Illinois 73, Penn State 65 Postgame

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#426      
We outscored them 14 in the first half. They outscored us 6 in the second. His adjustments were not so good.

The adjustments I’m describing here began as soon as Keaton got in foul trouble. There’s probably hundreds of small adjustments throughout the course of the game (for all programs) than even the most trained of bball eyes can’t see

But I do thank you for making a fantastic point for the “Brad makes no adjustments” crowd. You’re complaint isn’t that he fails to make adjustments, your complaint is that his adjustments don’t work 100% of the time every time.
 
#428      
Imagine our record (and the reactions to said record) if our offense was ranked 20th on KenPom instead of 4th.

The way these people create strawmen to just be argumentative and negative is really something else.

They're either ignorant, stupid, or just obnoxious people. There's really no other explanation.

Our offense is MORE EFFICIENT compared to the rest of college basketball than the '04-'05 team for crying out loud.
 
#432      
... Just a couple more points to add:

1. I do think Penn State has some talented pieces. I bet they win 4-5 conference games this year, with most of those probably coming at home. And they are very young. My guess is they will continue to improve and in that sense we are probably lucky we got them now vs late Feb...
This is a very interesting point with a young team that has some talent ... PSU is going to look a lot different from game to game more than a couple of times this year, and they very well could take a good team down. Let's be thankful it wasn't us.

In Ayo's freshman year, an 8-15 Illini team took down an 18-4 Michigan State, a team that was ranked #9 in the country and would go on to make the Final Four. How many posters on MSU message boards were calling it a pathetic loss and pointing out that Illinois "sucked" because we had a home loss to FAU earlier in the year or because we lost at 13-19 Northwestern or because other "good" teams like Iowa had beaten us 95-71?? Lol. The 2019 Illini were an objectively bad basketball team throughout the course of the season, but we were figuring it out ... and we were more dangerous than our record indicated if you caught us on the wrong night.
 
#434      
This is a very interesting point with a young team that has some talent ... PSU is going to look a lot different from game to game more than a couple of times this year, and they very well could take a good team down. Let's be thankful it wasn't us.

In Ayo's freshman year, an 8-15 Illini team took down an 18-4 Michigan State, a team that was ranked #9 in the country and would go on to make the Final Four. How many posters on MSU message boards were calling it a pathetic loss and pointing out that Illinois "sucked" because we had a home loss to FAU earlier in the year or because we lost at 13-19 Northwestern or because other "good" teams like Iowa had beaten us 95-71?? Lol. The 2019 Illini were an objectively bad basketball team throughout the course of the season, but we were figuring it out ... and we were more dangerous than our record indicated if you caught us on the wrong night.
Also took down Maryland at the Garden. The Tevian Jones game.

That’s all I’m saying, is they probably go 4-6 or 3-7 at home this year. As amazing as Keaton has been this year, Mingo actually had slightly better stats going into last night. He will probably have at least a couple of 25+ point games.

We didn’t have it offensively but managed to grind out a win with defense, offensive rebounding and getting to the FT line. Last year’s team probably loses this game, like when shots didn’t go in and we lost @Nebraska, @Northwestern and @Rutgers.

We aren’t close to our ceiling yet but I think we are worlds better than we were even just a few weeks ago when we lost to Nebraska, at least defensively.

EDIT: maybe Mingo doesn’t have slightly better stats than Keaton, more TOs and nowhere near the 3pt %, but does have similar stats while still shooting close to 50% from the field overall.
 
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#435      
In Ayo's freshman year, an 8-15 Illini team took down an 18-4 Michigan State, a team that was ranked #9 in the country and would go on to make the Final Four. How many posters on MSU message boards were calling it a pathetic loss and pointing out that Illinois "sucked" because we had a home loss to FAU earlier in the year or because we lost at 13-19 Northwestern or because other "good" teams like Iowa had beaten us 95-71?? Lol. The 2019 Illini were an objectively bad basketball team throughout the course of the season, but we were figuring it out ... and we were more dangerous than our record indicated if you caught us on the wrong night.
I would imagine all of them were. 😉
 
#436      
Why not? Its a big part of his game no pun intended
I do not care if he intitiates the offense. All of this stems from my old school opinion that the Illini offense is too hyper - dependent on the 3 ball. I know in this day and age, it is not a popular belief.
 
#437      
How is Stojakovic “not a great athlete?” What’s your definition of “athlete?” TSJ? Okay, that’s a one of one situation.

Stoj is likely next in line for best athlete we’ve had in years.

This complaint of lacking “athleticism” and “athletes” that’s taken shape ever since TSJ left is a bit confusing to me. Who are we referring to in terms of examples? Morez? Ayo? DGL? …. If we go way back Tevian Jones?

Stoj likely fits the mold of all those guys (other than DGL who’s 6”2).
Those two clearly don’t qualify since there was the exact discourse last season lol.

I think people just became spoiled with Terrence. Because he was so abnormally freakish, that just became the lone standard for “athlete.”
 
#439      
How is Stojakovic “not a great athlete?” What’s your definition of “athlete?” TSJ? Okay, that’s a one of one situation.

Stoj is likely next in line for best athlete we’ve had in years.

