Agree..one I remember is Kofi had his guy posted deep and Damonte just sent it back out front. If you get that, you got to take it when the opportunity presents itself
Illinois 71, Michigan 62 POSTGAME
BillyBob1
- Champaign
With Bo as one of the officials!
Deleted member 4960
D
Guest
I agree he can play against Old Dominion
Deleted member 4960
D
Guest
But they have several good neutral site wins. It’s tough to win on the road.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
It will be now, at least at SFC as long as Kofi's playing.
RedRocksIllini
- Morrison, CO
It might be more cost-effective to instruct the refs not to run up under Kofi like that. While I feel for both the ref and Kofi on this, in watching the replay, I could see no good reason for the ref to have been in the position he was in.
K and B need to also kick out to the open guard a little more.
They must not have taken their A game to Louisville iether.
So the BU statue goes up Monday or Tuesday? Should have it ready to be torn down the next time we lose.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Just watched the BTN in 60 replay of the game from last nite and that was such an enjoyable game to watch..not just b/c we won, but it was entertaining b/c of the flow of the game...it was a fast paced game featuring athletic plays by both teams , hard fought to the bitter end..
We withstood their push at the end by playing fundamental BB and , I have to say, our change of our defensive scheme to a more pack line D and keeping our opponents in front of us has allowed us to have 3-4 players rebounding on the defensive end...I think we grew up a lot from the MD game as shown by the hustling up or down the court after a stoppage in place to discuss as a team what our next step was...i saw a team maturing on the court last nite and declaring we have had enough of the close calls and we have arrived as a top 25 team , based on our play ...
Whatever has been said in practice or off court within the players, Kofi , when asked last night about our team chemistry , stated " we do everything together , going to the movies, bowling , eating etcetc " and he also praised the coaches as being hard on him and he appreciate's that...
We had a big need , as a team , from last years team....And the answer has been Kofi Cockburn....he is a unique talent and we should stop and really recognize how he has transformed this team into a tourney team....thank you Kofi....
We withstood their push at the end by playing fundamental BB and , I have to say, our change of our defensive scheme to a more pack line D and keeping our opponents in front of us has allowed us to have 3-4 players rebounding on the defensive end...I think we grew up a lot from the MD game as shown by the hustling up or down the court after a stoppage in place to discuss as a team what our next step was...i saw a team maturing on the court last nite and declaring we have had enough of the close calls and we have arrived as a top 25 team , based on our play ...
Whatever has been said in practice or off court within the players, Kofi , when asked last night about our team chemistry , stated " we do everything together , going to the movies, bowling , eating etcetc " and he also praised the coaches as being hard on him and he appreciate's that...
We had a big need , as a team , from last years team....And the answer has been Kofi Cockburn....he is a unique talent and we should stop and really recognize how he has transformed this team into a tourney team....thank you Kofi....
We made the Washington Post.
An Illinois basketball player’s celebration sent a referee to the hospital
Also, I was too hyped about the win last night to think about this, but we should spend one whole day only shooting free throws. All day.
An Illinois basketball player’s celebration sent a referee to the hospital
Also, I was too hyped about the win last night to think about this, but we should spend one whole day only shooting free throws. All day.
You had your time old man. Let these kids have their's, they haven't had many since they've been here.
I think a lot of credit has to go to Antigua with the development of the bigs. He coached the top two bigs in NBA right now at Kentucky, Leron was a monster and showed huge strides in his one year under OA, Ebo looked good for being a low ranked freshman and now we see what GB and Kofi are doing. I'm sure there's other examples of his that I'm just not aware of from other stops, but color me impressed.
The Dave
- CA
Michigan needs to get the rep as an easy path to the NBA...for coaches.
