Illini Basketball

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#676      
Bigtex
Since moving to 64 (68) teams
Barnes teams have under performed the most / worst
Henson teams were in the top 10 under performing.
I am assuming painter is moving up the list (not fact based)

Which is more successful?
12-8 big ten record and elite 8 finish?
Or
15-5 big ten record and not make it to sweet 16?

Or in real life
Who was more successful this year? Duke or North Carolina?
 
#678      
Illini_Jack
Look Looking GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants

Who's transferring today?
 
#680      
ElGran
Roundball Sage said:
And there is another really big factor: ATTITUDE.

Tournament ball is a different animal from regular season. You have to have ice in your veins and the heart of a lion and the confidence (cockiness) of a rooster to succeed in post-season play.

Certain teams and certain players just have that confidence and swagger that you must have to get to the Promised Land in tournament ball. They might lay in the weeds with six or eight losses during the season and then turn it on when it really counts. Other teams come in with very few losses and then always seem to have that ‘unexpected upset’ derail them. And certain coaches are more geared to tournament success as well.

Again, personality and attitude is key. Basketball is a sport where a guy’s basic personality really is on display on the court all the time. Old Schoolers: think Ray Meyer and DePaul in their glory years around 1980. They came into the tournaments with very few losses and then quickly washed out. The guy couldn't seem to buy a tournament win despite having great floor talent for years. (They had ONE good year, yes).

The biggest disappointment so far in the resurgence of the Illini to National prominence is the lack of progress in developing a Tournament Attitude. This is JOB ONE for next season and the future.

The Illini need to bring in guys with that 'Tournament' attitude. A little cockiness is a good thing on the court. Bringing ‘Attitude’... and then backing it up on the floor during crunch time.

One reason so many of these Blue Bloods end up heading off to the Final Four is that the program just exudes that kind of belief in themselves. It rubs off on the new guys who come in... and Everyone is always aware of what the high expectation level is.
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The programs don't "exude" sh#t. They have a lot of talent. Three of the four teams in this year's FF were absolutely loaded with talent. Our team had three guys ranked top 50 (and just barely). Duke has 6-8 guys that were top 10 or top 20. UNC and Kansas not far behind. We're not even on the same page talent-wise as those three teams.
 
#681      
21ChampaignSt
ElGran said:
The programs don't "exude" sh#t. They have a lot of talent. Three of the four teams in this year's FF were absolutely loaded with talent. Our team had three guys ranked top 50 (and just barely). Duke has 6-8 guys that were top 10 or top 20. UNC and Kansas not far behind. We're not even on the same page talent-wise as those three teams.
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Yeah, the tournament isn't as random as people want to believe. There are probably about 6 to 10 teams each year who have a realistic shot of winning it all. And those teams are usually the ones with the most talent. There are rarely surprise National Champs. Admittedly, UNC wasn't on my National Championship radar based on the season they had. But when you look at their roster make-up, it starts to make sense.

Keep stockpiling high level D1 talent and we'll start getting "luckier" in March.
 
#684      
STL Illini
The top programs consistently have entire rosters with top 50 as well as 5* talent headlining their rosters.
Yes, we had 2 AA with Ayo and Kofi, and Kofi again this year. However, when you look at the other parts, we have primarily been 4* and 3*. CoHawk was rated around 135’ish. RJ around top 100’ish. (Not worth my time to do actual research) I believe Trent was a 3* out of HS. Lots of our guys were 100 - 125 which is borderline 4* or 3*. I am not knocking any of them. There’s just such a gap top 20 players vs top 125. I think we forget that at times due to the success we’ve had for 3 years now.
But, the tide has turned and we are now at least relevant for top recruits. (Still haven’t landed a 5*)
So while some may want to critique BU and talk about underperforming in the tournament, I would suggest we are over performing all season long due to work ethic, culture, coaching, etc. Then, at tournament time, teams loaded with 5*, 4*, and one and done caliber players typically shine.
I love the direction of the beloved. I love some (most) of our pieces. But we aren’t today where we will be 2 years from now.
I truly think that 2 - 3 years from now we will get one or two 5* players consistently, and filling out the roster with high ceiling 4*.
Just my opinion. I L L
 
