Set him up for failure? One of the insiders said that he wanted to transfer and "the damage was done" because he wasn't starting. He's clearly not ready, but we are woefully short on quality post players.
Maryland 91, Illinois 70 Postgame
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The red flag for me was that 60% of his shots at ND were from 3. For a 6'10 guy, that screams soft to me.
He's not physically ready for that competition on either end of the floor. He was one of the violators of going up soft. On defense, he was like a fly on their backs. Just dominated. He's freshman, he's green and he needs to put the work in.
I am immensely disappointed in how our boys played in this game. However, the Hughes fire in SoCal got enough under control that our friends were allowed to go back and check out their house tonight. It is still there, and they moved back in. This kind of thing helps me keep perspective.
Drop some knowledge on us…who is it. At least some hints
Gotta be some getting less tick…and if not the minutes should dwindle. While I get this is a “business” now, if you have verbalized you no longer have a vested interest in the company I believe I, in Coach’s shoes, would tell you to kick rocks. I would rather play short handed than deal with guys not truly wanting to be there.
Remind me again....how much NIL money were Trent and DMFW getting? I have tried to be as opened minded as I can about the NIL. I will admit the past system wasn't working but what we are seeing more and more of each week, is what NIL has created......the lack of total 100% effort. It's a lot harder to bench kids that are making good money. For one you would be admitting as a coach you may have misevaluated ones talent and skills at this level. As well as having to answer to the donors you approached as a coach and asked for said monies to get these players. I 100% understand we are young as a team, but my guess is an older team would have cost even more monies and sadly I feel the same results. I guess we will never know what kind of effort and hustle we would have received from Trent and DMFW if they were getting NIL, but I bet they still would have been giving 100% every single minute of every game. I can handle off shooting nights......what I can't handle is the thought of what the university donors spent for this type of effort we have seen way to many times this year. Can they turn it around as they get healthier? I'm starting to wonder if the NIL and the attitudes...side people and what not isn't catching up with Brad. I would have zero problems with Sunday being an old school Brad game where he yells, screams and yes...loses it on the side lines!!! I laugh at the thought of Bobby Knight having to deal with the NIL......that guy would still bench every single starter and play walk on players regardless of how much they were being paid.
At least there's 1 positive to come out of tonight. My Great Dane is having her litter! 3 Puppies are out so far
You absolutely can pull significant minutes of Tomi and Morez together. They have started to develop a good high low action. But they cannot commit silly fouls. Just can't happen.
Overreacting how we just got boat raced by 21 points at home to Maryland . This is not overreacting. Overreacting was the Northwestern, Tennessee, Alabama loss. This is who Illinois is this season Big Ten losses to Northwestern, USC, Michigan State and getting blown out by 21 points to Maryland at home but yes in your opinion we’re overreacting
Boswell is better than DGL. That's a harsh take. DGL isn't a passer. He is a pure scoring/slashing guard that can make the ocassional three. Both are good defenders but Boswell is better. Boswell is your secondary facilitator as well, something DGL cannot do.
Regarding Humrichous and Riley, both are inconsistent from game to game. You don't know if they're going to breakout or lay a goose egg as both did tonight. At least we can say that DGL has been consistently scoring 7-12 ppg the last several games and we can expect production from him on an every game basis. We cannot say the same for Hum and Riley
I'm blaming the refs! Darn them.
I don't think Maryland is an average team. They're going to be a top 1/2 team in this conference and probably somewhere in the 6-8 range in the tournament. They've got 2 great frontcourt players and solid guard play. I think you're under-valuing them
I picked the right game to not be able to watch. Sounds terrible. No tomi, sickness, lack of toughness, turnovers, and Maryland. A 21 point loss at home. 5-4 in the big ten when honestly I don't think there is a single great team in the league and not that many really good teams.
This better be the low point and the freshman wall in January... It's possible they basically are an freshman. It's cold out, like my desire to watch this game.
This better be the low point and the freshman wall in January... It's possible they basically are an freshman. It's cold out, like my desire to watch this game.
