Did he make any defensive strides this year? I'm less-concerned with the 3pt shot than I am with his deficiencies on defense. He just does not seem to have quick enough feet to guard well against B1G level opponents. He clearly plays hard, but he consistently had his man blow by him in the post or let rebounds slip right through his hands.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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None of these matters to me if we coax HumBrickHouse back.
Agree - His role is practice player … Scout team …
DReq
Always Illini
- Central Illinois
I do enjoy your posts and analysis and this post may well reflect reality but sometimes what is "patently obvious" depends upon the direction you are facing. As a for instance one could actually expect, quite reasonably that there are money people who favor one sport over the other. There is no actual "pot" in this whole scenario since there seems to be a group of donors who are available to be tapped for specific players and purposes and these are not necessarily folks who have put money into a collective. It is one of the most frustrating features of the NILverse and one that makes what seems obvious less reliably true. We all are working in the dark here except for those few who do actually know what is going on and even those know only what they are given access to so darkness does not open to the light well enough to draw bold conclusions such as many that appear here.
Again, I am not saying you are wrong - just that there are other perspectives in this new environment that are an also possible.
Stay Gritty and go Illini!
Continuity of missed 3s and atrocious defense …
I do agree the bench would be deeper because he should be on it the entire game …
DReq
Always Illini
- Central Illinois
And by extension, that isn't the price of the Final Four since that leaves at least 11 disappointed teams out.
He is a fit then because what they have plus the projected adds are no where near that level.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
He did, in fairness. From "unplayable turnstile" to "survivable weak point" but strides are strides.
He started playing defense like a guy who knows he's bad at defense and wants to just limit the damage, if that makes sense. Rather than trying to check your opponent, protect yourself, know where your help is in the defensive scheme and just prevent a layup line.
Marcus Domask was not a good individual defender but he was really good at playing damage-limitation defense that way.
(Oh no I made a Humdinger-Domask comparison)
There were stretches where he did. He was absolutely killing us at both ends at times.
People act like Humrichous shot 18% from three last season I swear.
Defensive strides ??? This isn’t a development year for him … The dude is in his 5th year … He is what he is at this point …
And he’s a terrible rebounder …
Hum Brick House at a discount is better than Miller for over a million dollars though….
I feel like if we roll out the same offensive scheme and defense (drop coverage) scheme we will have similar results regardless of the players we get in the offseason. Last years team was better than the results we got and I put that solely on the defensive scheme.
I think getting BH back to come off the bench is good for basketball reasons. Definitely not as a starter, but as a bench player it's good. I also wouldn't cast aside the possibility of a 2nd-year-in-program bump in production. Obviously completely different players and situations, but TSJ was not the same player in year 1 that he was in year 2. Dain is another guy who played better, in my opinion, coming back a 2nd year and in a reduced role.
But for the sanity of the discussions on this board, BH coming back is apocalyptic. The "BU's seat is warm," "Chris Beard could get us to a Final Four," takes and the like are never going to end. I honestly don't know if I can take it. I'm going to have to find a new hobby for when I'm bored at work.
But for the sanity of the discussions on this board, BH coming back is apocalyptic. The "BU's seat is warm," "Chris Beard could get us to a Final Four," takes and the like are never going to end. I honestly don't know if I can take it. I'm going to have to find a new hobby for when I'm bored at work.
PizzaHutParkingLot
- Vodice, Croatia
Hoping he looks better with another year in the system
His small-ball 5 minutes were servicable
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
If this board had been around in 2005: “YOU CAN’T GET TO THE FINAL FOUR WITH JACK INGRAM ON THE TEAM!!!!!!!!”
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
They were 18-19 year olds carrying big offensive loads for us and we'd have been nowhere without them, but it's kind of surprising how little blame KJ and especially Riley are getting for our defensive frailties last year.
Ty for Riley on the defensive end of the floor is a total sea change. Z brings an element we totally lacked. The whole team is older. We ought to improve on that end.
What's going to happen is that BH will hit 2 three-pointers against Bismarck Tech, BU will be thrilled and before you know it, Ben will be starting.
He shot us out of some games last year … These 3 really stick out in my mind …
1-9 against NW … Lost in OT
0-7 against Nebraska … Lost in OT
0-6 against MSU … Lost by 15
And he went 0-4 from 3 against Xavier in the tourney …
I don’t think he’s a bad shooter and I’ve seen him make a bunch in practice … He just doesn’t know when to stop shooting when it isn’t his night …
If you could take Ben and adjust his stats from this last season in the following way do we like him...
+ 2 ppg
+ 2.3 rpg
- .6 apg
- .4 bpg
- .2 spg
+ 3.1 3pFG%
- 13.7 FT %
and kept his defensive win share the same
Is that a player who could be on a decent team?
+ 2 ppg
+ 2.3 rpg
- .6 apg
- .4 bpg
- .2 spg
+ 3.1 3pFG%
- 13.7 FT %
and kept his defensive win share the same
Is that a player who could be on a decent team?
As far as taking Ben back as others have said and is the case with all players, depends on the price, depends on the role.
I would take him for a 7th/8th man type of role and corresponding payday. I agree the potential for a jump in shooting percentage is there. Presumably the game will slow down a bit for him in year 2 of the P4 level, where the players are longer and more athletic and thus windows to get shots off is smaller than in the valley.
His percentage, though not ideal, actually wasn’t horrible. But the issue isn’t so much how many 3’s he made but when he made them. Aside from Oregon (where everyone was hitting shots), he really struggled in our bigger games. Way too many o-fers. And in 2 tournament games he didn’t make a field goal and only scored 2 points.
Again I feel for the kid because he took a lot of abuse he probably wasn’t ready for. The stage was probably just a little bit too big for him. Easy enough for us to criticize from the couch, but it’s quite a leap to go from playing in front of parents and a few friends in NAIA to playing on national tv at MSG in 2 years. But he hasn’t shown me enough that he’s worth more than 8th man type role/pay. Happy to give him that and prove me wrong.
I would take him for a 7th/8th man type of role and corresponding payday. I agree the potential for a jump in shooting percentage is there. Presumably the game will slow down a bit for him in year 2 of the P4 level, where the players are longer and more athletic and thus windows to get shots off is smaller than in the valley.
His percentage, though not ideal, actually wasn’t horrible. But the issue isn’t so much how many 3’s he made but when he made them. Aside from Oregon (where everyone was hitting shots), he really struggled in our bigger games. Way too many o-fers. And in 2 tournament games he didn’t make a field goal and only scored 2 points.
Again I feel for the kid because he took a lot of abuse he probably wasn’t ready for. The stage was probably just a little bit too big for him. Easy enough for us to criticize from the couch, but it’s quite a leap to go from playing in front of parents and a few friends in NAIA to playing on national tv at MSG in 2 years. But he hasn’t shown me enough that he’s worth more than 8th man type role/pay. Happy to give him that and prove me wrong.
Doesn't that kinda fall on Brad/Tyler? IIRC, it was them that wanted him to keep shooting and stated that's why he's out there... Or was that just the line for the reasoning he was playing over Rez at that point?
#ShootersShoot!
Watching the highlights, I thought KJ light. I was amused to see his A/T was just over 1.
Couple things I liked in the clip:
* Stroke looks good, gets the ball off well 37% from 3
* Looks good in attack mode
* Listed as a guard --looks like a 2/3, 6'6" is good size and a little Fletch is always good
His team was 12-21 and his D-rating is 116, (not that it says a ton, but it raises the question)
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