Illinois 59, Northwestern 56 Postgame

#352      

NJJ871

N
NJJ871
GrayGhost77 said:
Some people will find anything to complain about, even in the best of times.
David Byrne Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
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Sorry, I just can’t let that image of an older Byrne stand alone…
david byrne dancing GIF

Talking Heads GIF by Coolidge Corner Theatre
 
#353      

80'sIllini

80'sIllini
Arizona
80'sIllini
Hopingfor500 said:
The issue, offensively, is that outside of Kofi, they don't have a legitimate option that you can count on you to get you a tough bucket. Without Curbelo, they don't have a guard who can get into the lane, distribute or finish. When "we" were going well offensively, it was pick your poison. Either double Kofi and Plummer, Frazier and Grandison to snipe away or play Kofi 1:1 and take your chances there.

Grandison is really, really struggling, Plummer is hit or miss and Frazier is being asked to do too much. I was at the game yesterday and that guy never gets a breather.

As a sidenote, you have to go to the game and sit close to appreciate DMW. Nance towered over him, but DMW battled him for every inch. He locked him up in the last two and a half minutes. He does what no other player on the roster can do, which is guard multiple positions...including the other teams 4. I was 10 rows off the floor and I have a brand new appreciation for what he brings. He is the classic glue guy. We're fortunate to have him.
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Completely agree. We really need Curbelo back to break down his defender off the dribble to create easier perimeter shots for our shooters besides relying on Kofi to pass out of double or triple teams in the post. I think Podz and Melendez are also capable of creating their own offense off the dribble if given the chance. We still have room for improvement feeding Kofi when he is not already surrounded by 3 defenders or off balance. I wish Kofi would be able to catch and shoot more without having to dribble or bring the ball down to gather himself to get his shot off but very impressed with his ability to finish with his left hand. If the freshmen can contribute with more playing time, Curbelo comes back healthy and Hawkins can get more aggressive on offense, we are gonna be formidable but our offense needs to flow better.
 
#354      

Fr8trn16

F
Fr8trn16
final4illini said:
He shutdown Nance when he was single handedly killing us and gathering 9 rebounds in the process scoring happens in more ways than just shooting the ball if damonte only grabs 4 rebounds that’s 5 more chances for northwestern to score
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Well the entire team should just do that then and we'll win! Everybody score 2 points and grab 9 rebounds and play great defense! 👍🏽
 
#355      

Dose of Reality

D
Dose of Reality
80'sIllini said:
Completely agree. We really need Curbelo back to break down his defender off the dribble to create easier perimeter shots for our shooters besides relying on Kofi to pass out of double or triple teams in the post. I think Podz and Melendez are also capable of creating their own offense off the dribble if given the chance. We still have room for improvement feeding Kofi when he is not already surrounded by 3 defenders or off balance. I wish Kofi would be able to catch and shoot more without having to dribble or bring the ball down to gather himself to get his shot off but very impressed with his ability to finish with his left hand. If the freshmen can contribute with more playing time, Curbelo comes back healthy and Hawkins can get more aggressive on offense, we are gonna be formidable but our offense needs to flow better.
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Respectively disagree with ".......our offense needs to flow better." It isnt "flow." We need more, much more player contribution from anyone not named Kofi
 
#356      

STL Illini

S
STL Illini
Good gracious, that escalated quickly…..
Whatever happened to respectful conversation with varying opinions???

How’s this:
DMFW is a team leader.
He’s got high Bball IQ.
He is a beast on the boards.
His defensive contributions parallel TF who is viewed as one of the best in the league.
Really good passer.
Great teammate.
Tough.
Gritty.
Sticks up big time for his teammates.
From a scoring perspective, I wish we could get more from him.
All in all, I take DMFW all day every day.

See how easy that can be?
Relax….
Breathe……
(All without ‘!’ and name calling)
 
#360      

21ChampaignSt

21ChampaignSt
21ChampaignSt
The reason DMW is so polarizing is because, as a college basketball player, he's weird. (Put down your pitchforks. "Weird" does not equal "bad".)

Since 1990, only 4 teams have won an NCAA championship with a player on the roster who scores less than 10 ppg while playing over 30 mpg.

It's natural for people to question it because it's unusual.

But it's not unheard of. And you can reach the top of the mountain with such a player on your team.
 
#361      

ElGran

E
ElGran
Dose of Reality said:
A win is a win, but our overall performance trajectory, offensively, is pointing downward. UWood is also realizing that, given his all out search for the right rotation.

Going to come back and haunt us in the big dance if he can't get the offensive output to be more productive and consistent.
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The only answer is getting Belo back close to full strength. BU can search all he wants, but we have no guard capable of creating offense outside of possibly Frazier. Added to that we are incredibly thin with competent ball-handlers (just Trent at the moment).

Without Belo, our ceiling in the Tournament is the Sweet 16.
 
#362      

InDaAZ

InDaAZ
Eugene, Oregon
InDaAZ
ElGran said:
The only answer is getting Belo back close to full strength. BU can search all he wants, but we have no guard capable of creating offense outside of possibly Frazier. Added to that we are incredibly thin with competent ball-handlers (just Trent at the moment).

