Illinois 83, Duke 68 Postgame
Chilliniwek
- Chicagoland
Hi, welcome to the board! Serious question, did you ever see Frankie play? Great win tonight, so as to be on topic.
Kendall Gill, Derek Harper, and Nick Anderson had great NBA careers.
Oops sorry, you said post-.
This was tweeted in pregame....didnt realize they were tipping hand on point spread...
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
How sweet was that? HOW SWEET WAS THAT???
I have to agree....Frank could simply do things Deron was incapable of doing even when goofing around. He had the basketball on a string and made passes in the ilk of Bob Cousy and Larry Bird....those wait a minute...show that again!! But he was not a particularly dependable shooter and a better scorer on the move and guarded than open and spotted up. Deron on the other hand just made shots, took care of the ball, and passed the ball to the right place without too much flair. Frank would make passes no one expected. Deron would pass the ball to the guy everyone in the house knew it was going to...but get it there in exactly the perfect spot at the perfect time. Two entirely different players, but consistency and dependability paid off big for Deron.
And Bulls
Kofi really needs a head fake in his bag of tricks.
That and breaking a few fingers (opponent's) on the rim. Fear will reduce fouls on him.
That and breaking a few fingers (opponent's) on the rim. Fear will reduce fouls on him.
This is more where I think Illinois should be. Think the #6 is too high and the #25 in KenPom was too low
Ayo with an ehh game??? We’re we watching the same game??
That was fun. Love to see the balance. That's going to be a gem of a stat to hold onto....2-0 at Cameron Indoor vs. Coach K.
I don't understand why Illinois is struggling quite so much with turnovers when guard play, and a lot experienced guard play, should be an advantage for us. We've fixed our 3-point shooting woes and now can't make what looks like simple passes and catches at times. Didn't see that coming. Frazier especially but he's not the only one. Good news is it's just December and plenty of time to fix it...have a feeling we'll be seeing more of that pressure coming up. Would like to see if teams try to press us in the future, to attack the basket and make them pay (which we did a few times) like teams did to us the first couple years under BU.
I don't understand why Illinois is struggling quite so much with turnovers when guard play, and a lot experienced guard play, should be an advantage for us. We've fixed our 3-point shooting woes and now can't make what looks like simple passes and catches at times. Didn't see that coming. Frazier especially but he's not the only one. Good news is it's just December and plenty of time to fix it...have a feeling we'll be seeing more of that pressure coming up. Would like to see if teams try to press us in the future, to attack the basket and make them pay (which we did a few times) like teams did to us the first couple years under BU.
Testament to how great Ayo is that 18 pts on 11 shots, 12 boards, and 5 assists gets this kind of reaction from anyone.
I thought Frankie was the best... then... 7/18/02 NYT: Frank Williams, a first-round draft pick who was expected to challenge for the Knicks' starting point guard job, broke a bone in his left wrist Tuesday and will have surgery Thursday to repair it.
I always thought that was a huge setback for him.
AND so great to crush Duke in Cameron!
I always thought that was a huge setback for him.
AND so great to crush Duke in Cameron!
Love the raw talent and upside of this team. The Big Ten will be a real dog eat dog world, with everyone wearing Milk Bone underwear. I'm confident BU will coach them up, cut down on the stupid turnovers, and keep their eyes on the prize. There will be little room for game nights off once the conference bell rings. The Big Ten is flexing its muscles, and showing the ACC how the game is played. Go ILLINI!
Other than 19 turnovers, we dominated them. Really liked the minutes distribution tonight. Curbelo/Giorgi each had 20+. I like that. I'm a big fan of those guys I think they make us so much better when they are playing. Damonte, wouldn't it be great if he shot 40% from 3 all year? He's 9/13 this year on 3s. Incredible. Playing with such confidence. Miller getting going early basically buried Duke and made it an easy game all night. Liked that he took it personally against DJ Steward and brought his best game.
I wasn't that down on the Baylor game because I thought Baylor was just better, and I'm not that hyped about this game because I don't think Duke is very good. I'm really interested in how we play vs Mizzou. That's a team that brings back the exact same guys, and they handled us pretty easily last year, so this will be a great test. A much tougher game than tonight was. I feel like if we keep our minutes rotation like tonight was, and maybe clean up the turnovers a bit more, we're going to be maximizing our team.
I wasn't that down on the Baylor game because I thought Baylor was just better, and I'm not that hyped about this game because I don't think Duke is very good. I'm really interested in how we play vs Mizzou. That's a team that brings back the exact same guys, and they handled us pretty easily last year, so this will be a great test. A much tougher game than tonight was. I feel like if we keep our minutes rotation like tonight was, and maybe clean up the turnovers a bit more, we're going to be maximizing our team.
Chilliniwek
- Chicagoland
I'd like to nominate "a funny-bone deal." as a phrase that someone who's likely over 50 would use to describe something that looks like something much worse than it really was. Those of you under 50 can use it too! Example: "I decided life wasn't worth living anymore, so I took a deep breath and jumped out the window. I then realized I was on the first floor of my house and fell about a foot into a shrub. It was kind of a funny-bone deal."
