None of his offensive issues were chemistry related. Shot selection, making layups, inbounding the ball and making a valid pass are all things you learn in grade school. His biggest flaw this year in my opinion was taking bad shots late in the game when it is a one possession game. Especially when you could say every other player on the court could take the same shot and make it at a much higher clip than him and also having a 7 foot monster to feed it to instead. Im not against the kid, but he had a terrible year. He has a ton of talent, but he made really poor decisions more often than not this year. It is almost as if he thinks everyone on the other team is terrible at basketball. He needs to learn to respect his opponents.
Illini Basketball
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So what's the excuse for DMW he shot 31 and what about Trent 39% and as they played more than anyone ? Belo played 18 games didn't start in most of them
You say you understand concussion stuff but your comments don't match
Id like to know when was the decision made that Belo was on the other team and the other guy's who also didn't play well were not ? Im not even gonna run the numbers but If I did they say that simply based off of the last month that nearly every time Belo checked into the game in a first half the offense was struggling and we were down . Yesterday we had 2 made fgs the first 5 minutes of the game prior to him checking in . So now nearly every game when he checks in hes not coming in looking to keep the offense playing at a high level hes checking in trying to save it . It had to be weird playing on a team with an all-american and quite a few seniors starters and they constantly come out flat in what amounts to their final stretch run and yet you constantly catch grief for trying to make something happen.
They all made stupid decisions and missed layups even the ones that are 4-5 years older than everyone else. Sitting out does cause players to press when they come back and they are put in the exact position that I described above its been that way throughout the history of basketball . Belo has always been a great rebounder and extremely smart player from the day he arrived thats all effort and hustle and is usually the first thing you can sustain even if its only in spurts which as we saw was the case when he helped clinch the title by taking two charges .
I love the "it's almost like"... Just give it a rest. You have no idea what you're talking about and taking shots at a young mans character because we lost a game. Grow up.
Punesguy
- Ft. Collins, CO
While it is really frustrating to be in the position again this year of watching 16 other teams play, the reality is that in short order, BU and his staff(s) have done a tremendous job of making Illinois basketball relevant again. Two regular season titles (if calculated correctly), a BIG tourney championship, a 1 & 4 seed in back to back years, 3 solid Freshman that will become Sophomores, 3 really athletic recruits, possibly a 5 star transfer from UK and a culture we can all be proud of! What caused our shortcomings in this year's dance are most likely a combination of injuries (Trent and Jake), missed practices, lack of athleticism, awful luck, inept in-bound plays, untimely turnovers and horrific shooting (17 of 50 for 34.0% from 2 and 6 of 25 for 24% from 3). We, along with 5 other top 4 seeds will be watching teams like the mighty Peacocks of St. Peter's who lost to: VCU, St. John's, Providence, Siena (twice), St. Francis, Stony Brook, Canisius, Iona and Rider. Anyone can be beaten on any given day which is what makes March Madness so wonderful. Our future is incredibly bright and our time will come ... ILL! 
Any thoughts on Ms. Schiavo, Senator Frist?
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
The PAC-12 didn't do anything last year that the B1G hasn't done multiple times over the past 20 years.
My question about Belo is he coachable or is he stubborn and thinks he knows better? I don’t know what happens in practice and what his relationship with the coaches are.
I suspect he is very coachable based on how much his D improves and I think the players enjoy him as a teammate. I think sometimes his emotions get the best of him which is good and bad. He also has too much confidence at times and forces a low percentage play
Like many have said his injuries this year make it hard to truly assess his play.
I suspect he is very coachable based on how much his D improves and I think the players enjoy him as a teammate. I think sometimes his emotions get the best of him which is good and bad. He also has too much confidence at times and forces a low percentage play
Like many have said his injuries this year make it hard to truly assess his play.
I'm not arguing he didn't make mistakes, of course he did.
