Pregame: Illinois vs UIC (Exhibition), Wednesday, October 28th, 7:00pm CT, B1G+

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#51      
Second place is 1st loser
illini0440 said:
Jesus Christ Ugh GIF by Amazon Prime Video
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We need words of wisdom. Thoughts on all of the injuries? Normally, I don't overreact or chuckle at the ones that do, but with this team....this is supposed to be the one that can finally crack the code. Can't blame anyone for anxiety....this time.
 
#52      
jimbo72
I've been thinking 7 loss team with injuries, Mirk. No matter what be healthy and connected by 3rd week of March til Natty.
 
#53      
aaeismacgychel
LvilleILL1 said:
We won't see Andrej or Big Z Wednesday. Nothing serious long term, I expect both them back very soon. No need to push anything with the season starting soon-Andrej has to clear protocol and just giving Z's body a few days off.
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Concussions can be tricky, especially if you get multiple in a short period of time before the first one fully heals. Very easy decision to sit them and not take any additional risk for a meaningless game. Here's to your optimism of a full recovery with no lingering effects.
 
#54      
aaeismacgychel
Fly Illini Fly! said:
He had 3 fouls 5 times.

He scored 5 or less points 18 times.

This is the point, because the key is for a backup.

He was 4th in the nation in BLK rate: 12.9%.

Teams shot 56.3% at the rim when he was on the court / 61.3% when he was off.

Teams shot 37.6% on non-rim paint 2s when he was on the court / 43.5% when he was off the court.

Teams shot 38.4% from the field when he was on the court / 42.3% when he was off the court.

Teams shot 46.2% from 2pt when he was on the court / 48.8% when he was off the court.

Teams show 29.1% from 3pt when he was on the court / 33.1% when he was off the court.

….

Perhaps the weirdest and most staggering was FT percentage:

When Z was on the court, teams shot 70.7% from the free throw line. When he was off the court, teams shot 76.2%.

…..

Bottom line: his impact defensively was astronomical for a backup center.

Hopefully he’s fully healthy after whatever happened on his hand, and the head injury vs Baylor.
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+1

His overall defensive metrics based on opposing team performance and Illinois performance with and without him on the court suggest he's a Top 50 defensive player in the nation. Opponent's gameplans changed dramatically when he was on the court, and he is indeed a player that can absolute disrupt an entire team's offense. His size and length forces teams to either try bringing it into the paint and fear getting blocked or try to shoot over him from the outside with low percentage rainbows. There were relatively few teams and players unaffected by him last year.

He is indeed no doubt a phenomenal backup center to the point that I'd think he'd be starting for most P4 schools. He is indeed inconsistent and he was not able to put the strength on his frame he needed to to reach his extraordinarily high ceiling. But yeah, you're not going to find a better backup pretty much anywhere.

As for some posters concerns about his play this preseason, they do realize this is preseason, right? I want to say he's done this almost every preseason- go through the motions, get whatever fanbase in a tizzy. I think of all players on the team he cares the absolute least about preseason ball.
 
#56      
Calvin
Marthgiela said:
Should be a great opportunity for the younger guys to get playing time considering basically half of our rotation is out or questionable, especially if Tomi's minutes are limited
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That's how I'm spinning it. I think a lot of us fans are on edge and will be until Mirk is back. Injuries suck, but teams have to deal with it. Lotta work between now and the post-season, so giving the least experienced guys PT should be a good thing. Some big non-conference games this year that we'd like to be at full strength, but you'd trade that in a second for a healthy team come March.
 
#57      
Guest
aaeismacgychel said:
Concussions can be tricky, especially if you get multiple in a short period of time before the first one fully heals. Very easy decision to sit them and not take any additional risk for a meaningless game. Here's to your optimism for a full recovery with no lingering effects.
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But what was Z's injury? I have read (probably here on IL) that he suffered some kind of head injury, that he injured his leg, and that he landed hard on his tailbone. Or perhaps all three?
 
#58      
Det_Illini_fan
Guest said:
But what was Z's injury? I have read (probably here on IL) that he suffered some kind of head injury, that he injured his leg, and that he landed hard on his tailbone. Or perhaps all three?
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Slowing down the fall he took, it looked more like a tailbone issue as that hit relatively hard first, but yeah I’ve heard from Head Injury to Tailbone. Good thing it sounds though like it’s nothing serious.
 
#59      
Illiniguy13
aaeismacgychel said:
+1

His overall defensive metrics based on opposing team performance and Illinois performance with and without him on the court suggest he's a Top 50 defensive player in the nation. Opponent's gameplans changed dramatically when he was on the court, and he is indeed a player that can absolute disrupt an entire team's offense. His size and length forces teams to either try bringing it into the paint and fear getting blocked or try to shoot over him from the outside with low percentage rainbows. There were relatively few teams and players unaffected by him last year.

He is indeed no doubt a phenomenal backup center to the point that I'd think he'd be starting for most P4 schools. He is indeed inconsistent and he was not able to put the strength on his frame he needed to to reach his extraordinarily high ceiling. But yeah, you're not going to find a better backup pretty much anywhere.