Proof of concept! Well said!
Underwood gave Curbelo a longer leash, and he responded around the imperfect. To me, his layup sealed the deal. Neither Curbelo nor Hawkins hurt the team effort. Miller’s early effort on offense, and tough ‘D’ keep him a cut above the Freshman cohort critique, IMO. Kofi could have been more efficient, but I’ll take any win over Duke.
Great win. Trent has to be better with the ball was just careless tonight. And stop getting beat baseline and losing your man running the baseline!
illiniswish09
- Northwest Suburbs
Jacob Grandison one minute... Guy has barely played since the first half of the Ohio game... Just an interesting development that we haven’t really discussed. Giorgi obviously been good past couple games but still that’s odd.
Great all-around game fellas. My humble assessment of each of the players in order of my perceptions of their contribution to the game:
1. Ayo - Pretty amazing when you can score 18 points, 12 boards, 5 assists and still be considered to have a mediocre game. That's how good this guy is. Seemed a little tentative in the 1st half but great players rise up when needed and his ability stop on a dime and create his own shot makes him so tough to guard.
2. DMW - Only played 20 minutes but he does so many little things that don't show up on the stat sheet that helps a team win and you can tell the team feeds off of him. His confidence in his outside shot is like night and day this year. Love it.
2. Georgi - played within himself for the most part and is solid for us inside. Looks more like the freshman Georgi which is a good thing.
3. Curbelo - I know many were frustrated by his 5 TO's but I think 2 of them were questionable calls and his ability to bring the ball up against the press is a huge asset. I've been pleasantly surprised at his ability to create his own shot. He'll make his share of bonehead plays for sure but his handles allow him to go almost anywhere on the court at will and that will be huge against really tough defenses (e.g. Baylor) or playing away games with questionable officiating (e.g. Duke - that stretch in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half was ridiculous).
4. Trent - brought good energy and hit some tough threes on the move. His 5 turnovers were more concerning to me than Curbelo's (as a senior) but if he can be a consistent scorer and continue to play without fear I can live with that.
5. Kofi - definitely was a presence on defense but with his size and athleticism he should be more dominant in my opinion. Needs to improve his hands, use more pump-fakes and go up strong since it doesn't look like he's developed a reliable hook shot. On defense he seems to try to block every shot which exposes our defense to offensive rebounds, makes bad decisions on fouls regularly and has more trouble with athletic length in the paint guarding him than I expected. Hopefully he stays another year to add more skill to his game.
6. Miller - Great to see his outside shooting out of the gate. Having shooters you have to respect has been probably the biggest difference from last year so far. Hopefully his left arm is ok after that spill.
7. Hawkins - good to see him get some tick. Doesn't do anything great but seems to do a lot of things fairly well and nice to have some length beyond Kofi and Georgi.
1. Ayo - Pretty amazing when you can score 18 points, 12 boards, 5 assists and still be considered to have a mediocre game. That's how good this guy is. Seemed a little tentative in the 1st half but great players rise up when needed and his ability stop on a dime and create his own shot makes him so tough to guard.
2. DMW - Only played 20 minutes but he does so many little things that don't show up on the stat sheet that helps a team win and you can tell the team feeds off of him. His confidence in his outside shot is like night and day this year. Love it.
2. Georgi - played within himself for the most part and is solid for us inside. Looks more like the freshman Georgi which is a good thing.
3. Curbelo - I know many were frustrated by his 5 TO's but I think 2 of them were questionable calls and his ability to bring the ball up against the press is a huge asset. I've been pleasantly surprised at his ability to create his own shot. He'll make his share of bonehead plays for sure but his handles allow him to go almost anywhere on the court at will and that will be huge against really tough defenses (e.g. Baylor) or playing away games with questionable officiating (e.g. Duke - that stretch in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half was ridiculous).
4. Trent - brought good energy and hit some tough threes on the move. His 5 turnovers were more concerning to me than Curbelo's (as a senior) but if he can be a consistent scorer and continue to play without fear I can live with that.
5. Kofi - definitely was a presence on defense but with his size and athleticism he should be more dominant in my opinion. Needs to improve his hands, use more pump-fakes and go up strong since it doesn't look like he's developed a reliable hook shot. On defense he seems to try to block every shot which exposes our defense to offensive rebounds, makes bad decisions on fouls regularly and has more trouble with athletic length in the paint guarding him than I expected. Hopefully he stays another year to add more skill to his game.
6. Miller - Great to see his outside shooting out of the gate. Having shooters you have to respect has been probably the biggest difference from last year so far. Hopefully his left arm is ok after that spill.
7. Hawkins - good to see him get some tick. Doesn't do anything great but seems to do a lot of things fairly well and nice to have some length beyond Kofi and Georgi.
Agreed. He got two quick fouls early in the 1st half and BW seemed to have no interest in putting him back in. Would like to see more from him.