Illinois vs UIC (Exhibition), Wednesday, October 28th, 7:00pm CT, B1G+
Really hope we see Stojakovic and the Ivisic's in this one, if they're out for any significant amount of time it could be serious trouble.
I think the Ivisic are more likely, but don't expect to see Stoj until the actual games start. Zero reason to risk anything
Sitting Andrej seems like the right call. He’s a vet at this point and has a few buy games to get back
Appears the twins have taken the last game off.
Great, because these games are for tinkering with lineups and other tactical litmus tests. If Baylor wants to play 8 guys and go extra hard, then good for them (and good for us to get smacked in the mouth... coach said as much).
We saw everyone play hard last year when it mattered. If people are upset they didn't go out there and die on the court for you in a game that doesn't even count, I really don't know what to tell you. Tomi and Z have given their all for this program. Tomi handled a step down in usage gracefully and played extremely well in our F4 run last year and Z was easily a top 3 backup center in college basketball last year.
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Ehhh I love Z but calling him a top 3 backup center in the country might be pushing it a little. There were quite a few games he couldn’t stay out of foul trouble or hit a jump shot.
Name 3 better ones
And foul trouble? His season high in personal fouls last year was 3 and that only happened in 3 games out of 37 total (you could at least do a simple Google search before confidently pushing back on something).
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He also scored 5 or less points 16 times. He played a combined 29 minutes in the UConn, Iowa & Houston tournament games. He also went 7/43 from three from January 21st onward, and didn’t make one in the tourney run. He’s a good backup- but he’s not consistent.
I didn’t say he was consistent, I said he was a good backup. So it sounds like you agree with me.
Are you able to name 3 better backup centers last year, or no?
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Off the top of my head? Probably not. It’s not that I necessarily disagree, it just surprised me that people thought that at first because I think he can/should be better. In his best games, he’s undoubtedly a great backup center. I didn’t mean to start an argument or come off as offensive towards him but if you’re going to be the best backup center in the country or be in the running, I’d figure you’d have to be better than what he was the second half of the season. Here’s to hoping he remains healthy and more consistent this year because he’s a big part of our success.
Yeah this discussion went off the rails it seems. My original post was in response to someone saying the Ivisic twins took the exhibition game off, and I was simply pointing out that together they were basically our "5 spot" and we went to a F4, thus the pitchforks are a little unnecessary after losing an exhibition game by 4 points to a team that just took down #1 Florida at their own facility.
I think everyone, including salivating NBA GMs, would love a more consistent Z.
But this is why he’s a fantastic backup center in the B1G and not the starting 5 for the Brooklyn Nets
You really can’t take much from exhibition games. That said, I’ve been encouraged by the performances of all of the freshmen. But I also have the following concerns:
1. Health - it is what it is, but don’t love that Mirk was back in a boot and Drej and Z bumped their heads. Hopefully not serious.
2. The Twins - I feel like consistency has been the biggest knock against both in their careers, and so far they have not rebounded or defended the rim like we need them to. Need to see some bite, physical out and want to and need to see it soon. But unfortunately I think we are heading for another up and down year from our centers.
3. So far I feel like Andrej has regressed to a non-winning player. He’s forced too many drives and doesn’t seem locked in defensively. We need NCAAt Andrej all year, and I also think that’s how he gets himself to the league. No one is drafting him to be an inefficient head rammer.
4. Vaaks’ role. I realize we are likely running most of our offense through Mirk when he returns, but Vaaks and Tomi should be killing drop coverage in ball screens. So far we’ve seen few if any of those actions. That tells me that Vaaks’ processing isn’t where they want it to be.
5. Vaaks and winning: folllowing up on my point #3, I think Andrej was a talented player but not a winning player when he got here, and he learned to be a winning player as the season went on. Vaaks is going to go through the same thing this year. In my experience, a winning team/culture can usually incorporate one non winning player a year, but it’s hard to incorporate 2 or more (think 2023 with Jayden Epps, Skyy Clark, and Mayer). If Andrej regresses now potentially have 2 players who may be content to be inefficient chuckers. That could limit our ceiling.
Hopefully we see some positive movement in all of the 5 above and a better defensive effort against an inferior opponent on Wednesday.
1. Health - it is what it is, but don’t love that Mirk was back in a boot and Drej and Z bumped their heads. Hopefully not serious.
2. The Twins - I feel like consistency has been the biggest knock against both in their careers, and so far they have not rebounded or defended the rim like we need them to. Need to see some bite, physical out and want to and need to see it soon. But unfortunately I think we are heading for another up and down year from our centers.
3. So far I feel like Andrej has regressed to a non-winning player. He’s forced too many drives and doesn’t seem locked in defensively. We need NCAAt Andrej all year, and I also think that’s how he gets himself to the league. No one is drafting him to be an inefficient head rammer.
4. Vaaks’ role. I realize we are likely running most of our offense through Mirk when he returns, but Vaaks and Tomi should be killing drop coverage in ball screens. So far we’ve seen few if any of those actions. That tells me that Vaaks’ processing isn’t where they want it to be.
5. Vaaks and winning: folllowing up on my point #3, I think Andrej was a talented player but not a winning player when he got here, and he learned to be a winning player as the season went on. Vaaks is going to go through the same thing this year. In my experience, a winning team/culture can usually incorporate one non winning player a year, but it’s hard to incorporate 2 or more (think 2023 with Jayden Epps, Skyy Clark, and Mayer). If Andrej regresses now potentially have 2 players who may be content to be inefficient chuckers. That could limit our ceiling.
Hopefully we see some positive movement in all of the 5 above and a better defensive effort against an inferior opponent on Wednesday.
Come on dude