Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Especially impressive since that’s all conference play.
Illinois 78, Minnesota 60 Postgame
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Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Horrible call. Still don’t feel sorry for MSU tho.
I agree for the last two years, but I think his freshman season was pretty similar to Epps in efficiency on those drives.
Chesty Potato Chips....the food its fun to eat!!!
LOL....maybe worst call ever. Does there not have to be contact with the opposing player in order to call a charge? Ref obviously did not see the play clearly as anyone can call it right in slo-mo. Defensive player was pushed down by his own teammate. I cannot swear there was no contact with CoHawk, but if there was any, it was completely incidental and irrelevant.
socalini
- So Cali
Foul on Sissoko? That call should be a fireable offense. Ridiculous.
Does Dain really do that much damage away from the basket? Edey certainly can’t guard Hawkins outside, but unfortunately Hawkins doesn’t drive to the hoop much to fully take advantage of that. So if he’s not hitting 3s, not sure how big of an advantage that is. Though it hopefully should open things up for others in the lane. Should be a good game.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Yeah it’s hard to argue there’s no bias in that one. May not feel sorry for MSU but I do feel for Sissoko. I’d probably get a technical if that was called on me…
Good Question. You never can tell what that guy has in his repertoire. We sure have been pleasantly surprised with a lot of his skills.
(I know some of you will say…before I even say this…) But there
was a time Brad suggested we might see
Dane in the point-center role. We actually heard it quite a bit in the off-season. So the skills MIGHT be there; and the possibility MIGHT exist?? Who knows. That would be pretty killer if that were the case.
Even if he could knock down the occasional 9-11 foot jumper from the baseline or the elbow it might open open things up just enough for Epps or Shannon to get downhill/get the short floater/get a drive n kick out if it.
Video of Dain shooting 10-12’ is common and I believe Hawkins can also make those shots. Assuming those shots are not considered optimum as paint and three pointers are the goal. Ayo was proficient at those shots and was allowed to take them but don’t see many in these games. Believe Epps and RJ have taken some but not many. Strategy in MSU game was to give them those shots and although worrisome in first half worked out as winning strategy. BU believes in the analytics.
I was thinking ( dangerous, I know!)how eerily similar the basketball season has gone to this year’s football. After Indiana I was ready to write fb off. Then —boom— a switch flipped! Now bb is playing like every good Underwood team. When we integrate the three on the bench…wow!
All we need now is for Dain to teach Rodgers how to shoot free throws. After all, he’s 5 for 7 in the last two games.
All we need now is for Dain to teach Rodgers how to shoot free throws. After all, he’s 5 for 7 in the last two games.
Nice to seen Lieb bet on there and have some meaningful minutes. You never know. Might be worth upping him to any time in the future. Nice overall turnaround by the Illini. Nice to see em smile
Ayo was world class in lofting his layups over the block and off the backboard.
Epps is pretty good at hitting the layups in traffic, although he gets blocked a lot more than Ayo. I think one reason is Kofi often provided a moving screen as he rolled to basket which opened up a lane for Ayo. Dain should work on this since Epps could also flip the ball to Dain for the dunk.
I hope somebody on coaching staff takes Sencir aside and works with him, while he can drive to basket he has missed badly on his layups the last few games. Technique and practice are important to this skill.
Epps is pretty good at hitting the layups in traffic, although he gets blocked a lot more than Ayo. I think one reason is Kofi often provided a moving screen as he rolled to basket which opened up a lane for Ayo. Dain should work on this since Epps could also flip the ball to Dain for the dunk.
I hope somebody on coaching staff takes Sencir aside and works with him, while he can drive to basket he has missed badly on his layups the last few games. Technique and practice are important to this skill.
He did quite well. Its a shame he does not have a little jump hook so he can use his height to post up. I am guessing at this point he is not going to get much stronger but he looks like a serviceable backup against the worst team in B10. I think he can fill BBVs role.
Bigtex
- DFW
ummm Don't think Edey will be challenged to guard Dain when pulled from the basket. Hawkins maybe if 3's are falling. More importantly pulling Eday away from the basket opens up lanes for other to drive.
blackdog
- Champaign
I've seen this comment about Ayo vs Epps getting blocked but Ayo got blocked a TON his freshman year. He had a lot of trouble adjusting to bigger defenders and it wasn't until his Soph year that he really took off with his finishing. Right now I would say Epps is ahead of where Ayo was just in terms of finishing but he doesn't have quite the same physical tools Ayo does.
