Illini Basketball

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#626      

Rocky

Rocky
Rocky
frozenrope9190 said:
It will be really interesting to see how the B10 fares next year, because a whole truckload of mainstays are leaving. As well as all the sophomore breakout superstars. I'll barely recognize the league. I mean who IS staying that's a top tier player, from any school? Kofi and Dickinson might stay, so they'll rule the roost if they do. But who else (not including portal transfers of course, of which there will be many)
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Just off the top of my head ...


Nebraska - Verge may break out if no hero ball.
Iowa - Tony Perkins and Kris Murray (identical twin) may break out.
Minny - ?
Wisconsin - Davis fraternal twin may break out. Tyler Wahl. Chuckie Hepburn.
NW - ?
MI - a lot of talent returning - Dickinson possibly, Diabate, etc, etc, etc
MSU - some really good players although Hauser, Christie, Bingham gone
PU - Zach Edey possibly
IU - Xavier Johnson - Race Thompson has said a 6th year is still a possibility
OSU - ?
PSU - ?
Rutgers - Paul Mulcahey, Cliff Omoruyi
Maryland - ?
 
#627      

ORANGEbluescool44

O
ORANGEbluescool44
Zach Edey is strong and an intimidating force in the middle. Question is that he will look to improve his NBA skills at another BIG 12 team rather than Purdue.
 
#629      

HailChief89

H
HailChief89
Dan said:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1509651069986656256
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I love me some Danja, Mr. Epps from the point or 2, Mr. Ty the 25 yr old 😆 coming in to pull a Sergio/ Frankie Williams, and a Mr. Sencire! I watched Mr. Harris on ESPN at the Staples Center against the number one high school team in the country. And the first half he pretty much deferred to his teammates. In the second half he took over the game against the best high school team in the country. They could not stop Sincere from scoring 17 points in that second half. we have some dogs/studs coming in. great job by the staff! Good luck young Illini players!
 
#630      

illinitiger

I
illinitiger
HailChief89 said:
I love me some Danja, Mr. Epps from the point or 2, Mr. Ty the 25 yr old 😆 coming in to pull a Sergio/ Frankie Williams, and a Mr. Sencire! I watched Mr. Harris on ESPN at the Staples Center against the number one high school team in the country. And the first half he pretty much deferred to his teammates. In the second half he took over the game against the best high school team in the country. They could not stop Sincere from scoring 17 points in that second half. we have some dogs/studs coming in. great job by the staff! Good luck young Illini players!
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Rogers looks to be exactly what we needed this year. A long play maker with midrange.....he looks like future star.

BU needs to figure out a way to accelerate Freshmen system integration this summer and fall...we need to get most out of their talents early, for their benefit and the Team's
 
#631      

Ga65

G
Ga65
Next year’s ceiling seems higher with Kofi coming back but success will depend on replacing Trent and DMW defense, especially Trent’s. Disrupting the opponents PG and offensive rhythm is extremely valuable and we don’t have proven ability in that regard. We will have more size on the wings but PG will be inexperienced even if we get Skyy. Think it is very important to get a defensive presence in that position with poise to lead the team. With development from RJ, Dain, Podz, and Goode and contributions from the frosh, we could easily be better offensively. Bottom line lower floor, higher ceiling.
 
#632      

IlliniGman7795

I
IlliniGman7795
illinitiger said:
Rogers looks to be exactly what we needed this year. A long play maker with midrange.....he looks like future star.

BU needs to figure out a way to accelerate Freshmen system integration this summer and fall...we need to get most out of their talents early, for their benefit and the Team's
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This season is the first one in which we didn't have a freshman starting for us. BU has shown he is more than willing to play freshman in years past. Having Trent and DMFW back for a 5th year took away minutes from our freshman this year but I don't blame him for sticking with the super seniors. They earned it. BU will play freshman as long as they prove to him they are ready. And they are gonna have to prove that on the defensive end
 
#633      

illinitiger

I
illinitiger
IlliniGman7795 said:
This season is the first one in which we didn't have a freshman starting for us. BU has shown he is more than willing to play freshman in years past. Having Trent and DMFW back for a 5th year took away minutes from our freshman this year but I don't blame him for sticking with the super seniors. They earned it. BU will play freshman as long as they prove to him they are ready. And they are gonna have to prove that on the defensive end
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Yeah....I think BU has done well with Freshman. Any innovations (VR, etc) that can accelerate Illini system knowledge for them would be great.
 
#634      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
Rocky said:
For all the JBo haters, all I can say is that he is a competitor, he doesn't play dirty, he loves his teammates and his school's culture, and he is undoubtedly a decent human being.