I would argue, however, that our offense was stagnant a lot this year. We would go on droughts of 4 minutes, 6 minutes, 8 minutes without a FG - and it happened quite a few times. We were starting/giving significant minutes to a guy in Damonte who didn't have hardly any offense this year. The offense in general wasn't working that well against teams that had us scouted (which was give the ball to Kofi and line up on the three line). There was such a lack of moving Kofi out of the paint to create room for slashers.
A guy with confidence that plays with pace was trying to get us out of the funk. It's so hard to judge when he missed so much time with the team. As for out of bounds plays, I saw many other players turn it over a lot more than Curbelo. Heck we turned it over 7 times on our end of the court against Houston. That's sad! Maybe better plays? As for Kofi I think we need to move him around more just to switch things up. I love Kofi, but his hands still aren't great. He fumbles a lot of passes and rebounds. I get it, he's only been playing for like 6 years. But teams scouted us and took him away quite a bit with 3-4 opponents at times collapsing and totally clogging the lane. Even if it's just 1 time every 4 possessions, get Kofi out on the perimeter.
I just don't think you can judge Curbelo's season honestly with all the time and practices missed while dealing with a concussion.
And yes, chemistry does come in to play when you miss what would've in a normal year been 60 practices even when it comes to out of bounds plays, making a valid pass, shot selection, etc. If he had all that time with the team he probably has a better idea (as does his teammate) if a pass is coming, a shot is going up, the inbounds play, etc. A kid this young misses that much time and chemistry is definitely a part of it. As it is for the whole team as so many players missing time, got injured, etc. He also nearly single handedly won the Purdue game for us. We need his spark. We also need some better offensive and out of bounds plays and we need to run more. He can be the catalyst that gets us out on the break with long athletic guys like Hawkins, Melendez, etc.
I agree with you, he had a tough year, but sure hard to judge when you miss that much time, especially at practice where you build the chemistry.
Again, he was 6th Man of the Year as a freshmen! You have to be darn good to snag that award. I guess we'll find out next year if year 1 or year 2 was the fluke.
Like I've said before. HATERS GONNA HATE!
I would like to see Hawkins setting the screens at the top and have Kofi down low. Hawkins would have the size to feed Kofi or the wings
Good points. Rebounding and inbounds plays hurt us many times.
He's got the intangibles that trent possesses and has a good ceiling. I hope he stays like trent did and builds into another foundational piece. He'd be a helluva representative foe u of I.
He’s going to make a monster jump next year and I can’t wait to see it. He’s like the wing version of watching Deron freshman year. Four star but not super hyped up coming in. Still extremely raw but clear NBA ability just seeing him play.
Correct, I fully agree. As an old-timer I saw Henson's teams before '89 that were good but could not play that way. The Flying Illini were as good on defense as on offense. I'm very optimistic that we're on that track again.
This reminds me of the Lou Henson years. Lou took a number of teams to the tourney but never accomplished much. The feeling was it had a lot to do with his in-game coaching. A friend of mine that was in the frat with Steve Lanter said that Lou, on numerous occasions would simply have an anxiety attack on a timeout during a close game. He didn't have success in the tourney until he got multiple NBA caliber players on the same team to overcome his coaching shortcomings. Here's hoping that Brad can get even stronger talent to overcome some of his coaching shortcomings.While it is really frustrating to be in the position again this year of watching 16 other teams play, the reality is that in short order, BU and his staff(s) have done a tremendous job of making Illinois basketball relevant again. Two regular season titles (if calculated correctly), a BIG tourney championship, a 1 & 4 seed in back to back years, 3 solid Freshman that will become Sophomores, 3 really athletic recruits, possibly a 5 star transfer from UK and a culture we can all be proud of! What caused our shortcomings in this year's dance are most likely a combination of injuries (Trent and Jake), missed practices, lack of athleticism, awful luck, inept in-bound plays, untimely turnovers and horrific shooting (17 of 50 for 34.0% from 2 and 6 of 25 for 24% from 3). We, along with 5 other top 4 seeds will be watching teams like the mighty Peacocks of St. Peter's who lost to: VCU, St. John's, Providence, Siena (twice), St. Francis, Stony Brook, Canisius, Iona and Rider. Anyone can be beaten on any given day which is what makes March Madness so wonderful. Our future is incredibly bright and our time will come ... ILL!