#685      
blife
STL Illini said:
Th I love some (most) of our pieces. But we aren’t today where we will be 2 years from now.
I truly think that 2 - 3 years from now we will get one or two 5* players consistently, and filling out the roster with high ceiling 4*.
Just my opinion. I L L
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Agree and think Morez will end up a 5*, just got to keep him in the fold till '24 gets here.
 
#686      
alaskaillini
About UI and B1G success in the tourney, there are several reasons they seem to underperform. First, the B1G is a brutal league top to bottom - just try to name a better one. One of the principal reasons is the quality of coaching in the B1G. As a result, to succeed in the B1G a team has to show up to play every night. The teams that are top 4 in the B1G have put it out on the floor for 20 nights plus by the time the NCAA rolls around. The players are physically and mentally tired by the tourney. We had to battle to get a part of the conference title this year and were beat up by the tourney.

Secondly, while our team was successful in the regular season this year, this success was based upon effort and coaching as much as talent. In the tourney, teams like Michigan, Memphis and North Carolina outperform their seed because they are loaded with talent that woefully underperformed during the regular season - they hadn't given the effort to succeed night in and night out. So, when the tourney comes around, they are fresher and not as banged up and play more up to their talent level. BU demands more out of his players during the season - every day guys. With the injuries, suspensions, Covid and other medical issues, this was a difficult year - to accomplish what they did under the circumstances took everything they had. These guys were spent by the end of the regular season. You overcome this by having the talent to succeed in the regular season without having to use all your physical reserves and your mental strength. Hopefully, we are moving that direction.

Third, it is in part a matter of odds, like poker. The more games you play as a favorite, the better odds you have in succeeding. But being favored is no guarantee. Throughout a tourney I would guess that the worse seed probably wins 30% of the games. If BU makes the tourney another 12 times, there is a pretty good chance we will make a Final Four or two and maybe get that elusive championship.
 
#687      
DewLou
Any Kofi sightings? Last I heard from the board he was hanging out in Chicago with some teammates.
 
#691      
Cook
alaskaillini said:
About UI and B1G success in the tourney, there are several reasons they seem to underperform. First, the B1G is a brutal league top to bottom - just try to name a better one. One of the principal reasons is the quality of coaching in the B1G. As a result, to succeed in the B1G a team has to show up to play every night. The teams that are top 4 in the B1G have put it out on the floor for 20 nights plus by the time the NCAA rolls around. The players are physically and mentally tired by the tourney. We had to battle to get a part of the conference title this year and were beat up by the tourney.

Secondly, while our team was successful in the regular season this year, this success was based upon effort and coaching as much as talent. In the tourney, teams like Michigan, Memphis and North Carolina outperform their seed because they are loaded with talent that woefully underperformed during the regular season - they hadn't given the effort to succeed night in and night out. So, when the tourney comes around, they are fresher and not as banged up and play more up to their talent level. BU demands more out of his players during the season - every day guys. With the injuries, suspensions, Covid and other medical issues, this was a difficult year - to accomplish what they did under the circumstances took everything they had. These guys were spent by the end of the regular season. You overcome this by having the talent to succeed in the regular season without having to use all your physical reserves and your mental strength. Hopefully, we are moving that direction.

Third, it is in part a matter of odds, like poker. The more games you play as a favorite, the better odds you have in succeeding. But being favored is no guarantee. Throughout a tourney I would guess that the worse seed probably wins 30% of the games. If BU makes the tourney another 12 times, there is a pretty good chance we will make a Final Four or two and maybe get that elusive championship.
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I think it's highly beneficial for teams in conferences that have some cupcake games distributed throughout their conference schedules. It allows them an opportunity to build confidence, get things firing on all cylinders, play deeper down the bench, run some variations or experiment with some things, have fun playing loose and free, and get a mental break from the pressure packed games. The B1G doesn't allow for that though.
 
