Illinois 75, Tennessee 62 Postgame

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#501      
RE: Ament, I’m going to choose to give our defense some credit

I find it highly unlikely that all these NBA scouts are wrong
I saw X. Booker playing for Tennessee. Scouts so far have been wrong on Booker
 
#502      
RE: Ament, I’m going to choose to give our defense some credit

I find it highly unlikely that all these NBA scouts are wrong
Yeah, a 6'10 freshman avg. 16, 7 and 3 is going to get NBA love - we only saw a shell of what he can do. They also have been on a brutal stretch of games against high-level competition, you can give him some slack for having a freshman lull. Our defense played him well and we didn't catch him on a good night
 
#503      
Fun game to watch. I have no idea how good Tennessee is but it's a nice win.

Observations:
1. Nate Ament is very highly overrated. I don't get the NBA love.
2. Boswell is so crafty around the rim. Reminds me a little of Franky Williams in that regard. Slow and smooth.
3. Mihailo looked like a player again against good competition
4. Tomi is a mismatch
5. Zvonimir can hit some really big shots and has so much energy
6. Brad has a soft side. He exploded when Andrej missed the dunk but then loved on him like a dad. Sweet moment.
7. Keaton was a steal as a recruit
I think he was more mad about the decision to dunk, maybe he wanted him to dribble it out. They were already up so much, Brad is a respect guy, he wants to win but he also doesn't seem to like when we are still trying to score up so much unless the walk ons are in.
 
#504      
I saw X. Booker playing for Tennessee. Scouts so far have been wrong on Booker

To my knowledge, Booker has never been billed as a top 5 pick (goes without mentioning the two could not be more different players... Booker is a post, Ament is a 6-10 wing with ballhandling ability, hence why he is so coveted as a prospect)... though Booker is actually getting some draft love this year, so maybe that isn't the knock that you think it is anyhow

Guy is averaging 16/7/3 on a top 15 team... don't think we should pretend he's some schlub
 
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#507      
he may be 6-7, i don't know. i knew i should have stayed out of this....you are obviously smarter than me. now that he has a role and understands it ( and we understand it) we can appreciate the effort. i hope he is an integral part of our continued success.
 
#510      
I was a great FT shooter in school. It’s all about repetition. I shot free throws differently than my normal shot and I made over 90% back in HS. FTs are easy. I cannot believe we mis as many as we do.
 
#512      
He is avg 12 minutes a game since he came back, he has to finish better at the rim(shooting 35% from 2). Think he was frustrated by the lack of foul calls on him Saturday as well. But he isn't going to get a ton more run imo unless Bam or Keaton are in foul trouble.
And still there will be games this year that our offense absolutely cannot function without him on the floor. Boswell and Keaton are good but they can't create separation on a regular basis against top level defenders. Petro has that ability. He just needs to make sure and do all the little things that keep Brad happy to get tick.
 
#514      
Why are our fans so much louder at neutral site games than they are at homes?
There may be something about having a venue that is also suitable for concerts.

While some of you bemoan that AH isn't loud enough, my parents have not gone to a game at AH in years. They find the noise level uncomfortable and the PA volume painful. This is the report from an old lady who stands and screams her support of the team. [They might go if the PA volume was turned down significantly.]
 
#515      
Other than Kylan nobody else had 3 layups at the rim. Petro has a great first step and can break down a defense.

He just has to adjust to college game and the layups will go in. He is looking for the block that is not coming.

Andre Curbelo was 21 mpg 9 ppg 4 apg 4 rbg 1 spg as a freshman. Key player when Ayo was out with injury and in B10 tournament.

I could see Petro with similar numbers then moving into PG1 role next year. I suspect Petro is very well paid so he should be patient.
 
#516      
While I loved Lucas, I believe Ben could be a Neil B type 6'6" 200 lbs fearless crashing the boards, turning up the D pressure. Not expendable, but a grinder with a recurring duty cycle during the game. Every good college team use to have one.
Blast from the past Neil Bresnahan rebounding machine who snared 28 rebounds in 2 games at KY invitation (elite 8 Illini team). Ben will never approach that level of rebounding but David M already has.

Happy to see Ben succeed. This team does not need more 3 point shooting. It does need good defense, rebounding and hustle. Ben is providing it and getting the playing time. If Andrej buys in on the defense, passing and hustle - Ben's playing time will diminish but we will be better team. Glad to see him get some love from fans.
 
#517      
While I loved Lucas, I believe Ben could be a Neil B type 6'6" 200 lbs fearless crashing the boards, turning up the D pressure. Not expendable, but a grinder with a recurring duty cycle during the game. Every good college team use to have one.
Good comp, plus Ben can block shots. I don't remember Neil being able to do that much

(OTOH, Neil is one of the reasons I became a Illini BB fanatic during my Soph year at UIUC. And you had to listen to many of the games back then instead of watching.)
 
#518      
I think he was more mad about the decision to dunk, maybe he wanted him to dribble it out. They were already up so much, Brad is a respect guy, he wants to win but he also doesn't seem to like when we are still trying to score up so much unless the walk ons are in.
He wasn't trying to dunk, he was trying to bring the house down. That must be a h*lluva rush, can't blame the kid for wanting to experience that - and the embarrassment at clanking it is punishment enough since the game was well in hand at the time like you mentioned.
 
#521      
And still there will be games this year that our offense absolutely cannot function without him on the floor. Boswell and Keaton are good but they can't create separation on a regular basis against top level defenders. Petro has that ability. He just needs to make sure and do all the little things that keep Brad happy to get tick.

Kylan has been absolutely feasting at the rim this year so dont think it makes sense to say he can't create separation. He's scoring 17 ppg and shooting 61% on 2s.

Agree though that Petrovic creates a different look for the offense that can be really valuable and keep pressure on defenses because he's more a threat to kick to an open shooter than Kylan.
 
#522      
To my knowledge, Booker has never been billed as a top 5 pick (goes without mentioning the two could not be more different players... Booker is a post, Ament is a 6-10 wing with ballhandling ability, hence why he is so coveted as a prospect)... though Booker is actually getting some draft love this year, so maybe that isn't the knock that you think it is anyhow

Guy is averaging 16/7/3 on a top 15 team... don't think we should pretend he's some schlub
My point was booker was a highly ranked high schooler who couldn’t get on the court for msu. Imo booker plays lake a soft wing usually found out at 3 point line. Similar to how ament played on Saturday. That is the first time I have seen ament play so small sample size
 
#523      
My point was booker was a highly ranked high schooler who couldn’t get on the court for msu. Imo booker plays lake a soft wing usually found out at 3 point line. Similar to how ament played on Saturday. That is the first time I have seen ament play so small sample size

Ament definitely had a bad game, I’ve watched a few other games he’s played in where he looked amazing… and the kid is a frosh and going to have some struggles (especially vs good teams). He gets to the foul line at a very high rate.

I actually thought he had a lot of aggressive drives though, where he just basically was stopped by the defense.
 
#524      
There may be something about having a venue that is also suitable for concerts.

While some of you bemoan that AH isn't loud enough, my parents have not gone to a game at AH in years. They find the noise level uncomfortable and the PA volume painful. This is the report from an old lady who stands and screams her support of the team. [They might go if the PA volume was turned down significantly.]
This seems to be pretty common in pro sports: an insanely loud PA that never shuts up with music and noise. It's downright antagonistic.
 
#525      
Yeah, your right. It dies hard. My politics are very left oriented, but my sports ideals are very conservative.
 
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