This is the same team that nearly beat Michigan St with a 9 minute game from KJ. This is also the same team that beat Oregon on the road by 30+. They're definitely better than the 2022-2023 squad. But, they need KJ, Ivisic, Boswell, Morez to be healthy/available the rest of the way for both guard and front court continuity.
The story of the game was they got abused in the lane b/c they lacked the size without Tomi. Morez could only do so much, Booth is just not physical enough to deal with Reese and Queen, and putting Jake Davis on those two was also a recipe for disaster.
Yes. About a 1 or 2 pt difference.
I was saying at the beginning of the season, while everyone is was so excited about last season, we have very few data points in this new era. They Mayer Sky team was a disappointment. Last year was always great, but my fear was last year was Terrence Shannon, Marcus Domask, and these other guys. And booty ball with Domask was a bit of a gimmick.
We're now in year 3 of the transfer era and we could still go either way, disappointment or success. I continue to say, the product of college basketball is worse. You look at games with top 10 teams, and it's not great basketball.
I would love to see us build a traditional team. Bring in 3-5 Fr., supplement with 1, maybe 2 transfers, and actually develop your roster. Use your NIL to keep your team as opposed to going out looking for new players. They may be a more talented player, but they do not know the system. They do not know the roster, gaps are created.
How good with this team be if we had Hansberry, Rogers, Harris, Dainja, Goode, etc and then we added KJ, Morez, Ivisic, and Riley as Fr, and Boswell and maybe 1 other transfer. We'd have old players in the system. We'd have guys that could lead and know what the Illini program is. I just do not think this revolving door line shift transfer thing works better than building a program.
We're now in year 3 of the transfer era and we could still go either way, disappointment or success. I continue to say, the product of college basketball is worse. You look at games with top 10 teams, and it's not great basketball.
I would love to see us build a traditional team. Bring in 3-5 Fr., supplement with 1, maybe 2 transfers, and actually develop your roster. Use your NIL to keep your team as opposed to going out looking for new players. They may be a more talented player, but they do not know the system. They do not know the roster, gaps are created.
How good with this team be if we had Hansberry, Rogers, Harris, Dainja, Goode, etc and then we added KJ, Morez, Ivisic, and Riley as Fr, and Boswell and maybe 1 other transfer. We'd have old players in the system. We'd have guys that could lead and know what the Illini program is. I just do not think this revolving door line shift transfer thing works better than building a program.
You can’t run your only two bigs at the same time for major minutes unless you are prepared to have some stretches with neither in the game.
Fouls and or fatigue will become a factor in nearly every game.
He's supposedly working on becoming more of a point guard(losing weight, working on passing skills in preparation for next year). If he stays, I can't imagine him being our starting PG but maybe a secondary facilitator or point forward?
In my opinion only keep Morez , Isvic , DGL and KJ everyone else can go
You mean like Julian Reece and Derik Queen playing at the same time? SMH.
College basketball players phone call to mom and/or dad before NIL......SON: Mom/Dad the coach really yells a lot and I'm not getting treated like a star anymore!!
Mom/Dad Son Unless he is hitting you I dont want to hear excuses, only solutions!! You are getting 200k of education for free, which can set you up way past basketball!!
Players calling home now Son: Mom/Dad the coach is yelling at me all the time and we not only are expected to go to practices every day, we have to lift way more weights and I'm pretty sure it's hurting my shot!!!
Mom/Dad Son you do not have to put up with that, we will just start putting you up for highest bid now. Until then, just relax, take advantage of all that money on top of a free education!!!
Mom/Dad Son Unless he is hitting you I dont want to hear excuses, only solutions!! You are getting 200k of education for free, which can set you up way past basketball!!
Players calling home now Son: Mom/Dad the coach is yelling at me all the time and we not only are expected to go to practices every day, we have to lift way more weights and I'm pretty sure it's hurting my shot!!!
Mom/Dad Son you do not have to put up with that, we will just start putting you up for highest bid now. Until then, just relax, take advantage of all that money on top of a free education!!!
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