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New Mexico State 74, Illinois 69 POSTGAME
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<blockquote data-quote="Deleted member 631370" data-source="post: 1359438"><p>You probably never pictured the 2004 Illini team -- circa December of 2003 after the Providence massacre or after losing at home to Purdue and then losing @ NW -- as a team that would go on to become the #1 team in the land the following year, did you?</p><p></p><p>You can't look at the team as it stands right now and project that image into next season. Ultimately, this is a conversation better had in March. If we're still losing every close game in March, then my outlook for next season is soured quite a bit. But I'm assuming a good deal of improvement and growth between then and now.</p><p></p><p>We return virtually the entire roster, sub in Ayo for Alstork, and will field a team that by then will have a full year of experience with this system. If you don't think that makes a significant difference, then I'm not sure what to tell you. </p><p></p><p>We have a lot of talent on this roster, but the talent is completely new to this system (and much of it is completely new to college basketball). </p><p></p><p>The only question is, how big a difference will it make? The answer to that rests on a few things: (1) How improved does Mark Smith become, (2) What do we add to our front court, and (3) how quickly does Ayo step in and assert himself as the PG.</p><p></p><p>If Smith figures it out.....if Ayo does what 5* PGs usually do......and if we add a quality big that can give us 15+ minutes, I think we have all the pieces for a very good basketball team. But those are really big IFs.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Deleted member 631370, post: 1359438"] You probably never pictured the 2004 Illini team -- circa December of 2003 after the Providence massacre or after losing at home to Purdue and then losing @ NW -- as a team that would go on to become the #1 team in the land the following year, did you? You can't look at the team as it stands right now and project that image into next season. Ultimately, this is a conversation better had in March. If we're still losing every close game in March, then my outlook for next season is soured quite a bit. But I'm assuming a good deal of improvement and growth between then and now. We return virtually the entire roster, sub in Ayo for Alstork, and will field a team that by then will have a full year of experience with this system. If you don't think that makes a significant difference, then I'm not sure what to tell you. We have a lot of talent on this roster, but the talent is completely new to this system (and much of it is completely new to college basketball). The only question is, how big a difference will it make? The answer to that rests on a few things: (1) How improved does Mark Smith become, (2) What do we add to our front court, and (3) how quickly does Ayo step in and assert himself as the PG. If Smith figures it out.....if Ayo does what 5* PGs usually do......and if we add a quality big that can give us 15+ minutes, I think we have all the pieces for a very good basketball team. But those are really big IFs. [/QUOTE]
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New Mexico State 74, Illinois 69 POSTGAME
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