Illinois' Frazier handles highs and lows

#1      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/coll...cle_7e839970-cdc3-57eb-86a9-80228340332d.html


He celebrated Illinois’ first Big Ten victory of the season after eight agonizing losses. His 19 points, including 13 straight at one point in the first half, were instrumental. Inside the locker room, the freshman point guard from Florida was hopping up and down, gyrating with his head and arms and doing something coach Brad Underwood described as, “some dance you’ve never seen before.”

He was also in tears, Underwood said, crying because in the final 40 seconds of the game he made nearly enough mistakes to drag another loss from the brink of victory.

After the game, Underwood made it clear Frazier’s rocky finish will in no way impact the confidence the coach has placed in his team’s most exciting player.

“I told Trent, ‘You understand that for the rest of your career I am going to put you in that spot,’” Underwood said. “I will put the ball in Trent’s hands for the rest of his career.”


I really enjoy watching the most exciting player that the Illini has had in many seasons..his confidence is showing and I can live with the off balanced shots and mistakes as the good overwhelms the bad...
 
#2      

foby

foby
Bonnaroo Land
foby
Not saying he is Dee Brown, but we have not had a player like this since Dee. Quickly becoming one of my all-time faves in a very short time.
 
#3      

FiveStar

F
FiveStar
When his 3 ball becomes more consistent he will be a nightmare to guard. Especially if he can hit them pulling up. With his speed and quickness that would be a true pick your poison scenario.

I see him putting in a lot of shooting and right hand work this summer.
 
#4      

IlliniDent

IlliniDent
Chicago, IL
IlliniDent
FiveStar said:
When his 3 ball becomes more consistent he will be a nightmare to guard. Especially if he can hit them pulling up. With his speed and quickness that would be a true pick your poison scenario.

I see him putting in a lot of shooting and right hand work this summer.
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Absolutely agree. Plus if Mark Smith and Williams can slowly pull this together it will give us a lot more on the offensive side to open things up even more for Frazier. Ayo should help with that as well but we desperately need Smith to gain that offensive confidence back. This team could be scary with 3-4 guards that can all drive and hit the open shot. Right now, the offense is stagnant when the other team knows if it just guards Trent and Black that our chances of scoring go way down.

Really not sure where Smith's lift went this year. Seems super stiff compared to watching his high school play. It's honestly the thing that I feel is holding him back the most. He hasn't been able to stay in front of his man or beat someone off the dribble and it is clearly frustrating him. Sure a lot of that is better opponents but something just doesn't seem right with him. Besides continuing to work in the offseason on his basketball skills, he really really needs to work on his quickness, lateral movement, and just overall flexibility.
 
#5      

drew306

D
drew306
foby said:
Not saying he is Dee Brown, but we have not had a player like this since Dee. Quickly becoming one of my all-time faves in a very short time.
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Its a difficult comparison because the program is in such a different place, but as an individual player I really don't think its crazy to say he could become as good as Dee if not better.
 
#6      

westms77

W
Gilbert, AZ
westms77
drew306 said:
Its a difficult comparison because the program is in such a different place, but as an individual player I really don't think its crazy to say he could become as good as Dee if not better.
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I'd take if he becomes the National Player of the Year.
 
#7      

4on4atIMPE

4
4on4atIMPE
Nice article. Thanks for sharing. Gotta love BU's comments. They are just the most recent indicator that we have the right man running the show. Changing a culture. Building a program. God knows there are frustrations along the way, but I'm all in with Coach BU.
 
#8      

Soxfreak64

Soxfreak64
Bloomington
Soxfreak64
I'd love it if Frazier could be Dee, but I think that's probably getting too far ahead of ourselves.

When I watch Trent play, I think Russ Smith (formerly of Louisville). And you know what? That'd be a helluva player to have.
 
#10      

Illini B-Ball Fan

Illini B-Ball Fan
Illini B-Ball Fan
westms77 said:
I'd take if he becomes the National Player of the Year.
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Another angle is if TF eventually appears on the front of Sports Illustrated, he might be on the way to be as good as DB. Yet as mentioned, the 2005 team and 2018 team are not even an apples-to-apples comparison, in fact, almost inverse.
 
#11      

IlliniDent

IlliniDent
Chicago, IL
IlliniDent
Illini B-Ball Fan said:
Another angle is if TF eventually appears on the front of Sports Illustrated, he might be on the way to be as good as DB. Yet as mentioned, the 2005 team and 2018 team are not even an apples-to-apples comparison, in fact, almost inverse.
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So then apples-to-apples?
 
#13      

SescIllini

SescIllini
SescIllini
foby said:
Not saying he is Dee Brown, but we have not had a player like this since Dee. Quickly becoming one of my all-time faves in a very short time.
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I have made similar post, he is the closest player to Dee since he left in 2006. The last two true freshmen PGs to score in double digits is Dee and Garris (FWilliams was a prop 48). Trent will end up likely near what Dee average his freshmen year. Dee though average 5.0 assist and was a better rebounder. I think Trent is better at taking it to the hole compared to freshmen Dee.


I expect Trent, Mark, and Damonte will gradually improve by next year as well.
 
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#14      

RockfordIllini

R
RockfordIllini
Soxfreak64 said:
I'd love it if Frazier could be Dee, but I think that's probably getting too far ahead of ourselves.

When I watch Trent play, I think Russ Smith (formerly of Louisville). And you know what? That'd be a helluva player to have.
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I think this is a much more fair comparison. Or, take your pick of any of a handful of shifty guards UConn always seems to have (Boatright).


So glad he picked us. He is a bucket getter.