Lol we are not processing Dainja out for transfer portal roulette. If he’s leaving it’s because he doesn’t want to be here not because he is getting pushed out.
Illini Basketball
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He didn't say we were pushing Dain out. He said Dain may see a transfer coming in and taking his minutes. This sort of thing does actually happen, although I do not think it's necessarily the case here.
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rbillini
- Redondo Beach, Ca
Underwood like experienced older teams. Can you provide senior leadership?
That may be the only thing I can provide.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Pre-portal news, it seems to me that we're probably destined for bottom one-half of the Big 10 in 2023-24.
Shannon Jr - best Illini player eligible to return
Epps - best upside among those eligible to return
Dainja - best big man with the ability to score in the paint who is eligible to return
Hawkins - most critical when it comes to being a leader, and carrying the torch of the culture of the program
And it's possible that none of the 4 will return next season.
Shannon Jr - best Illini player eligible to return
Epps - best upside among those eligible to return
Dainja - best big man with the ability to score in the paint who is eligible to return
Hawkins - most critical when it comes to being a leader, and carrying the torch of the culture of the program
And it's possible that none of the 4 will return next season.
uhhh, gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there.
Sounds like Shannon will be back. I think he knows he didn't really improve his NBA stock enough to be a 1st rounder. If he has another year, why not use it?
Epps is not the best upside, that would be Rodgers by a pretty wide margin. Rodgers with a jumpshot is a monster.
I hope Dainja returns but he has some pretty glaring deficiencies currently. He can't shoot FTs, which stinks because his quick feet earn him a lot of FT attempts, he plays horrible help defense, and he fouls too much. That said, he's really only a Fr PTwise, and I think he could be great with improvement.
If Shannon returns, he is the leader of the team not Hawkins. I'm pretty ambivalent on Coleman, he does a lot of good things and a lot of boneheaded things. However, he's just not a good shooter. If he can make the NBA well color me shocked, go for it. If he returns I'm fine with that, work on the mental errors and he could have a strong Sr. year.
There are a lot of things to still play out but if we can return Shannon, RJ, Goode, Rodgers, Harris, and Dainja that's a solid core. I think Hansberry is going to be legit right out of the gates. Not a star, but he will be a solid contributor as a Fr. DGL is a wildcard, but he has some serious scoring potential. We will bring in a transfer PG (fingers crossed on Yuri Collins), we'll bring in a transfer big (no clue who to even want there) and probably one other guy.
Still a lot to play out, but I'll take that roster into the Big Ten and feel great. We lost this year because they weren't playing team ball and we really didn't have a PG. And of course no one could shoot. Give everyone another year of experience and remove the guys that want to do their own thing, and I think we'll be better next year.
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Epps? What? Why? Dain? What? Why?
Sencire shot 4-20 (20%!) from the free throw line and 13-41 (31.7%) from three this year. That is a pretty wild combination that makes me think he was lucky to make as many threes as he did and unlucky to be THAT bad from the free throw line.
Maybe he should back way up at the free throw line like Bracey Wright from Indiana used to do.
Sencire and Ty combined to go 16-51 (31%) from the line. Love those guys, but good lord.
That would be great. I really like Hansberry and he obviously has a lot of upside. Looks like he can develop legit range out to three with the height of a sf/pf, has good hands, passing, etc. But like any freshman, some take a bit to adjust to the speed/physicality of the college level.
I believe this is above the team's 3FG% of .308
chrisRunner7
- Spokane, WA
I was gonna say... Sencire 3-point percentage fit right in with the rest of the team, unfortunately. I hope whatever Chester Frazier did to get up to 38% on 3-pointers by the end of his senior year is replicable.I believe this is above the team's 3FG% of .308
Goode (elite) - 42%
Skyy (lol) - 33%
Mayer - 33%
Shannon - 32%
Harris - 31.7%
(Epps, Coleman, and RJ were worse)
That was when I was younger!
We will be preseason top 3 in the b10 if the offseason plays out the way I think
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
I'll have a double of what you're having
Goodness gracious
As we found out this year the preseason hype doesn’t mean much. Need to have a team next year and not just individual talent.
uofi7477
- Silver & Gold Vandals
Water is wet.
Thanks LvilleILL, appreciate the insight.
1000% agreed
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Remember the phrase......When I assume I make an !!!/ out of u/me........
just a little play on words that most everyone has heard but sometimes needs to be repeated.........
Mayer won us a couple games this year, but it does appear Goode was our best 3 point shooter and probably a guy that with a full season would make less mistakes/turnovers than most on our roster. Does make you wonder what difference it would have made with Goode taking some of those minutes and shots. Possibly even those two together for more kickouts.
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