Absolutely !
Is it possible Miller's role draws him further out to the perimeter, both on offense and defense? Just purely speculation on my part, and don't know why it would be any different from Griffin, though I think Griffin may have an inch or two on Miller.
Curbelo reminds me of Tas (The Tasmanian Devil from Bugs Bunny) A whirling blur of energy. He seems able to get anywhere at any time and always finds a narrow crack in the defense to slip a pass through.
I think that will come with time, Ace is still getting his feet under him at the collegiate level. And to be fair, it is a very high ask for him to replace Griffin’s production on the boards-Alan was an elite rebounder for his size.
What feels good about Curbelo is that Illinois is in a position for the first time in a long while where they actually need a true point guard. For years, the only thing Illinois needed was some guy to bring the ball up the court, which they did by committee. The offense wasn't really run by the point guard. I thought this would be even more true in Underwood's positionless offense. But now, Illinois has guys underneath and guys on the wing, and it really helps when Curbelo creates opportunities. I feel bad for some previous pass-first guards Illinois had in the past. There just wasn't a lot of offense to set up.
Illini are shooting 43% from 3 (12th in the Nation, #1 in the B1G). They've had 7 players attempt a 3...of those Ayo and Curbelo have the worst percentages at 37.5%. I'd say that's pretty consistent.
Curious as to opinion of Belo’s quickness vs Dee’s quickness. Not trying to compare their overall game just the quickness of Belo vs “one man fast break”. Twitch looks equivalent to me but probably not speed. Memory may be off.
I think Dee Brown was a better shooter, better going to the basket, faster, a better ball handler (maybe not as flashy), a better passer...but then, I think Dee could walk on water, so my judgement may be biased.
Dee was great. Definitely different players. Curbelo seems to really know how to get to the basket, IMO, better than Dee. Curbelo is still sloppy and too loose with the ball at times, but he seems to be more gifted of a ball handler, too.
If only that shot fell vs Washington.
And Michael Jordan and Lebron James are two of the best to ever play in the NBA. How dare anyone suggest Steph Curry is a better shooter.
Ayo has picked up rebounding much better this year. Maybe that is the trade off...Miller and Frazier/Curbelo stay back and Ayo crashes boards since Ayo better rebounder??
Good energy too since there is no crowd this year. I realized this during the Mizzou game maybe? I thought the announcers lacked energy. No crowd noise, so took away from game. Need to add younger/energetic analysts for games with no crowds.
Doesn’t explain why Belo has more rebounds than Ace. (3.6/2.1). Ace is bigger and looks much stronger than Belo. Belo is definitely quicker but it is a considerable difference when you look at minutes played. Griffin just had a feel for it and wonder if also true of Belo despite his size. (Dee averaged 3.7 his freshman year but only 2.7 in 2004-5 so there are other factors at play) Really believe quickness offsets a lot of size in all facets of the game.
I’ve come to believe that size is not a good predictor of rebounding ability. While it helps to be taller and stronger than others going for the same ball, I think anticipation, quickness, timing and desire are much more important factors.
I always felt I was a good rebounder for someone not that tall. When I was young, I did a lot of rebounding for my older brother as he shot. I believe I gained an edge in seeing the ball in the air and predicting where it would go off the rim.
Yeah exactly this, Miller isn't a primary ball handler, so he's more likely to take off on the break than crash for a board. Ayo is bringing the ball up often so he's naturally going to be crashing since he will have to be there to receive the ball from the bigs to bring up the court.
