Piper said it in his postgame pod, but I really like the chemistry between Goode and Domask on the court. Their roles complement each other well.
Illinois 80, Eastern Illinois 52 Postgame
Why I like DGL at this point:
1. On my team, the PG needs to be a dependable shooter who can hit at a 40% rate from the arc, or higher, as the shot clock gets under 5. DGL cannot do that at this point, but he has shown he is darn close. As long as he wants to hit 60% or higher from the arc, he has the right goal.
2. He is a frosh and makes defensive blunders. He will be taken to the pea patch by a few B1G PGs and those from top level teams. Yet, he has the quickness to be a great defender. Time will tell, but if the desire is there, he will be someday....and we all hope soon.
3. Seldom have we seen an Illini frosh who is as aggressive on the offensive end as DGL. Goode and Domask are great shooters, but are not actively aggressive all the time and looking to at least test the defense on every possession. DGL seems to do that. Yes, he sometimes forces to the point of getting out of control, but will hopefully become more understanding with what he can and cannot do. That is learned only through time and experience. I am hoping he can embrace the art of a high assist guy with all the fervor or a consistent scoring guy. A great PG must do both.
4. So what do you see as his best asset? In my mind, it is quickness....and he needs to and will learn to use that quickness over time at both ends. Let's hope he learns sooner rather than later. The biggest change in the college game over my lifetime has been the speed and quickness. The Flyin' Illini were ahead of the curve 40+ years ago, but watching the game today, it is necessary for teams to beat equal opponents. Along with increased risk made necessary by bigger, stronger, quicker athletes, decisions have to be made much quicker and reacted with instant speed more than ever. DGL, as is easy to see, has that quickness. So does Sincere. TSJ and Ty are pretty quick for their size. DD is pretty quick for his size. The rest of the team is pretty avg. in that regard...but fortunately they have size and skill. It will be interesting to watch Dravyn try to harness his quickness in all facets and blend it with his teammates.
1. On my team, the PG needs to be a dependable shooter who can hit at a 40% rate from the arc, or higher, as the shot clock gets under 5. DGL cannot do that at this point, but he has shown he is darn close. As long as he wants to hit 60% or higher from the arc, he has the right goal.
2. He is a frosh and makes defensive blunders. He will be taken to the pea patch by a few B1G PGs and those from top level teams. Yet, he has the quickness to be a great defender. Time will tell, but if the desire is there, he will be someday....and we all hope soon.
3. Seldom have we seen an Illini frosh who is as aggressive on the offensive end as DGL. Goode and Domask are great shooters, but are not actively aggressive all the time and looking to at least test the defense on every possession. DGL seems to do that. Yes, he sometimes forces to the point of getting out of control, but will hopefully become more understanding with what he can and cannot do. That is learned only through time and experience. I am hoping he can embrace the art of a high assist guy with all the fervor or a consistent scoring guy. A great PG must do both.
4. So what do you see as his best asset? In my mind, it is quickness....and he needs to and will learn to use that quickness over time at both ends. Let's hope he learns sooner rather than later. The biggest change in the college game over my lifetime has been the speed and quickness. The Flyin' Illini were ahead of the curve 40+ years ago, but watching the game today, it is necessary for teams to beat equal opponents. Along with increased risk made necessary by bigger, stronger, quicker athletes, decisions have to be made much quicker and reacted with instant speed more than ever. DGL, as is easy to see, has that quickness. So does Sincere. TSJ and Ty are pretty quick for their size. DD is pretty quick for his size. The rest of the team is pretty avg. in that regard...but fortunately they have size and skill. It will be interesting to watch Dravyn try to harness his quickness in all facets and blend it with his teammates.
The more I think about the deep 3 by Shannon to end the half... often at the end of games (or end of the half as in this situation), we'd see Ayo or Trent lull their man and then side-step dribble into a deep 3. It's the same shot, I need to train my brain to know that if those shots were fine for Ayo/Trent, then they're ok for TSJ too.
general thought: feels like we come out flat in a lot of home games. We definitely pick it up, but just feels like our intensity at the beginning of road games is always greater than at home.
Interesting. I remember thinking at the time that I hated it from a defensive perspective, and only ok offensively. Goode rebounds really well, but he’s pretty slow to guard the 4 and 5-star guys in conference. Domask seems a little quicker but also smaller.
Most years, I'd be very concerned if the team came out flat for the opener, but after the KU exhibition, doesn't surprise me. Ultimately, they took care of business, and we got to see a lot of rotations. Kind of impressive how the line change played out so well.
