Illinois 86, Rutgers 51 Postgame

#151      
Belo is a smart cat. He came out this year probably feeling his own hype a bit, but you really cannot overstate the effect sitting these last few games and watching the boys hit on all cylinders might have on his cerebral side. Not to mention the fact that he was playing while recovering from head/neck trauma.

BU has a fine line to walk re: reigning in a wild stallion vs letting a kid come to the realization himself. I expect he has learned a bit and we will see much more efficient and heady play from him.

Personally, I expect to see better floor spacing with less dribbling in heavy traffic, more game-wise continuity with Kofi with plenty of lobs off the P/R and continued efficient outside shooting by the wings. 🤞:chief:
 
#152      
Good point. I wonder how much of his poor shooting at the line last year was due to exhaustion/physicality of every game.
His shooting form looked terrible last year. He was hesitant and jerky. I'm sure exhaustion played a role, but you practice that as well. You don't shoot your practice frows before practice... you always do it after. This year he's butter smooth (usually - was it his first against Rutgers that the jerk made an appearance?) with really nice follow through and that nice flip of the wrist. He has a routine at the line that he repeats making it all about muscle memory. Looks to me like he put a lot of work into it. Form looks WORLDS better. Dick Baumgartner would be proud. I think Kofi deserves a cookie.
 
#153      
I’m gonna catch flack for this and understand why, but I think Trent comes off the bench when Curbelo returns.

Him and DMW are our best combo to share handling duties when we need to go to our bench, it allows him to be really aggressive offensively against other teams second string, and he can do his lockdown thing against the other teams bench energy guy as well.

Plummer has been more consistent shooting than Trent has (some of that is his shoulder I’m sure), but we really need that space for the pick and rolls and high/lows that we’ll see so the defense has to make tough choices.
It is a lot easier to establish the style of play at the start and then bring Belo in.
 
#154      

Ken

chitown
It is a lot easier to establish the style of play at the start and then bring Belo in.

except that style of play is not sustainable against good teams and Im 100% sure BU knows that because not every team is gonna be scared of Kofi AND missing its starting PG.

The difference the last two games has been a push of DMW and Trent back to their natural role player status and the encouragement of the other players be aggressive offensively. They are fantastic at what they do but you simply cant be looking at them to give you bigtime offensive production on a game to game basis .
 
#155      

MustangWally

Mayfield
For the love of all things orange and blue…it’s Curbelo not Curbello!
Bello:
maria-bello.jpg


Belo:
VQB7EPWYPVI6AYVYBPSLC4XR4E.jpg
 
#156      
except that style of play is not sustainable against good teams and Im 100% sure BU knows that because not every team is gonna be scared of Kofi AND missing its starting PG.

The difference the last two games has been a push of DMW and Trent back to their natural role player status and the encouragement of the other players be aggressive offensively. They are fantastic at what they do but you simply cant be looking at them to give you bigtime offensive production on a game to game basis .
Rutgers wasn’t the only team down their staring PG last night.
 
#157      
BTW Kofi is now averaging 1.3 assists per game. He was made some great passes out of the post and even when they missed or he got a hockey assist he had a HUGE smile on his face going back down the other way. There were some times this game where I thought he passed when he could have powered through but its been such an amazing change seeing him move the ball.
And if the other team thinks he is going to pass it out, he can fake a pass and the double/triple team goes away real quick and he's now one on one. I'm sure he has noticed this phenomenon. LOL
 
#158      
really wish RJ would've seen that setup pass from Podz in the last couple seconds...closing out the game with that dunk would've been the cherry on top...great game for the Illini
I suspect that BU was yelling for them to run out the clock, no sense rubbing it in.
 
#165      
except that style of play is not sustainable against good teams and Im 100% sure BU knows that because not every team is gonna be scared of Kofi AND missing its starting PG.

The difference the last two games has been a push of DMW and Trent back to their natural role player status and the encouragement of the other players be aggressive offensively. They are fantastic at what they do but you simply cant be looking at them to give you bigtime offensive production on a game to game basis .
I kind of disagree with you. That style of play has been very successful with teams in the past. But, I am not saying to not play Belo, simply to bring him in off of the bench and instill a certain passing mentality in the team from the start. Belo improved on sharing the ball a great deal in his last game and hopefully, this will continue. His skills are immense but, it can't be just about him.
 
#167      
I kind of disagree with you. That style of play has been very successful with teams in the past. But, I am not saying to not play Belo, simply to bring him in off of the bench and instill a certain passing mentality in the team from the start. Belo improved on sharing the ball a great deal in his last game and hopefully, this will continue. His skills are immense but, it can't be just about him.
That is what I think the key for Belo is. I think when he goes into a game thinking about distributing more than scoring he is much better and things open up for him. His earlier struggles seemed to be him trying to be aggressive with scoring and driving. JMHO though.