Just starting to real IL after Sunday, and I thought this take could use a response - if someone else beat me to it in last seven pages sorry.
This issue with B1G teams faltering in the tourney is real, but I do not think it is as much an issue with coaching as it is with the conference competitiveness. There are no easy teams in the B1G. To win the conference you have to maintain a high level of focus and effort. Keady like BU can get his guys playing with that energy and focus almost every night. After 20 conference games, that is exhausting, mentally and physically. We don't have the luxury of off nights - even Nebraska will kick your butt if you don't show up. Many other top teams from other conferences aren't subject to that wear and tear - Gonzaga being the extreme example. Given the injuries, etc. this year, we had to push to win a share of the conference. As a result, we are run down by March and susceptible to stuff like pink eye. Now take MI, who have been underperforming and unfocused all year, and regularly didn't show up to play in the conference games - now they are healthy and looking strong going into the sweet 16. This exhausting schedule is the reason B1G teams do well in the non-conference early in the season, but then have a hard time keeping up in the tourney.
Unless we expand the conference with some cupcakes so we can take a day off against once in awhile, this is our lot in being a part of the B1G. You have to be either lucky, or so dominant that you aren't taxed to the limit game in and game out to have the energy and focus to succeed in conference play and get far in the tourney - take our 2005 team for example.
Belo was 6-30 in the last 4 games - 2-18 total in B1G and NCAA tourney. His shooting has really been off. We needed to score some points.
That Hawkins-Kofi hi-lo thing is real. We saw so very little of it tho.
Think of what Giorgi could have done for us this year...
Don’t know if you deliberately replied to my statement about “PAC12 being considered down but got a little reprieve last year.”
I don’t recall hearing Big 10 is overrated until the last few years. Coincidentally, since MSU was in the finals in 2019 so that narrative would seem silly. Now it has shifted to we haven’t won since…which does have its merits.
Not sure what your point is?
I agree with you and think he should have played more. When he did get put in, it seemed to be for a nanosecond. He's a terrific shooter and we NEED terrific shooters. It's a puzzle why he was rarely put in and then so briefly. The "he's a freshman" argument doesn't hold up when you consider that the other freshmen played more. He displays a very enthusiastic "team-support" attitude on the sidelines and in the locker room from videos and games we've seen. So, we hope he comes back and hope he finally gets to show his talents. Otherwise, I fear he will be beating Illinois wearing some other jersey next year and that would be a big loss to Illinois.
Cook
- Richmond, VA
I am pretty much in agreement with this view. Dre is off-the-charts talented, and harnessing that talent is the sort of thing that, when given such an opportunity to make the ultimate difference, national championship-caliber coaches accomplish. It ain't easy doing that, but if it gets done, great things happen. Great things.
That said, Dre has to make it happen too. Coaches can only do so much. I think Dre is very coachable, maybe not quite at the Ayo level in that regard (is anyone??? Ayo is like a mythological hero in this regard), but I think it can be done. I believe our staff thinks this, and I think Dre gets it too. But there will be some, uh, interesting battles of will along the way to the promised land. Probably some real friction at times. Coach is paid millions to work through those difficult, important situations. He has the guts to do it. I think Andre has the guts to be coached that way too.
Sure hope this optimistic take is correct!
He barely ever got in so to say he was "meh" is unfair. Even if he was "meh," how do you reconcile that with other players who got in and were "meh" but still played? I am concerned that there doesn't seem to be a lot of concern about his lack of playing opportunity because I wonder if it's designed to tempt him to play for, oh say, Wisconsin, or another program that would not say his playing was "meh."
There are some points of view that puzzle me:
the negativity for DaMonte Williams who actually was a big asset for Illinois;
the virtual ignoring of VerDonk even when he was out with a concussion when he was an asset to the team and a big asset to "spell" Kofi;
and now, the lack of concern about Podz' value to the team when he hardly got any opportunity to prove it.
This isn't to you, FrankNitty30, but just in general.
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