This complaint of lacking “athleticism” and “athletes” that’s taken shape ever since TSJ left is a bit confusing to me. Who are we referring to in terms of examples? Morez? Ayo? DGL? …. If we go way back Tevian Jones?

Stoj likely fits the mold of all those guys (other than DGL who’s 6”2).
I think using the term "athlete" is the issue, when it's often used to substitute for "modern basketball player". He's a great athlete, he's not a great modern basketball player. Sorry guys, he's not filling the role he's supposed to fill shooting 21.6% from 3, we already have Ty Rodgers.
 
#440      
I think using the term "athlete" is the issue, when it's often used to substitute for "modern basketball player". He's a great athlete, he's not a great modern basketball player. Sorry guys, he's not filling the role he's supposed to fill shooting 21.6% from 3, we already have Ty Rodgers.
I do agree his lack of outside shot has hurt us — as well as his unwillingness to pass them up, and turn it into a rip through drive (he’s taking 3+ threes almost every night).

However, he’s still averaging 14.5 per game, and fills the need of a capable scorer on the wing.

And although he’s not a good shooter, I wouldn’t exactly categorize him a non-shooter. Ty Rodgers been a non shooter his whole career.

Also — Ty’s hurt, and likely won’t be playing at all this year.
 
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#441      
I think using the term "athlete" is the issue, when it's often used to substitute for "modern basketball player". He's a great athlete, he's not a great modern basketball player. Sorry guys, he's not filling the role he's supposed to fill shooting 21.6% from 3,

Was his role to be a stationary 3 point shooter or something?

The way I understand his role is to be a veteran wing/guard who brings significant offensive firepower and defensive versatility. His eFG% is excellent at .552 and the 37 attempts from 3 is not like some giant sample size. He shot .318 from 3 last season at Cal on way, way more attempts (165) and he was the lone focus of the defense on that team.

we already have Ty Rodgers.

You're right. I don't see why they paid Andrej a dime when they can roll Ty out there in a freaking wheelchair.
 
#442      
I do not care if he intitiates the offense. All of this stems from my old school opinion that the Illini offense is too hyper - dependent on the 3 ball. I know in this day and age, it is not a popular belief.

this started with you saying we don’t feed the bigs, and the response is now saying you don’t care that we feed the bigs lol
 
#443      
I think using the term "athlete" is the issue, when it's often used to substitute for "modern basketball player". He's a great athlete, he's not a great modern basketball player. Sorry guys, he's not filling the role he's supposed to fill shooting 21.6% from 3, we already have Ty Rodgers.

You’re of the opinion that Andrej and Ty are similar offensive players?
 
#444      
Was his role to be a stationary 3 point shooter or something?

The way I understand his role is to be a veteran wing/guard who brings significant offensive firepower and defensive versatility. His eFG% is excellent at .552 and the 37 attempts from 3 is not like some giant sample size. He shot .318 from 3 last season at Cal on way, way more attempts (165) and he was the lone focus of the defense on that team.



You're right. I don't see why they paid Andrej a dime when they can roll Ty out there in a freaking wheelchair.
Our general goal is to have as many 3-pt shooting threats as possible. That's why even our centers are three-point shooters. He isn't one of them. What he can do is make shots that modern NBA teams stopped shooting because they're the lowest value. He's working on it, but his ability to pass the ball out is a glaring weakness, and making those tough 2's covers that up.

And come on, we signed him pre-Rodgers-injury. At the time Rodgers was meant to occupy the "can't shoot a 3" spot on the roster.
 
#445      
#446      
Our general goal is to have as many 3-pt shooting threats as possible. That's why even our centers are three-point shooters. He isn't one of them. What he can do is make shots that modern NBA teams stopped shooting because they're the lowest value. He's working on it, but his ability to pass the ball out is a glaring weakness, and making those tough 2's covers that up.

And come on, we signed him pre-Rodgers-injury. At the time Rodgers was meant to occupy the "can't shoot a 3" spot on the roster.

Do you think a guy that shot .318 on 165 attempts in the ACC as the sole focus of the defense every night was recruited as a "can't shoot a 3" guy?
 
#447      
Do you think a guy that shot .318 on 165 attempts in the ACC as the sole focus of the defense every night was recruited as a "can't shoot a 3" guy?
I feel like I'm going in a circle when my first comment stated "he's not filling the role he's supposed to fill shooting 21.6% from 3, we already have Ty Rodgers."
 
#449      
Our general goal is to have as many 3-pt shooting threats as possible. That's why even our centers are three-point shooters. He isn't one of them. What he can do is make shots that modern NBA teams stopped shooting because they're the lowest value. He's working on it, but his ability to pass the ball out is a glaring weakness, and making those tough 2's covers that up.

And come on, we signed him pre-Rodgers-injury. At the time Rodgers was meant to occupy the "can't shoot a 3" spot on the roster.

Do you think Marcus Domask failed at his role he came to Illinois to do? He was a 36% 3 point shooter before coming here and shot under 30% from 3 at Illinois.
 
#450      
Do you think Marcus Domask failed at his role he came to Illinois to do? He was a 36% 3 point shooter before coming here and shot under 30% from 3 at Illinois.
No because he could run the offense, played great defense (Andrej is working on this) and his 3-pt shooting drop was half as bad as Andrej's between seasons.
 
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