After the 3 point contest win, he posed here with the parents of former 1990's Hawkeye star, Chris Street, who tragically died in a car accident in Jan, 1993.



In Jan 2018, Iowa sophomore point guard Jordan Bohannon purposefully missed a free throw during Sunday's win against Northwestern—even though the team was trying to protect a late lead.
Up 73–65 with just over two minutes remaining—a comfortable lead, but certainly not an insurmountable one—Bohannon clanked a free throw off the front of the rim. Had he made the shot, it would have been Bohannon's 35th consecutive successful free throw, surpassing the school record of Iowa's Chris Street, who died in a car accident in 1993 while the streak was ongoing.
A moment later, Bohannon pointed to the sky in an apparent tribute to Street.

"That's not my record to have," Bohannon said after the game. "That record deserves to stay in his name."
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Awwww...that's so cute and sweet! That really makes you change the way you look at.....oh wait....nope.

1wr0.gif
 
#636      

Bigtex

Bigtex
DFW
Bigtex
Ga65 said:
Next year’s ceiling seems higher with Kofi coming back but success will depend on replacing Trent and DMW defense, especially Trent’s. Disrupting the opponents PG and offensive rhythm is extremely valuable and we don’t have proven ability in that regard. We will have more size on the wings but PG will be inexperienced even if we get Skyy. Think it is very important to get a defensive presence in that position with poise to lead the team. With development from RJ, Dain, Podz, and Goode and contributions from the frosh, we could easily be better offensively. Bottom line lower floor, higher ceiling.
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Other than 21-22, freshman have played significantly for underwood at illinois. Yes williams played hard but zero defensive awards. His minutes kept freshman from producing and contributing.
 
#637      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
Bigtex said:
Other than 21-22, freshman have played significantly for underwood at illinois. Yes williams played hard but zero defensive awards. His minutes kept freshman from producing and contributing.
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It’s an interesting discussion with no true answers. I would have liked to see the freshmen with more minutes. It’s debatable what the net effect on the season would have been. With all the injuries and Plummers defensive deficiencies, I think Underwood felt he needed more defense on the floor than the freshman would have provided. Especially the first half of the season. My guess is we would have lost more total games and wouldn’t have a B10 banner, but we may have had a stronger run in the NCAA. I just hope we can keep that group together and watch them really develop next year.
 
#640      

Joseph Kerr

Joseph Kerr
Fort Wayne, IN
Joseph Kerr
I don't post much, and I will be in the minority for saying this, but I think we have a higher ceiling with Kofi not staying if all we do is pound it down to him. He's an amazing center, but the time it takes to get him the ball, the number of people who end up passing on shots, or making the pass in versus to the side, etc, means that the others don't get into a rhythm. As an old school Illini fan, I remember the Derek Holcomb and James Griffin days, and truthfully, all of our successful years where you never knew who might hurt you on any given night. Who was the leading scorer in 2005? Anyone could get hot and beat you. Outside shooters have to have touches and rhythm, big men play around the basket and can always get opportunities, and feed them when hot, but when not, the rebounding and interior defense still matter while the man who is hot, open, ignored can hurt the other team. Not Kofi's fault. Monte wasn't consistent, but how many shots did he take? Was the offense there for him? Is he making his own offense? All the freshmen we had are scorers by nature, defense was the worry, and each showed in a game that they were scorers, yet they would play two games and then sit two while the other played. Goode reminds me of a taller Altenberger, Podz (if you watch his HS stuff, is a creator of his own shot, but never got significant time, and I think needed more time to develop. RJ will be an Augustine type player. The new freshman can play. There are a couple of of bigs like the kid from Nevada that I think have less talent than Kofi as far as being a star, but will allow everyone to play the hot hand of the night, not have a scripted offense of feed it in and hope it comes back out. My opinion. We get beat by better teams not better talent.
 
#641      

CoalCity

C
St Paul, MN
CoalCity
Ga65 said:
DaMonte also started 3 games and averaged 27 minutes. Team talent a lot different then.
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Yep sure was. Nowadays we don't NEED to have freshmen play big minutes just to try to be competitive. Which is a good thing.
 
#642      

DewLou

DewLou
DewLou
There was a Go Fund Me page started to assist the Illini Student Basketball Managers travel to New Orleans for the Final 4 to compete against other top ranked student managers. The fundraiser netted them a little over $5K to help defer travel costs. One of the contributions was from Brandin Podziemski for a $100 USD. Good job Brandin.
 
