Illini Basketball

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#101      
I'm glad to hear Dain is back. I think there's a lot of potential there. If the coaching staff can apply some of his footwork and agility skills he has on offense to his movement while defending he should be much. Definitely needs to increase his awareness off-ball, but a lot of that comes with repetition, video, and coaching. He definitely has a chance to make a major leap and I'm excited to see what he brings next year
 
#102      
I will take ANY players back from last year's team, honestly ... talent was very clearly not our issue. Talent-deficient teams do not beat UCLA or Texas, IMO. I'm not 100% sure you can name any one given issue that did last year's team in (i.e., there were multiple), but I do believe that the rumors surrounding team chemistry might have been the biggest single factor.

After watching the tournament teams that advanced, ALL of them seem to have guards who can dribble/drive and shoot.

The dominant offensive pattern seems to be penerate, shoot or kick-out. That certinaly was not our dominant offensive pattern.

Certinaly teams that play with "chemistry" often beat more talented teams.
 
#104      
Epps just followed Tipton...
mad men g GIF
 
#110      
Losing Epps is a MAJOR MAJOR blow. Huge indictment on the Underwood regime. No two ways about it. That's a guy in three years that you an easily see as being one of those "Senior Guards you win with in March", making plays and knocking off some team with a great 7 footer.

Happy portal hunting, Brad.
Look, I get you're pretty sour on Underwood. I also get Epps is a talent, and I really wish I would have stayed. With that said, Brad gave Epps the keys and Epps did well and still wanted to move on, allegedly because Brad yells too much? Ayo, Trent, Kofi and countless other players who Epps should be looking up to could deal with it no problem ... even Dain, who it was rumored didn't like Big Brad's yelling, is coming back!

I wish Epps had stayed, but he doesn't want to be here. This year pretty clearly showed us that when talent exists without chemistry, we are worse off than slightly less talent and more chemistry. Do I wish Epps would have stayed in theory? Yes. Do I wish he would have stayed even if unhappy? NO. It unfortunately wasn't a fit, I guess, and I'm ready to move on and trust Brad in the portal.
 
#111      
Look, I get you're pretty sour on Underwood. I also get Epps is a talent, and I really wish I would have stayed. With that said, Brad gave Epps the keys and Epps did well and still wanted to move on, allegedly because Brad yells too much? Ayo, Trent, Kofi and countless other players who Epps should be looking up to could deal with it no problem ... even Dain, who it was rumored didn't like Big Brad's yelling, is coming back!

I wish Epps had stayed, but he doesn't want to be here. This year pretty clearly showed us that when talent exists without chemistry, we are worse off than slightly less talent and more chemistry. Do I wish Epps would have stayed in theory? Yes. Do I wish he would have stayed even if unhappy? NO. It unfortunately wasn't a fit, I guess, and I'm ready to move on and trust Brad in the portal.
2 talented guards in 2020 recruiting class, 2 guards that didn't end up with Illinois

2 talented guards in 2022, 2 guards that didn't end up with Illinois

At some point, there's a trend here.
 
#112      

ginabackes00

CrazedUIFan
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
I may have misunderstood, but I thought the reason was because they hadn't had meetings with the coaches at the time of his tweet.
 
#113      
Losing Epps is a MAJOR MAJOR blow. Huge indictment on the Underwood regime. No two ways about it. That's a guy in three years that you an easily see as being one of those "Senior Guards you win with in March", making plays and knocking off some team with a great 7 footer.

Happy portal hunting, Brad.
I'd like to know even a hint of what actually happened behind the scenes. It's been a well known secret for well over a month he was really unhappy here. So the real question is what caused it, whether it could have been avoided or handles differently, and was this a him, team, family, school, or coach issue. Either way, hard to blame a kid for leaving if he was having an awful time here.
 
