Illinois 85, IUPUI 77 POSTGAME

#151      

whovous

W
Washington, DC
whovous
Tevo said:
Leron's success scoring and his frequent touches on the low block (from rebounds, mostly) should offer him an opportunity to make good passes to open three-point shooters. I'd love to see that part of his game improve. He has 5 assists so far all season. He could easily average two a game if he continue to be the scoring threat he has. And sharing the ball helps a lot more than just the two or three points it might result in.
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+1.

I would also like to see Thorne and DJW do the same thing. Too many of our players lack assists as part of their playing vocabulary.
 
#152      

BirdDog9048

BirdDog9048
The Chief Lives
Chicago, IL
BirdDog9048
ChiefIllini said:
If he can start hitting those three's, which I believe will happen he's really close and his shot doesn't look that bad, and if he can handle the ball better, he's gonna be given a shot. I know its not even a close comparison of players, but even Egwu got his NBA shot. he was an average (if that) offensive player, but excelled at defending and a few other aspects. He wasn't your typical player but he has a skillset that lent itself to being developed. I think Leron looks like a better NBA prospect thatn Egwu did his Sophomore year. Again, not comparing them one to one in terms of whos a better NBA prospect for a specific position, it was just a good example of a UI player who didn't look NBA ready, but was still given a shot.
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Egwu is also 6'11"... Guys that tall with any sort of skill can typically get a shot in the NBA.
 
#153      

DoctorOrange

D
Chicago, IL
DoctorOrange
Can we please stop saying "Black is this good already and he's only a sophomore/2nd year/etc..."?

He's almost 21 years old and this is his 3rd year. He's good, don't get me wrong, but he's not exactly young.
 
#154      

Newman

N
Newman
DoctorOrange said:
Can we please stop saying "Black is this good already and he's only a sophomore/2nd year/etc..."?

He's almost 21 years old and this is his 3rd year. He's good, don't get me wrong, but he's not exactly young.
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Who cares if he's technically a 3rd year? Have you seen the average age of sophomores in college basketball? With basketball players usually peaking at 27, 21 is indeed young and there's still plenty of room for him to grow in the next +2 years. The important part is that we have him for over 2 years, not that he's technically a 3rd year player.
 
#155      

cfletch

C
cfletch
To shed some light on how bad of a game this was, SIU-Edwardsville from the Ohio Valley conference beat IUPUI earlier this year..SIUE lost to McKendree in an exhibition game this year too. We should have beat IUPUI by 20, instead it took a 32 point effort from Hill to squeak out a win against them at home. Hopes are not high after this game.
 
#156      

bredhartmann

B
Centralia, IL
bredhartmann
cfletch said:
To shed some light on how bad of a game this was, SIU-Edwardsville from the Ohio Valley conference beat IUPUI earlier this year..SIUE lost to McKendree in an exhibition game this year too. We should have beat IUPUI by 20, instead it took a 32 point effort from Hill to squeak out a win against them at home. Hopes are not high after this game.
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And Indiana lost to an IPFW team that lost to Illinois state by 18, so what's your point? We didn't play well but we got the win. It's over, on to CMU.
 
#157      

WesterveltVictoryCigar

WesterveltVictoryCigar
WesterveltVictoryCigar
cfletch said:
To shed some light on how bad of a game this was, SIU-Edwardsville from the Ohio Valley conference beat IUPUI earlier this year..SIUE lost to McKendree in an exhibition game this year too. We should have beat IUPUI by 20, instead it took a 32 point effort from Hill to squeak out a win against them at home. Hopes are not high after this game.
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Transitive property of sports fail.
 
#159      

IlliniFan12

I
Cedar Falls, IA
IlliniFan12
cfletch said:
To shed some light on how bad of a game this was, SIU-Edwardsville from the Ohio Valley conference beat IUPUI earlier this year..SIUE lost to McKendree in an exhibition game this year too. We should have beat IUPUI by 20, instead it took a 32 point effort from Hill to squeak out a win against them at home. Hopes are not high after this game.
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Based on that concept, if McKendree and IUPUI played tomorrow, McKendree would be favored. Because they beat SIUE and IUPUI did not.
 
#160      

cfletch

C
cfletch
IlliniFan12 said:
Based on that concept, if McKendree and IUPUI played tomorrow, McKendree would be favored. Because they beat SIUE and IUPUI did not.
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All I'm saying is that hopes are not high for Illini basketball this year by me, I'm not predicting favorites for any hypothetical games.
 
#161      

User Name

U
User Name

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#166      

IllinistuckinGopherland

IllinistuckinGopherland
IllinistuckinGopherland
Not to :deadhorse: but I think the more appropriate comparison is that Michigan beat IUPUI 77-65. I think it's reasonable to put us, Michigan, and a few others in the "sorting out 5th thru 9th" in the BIG this year. Although conference standings don't determine NCAA seed, the wins and losses that lead to those standings will. So it obviously remains to be seen where we shake out in that pack, and in turn, our postseason and JG's future.
 
#167      

Calvin

C
Calvin
cfletch said:
All I'm saying is that hopes are not high for Illini basketball this year by me, I'm not predicting favorites for any hypothetical games.
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Me either. Porous defense and toughness really concern me, and I only predicted 10-8 in conference play. The more I watch, the less convinced I am that our defense will get much better. Our bigs don't have the footwork/footspeed/ability to read, to anchor the paint solidly. What's more, I don't see road games being kind to us given some of the let downs we've seen so far.
 
#168      

HoustonIllini

H
Houston, TX
HoustonIllini
Lord Snow said:
On a positive note, we wore the fighting Illini jerseys again! I hope these are the only jerseys we wear at home ever again. (do we have road ones?) As long as the alternative is what we have now. Im looking forward to breaking out the greys though.
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+1000000

Loved seeing them break these jerseys out!
 
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#169      

DaveMurphy

D
DaveMurphy
The Bench is still a huge concern. Have no idea where Finke has been this year, and Mav is inconsistent as ever, one big block and nothing else against IUPUI. This was a 3-6 team we were playing. So, while it's great that we finished strong, it really shouldn't have been close to begin with.
 
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#170      

cfletch

C
cfletch
Calvin said:
Me either. Porous defense and toughness really concern me, and I only predicted 10-8 in conference play. The more I watch, the less convinced I am that our defense will get much better. Our bigs don't have the footwork/footspeed/ability to read, to anchor the paint solidly. What's more, I don't see road games being kind to us given some of the let downs we've seen so far.
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I agree, I think we lack athleticism. Something that can't be measured by numbers but agree that our foot speed and quickness lack on both sides of the ball. If Black and Hill aren't hitting jump shots on a particular night, we will struggle to score. We miss Nunn on defense and offense IMO.
 
#171      

dmac279

D
dmac279
cfletch said:
I agree, I think we lack athleticism. Something that can't be measured by numbers but agree that our foot speed and quickness lack on both sides of the ball. If Black and Hill aren't hitting jump shots on a particular night, we will struggle to score. We miss Nunn on defense and offense IMO.
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Bingo