Illinois Basketball 2016-2017
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ILL in IA
- Iowa City
I went to about the 9:15 mark on the clip. thought it was close enough and would watch the lead up to the dunk. First thing I noticed was Tracy bring up the ball, and when he gave up the ball and was moving with out it, his defender had to stay with him. Wow. Amazing. That's what happens when you have to at least consider the pg taking a shot. Funny how that opens things up.
IlliniFan12
- Cedar Falls, IA
That game & the one @Gonzaga earlier the same year were 2 of my favorite games to watch. Man I miss BP3. He was a player.
Mike Finke at end of Providence game was almost one.
t7nich
- Central IL
Malcolm Hill will be back next season, per his Instagram.
http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/...2016-04-15/hill-announces-return-2016-17.html
http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/...2016-04-15/hill-announces-return-2016-17.html
Captain Bubbles
- Fairfield, IL
Saw that and terrific news indeed. Wish we had five of him. Can't believe he'll be a senior next year, as it just doesn't seem like it.
URH Snyder 490
Orange Crush '89
- Northern Illinois
:thumb: love that guy class all the way
I feel like the only way this bus gets turned around without a lot more suffering is if three things happen next season:
1) Either Te'Jon Lucas dramatically outplays his ranking and turns out to be Trey Burke lite or Tracy Abrams miraculously retools his game to compensate for his new athletic limitations and provides 90%+ of what he gave us before the injuries.
2) Leron Black and Michael Finke each take a big step and combine to form one of the top 5 PF duos in the B1G.
3) JCL becomes a dynamic all-around scorer and gives us another shot creator off of high ball screen action.
Icing on the cake would be either Thorne getting a 6th year or someone like Merrill Holden transferring in, Nunn coming back, and one of AJ, DJW, or Kipper becoming a reliable contributor off the bench. If that perfect storm occurs and we stay relatively healthy, this could be a nice team. Like, 6-seed in the tourney, 23 wins nice. At that point, the future looks bright again. Not expecting it to happen, but it might.
1) Either Te'Jon Lucas dramatically outplays his ranking and turns out to be Trey Burke lite or Tracy Abrams miraculously retools his game to compensate for his new athletic limitations and provides 90%+ of what he gave us before the injuries.
2) Leron Black and Michael Finke each take a big step and combine to form one of the top 5 PF duos in the B1G.
3) JCL becomes a dynamic all-around scorer and gives us another shot creator off of high ball screen action.
Icing on the cake would be either Thorne getting a 6th year or someone like Merrill Holden transferring in, Nunn coming back, and one of AJ, DJW, or Kipper becoming a reliable contributor off the bench. If that perfect storm occurs and we stay relatively healthy, this could be a nice team. Like, 6-seed in the tourney, 23 wins nice. At that point, the future looks bright again. Not expecting it to happen, but it might.
The most depressing part of your post is that you put so many conditions there just to reach a 6th seed in the tourney.
Captain Bubbles
- Fairfield, IL
I've said it before and I'll say it again, a first round appearance in the NCAA Tournament can really help a program. That's the ultimate goal for Illinois this upcoming season IMO.
Add a few wins at the big dance next year and we'll almost be golden.
So youre saying there's a chance?
Assuming that happens(unfortunately, probably not) A 23 win season and 6th seed tourney appearance is pretty respectable. Not a tremendous season by any means, but I'd take a turn-around like that in a heartbeat.
At the end of last season a lineup of Hill, JCL, Nunn, Finke, and Morgan could compete at a NCAA tourney level IMO. But that team can't play 40 minutes and there was no depth to make adjustments if that team wasn't playing well. So I don't think it will be as hard as you think to have a good season. To me it comes down to
1.) Either Lucas/Abrams to play 20+ mpg of competent PG play. I think people are underestimating the impact of simply having average PG play.
2.) Finding a backup C. Thorne, another 5th year, or Finke getting stronger. Finding a 5th year that could start would be amazing, but very unlikely.
3.) At least 2 of AJ, DJW, Kipper, and/or Black to provide good bench minutes. Good meaning we won't drop off much when the starters are resting.
Agree with all of this.
That group is still sorely lacking the ability to stop any quick guards and any big man with any talent. Offensively that group could compete without a doubt. Unfortunately, you have to compete on both ends of the floor.
At the 5 , sure, but Leron, Kipper, and an improved 2015 class should help in that area. They showed quite a bit of improvement on defense towards the end even without those guys.
"things we used to say about programs like Iowa and Northwestern"
Agreed. I think you'll see some guys get better just because they've been in the system for a year now and exposed to elite NCAA players/teams. JCL, DJW, and AJ will get better and I think Coach Fletcher will help with that. You heard Groce talk about the guys knowing what to do, but that it didn't translate to live action.
OrangeAndBlue4Life
- Mesa, AZ
Any one see the tweets from Mike Thorne this morning?
https://twitter.com/bigmikethorne12/status/725001847031787521
https://twitter.com/bigmikethorne12/status/725001847031787521
ILLINIFAN2
- Des Moines, IA
Looks to be very positive if I am reading it correctly 
Looks to be very positive if I am reading it correctly
Haha right.
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