#692      
MDchicago
STL Illini said:
The top programs consistently have entire rosters with top 50 as well as 5* talent headlining their rosters.
Yes, we had 2 AA with Ayo and Kofi, and Kofi again this year. However, when you look at the other parts, we have primarily been 4* and 3*. CoHawk was rated around 135’ish. RJ around top 100’ish. (Not worth my time to do actual research) I believe Trent was a 3* out of HS. Lots of our guys were 100 - 125 which is borderline 4* or 3*. I am not knocking any of them. There’s just such a gap top 20 players vs top 125. I think we forget that at times due to the success we’ve had for 3 years now.
But, the tide has turned and we are now at least relevant for top recruits. (Still haven’t landed a 5*)
So while some may want to critique BU and talk about underperforming in the tournament, I would suggest we are over performing all season long due to work ethic, culture, coaching, etc. Then, at tournament time, teams loaded with 5*, 4*, and one and done caliber players typically shine.
I love the direction of the beloved. I love some (most) of our pieces. But we aren’t today where we will be 2 years from now.
I truly think that 2 - 3 years from now we will get one or two 5* players consistently, and filling out the roster with high ceiling 4*.
Just my opinion. I L L
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I got bored awhile back and did pull some that data.

The 19 NCAA champions crowned since 2002 had, on average, between 7 and 8 (7.3) players on their roster that were RSCI top 100 recruits (average ranking of ~45), of which 3 (3.4) were top 33 recruits, 2 (2.0) were ranked between 34-67, and 2 (1.9) were ranked between 68-100. 14 of the last 19 champions had at least 6 top 100 recruits and all had at least 4.

Excluding years in which Duke, Kentucky, UNC or Kansas won (7 of last 19) the title (with an average of 9.6 top 100 players on roster, the significant majority (6.7) of which were top 33 talents), the other 12 champions had, on average, 6 (6.0) RSCI Top 100 players (ranging from 4 to 10) on their roster with an average rank of 56, of which 1.5 were Top 33 recruits, 1.9 were ranked between 34-67, and 2.6 were ranked between 68-100. This range of recruiting is very achievable for Illinois, just need to increase our hit rate on top 33 recruits back to levels we have had at times in the past.

Also worth noting that 18 of 19 champions had at least one Top 33 recruit, and 10 of 19 had three or more. Importance of having Ayo level talents on the roster.
 
#694      
jumpingjack
Cook said:
I think it's highly beneficial for teams in conferences that have some cupcake games distributed throughout their conference schedules. It allows them an opportunity to build confidence, get things firing on all cylinders, play deeper down the bench, run some variations or experiment with some things, have fun playing loose and free, and get a mental break from the pressure packed games. The B1G doesn't allow for that though.
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The Bragging Rights game this year kinda qualifed as a breather.
 
#695      
727ill
IllinoisssssssVarsity said:
Are classes still virtual? Like how is Kofi just in Chicago, NY and maybe Jamaica right now lol.

To be fair, I skipped like 4 days of classes to go to Vegas a couple times.
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Even before COVID, you could get by in most majors on the lecture recordings. I don't think I went to a single class my senior year because every lecture was recorded.
 
#696      
IlliniKat91
727ill said:
Even before COVID, you could get by in most majors on the lecture recordings. I don't think I went to a single class my senior year because every lecture was recorded.
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Also, you get the syllabus in advance. You could work ahead and just not go to lecture/section. 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
#698      
bluemountain
LvilleILL said:
should come this week
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I would love to see Kofi finish 4 years here, but if he wants to make the League it's probably in his best interest to go the the G League where he can get NBA level instruction and work at his game 8 hours a day, even if he doesn't make as much $ as he would here. Sometimes you have to take a step backwards or laterally to move forward in the long run.
 
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