Illini in the NBA
- Status
3 point girl
- texas
Malcolm is just a great guy!
Agree Malcolm deserves all this and more. Disagree that his rosters lacked talent. It was his coach that lacked that.
We had Nunn, Rice, and Hill on the same team and didn’t dance. That’s criminal.
sacraig
- The desert
3 players does not a basketball team make. I didn't say the roster was devoid of talent. But as a whole, it was not a great roster.
And the PG and the Center?
Grandpa Abrams had to be on that team, no?
I think you're both right! A better coach could have done more with that roster. But that roster paled in comparison to what we have now, and even what we had under Weber. Particularly the inability to land legit PGs or centers.
Either way, Malcolm bet on us, worked extremely hard, and had every reason to be disappointed in how his four years at Illinois turned out. Yet as far as I'm aware of he's never complained and has been an amazing ambassador for the program.
You said he had a not great surrounding cast. I suppose it depends on the season, but for at least one Rice and Nunn were in that cast. The former was probably the best transfer the program has outside of Kenny Battle and the latter finished second in the NBA ROY voting. Egwu was an All B10 defender that year.
Any competent coach gets that team in the dance.
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
Don't remind me of the PG problems we had under Groce... Jaylon Tate and Te'jon Lucas *shudders*
3 point girl
- texas
Tate plays in the G-League for Memphis & Lucas is averaging 10 points a game for BYU. Are you sure the problem wasnt with Groce instead of them?
I think Ayo would end up around the top 5-7 if he got enough playing time. But once the Bulls heal up, he'll be back to 20-25 mins a game. Still an incredible accomplishment considering where he got draftedAyo is #10 in ESPN's latest rookie ranking ($). Getting some respect on a national level
That team was completely dysfunctional. That was the year Rice punched Cosby and they were both out for several games.
Another person you can blame for Hill never getting to the tourney is Nunn. If he keeps his hands to himself, they both probably go their senior year. They made the NIT without Nunn.
sacraig
- The desert
I'd argue that, while it's still early, Plummer is better than Rice. That's not meant to be a knock on Rice, either.
Also, what I said was "surrounded by a roster that was... not great." The rosters underachieved but were mostly still bottom of the Big Ten caliber, middle at best.
Could be, yet Plummer has a lot of defensive work to do, he got beat a couple times badly on backdoor cuts by PU.
Rice took a lot of plays off on D and could be very selfish with the basketball.
2 shooting guards and a wing isn't getting you too far in the B1G
But 2 NBA players and a 19ppg scorer should. I think it’s fair to say that team was less than the sum of its parts. Either way, it’s all moot and in the past. The important thing is Malcolm and Ayo are Chicago Bulls and it’s oodles of fun.
My biggest problem with Groce, was when he called a time out at the end of the half or end of the game to set up a play....that play usually resulted in one player dribbling beyond the 3pt arch until the clock ran down to the 3-4 second mark and then launching a 3pt shot with a defender in his face.....made me want to :
2014-2015 we definitely had better talent on our roster than Iowa and probably better than Purdue and Indiana, all of whom made the tourney that year, while we got bounced in the first round of the NIT
Going back much further I'd argue for Derek Holcomb as a great transfer for our program. We could use a center like him to transfer in when Kofi is done.
I don't know. That was a really thin roster. They went 8 deep at best, 7 during the last third of the season that Cosby was gone. Outside of Rice, Nunn and Hill, you had...
Tate as a sophomore was the only real point guard on the team and he wasn't an offensive threat.
Black was a freshman and had a hard time staying on the court without fouling.
Egwu wasn't an offensive threat and the only real size on the team.
Starks, who was brought in specifically for his 3 point shooting went through an unbelievably bad stretch for the first half of the season where he was barely hitting 25% of his shots from the three. He'd been a double digit scorer at Oregon State and he couldn't throw the ball into the ocean for his first half season with the Illini.
Similarly, Cosby, who was a 12 pts/game scorer for Seton Hall was shooting under 30% from the field (overall, not just threes) before Rice punched him and ended his season.
I don't know what the deal was, but there was some bad juju on that team.
I’d rather have another transfer big like Marcus Griffin when Kofi is done
- Status