebounds. Earlier in the year when he was getting fewer minutes he had one of the highest rebounding efficiencies in the conference. It has to have fallen off dramatically since then.
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You have to take into account his foul troubles also. He's learning how to play without fouling and we need him on the floor.
 
#414      
PlayDeeBrownNote
the juiceman cometh said:
I do not have inside info, but I feel like part of the issue with DGL not getting opportunity is also the main difference between TSJ and DGL. DGL is listed at just 6-1. One of the key things Brad has emphasized in recruiting is positional size. DGL doesn't have it. TSJ did.

Again, I'm just guessing, but I can't really think of another reason that makes sense. Maybe I'm way off and if so I hope one of the insiders will correct me. I think positional size is a great thing to have, but it shouldn't be the end all, be all. It's a data point in player evaluation, possibly a very important one. But it shouldn't be disqualifying for a guy like DGL who checks a lot of other boxes.
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Kylan is only an inch taller than DGL though
 
#416      
TheodoreRex
The biggest indictment on the season so far is who has definitively gotten better?

I'd say Dra and Morez... Other than that, I'd even argue that Boswell, Ben, KJ, and White have regressed..

Will has been wildly inconsistent, Jake Davis has beens Ready throughout.
 
#417      
Illini 993
In my dreams, we signed Koby Brea in the off-season instead of BenHum. Can you imagine this team with a truly elite shooter like that? I realize that maybe that was a pipe dream, but if Hum is getting as much NIL$ as suggested, maybe less so.
 
#418      
TheodoreRex
Biggest issue I'm seeing with Brad and this team is Sunk Cost Fallacy: You invest heavily into something and it's not going well, so instead of selling off or pivoting, you double down.

He pushed all of his chips forward on shooting, designed an entire offense around it, spent tons of money on guys l like Ben & Will & Kylan with the vision that we would be an excellent 3 point shooting team. Shoot, even to the point of letting guys like Dainja go and Ty redshirt (I've heard from good sources Ty was told he'd start and then last minute was told he wouldn't and he'd have to fight for playing time). He has to have realized this isn't a good shooting team, Ben is not a good high major basketball player, and our team is actually a below average shooting team.. Brad, get out of the trap of the fallacy and pivot. Change our offense in a way that will help us succeed. Shooting 40 3's a game isn't it...
 
#419      
CoalCity
OB positive said:
Except that the more he plays it seems like the less he rebounds. Earlier in the year when he was getting fewer minutes he had one of the highest rebounding efficiencies in the conference. It has to have fallen off dramatically since then.
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Well he gets called for a foul every time he looks at a guy sideways so he's probably rebounding with that in mind. Unfortunate but when you're getting the B1G freshman big whistle it has to put a cramp on your aggression. Especially when you dont have a backup.
 
#420      
JKR
Toews said:
Boswell has been a huge disappointment as well as Ben. People say his defense is what's kept him valuable but his defense hasn't even been that good the last month. He's just way way too much of a black hole on offense for his usage rate.
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He put up virtually no resistance to Williams last night.
 
#421      
jacekpardol
Are we an unathletic team?

We have almost no one outside of DGL that can break his man off the dribble. KJ is craffy but not quick, Boswell is kinda a ploder for a PG - that's why he settles for heroic 3pters cause his so limited. We have no one on the team that can throw down high flying dunks, put backs and alley-oops.

Up and down the roster we have very few elite athletes.
 
#422      
More3s
jacekpardol said:
Are we an unathletic team?

We have almost no one outside of DGL that can break his man off the dribble. KJ is craffy but not quick, Boswell is kinda a ploder for a PG - that's why he settles for heroic 3pters cause his so limited. We have no one on the team that can throw down high flying dunks, put backs and alley-oops.

Up and down the roster we have very few elite athletes.
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Agreed. Has been really noticeable in late shot clock situations. Last year we had TSJ obviously, who could break defenders down, but of course also Domask, who - while not super athletic - was incredible at getting at least a decent shot if we ever just needed him to come up with one. This year it's just a flyer on a step-back 3.
 
#424      
LvilleILL1
jacekpardol said:
Are we an unathletic team?

We have almost no one outside of DGL that can break his man off the dribble. KJ is craffy but not quick, Boswell is kinda a ploder for a PG - that's why he settles for heroic 3pters cause his so limited. We have no one on the team that can throw down high flying dunks, put backs and alley-oops.

Up and down the roster we have very few elite athletes.
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Which is why they have gone after Dame Sarr so intensely
 
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