redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
Illini Basketball
- Status
Oh, and pass out of the double team.
PizzaHutParkingLot
- McPherson, KS
That's true, I meant in terms of the starting 5 man. The team will still need post depth, but that hopefully would be easier to find than a starter. I imagine Hansberry can play some small ball 5 as well.
chrisRunner7
- Spokane, WA
And IMO, work on his conditioning some more... it's why I suspect he drops so far back in the drop coverage
conditioning makes you a better free throw shooter too.
There are very few players I would criticize on this past year's team, and Dain certainly isn't one of them. Thrilled he's back.
Whatever lessons there are for culture and buy-in, I hope Underwood takes it to heart and is better prepping his guys mentally for the post season. I feel like Izzo has a knack for knowing when to back off, and when to demand that his guys are 100% locked in and focused. You only get so many chances to improve during the season, and then it's show-time in the dance. The important thing is that the players have that sense of urgency and really feel it, but I didn't get that sense from this year's team. There's always a ton of things going on in the background, injuries, personal issues, distractions, etc., but it's more satisfying to see the team peak in March if at all possible.
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
This team desperately needs a Pat Bev type of player, a vet who isn't afraid to show an effort in these sorts of things. He's completely changed the bulls this season, who I think were very similar to the Illini.
AyoDos11
- Southern Illinois
I think every team, college or professional, needs a player like that
Happy DD is back. As has been alluded already, he has work to do on the mental side. But I believe he has All America upside. Ridiculously skilled and will only get better.
Id be estatic if he is ever 3rd team All B10 or better. Being one of the top 3 big men in the expanding B10 would be hard enough. I am glad he is back. Just keep up the hard work and keep getting better. I think he has done that since arriving in CU. He is a load in the post on offense.
drsmitty74
- Rochester
Did it not have anything to do with the fact that he'd probably have to sit out a year due to him using up his free transfer from Baylor? I doubt he would qualify for any sort of waiver should he have left the beloved?
Edit: Sorry, I see it has already been mentioned.
Better question-are you glad he is back, or is that an unfair question?
Yeah, it's hard to project but we see big men make substantial jumps their junior and senior seasons all the time.
Averaged 10 and 6 in his first real year playing and that was without a team that really knew how and when to feed the post. I think a *motivated* and experienced Dain should be good for 15 and 9 as a senior. Capable of even more though, IMO.
Word is the players were spoken to last week. LG has a video out there speaking about player meetings and his return. So we may see more of these soon.
sacraig
- The desert
Me, too... from Sencire posting it on Twitter.
sacraig
- The desert
That or a free throw coach.
At the risk of splitting hairs, Sencire did not say he was coming back. He applauded Dain saying Dain was coming back.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
Only because he was told to take down his original tweet saying he'd be coming back.
Given the reasoning we heard (that the staff doesn't want to create the expectation that players have to announce a return), I'm curious to see if this tweet comes down, too
TBD, We will see how he responds next year.
It sounds like we're still looking for a front court transfer regardless, so Dain will still need to compete for the starting spot.
He did say he was coming back and then deleted the tweet. People say he deleted the tweet bc the staff asked him to because they don’t want every player to feel like he has to tweet that he’s returning.
He previously had but deleted it, supposedly at the coaches request.
That's huge to get Dainja back. Struggled down the stretch but I definitely do not want to go into the season playing big man roulette without an experienced option.
All eyes are on Epps now.
All eyes are on Epps now.
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