My statement was a reaction to the tweet of "Jalen Coleman-Lands said he feels comfortable as lead guard." OK... then, why not play him for a few reps? I really like JCL, I think he is capable of leading the Illini in scoring next year, and definitely as a junior/senior. Looks like a possible future 20ppg scorer. PG? Hmmm... I think it is to his best interest to make the transition but not sure he has the skills. But in a supporting role, I do not see why not.
Illinois Basketball 2016-2017
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My statement was a reaction to the tweet of "Jalen Coleman-Lands said he feels comfortable as lead guard." OK... then, why not play him for a few reps? I really like JCL, I think he is capable of leading the Illini in scoring next year, and definitely as a junior/senior. Looks like a possible future 20ppg scorer. PG? Hmmm... I think it is to his best interest to make the transition but not sure he has the skills. But in a supporting role, I do not see why not.
icengineer
- Southern Illinois
Ummm, did you not watch the last game? Hill played PG quite a bit, and he has played plenty of minutes there throughout the season. Even so, he is not the answer obviously, merely a stop gap.
Hill had not played plenty of minutes there throughout the season as Groce was pretty much splitting PG duties between Tate/Lewis for pretty much the whole season. Unless you did not watch most of the previous games. Nobody is saying that Hill is the answer at PG. He is not a PG, he is a SF. But neither is JCL, he is a SG. But we have mediocre PGs and between JCL and Hill, Hill is better at this point as a surrogate PG.
There is not much you can do to generate talent on this team or find a B1G quality PG when our roster has none. The talent level is what it is, and is not good. As I said, we are not chasing much at this point this season, so getting reps for Hill or JCL at PG is not bad idea, building for the next year.
At this point, starting Hill, JCL, Nunn, Finke and Mav in the same lineup (rather than substituting Mav/Finke most of the game) and bringing DJW as the first man off the bench is IMO the best strategy. We will not win many games, but it will be more pleasant to watch.
Agreed. I would rather have the team treat the rest of the year like a preseason, with experimentation and reps of what they can run next year, including giving high ceiling guys like DJW plenty of experience. Getting Hill or JCL experience at the 1 is going to be crucial for next year since we won't know exactly what to expect from Lucas.
The only reason I disagree is because of how strict Groce is about teaching freshman one position during their first year. He's obviously a better SG, i.e. no handles and poor vision (though he did have some pretty passes last game), but I think if he happened to be a Sophomore, Groce would've had him at the 1 a long time ago, regardless of skill set. That being said, priority number one this offseason is to see if he can, in fact, improve his abilities enough to be a good AST/TO PG, assuming he can keep his shooting up.
He's shown great vision and that he can make the pas on multiple occasions this season. Its the ability to create off the dribble that needs work. Which even that has shown improvement over the course of the year. Especially his pump fake and drive game. I think the potential is there for him to become a pretty good combo guard.
An REO night w/b good by me, a fossil. Still remember those Friday nights at the Red Lion, peering through the smoke and hearing the whole under-the-influence bar singing whoo-whoo to Sympathy for the Devil, which they closed with every time. 'Nuther era; not sure how Ludacris would've been received.
That brings back memories... first night at school as a freshman I wandered into the Red Lion. REO was playing.
An REO night w/b good by me, a fossil. Still remember those Friday nights at the Red Lion, peering through the smoke and hearing the whole under-the-influence bar singing whoo-whoo to Sympathy for the Devil, which they closed with every time. 'Nuther era; not sure how Ludacris would've been received.
Man, I envy you guys. Would have been a cool time to be around campus.
Of course he's going to say he's comfortable in any position. That's what all athletes do. You would never here him say "No, playing lead guard is uncomfortable for me."
But regardless, my point was he couldn't practice at PG because of his injury. And it wouldn't be fair to him or the team to throw him out there with no experience or practice time first.
I do not believe that is true. JCL did not have to make a statement at this point in the season, especially for playing a position that he has not played all season. That statement was out of left field.
If a prereq for PG success in Groce's offense includes ability to run a screen/roll, don't think JCL is ready to take on that role. Has no experience in that aspect of the game with the ball in his hands, I don't believe. OTOH, since we may be in an experimentation phase of the season, wouldn't be averse to seeing him trying the position on for size in portions of games the rest of the way.