Without Belo, our ceiling in the Tournament is the Sweet 16.
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And the bolded affects how opponents defend us. With Belo and Trent both in, it’s a mostly fruitless endeavor to try pressing and trapping the Illini as they bring the ball up.

Also, in the half court teams have to try to cut off his dribble-drives because if they don’t he’ll score at a deadly rate in and around the paint. But that means they have to leave Kofi underneath or a capable shooter at the three point line - and everyone knows Belo is a creative & elite passer. Add to all of that you now have a more rested and freed-up Trent to do Trent things.

Illinois is quite the dilemma when at full strength. Belo is the straw that stirs the drink on offense. Crazy that he’s a great rebounding guard on top of it all - if the dude (yes, I said it) had a long-range shot… oh, my!
 
#363      

Longtimelurker

L
Longtimelurker
21ChampaignSt said:
The reason DMW is so polarizing is because, as a college basketball player, he's weird. (Put down your pitchforks. "Weird" does not equal "bad".)

Since 1990, only 4 teams have won an NCAA championship with a player on the roster who scores less than 10 ppg while playing over 30 mpg.

It's natural for people to question it because it's unusual.

But it's not unheard of. And you can reach the top of the mountain with such a player on your team.
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Good info. I’d expect DMW to end the regular season under 30 mpg. He is just a hair over right now. Once we are fully healthy, he will play closer to 25mpg.
 
#364      

Mr Podz

M
Mr Podz
IllinistuckinGopherland said:
@Mr Podz don’t know what you drink, but it’s an awfully nice evening to raise a glass. That was one hell of an effort in crunch time, on the road, in conference.
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ILLINI Nation, from everyone on here, to all the great social media things and all of you that were at the game that came up to our family.
The Podz family thanks you.
 

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#369      

altgeld88

altgeld88
Arlington, Virginia
altgeld88
Fr8trn16 said:
I'm not missing that point respectfully! I've said numerous times that I'm glad he's on our team and he's a beast defensively! Based on your logic though, everyone doesn't need to score hardly, as long as they play defense. Because that is offense according to you! And the score would be what? According to the plus minus Hawkins and Payne should play more than Kofi too then? Because if I recall correctly Underwood just said the other day that they have a higher plus minus than when Kofi is in! Look, if you feel that he doesn't need to work on his offensive game then so be it... I however feel like he'd be a greater player with an offensive game as well! And our team would be greater also!
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Well, if we had someone who played lock-down defense the way DMW does on the opposition's top threats and scored prolifically, and is as versatile as he is moving between the 3 and 4, then yes, at the margin he would sit. But we don't. We have Trent, and we have Monte. He has worked on his offensive game by necessity this season b/c Trent has had to play the point in the absence of Curbelo.

I don't understand your point about Payne and Hawkins v. Kofi. The former don't open up the perimeter for us the way Kofi does, so of course they won't play ahead of him.

We can certainly agree that he would be greater player with a stronger offensive game. However, we have no one other than Trent who can match his defensive prowess, and Trent can't guard guys his own size up to ten inches taller than him the way DMW can. That was why I said harping on his lack of offense misses the broader point of why he's indispensable.
 
#371      

trtl

T
trtl
STL Illini said:
Good gracious, that escalated quickly…..
Whatever happened to respectful conversation with varying opinions???

How’s this:
DMFW is a team leader.
He’s got high Bball IQ.
He is a beast on the boards.
His defensive contributions parallel TF who is viewed as one of the best in the league.
Really good passer.
Great teammate.
Tough.
Gritty.
Sticks up big time for his teammates.
From a scoring perspective, I wish we could get more from him.
All in all, I take DMFW all day every day.

See how easy that can be?
Relax….
Breathe……
(All without ‘!’ and name calling)
Click to expand...
Them’s fightin’ words, STL.
 
#372      

KevinC

KevinC
KevinC
Fr8trn16 said:
Much respect to you and your opinion. In response to your statement, I did not disregard his defensive value or devalue it! I said that he's a liability OFFENSIVELY! Specifically said that he's a beast defensively! But when someone tries to dispute the actual premise of basketball itself, which is to outscore your opponent to win; it's nonsensical as you said! That's literally the premise of the game! That's why there is two sides to the game. (offense and defense) You have to play both. You would not say a player who only played on the offensive end, and barely gave you anything on the defensive end, should not be asked to give more defensively! So why is that the case when it's reverse? Why is it nonsensical?
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There are only so many shots a team gets in a game. Should DMW be getting Kofi's shots?
 
#375      

blackdog

blackdog
Champaign
blackdog
altgeld88 said:
Well, if we had someone who played lock-down defense the way DMW does on the opposition's top threats and scored prolifically, and is as versatile as he is moving between the 3 and 4, then yes, at the margin he would sit. But we don't. We have Trent, and we have Monte. He has worked on his offensive game by necessity this season b/c Trent has had to play the point in the absence of Curbelo.

We can certainly agree that he would be greater player with a stronger offensive game. However, we have no one other than Trent who can match his defensive prowess, and Trent can't guard guys his own size up to ten inches taller than him the way DMW can. That was why I said harping on his lack of offense misses the broader point of why he's indispensable.
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If we had a player that did all those things we wouldn't have them because they would be in the NBA.