Illinois 87, Iowa 83 Postgame

#226      

Tacomallini

Washington State
Anyone expecting CoHawk...and Curbelo for that matter...two sophomores with just a few starts under their belts........to come in and light it up immediately with no struggles should really check their expectations.
and NONE of those starts last year can really compare to hostile road environments like Iowa City, or Milwaukee this year
 
#227      
Pat McCaffery is doofy looking.
scary movie GIF
 
#230      
Great win, noice team effort. Plummer is steadily becoming one of the team's most favorite players and will be indispensable the rest of the season.
I have said it many times, and will do so again...nobody loves shooters more than I do. Not kids who bomb away at 25%, but truly elite shooters. I understand that they enter that category only after outworking everyone else by shooting hundreds of thousands of shots over a dozen years or more. Not only that, but they do it in about 80% of their games and do not force shots when not hitting 40-50% of them. That is what I see from Plummer. He is an aggressive shooter and will fire away from anywhere inside 30 ft. But if he is not hitting, he will look to get others involved and scoring. He does what he can on defense...knowing he has to score to be a plus player overall. Having watched every Illini team since the mid-50s, I have never seen a shooter in his elite category for consistency. I have seen hundreds of "willing" shooters, most of whom hurt their teams chances of winning from time to time by going 0 for 11 or 1 for 13 more than once. Rick Mount of Purdue, JJ Reddick of Duke, and Pete Maravich of LSU (who took way too many circus shots) were of the ilk. We have all been marveled by the performance of shooters who were on at a particular time, most recently by Carson Edwards of Purdue in a FF loss. But there are nights that the same guy goes 3 for 14 in a loss, most recently Ron Harper Jr. last Friday (1/9). I don't include the dozens of elite shooters in the NBA today because most become elite shooters because the practice continually to insure they stay in the league...college and high school kids do not have that time available....but some, even women like Jackie Stiles, spend unbelievable amounts of time shooting.

Point is, and we have only seen a small sample size, Plummer has made a strong case to becoming part of a select group of players.. Deron Williams, Dee Brown, and Luther Head were not quite there but seldom, if ever, were all three cold. Nick Anderson became pretty good as a pro, but I would not consider him elite...just a green lighter like his Orlando teammate, Dennis Scott. But Plummer, if not elite, is close, or has shown to be as a starter. Best grade transfer, one year Illini transfer ever at a minimum. Hope he becomes our Rick Mount. What is elite? You will know it when you see it. Start with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.....or let's hope I can say it about Alphonso Plummer at the FF!!
 
#231      

blackdog

Champaign
Leading scorer ? Check out the competition he has played against to get those numbers. Pretty weak argument.
6 assists, mostly to an open 3, doesn't take much skill

Coming in to the game Damonte was averaging 6.6 rebounds (as a 6'3 guard) 3.1 assists, 1.3 steals and only 1.3 turnovers per game while playing out of position and handling the point a ton. That's not even really digging deeper into his defensive impact which is huge and I wish it were easier to find those metrics at a college level because they would probably be mind blowing. Sure he isn't scoring or shooting well at all but the man is just making plays and contributing everywhere else to winning games. Coach and the rest of the team love him for a reason.

Also please go out and hit 6 assists against a high major D1 team and then say it doesn't take much skill....
 
#232      
I don’t think it was a hot take to say it will take a better game than tonight to beat a stacked AZ team.
Jeez, just enjoy the win. We just beat a good Iowa team with their full roster on their floor. Purdue nearly lost to them at home without their best player and leading scorer in the country and they are ranked #1 . When you can find ways to win when struggling with parts of your game as we did, that is a good sign.
 
#233      
I love DaMonte, but what exactly does he do that is a benefit ?
His job at the end was to stop Murray, how'd he do?
No help on the offensive end.
Just saying, against the pressure he did not help much

he got a huge and 1 when it was close
I would find benefit on offense from 6 assists against 2 TOs...the only player on the roster who had an a/TO over 2
4 boards is good from the guard spot

youre surprised our 6'3 guard had trouble stopping the 6'9 leading scorer in the country? That was only his job because hawkins fouled out.

Did you really just watch that game and conclude DMW did nothing beneficial to the team? LOL
 
#237      
Yes I have. They have five quick guys - you have two big guys. Three people bringing it up one big at half court and one big ready to bust up or go deep. You get the ball to a big and the only way the dwarf can get to the ball is to foul. When they double team the big he can pass back or he can hit a guard breaking down the court. We'll be better against the press next time. Practicing against a press is very good for conditioning. I bet we learn to run.
You sound like a coach and obviously a former player. I'm not disagreeing with anything you've said. In fact, I agree wholeheartedly. I was just trying to ascertain that you weren't some guy watching from the sidelines his entire life thinking that everything is easy. And perhaps things did come easy for you, but they certainly did not for me. Sometimes knowing what to do and being able to actually do it are two very different things. At least that was my experience.
 