One week to Marquette.
One week to Marquette.
Yes. Rankings are very subjective. Noah Clowney at Bama last year was ranked number 99 by 247. He got picked number 21 in the 1st round.
Oakland will be a real test without Sincere's help in containing their guards. The defensive mindset will have to have fervor from the tip or there may be a bigger hole from which to climb than this team can overcome. Get the win from the start and then plan on how to win against Marquette.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I didn't get to watch the game, so I guess I must trust the analysis of those who did, but ... the relatively negative takeaways for the team as a whole seem crazy to me. Who gives a crap what the score was at halftime? #4 Michigan State just lost its first game at home, and we won by 28 points, lol. We had a slow start after beating #1 in an exhibition game, and Hawkins had an off-night? Maybe "you had to be there," but count me as not concerned, lol.
Joel Goodson
- ties will be resolved
Dra's a baller (great sense of humor too). So flippin' glad we went after him.
For the caution police: well aware that he's gonna have ups and downs
For the caution police: well aware that he's gonna have ups and downs
After watching the game detailed highlights and seeing the advanced box score, here are my player and team grades for the game:
1. Dre Gibbs-Lawhorn - A - Contributed on both ends with high intensity from the second he entered the game. Game MVP.
2. Amani Hansberry - A- - Played just 14 minutes, but contributed positively both offensively and defensively. Took down a team-high 8 rebounds.
3. Terrence Shannon Jr. - B+ - Best starter of the night, took him a while to get going. Particularly sloppy from the FT line, especially at the start.
4. Luke Goode - B+- Got the team going from 3 point range late in the first half, and got 6 rebounds in 19 minutes. Did what the team needed, one of only 4 players that were net positives offensively (the other 3 are the top 3 here).
5. Dain Dainja - B - Only got 12 minutes, but was solid at the rim on both ends, got 6 rebounds, 2 offensive rebounds. Neutral offensively, good defensively.
6. Niccolo Moretti - C - Got 12 minutes, most in garbage time. 3 turnovers hurt him offensively, and the only player net negative defensively (again, garbage time). Meh overall, but probably more than expected from Moretti
7. Ty Rodgers - C- - Over 16 minutes got 0 assists and 2 rebounds. Couple solid plays offensively at the rim, but the majority of his value was defensive. He was the second best starter on the night, but the starters were...not good.
8. Justin Harmon - C- - Only 14 minutes, 1-3 from the field, 3 rebounds, mostly a meh performance off the bench. Average defensive numbers.
9. Marcus Domask - D+ - Not a great shooting night (2-8 from the field, 1-2 FT), led the team in minutes and accumulated just 3 assists and 4 rebounds. Worst NET rating on the team for the night, but still contributed in the raw stats and played effectively the entirety of the contested portion of the game.
10. Quincy Guerrier - D - Effectively invisible during his 20 minutes on the floor. Made his two 2-point tries, missed all three of this 3-pt tries. One rebound, zero assists. Defensively neutral.
11. Coleman Hawkins - D- - Worst player offensively by a significant margin, clearly didn't come into the night ready to play, and effectively his night was over 4 minutes into the second half. However, he was a decent plus defensively and got 5 rebounds in his 14 minutes. Hopefully he'll bring intensity into the next game that matters.
Overall team grade: B- -- Effectively did overall what was expected of them, though not consistently through the game. 8 minutes of terrible play followed by 20 minutes of fantastic play led by defense, and then effectively 12 minutes of garbage time once they got up 30.
1. Dre Gibbs-Lawhorn - A - Contributed on both ends with high intensity from the second he entered the game. Game MVP.
2. Amani Hansberry - A- - Played just 14 minutes, but contributed positively both offensively and defensively. Took down a team-high 8 rebounds.
3. Terrence Shannon Jr. - B+ - Best starter of the night, took him a while to get going. Particularly sloppy from the FT line, especially at the start.
4. Luke Goode - B+- Got the team going from 3 point range late in the first half, and got 6 rebounds in 19 minutes. Did what the team needed, one of only 4 players that were net positives offensively (the other 3 are the top 3 here).
5. Dain Dainja - B - Only got 12 minutes, but was solid at the rim on both ends, got 6 rebounds, 2 offensive rebounds. Neutral offensively, good defensively.