#114      
2 talented guards in 2020 recruiting class, 2 guards that didn't end up with Illinois

2 talented guards in 2022, 2 guards that didn't end up with Illinois

At some point, there's a trend here.
If it is that 2 guards in every OTHER class end up transferring out ... have you seen how that compares to other programs? I have not, but there are HUNDREDS of transfers every offseason now, so it would not surprise me at all if we are about average compared to everyone else. It also seems weird to count a transfer out like Miller or Curbelo against this staff but not give credit for great gets like Plummer or Shannon.
 
#115      

turnaround3

1st & Daniel
I just went through all 88 of Epps’ follows on Twitter and did not find Tipton anywhere amongst them.

Ah, IG. Disregard.
 
#117      

Dan

Admin
Illinois is doing a foreign trip this year, 10 days in Spain.

-per Brad Underwood on WDWS just now (will post the audio if/when it's available).

These trips are typically taken in early August. The last IL foreign trip was Italy in 2019.
 
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#119      
If it is that 2 guards in every OTHER class end up transferring out ... have you seen how that compares to other programs? I have not, but there are HUNDREDS of transfers every offseason now, so it would not surprise me at all if we are about average compared to everyone else. It also seems weird to count a transfer out like Miller or Curbelo against this staff but not give credit for great gets like Plummer or Shannon.
we have not had a Guard complete their Illinois eligibility from a recruited player since Ayo, which was pre-Portal era

Mark Smith, Alan Griffin, Adam Miller, Andre Curbelo, Brandin Podziemski, Skyy Clark and Jayden Epps all left now, including every Guard in the 'Portal Era' (can transfer without sitting out).

Look, I'm not saying Underwood is a bad human or a bad basketball coach, but at some point, a trend is a trend, and we can't keep saying "it just wasn't a right fit" or blaming the player from not looking up to Ayo enough (when Ayo has been gone for two seasons and Epps probably has no personal relationship with).

"maybe it was mom", "maybe it was concussions", "maybe he just isn't a Big Ten athlete", "maybe it was his ego", "maybe it was chemistry"

Yeah, maybe... but maybe it's Underwood and a fundamental inability to build a proper trust/relationship with young guards. I think that we are firmly in 'gut check' territory for Illinois in the Underwood era. I'm not saying the sky is falling, but I do think it's worth it to be realistic and consider things moving forward.
 
#120      
If it is that 2 guards in every OTHER class end up transferring out ... have you seen how that compares to other programs? I have not, but there are HUNDREDS of transfers every offseason now, so it would not surprise me at all if we are about average compared to everyone else. It also seems weird to count a transfer out like Miller or Curbelo against this staff but not give credit for great gets like Plummer or Shannon.
I agree the attrition level is comparable to the mean across college ball; it just feels like ours skews way in the direction of ball-handling offensive players. Plummer was solid on the ball but was looking to score, period. Shannon was looking to both create and score but was not solid with the basketball. And we felt it hard this season.
 
#121      
I agree the attrition level is comparable to the mean across college ball; it just feels like ours skews way in the direction of ball-handling offensive players. Plummer was solid on the ball but was looking to score, period. Shannon was looking to both create and score but was not solid with the basketball. And we felt it hard this season.
Sure would have been nice to have Plummer from time to time, haha.

I also rewatched some highlights of our 2021 #1 seed team, and while we all remember Ayo's sick pull-up midrange jumper and Kofi's dunks, it's surprisingly easy to forget just how solid that team was from three. Maybe it just stands out more now...
 
#122      
epps is a huge loss he could be number kne transfer at the moment because of his potential when he transfers
 
#125      
I could be alone on connecting-dots-that-aren't-there-island on this one but Dain's tweet really raises eyebrows for me about Sencire now.

As in, if there was a clear team mandate not to announce declarations of staying in Champaign on Twitter, why would Dainja so blatantly disregard that so quickly? Did he simply just get a little too overzealous with the old "Send Tweet" button or should this be raising some flags with regard to the actual reason Sencire pulled his post down?
No offense, but you need a hobby.
 
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