I believe we will have a chance to go dancing next year but I don't believe we can miraculously turn it around and be a top 4 team. I would be happy with a top 6 finish. If we can do that and use that as a launch for future seasons, I believe a top 4 finish is plausible in 3 years. At that point, Illinois can look to retake their place in upper echelon of BIG for years to come.
Next year seems like the year it could happen. Teams always end up reloading with new guys stepping up, but there are a lot of vets leaving good teams. It'll be interesting to see how Indiana responds without Yogi. Maryland might end up going back to being mediocre with all that they are losing. Same with Iowa. I'm sure MSU will reload despite losing POY in Valentine and a lottery pick in Davis. We'll no longer have to wonder which Hammons we'll see when we face Purdue.
That's a bit of an understatement, Izzo has probably the best class of his career coming in next year.
Definitely a huge class with a ton of upside, but replacing your top PG, SG, PF, and C, is extremely tough no matter how the good the class is.
Yet, many on this board believe that we will be much better in a couple of years (2017-18) despite losing Hill, Nunn, Mav, Tate, in addition to Lewis, Thorne, Abrams and we can still do it with a good, but not necessarily great 2017 recruiting class.
That's just too much kool-aid talking, but there is some hope that with JCL, AJ, DJW (maybe Kipper, but I would like to see him play first) that we will be in a position to replace Nunn & Hill which should be our biggest worry. Post & pg have been so weak for so long that it isn't hard to believe that TJL, Black, & Finke can maintain our stock at 1, 4, & 5. We will need some help/depth from the 2017 class, and we are asking a lot from TJL who we also haven't see play a game in college, but it isn't like we need anyone to come in, start, and be a huge impact. Again, we will undoubtedly miss Nunn & Hill, but wing is where we are the deepest, the rest is not like we are reloading to a MSU level.
Good chance Black won't be returning now...
Yea, I read that thread right after I posted this. Assuming/if we lose Black, 2017 just got a bunch tougher & it is all the more important to pick up a 2016 big or we will be returning only Finke in 2017.
2013-14 2016-17
F/C Nnanna Egwu > F/C 5th Year Player (potential to be = or < )
F Tyler Griffey < F Michael Finke
G D.J. Richardson = G Jalen Coleman-Lands
G Tracey Abrams > G Tracey Abrams or Tejon Lucas
G Brandon Paul < G Malcolm Hill
F Sam Mclaurin < F Leron Black ( > or = if it's a transfer)
G Joe Bertrand < G Kendrick Nunn
F Mike Shaw = F/C Maverick Morgan
G/F Myke Henry > G/F DJ Williams (potential to be <)
G/F Devin Langford < G Aaron Jordan
G Ray Rice (RS) < G/F Kipper Nichols
G Mike LaTulip < G Tejon Lucas
Depends on our Transfer players and Leron Black but this team looks to be better than Groce's only acceptable season
F/C Nnanna Egwu > F/C 5th Year Player (potential to be = or < )
F Tyler Griffey < F Michael Finke
G D.J. Richardson = G Jalen Coleman-Lands
G Tracey Abrams > G Tracey Abrams or Tejon Lucas
G Brandon Paul < G Malcolm Hill
F Sam Mclaurin < F Leron Black ( > or = if it's a transfer)
G Joe Bertrand < G Kendrick Nunn
F Mike Shaw = F/C Maverick Morgan
G/F Myke Henry > G/F DJ Williams (potential to be <)
G/F Devin Langford < G Aaron Jordan
G Ray Rice (RS) < G/F Kipper Nichols
G Mike LaTulip < G Tejon Lucas
Depends on our Transfer players and Leron Black but this team looks to be better than Groce's only acceptable season
IMO on that list, I would say Mav and DJW greater than Shaw and Henry. Easily. And thats before the often occurring Soph. leap.
So IMO, on paper, next years team looks a lot better than that years.
So IMO, on paper, next years team looks a lot better than that years.
Agreed. Shaw never produced or had a "breakout game."
The Egwu vs 5th year transfer is big unknown. Not sure this team is that much better.
All said, I have liked our improvement on D and Offensive movement the last few games. The freshmen are gaining confidence and team is playing better as a whole.
Next year if we are able to sustain intensity for 40 minutes, we will be in better shape
Lol no way is a sophomore Mike Shaw as good as senior Maverick Morgan. How much did Mike even contribute on that team besides garbage minutes?
Well that proves that we will be the best team yet under Groce.
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