6. Niccolo Moretti - C - Got 12 minutes, most in garbage time. 3 turnovers hurt him offensively, and the only player net negative defensively (again, garbage time). Meh overall, but probably more than expected from Moretti
7. Ty Rodgers - C- - Over 16 minutes got 0 assists and 2 rebounds. Couple solid plays offensively at the rim, but the majority of his value was defensive. He was the second best starter on the night, but the starters were...not good.
8. Justin Harmon - C- - Only 14 minutes, 1-3 from the field, 3 rebounds, mostly a meh performance off the bench. Average defensive numbers.
9. Marcus Domask - D+ - Not a great shooting night (2-8 from the field, 1-2 FT), led the team in minutes and accumulated just 3 assists and 4 rebounds. Worst NET rating on the team for the night, but still contributed in the raw stats and played effectively the entirety of the contested portion of the game.
10. Quincy Guerrier - D - Effectively invisible during his 20 minutes on the floor. Made his two 2-point tries, missed all three of this 3-pt tries. One rebound, zero assists. Defensively neutral.
11. Coleman Hawkins - D- - Worst player offensively by a significant margin, clearly didn't come into the night ready to play, and effectively his night was over 4 minutes into the second half. However, he was a decent plus defensively and got 5 rebounds in his 14 minutes. Hopefully he'll bring intensity into the next game that matters.
Overall team grade: B- -- Effectively did overall what was expected of them, though not consistently through the game. 8 minutes of terrible play followed by 20 minutes of fantastic play led by defense, and then effectively 12 minutes of garbage time once they got up 30.
I said earlier that coming out as flat as we did and yet still winning by 28 is a good sign, even against a bad team. I'm also glad to hear that CoHawk was dealing with sickness as that explains a lot of his performance which really was a "you have to see it to understand" from an effort standpoint. Domask also was just way off. And Guerrier and Harmon pretty much disappeared. Shot selection in the first half was awful, reminiscent of last year, but 2nd half looked pretty good.
So there was a good amount not to like, some things to get excited about, but overall it was a big nothing burger against a terrible opponent. The biggest questions throughout the game was what was going on with CoHawk and why was Sencire on the bench, both of which have been answered. So overall not all that much to take from in this one in my opinion and onto the next against a bit better though not necessarily good opponent in Oakland.
Joel Goodson
- ties will be resolved
Mani and Morez are going to be a HUGE problem
I like 3rd year sophs too
I like 3rd year sophs too
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Bigtex
- DFW
Any insight into Hawkins talking (complaining) to Anderson for entire timeout and not part of team huddle?
Yeah, based on what we're seeing out of Amani early and how Morez looks like a grown man already, our frontcourt is shaping up to be beastly. That's the core of something special for sure.
DAMN!!!! @illini0440 throwing a bit o' shade! But, you are 100% correct. Players have got to play! Otherwise, you end up losing to inferior teams who want it more.
Are you really assigning grades to players after only watching highlights and looking at the box score, or am I misunderstanding? Just wondering because I think it is hard to judge something that you haven't completely seen.
Bigtex
- DFW
Agree on about half of your grades after watching the game.
Amani = B
Goode = B
Rodgers = C
Domask = C
Moretti = C-
Harmon = D
Team = B -
blackdog
- Champaign
Right? I read two lines and see Hansberry as an A- but he was getting an earful from Underwood for taking a quick 3 pointer in the first half. Basically telling him that's not why you are out there. Shannon as a B+ is also not even close, sure he missed FTs but you can't understand how much pressure he puts on a defense without watching the game. He single handedly gets the other team into foul trouble with how he consistently attacks. Goode also looks better in the box score than he did live. I could go on but we all get the idea.
I personally would grade Moretti higher and Domask and Goode lower. Moretti deserved at least a B in my opinion even if the box doesn't show it. He looked good out there. Domask falls to the D range for me- he struggled. Luke is also a bit high as his defense was middling in my opinion. Probably a C or C- overall. I'm expecting to see some better play against Oakland
Catch and shoot 3's were not the problem last year.
I was triggered to give you sh$t for saying "girls team", but you did follow up with "boys team". Well played!
In my memory, even catch and shoot 3's from WELL BEYOND the arc WERE a problem. If somebody can point me to a convenient source for all the shot charts, I would enjoy researching it.
By "highlights" I'm referring to "every possession that either resulted in a score or something interesting happening defensively". I don't have BTN+ and won't subscribe for 3 games against cupcakes when I have an ability to watch everything interesting in the game afterwards anyway.