#643      

Ferd

F
Ferd
CoalCity said:
Yep sure was. Nowadays we don't NEED to have freshmen play big minutes just to try to be competitive. Which is a good thing.
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Our upperclassmen couldn't get us past the second game of the tourney. We needed to recruit better freshmen, or the ones we have should have been better prepared to provide what we needed against Houston. You see teams losing regularly early in the season, then hitting their stride when it really counts. Izzo is an example. Carolina is an 8 seed because they weren't afraid to lose games early while they were growing. We played the most "reliable" team in every tough game, instead of preparing to win all season.

I'm not happy to have won the regular season B1G title, then look like crap in the BTT and NCAA because we had a senior injured, one exhausted and diseased, one still afraid to shoot after 5 years, with nobody experienced to take their places. When you are losing in the NCAAs is not the time to realize that having 2 guys sagging off non-shooters is going to smother Kofi, so you had better bring in the frosh even though they have barely played. Darn, wish I had played them more! 😴

If we had played the 3 freshmen more we might not have won the regular season, or we might have won it going away. We probably would have a slightly different record, been in a different bracket, and had 3 guys getting technicals for breakaway dunks. Had we played that way, coach would have had to lighten up a little, and Hawkins wouldn't have been in the doghouse until an injury forced him onto the court. Darn, I should have let Coleman play sooner! 🤔 He may have won us a game or 2.

Underwood was playing "not to lose" like Weber. Play to win! If somebody is going to make you better get him on the floor! Win the season, not just today's game! Don't be a female cat! Full speed ahead, Damn the torpedoes! This is America, and we're Illinois! ILFL
 
#646      

Illini8420

I
Illini8420
Joseph Kerr said:
I don't post much, and I will be in the minority for saying this, but I think we have a higher ceiling with Kofi not staying if all we do is pound it down to him. He's an amazing center, but the time it takes to get him the ball, the number of people who end up passing on shots, or making the pass in versus to the side, etc, means that the others don't get into a rhythm. As an old school Illini fan, I remember the Derek Holcomb and James Griffin days, and truthfully, all of our successful years where you never knew who might hurt you on any given night. Who was the leading scorer in 2005? Anyone could get hot and beat you. Outside shooters have to have touches and rhythm, big men play around the basket and can always get opportunities, and feed them when hot, but when not, the rebounding and interior defense still matter while the man who is hot, open, ignored can hurt the other team. Not Kofi's fault. Monte wasn't consistent, but how many shots did he take? Was the offense there for him? Is he making his own offense? All the freshmen we had are scorers by nature, defense was the worry, and each showed in a game that they were scorers, yet they would play two games and then sit two while the other played. Goode reminds me of a taller Altenberger, Podz (if you watch his HS stuff, is a creator of his own shot, but never got significant time, and I think needed more time to develop. RJ will be an Augustine type player. The new freshman can play. There are a couple of of bigs like the kid from Nevada that I think have less talent than Kofi as far as being a star, but will allow everyone to play the hot hand of the night, not have a scripted offense of feed it in and hope it comes back out. My opinion. We get beat by better teams not better talent.
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I sort of agree. I think we’re better with Kofi staying. But we will play our best when we don’t force the Kofi-ball too much. Teams that win a lot in the tourney tend to have good ball control, shooters, and guards/wings with athleticism. Kofi-ball should be an option depending on the matchup but it shouldn’t be the main focus. That’s where we can get into trouble. So we just have to be versatile and adjust accordingly.
 
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#648      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
DewLou said:
There was a Go Fund Me page started to assist the Illini Student Basketball Managers travel to New Orleans for the Final 4 to compete against other top ranked student managers. The fundraiser netted them a little over $5K to help defer travel costs. One of the contributions was from Brandin Podziemski for a $100 USD. Good job Brandin.
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Classy kid. Good parents. I really really hope he stays.
 
#649      

BMoreIllini

BMoreIllini
Baltimore, MD
BMoreIllini
I know there's been discussion on this, but there's going to be more talent lost to the NBA from the B1G than I can think of in recent memory. The Athletic posted their updated mock draft and it included 6 players from the B1G in the first 23 picks:
#4 - Jaden Ivey - Thunder
#5 - Keegan Murray - Pacers
#10 - Johnny Davis - Pelicans
#16 - Malaki Branham - Rockets
#20 - Bryce McGowens - Bulls
#23 - EJ Liddell - Mavs

Other Notables:
#55 - Ron Harper Jr - Cavs
#58 - Trevion Williams - Suns

Link ($)
 
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