As for some posters concerns about his play this preseason, they do realize this is preseason, right? I want to say he's done this almost every preseason- go through the motions, get whatever fanbase in a tizzy. I think of all players on the team he cares the absolute least about preseason ball.
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What makes you say that? People need to understand that extremely tall individuals carry weight differently than the average 5'9" man. If you add 20 lbs to an average-sized guy, the difference is pretty noticeable. Add that same 20 lbs to someone who's 7'2", and you might not even be able to tell. Oh, by the way, you can tell both Tomi and Z have put on weight, so these out of touch claims need to stop. I gaurantee those dudes have worked their !!! off with Fletch.
 
#60      
Bbuck21
Brosky said:
If the freshmen play lots of minutes in this one, the score may be closer than we'd like. But I do hope the frosh get plenty of PT.
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I would also like to see Jakstys get a decent amout of time on the court, not just providing a breather for Tomi. I would like to see how he and the team plays with him in for 8 minute stretch(es).
 
#61      
AnnoyedWithGarza
Guest said:
But what was Z's injury? I have read (probably here on IL) that he suffered some kind of head injury, that he injured his leg, and that he landed hard on his tailbone. Or perhaps all three?
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When I was watching the game, it made sense to say it was either his head or his tailbone. He landed flat on his back and could have hit his head on the ground. I didn't think it looked all that bad at the time.
 
#62      
RabidDawgClassic
Ga65 said:
Every other day guys??
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NarrowJ said:
Straight off a F4 and currently the #3 ranked team

Pathetic attitude, man
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Steelyunk said:
@Ga65 can speak for him/herself (who are we kidding, it's likely himself) but I took it as a clever rejoinder, not a harsh criticism. I LOL'd.
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I mean, I took it as a joke about Baylor going all out while we rested our regulars a bit. Mildly amusing… not a belly laugher though. A good transition joke to the next joke, if you will.

That’s where an emoji would help. They’re essentially the laugh track of texting. Now personally, I HATE laugh tracks and the sitcoms that use them, but they serve a purpose. Same with emojis. They essentially say “hey.. that was a joke!”
 
#63      
NarrowJ
RabidDawgClassic said:
I mean, I took it as a joke about Baylor going all out while we rested our regulars a bit. Mildly amusing… not a belly laugher though. A good transition joke to the next joke, if you will.

That’s where an emoji would help. They’re essentially the laugh track of texting. Now personally, I HATE laugh tracks and the sitcoms that use them, but they serve a purpose. Same with emojis. They essentially say “hey.. that was a joke!”
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I’ll go ahead and apologize for taking it too seriously. These guys work their asses off though, and it’s merely entertainment to fans while to them it’s their craft and for some their livelihood, so these drive-by, low-effort, low-intelligence comments that serve no purpose other than to dig or make fun of said effort bugs me.

I am a huge supporter of free speech so I’d never take a position that people aren’t allowed to post whatever the heck they want to.
 
#64      
Bbuck21
NarrowJ said:
I’ll go ahead and apologize for taking it too seriously. These guys work their asses off though, and it’s merely entertainment to fans while to them it’s their craft and for some their livelihood, so these drive-by, low-effort, low-intelligence comments that serve no purpose other than to dig or make fun of said effort bugs me.

I am a huge supporter of free speech so I’d never take a position that people aren’t allowed to post whatever the heck they want to.
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Me too! I just can't tolerate anybody disagreeing with me. 😁
 
#65      
ptgrd23
Andrej, Big Z and David out for exhibition

This should make it interesting. JMO:

- HUGE game from Quentin C
- BIG game from Tomas I
- BIG game for Stefan V

- Solid games from Jake D, Ethan B,

- Great opportunity to show what they can do -
- Bigs Jason, Landon
- Wings - Lucas, Lincoln
 
#67      
Steelyunk
I was a little disappointed that the "SCHMACK" guy isn't back. But time is a flat circle and as far as I know that dude is 30 by now.

p.s.: I love all of you.
 
#68      
ChiTown
With the 3 starters out if we’re having problem beating UIC with the guys available, we do have a bigger problem.
 
#69      
jimbo72
I like Jakstys, he reminds me of the Bigs Purdue and Michigan St., have had for 20 years. Tough, for 5 minute stretches, glue guys to rest foul trouble exhausted big starters. So valuable. Quinton is amazing, lottery pick I'm not sure. I would love to see him for our Illini for 2 years. He sure does fill up a stat sheet as a 18 year old. Just wow player. He'll need to be a point guard in NBA of course. Doesn't shoot it like Keaton just yet. Great slasher and Rebounding at 6.2.ft..I'm more than impressed and excited at for our Freshman. Best 5man recruiting class for Underwoods tenure.
 
#70      
jimbo72
I made statement 7 to 10 losses, our schedule is brutal. Duke has 10 Nba players. North Carolina should be really good by the time we play them. Texas Tech in Lubbock is brutal, even if JT Toppin on his 8th year of college ball isn't ready early in season. Big10 is so loaded this year. Health is a huge factor and of course our Defense! Give me a healthy Mirk sometime in January 100% healthy. Team meshing after turn off Calendar. Some on here give Baylor shade for playing 8. Well they only have 8 good players. Beyond the really good 8 for Baylor is no one. They'll play 8 all season barring injuries. They will win a ton of games this year. Kansas won a title a few years back with only 7.
 
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