Not likely the Illini will get top 25 votes IMHO. Beating a cold Michigan team at home is to be expected. OTOH, they have played well for most of the last two games and have done many things better than the fumbling finishes of previous seasons. If that becomes the norm, then they will get their due. Win the next three and they will likely be ranked in top 20 but that just becomes a target on their back. I see 11 B1G wins if they play well, and maybe as high as 15 if their standard of play and execution in the last two games becomes the norm....and there is no reason other than what is in their heads that it can't. Should be a wild ride but I expect ups and downs as their are too many ghosts to ignore. What I hope to see is better FF shooting but that is not likely. Also want to see guards driving while under control and not leaving their feet with no idea what to do which happens too often. Fortunately, that seemed to improve against Michigan but must be eliminated along with other boneheaded and costly turnovers. Coaches know this and I hope the players are listening to them which seems to be happening. Kofi has certainly been a blessing for Illini fans and he and Giorgi are getting chemistry as well as with others. Team seems to be gelling and getting better and playing like the Fighting Illini.
Working under the following 2 assumptions
1. The only way a team should be able to draw Kofi away from the basket on the defensive end is if the opposing team's center has an effective 3 point shot
2. Any Big that's shooting below 33% from 3 is pushing the team's overall pts per possession below 1.0 whenever they shoot from beyond the arc so you may as well just let them shoot that non-sense.
The following is the primary Big for each B10 team that Kofi would be guarding and their 3pt% (shots made / taken if relevant). Flagging the ones that need to be guarded on the perimeter.
Indiana: 6'-9" Trayce Jackson-Davis 0% / 6'-11" Joey Brunk 0% / 6'-8" Race Thompson 33.3% (1/3)
Iowa: 6'-11" Luka Garza 43.5% (10/23) / 6'-11" Jack Nunge 21.4% / 6'-10" Ryan Kriener 20%
Maryland: 6'-10" Jalen Smith 29.2%
Michigan: 7'-1" Jon Teske 28.0%
Michigan State: 6'-8" Xavier Tillman 23.5%
Minnesota: 6'-10" Daniel Oturu 38.5% (5/13) / 6'-9" Alihan Demir 42.9% (6/14)
Nebraska: 6'-9" Yvan Ouedraogo 0% / 6'-8" Kevin Cross 28.6% / 6'-8" Matej Kavas 31%
Northwestern: 6'-10" Ryan Young 0% / 6'-10" Pete Nance 32.4% (12/37)
an Ohio State: 6'-9" Kaleb Wesson 44.8% (13/29) / 6'-8" Kyle Young 33.3% (1/3) /
Penn State: 6'-9" Mike Watkins 0% / 6'-9" John Harrar 0%
Purdue: 7'-3" Matt Haarms 38.5% (5/13)
Rutgers: 6'-10" Myles Johnson 0%
Wisconsin: 6'-11" Nate Reuvers 30.3% (10/33) was 38.1% (32/84) last season
Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota may try to stretch Kofi but we should be able to have Kofi sag off the rest.
The Dave
- CA
A couple of things I haven't' seen any discussion on from last night's game...
- That was a bad last possession in the first half. Just like the last possessions against Miami and MD. We really need to clean up that end-of-half execution. When that happened I started praying that we didn't have this game come down to a single offensive possession.
- In the post-game interviews Giorgi was talking about a particular Michigan inbounds play where the whole team knew EXACTLY what was going to happen. He said the team had watched a lot of tape and the coaches had them well prepared. When Howard yelled out "5", every Illinois player knew what was going to happened just jumped the play. THIS is encouraging.
Except Howard laughed about it in post game and said they had the wrong play.
Agree...but our guards need to move when the ball goes inside...several times last night we had 3-4 perimeter players standing and watching Kofi or GB back their man down in the low post....if guards move and create a passing lane for our bigs then it would be easier for them to kick it back out if there's no shot available inside
Averages on the better shooters as one per game. Teske made the first one and didn’t make another. Not going to be significant either way imo.
The only one who got uncontested 3’s was Teske. We let him (dared him to) shoot because he wasn’t making them. We would have picked him up had we needed to. Sometimes good defense hurts the other team’s FG%.
Not sure if he could/we would want him too/or if even possible. But if it were possible, I would think he would not like the prospects. Griffin another year stronger, Williams a senior, 2 transfers ready to go....numbers don't add up to do that?