#238      
Outside of needing to clean up the lackadaisical plays and the 21-2 run we allowed, I thought it was a great game. On the 3 10-second calls and a few lazy long passes that were picked off for an easy score the other way, guys have to be aggressive on helping their teammates out of jams.

We are looking for the extra pass and Kofi's selflessness and passing ability out of the extra attention is really what turned this around.

Refs called every single drive at the end it seemed and Iowa, to their credit, wouldn't go away.

100% excited to see Curbelo come back and would love to see him get mixed into the rotation to help build confidence before he gets dumped into the thick of things. We are playing the long game at the point and his health and confidence need to be solid as the season turns much more difficult in January.
 
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#239      
I am so proud of these men. Way to go fighting Illini you're short-handed your heart you keep playing! I'm so proud of you guys.
 
#240      
I fully understand your point. Playing on road in rivalry games are never easy and the referees stood with Iowa. That's why I said "I love it".
With this being said, I believe we are a way better team than this Iowa (we are a preseason top 10 team and I think we have potential to be even better than that), but we made 18 turnovers (including two consecutive 10-second calls), and Iowa got a 21-2 run in the first half.
I will try not to be too demanding and change my expression then: there are still plenty of space for improvement.
I-L-L!
I see where you’re coming from my man. You make some valid points. All good.
I-N-I!
 
#243      

DeonThomas

South Carolina
I love DaMonte, but what exactly does he do that is a benefit ?
His job at the end was to stop Murray, how'd he do?
No help on the offensive end.
Just saying, against the pressure he did not help much
DaMonte is a beast on defense and he was superb against the pressure last night night. Very consistent from game to game, too. He, Kofi and Plummer are the MVP's of our first 9 games.
 
#244      
Not sure what to think about Belo? Traveling so no concussion. If he is having any sort of mental issues, you could not tell either on the bench or post game.. I hope he gets better…
 
#246      

illini80

Forgottonia
Not sure what to think about Belo? Traveling so no concussion. If he is having any sort of mental issues, you could not tell either on the bench or post game.. I hope he gets better…
It’s such a strange situation because of the way it’s being handled, but whatever it is must be serious. Wish him the best and I’m glad everyone is respecting his right to privacy. I hope it’s nothing that could derail him from a great career.
 
#248      

DeonThomas

South Carolina
I have said it many times, and will do so again...nobody loves shooters more than I do. Not kids who bomb away at 25%, but truly elite shooters. I understand that they enter that category only after outworking everyone else by shooting hundreds of thousands of shots over a dozen years or more. Not only that, but they do it in about 80% of their games and do not force shots when not hitting 40-50% of them. That is what I see from Plummer. He is an aggressive shooter and will fire away from anywhere inside 30 ft. But if he is not hitting, he will look to get others involved and scoring. He does what he can on defense...knowing he has to score to be a plus player overall. Having watched every Illini team since the mid-50s, I have never seen a shooter in his elite category for consistency. I have seen hundreds of "willing" shooters, most of whom hurt their teams chances of winning from time to time by going 0 for 11 or 1 for 13 more than once. Rick Mount of Purdue, JJ Reddick of Duke, and Pete Maravich of LSU (who took way too many circus shots) were of the ilk. We have all been marveled by the performance of shooters who were on at a particular time, most recently by Carson Edwards of Purdue in a FF loss. But there are nights that the same guy goes 3 for 14 in a loss, most recently Ron Harper Jr. last Friday (1/9). I don't include the dozens of elite shooters in the NBA today because most become elite shooters because the practice continually to insure they stay in the league...college and high school kids do not have that time available....but some, even women like Jackie Stiles, spend unbelievable amounts of time shooting.

Point is, and we have only seen a small sample size, Plummer has made a strong case to becoming part of a select group of players.. Deron Williams, Dee Brown, and Luther Head were not quite there but seldom, if ever, were all three cold. Nick Anderson became pretty good as a pro, but I would not consider him elite...just a green lighter like his Orlando teammate, Dennis Scott. But Plummer, if not elite, is close, or has shown to be as a starter. Best grade transfer, one year Illini transfer ever at a minimum. Hope he becomes our Rick Mount. What is elite? You will know it when you see it. Start with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.....or let's hope I can say it about Alphonso Plummer at the FF!!
I'll certainly give you this...........

The players you mention above are/were absolutely ELITE shooters. Undeniably. And it's not always just the stats. Sometimes you need to pass the "eye test". (Altenberger in his final season shot 48% from three
pt range and was outstanding, but I wouldn't put him on this list. He's more in the Jimmer Fredette /Jay Edwards category.)

1. Curry
2. Mount
3. Maravich (#1 in terms of acrobatic and mind boggling shots; #1 in passing)
4. Reddick
5. Durant