You might be the only one on the board able to muster an iota of sympathy for Sissoko.
Lieb did have to guard Kofi in practice for the last 2 years, so he has some experience with players ~75lbs heavier. But yeah, with Edey you to try and push him off the block as far as you can, and Dain is our best chance with that.
Westlake High is a place that is used to athletic success. State titles in football and other sports. It’s a place where success is expected. Maybe, demanded.
We know other places like this at the College level (hello, THE Ohio State, etc.). This breeds a kind of feeling of entitlement that isn’t always good.
In terms of the athletes themselves, there’s always an interesting dynamic that goes on with talented and successful guys. They become USED TO winning and sometimes winning easily. And when things get tough and bumps along the way are encountered... some guys just do not react well. They are not used to losing or facing adversity.
Mayer did not seem to react well to his early season struggles. And he reacted to that in his own way. But to his credit (and with Coach’s help) he found his way back into the groove of success and is back thriving again.
Kobi Bryant. He’s a example of a guy who quickly reacted badly when things went sour. I remember watching him in a high school game when his fame had already been well established at that level. Things were not going well for his team in that game... and he was scowling and throwing his arms around with anger and not exactly leading by example. Again, he had success from an early age and very little game adversity at that point and he did not react well.
It’s a personality thing. How do you manage your great talent and how mature is your approach to adversity. Just another fascinating thing about watching sports and the human factor.
The best ballers are the guys who play with control and know how to lead especially when things are not going well. There is great talent everywhere... but not every guy has this additional leadership factor going for them.
What to know the measure of a player? Watch him when he faces adversity and how he reacts.
Yes, most definitely. He struggled mightily with strength and body control in finishing around the basket during his freshman year. To his credit, by his Sophmore year he worked at it and got Fletched and got MUCH better.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
100000% my bad. I forgot he was the a$*hat that caused Ayo’s eye injury. I take my empathy back.
Edey puts us a bit between a rock and a hard place with how we'd want to deal with him in my opinion. On offense, Edey has had struggles in the past against players with very strong lower body strength who can stay firm and keep him from getting deep in the paint or from getting forward momentum while shooting. I do think Dain has that ability to bang with Edey if the refs allow him to on the defensive side. He'd need to play a couple feet further out from the basket than he has defensively but in theory he is strong enough to give Edey some issues on end, again, so long as the refs aren't calling touch fouls in which case we'd probably be screwed anyways. CoHawk is a very good overall defender, but I see little chance he's able to keep Edey out of the paint without fouling. So when he's in the game, we're going to need another player either double teaming or heavily shading/guarding the entry pass.
On offense, CoHawk is clearly the best option as he has a midrange game, can hit open threes in rhythm, and has the ability to take Edey off the dribble and slam it home. We would need him to have an excellent game but he definitely has an offensive advantage over Edey so long as we penetrate towards Edey and kick back to him. As for Dain, I am very very very interested in how he will perform against Edey, as I think he has quick feet and some very high level moves that can give him the needed separation to put up a shot. That said, Edey's height advantage will be very imposing and he hasn't been prone to go for fakes as all he has to do is stand straight up and extend his hands. So it isn't a great matchup for Dain on that end, but he may have the moves in the bag to pull it off.
All in all, it'll definitely be a hell of a chess match. Purdue is not an easy team to match up against though we may have the teambuild to do so. Just CANNOT get in foul trouble.
- "In terms of the athletes themselves, there’s always an interesting dynamic that goes on with talented and successful guys. They become USED TO winning and sometimes winning easily. And when things get tough and bumps along the way are encountered... some guys just do not react well. They are not used to losing or facing adversity."
I agree completely. I always told my kids "The pyramid gets smaller at the top". Everytime players move up, they better make adjustments mentally. Witnessing those adjustment periods was sometimes painful and frustrating, but always fun to see the progress.
Yeah, but have we seen Dain make those games? Practice is practice. Saw video of Kofi make those shots as well as 3s, but wouldn’t call those anywhere near optimum shots in games for him. As previous poster said, wouldn’t totally surprise if Dain could pull that out of his bag of tricks. He has been very impressive. Love how he can finish so well with either hand.
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