Pregame: Illinois at Michigan, Sunday, March 2nd, 2:45pm CT, CBS
- Status
Taking him over Ayo or TSJ? Or, just needing a distributor?KJ coming off the bench
Fine KJ, Ayo, TSJ, Kofi, and Tomi start. The rest come.off the bench. We'd win a few ballgames
In what world do you think Hummer can guard Wolf?
Healthy Tomi over Kofi is kind of an insane take tbh. You also don't really need height if I you have Kofi.
Do you realize how dominant Kofi could be at the college level. An offense with enough perimeter talent where it's not ran through Kofi and he can spend a lot of time in the off ball dunker spot would be unstoppable.
Domask doing booty ball from the wing with Kofi on the opposite block/wing would basically be guaranteed points every possession because either Domask score of Kofi gets the offensive rebound and dunks.
Tomi reminds me a bit of Augustine who was a very good very skilled big but a bit more of a finesse guy. Put Kofi on the 05 team and they beat UNC by 20 pts.
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Did you red shirt Kendall and Nick?
There is no way Kofi and Marcus could play together. Kofi was always near the basket and that would eliminate Marcus' boots ball.KJ coming off the bench
sacraig
- The desert
Kofi got his lunch eaten every time by Purdue because he couldn't bully Edey with size and power alone and he couldn't pass out of the post or stretch Edey out away from the basket. So forgive me if I find Ivisic's skillset more valuable on the whole. He may not be as dominant in a single aspect of the game, but he is a more well rounded player who makes his team better around him due to his versatile skill set. That's why Kofi went to Japan and Tomi is likely headed to he NBA.
And just to be clear, I love Kofi and what he did here.
Or he gets fouls even faster than Augustine did guarding Sean May. You think they’re letting a Jamaican soccer player beat Roy Williams and the Tar Heels?
Kofi would have been sitting by the 15:00 minute mark.
Oh damn the 20th anniversary of this game is coming up too. Good thing I’m over it.
blackdog
- Champaign
Just because he had some tough games against the most dominant college center in the last decade? Wasn't exactly getting his lunch eaten either. They played against each other 3 times, Kofi averaged 13.6 (despite getting concussed in one game). Edey averaged 13.3 with his high score of 20 being the game he elbowed Kofi in the head.
sacraig
- The desert
You're missing my point by hyper-focusing on the example I chose. My opinion is based on the idea that Tomi's more versatile skill set (which isn't really debatable) has more positive impact on the team around him than Kofi's more limited but more dominant skills (which is debatable).
I'd happily take either or both.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
As an NBA prospect there's no question Tomi is the much much better player, he has the particular skills NBA basketball demands of a big.
But in college Kofi is a two-time All-American, put some respect on his name.
He was a singular impact. It's a fair enough point that his weaknesses could be exploited in certain matchups, but the flipside is all the games against Big Ten opponents that you could see within a couple possessions that it was over, there was no chance we were losing when we had 2 free points every time down the floor.
blackdog
- Champaign
Kofi had gravity on the interior in a similar but maybe bigger way to what Tomi has out to three. Everyone had to shade their defense towards wherever Kofi was on the floor and bigs had to he scared to help off him on drives because otherwise it was a putback dunk or an easy drop off pass. He hasn't the hub of the offense but he was so effective at finishing plays it changed how teams played defense.
Maybe if Tomi has offseason in the program and being healthy he could potentially have that kind of impact but he's not on that level yet. I also think he could be more valuable defensively just by his positioning and communication skills. He's pretty outstanding on that front.
In fairness to Warren and others, we were dealing with an unprecedented situation (Covid) and winning % was what was agreed would determine the winner before the season. Basically the deal was everyone would do the best they could but no one had any idea of how many games teams would actually be able to get in given the unpredictability of if/when a covid outbreak would occur. Warren et al simply stuck with what was agreed upon before the season.
That said, the winning % rule was based on teams operating in good faith and doing the best they could. Michigan clearly gamed the rule to back their way into the championship. There were only 4 total games that ultimately weren’t made up and Michigan had 3 of them. Nebraska was decimated by COVID, I think they were out a month or close to it, and they still managed to play 19 games. They were playing every other day or pretty close for the last 3 weeks trying to cram as many games in as possible. And this from a team that only won 3 games in conference so had nothing to play for.
Michigan fans will counter that the 3 games they didn’t make up were against bottom teams so likely wins anyway. But it’s not just those missed games. By not playing those games Michigan avoided a compressed schedule where maybe they get picked off by a lesser team due to fatigue, dead legs, etc. In fact, by ducking us in their first scheduled game back (when the Michigan women’s team, who was on a similar Covid related stoppage, did play as scheduled), they actually pushed US into a compressed schedule. Making that run we had to close the season all the more impressive.
So yes, I am still salty about how they gamed a rule in place to address a once in a 100 year pandemic to backdoor their way to a championship. But at the end of the day we all know how hollow that banner is. In fact I seem to remember Brad saying in a presser that a championship that year didn’t mean anything. And I think that’s the proper response.
Enjoy your hollow banner after we 30 pieced you on your home floor without our best player.
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The critical fact left out here is that the league office had just months earlier CHANGED the previously agreed upon rules for football to allow Ohio State rather than Indiana into the Big Ten Championship Game despite not having played enough games to qualify.
So the rules change where Ohio State needs it, but they don't change where Michigan needs it. Same as it ever was.
The easy, obvious thing to do that would have caused no controversy and made everyone happy is just declaring co-champions. Unforeseeable circumstances, basketball is used to split regular season titles anyway, cookies for everybody. I was shocked that wasn't the result just because of how easy it would have been.
But in real life every Michigan player, coach and fan knows deep down in their soul that we won the conference. That almost makes it all worth it.
I’d forgotten about changing the rule in football to benefit Ohio State. Very good point.
I mean you couldve just said this Tomi's game translates better against Purdue/edey without characterizing kofi as getting punked lol
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Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Just gaze longingly at my avatar anytime you need a reminder. Even with that year's festering boil that was Loyola, that Michigan game is probably my #2 all-time favorite. Might be #1 if you exclude postseason. Certainly tops from the 'modern' era.
Closest comp from the olden days:
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Great question! Really difficult for me.
If Juwan and Hunter were still there, would have to say beat Michigan. Without them, I'd say a very slight lean towards beating Purdue.
Then again, if we do then all the WL mouth-breathers will just say we could never beat them with Edey. Tough choice either way.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
What's makes you think the officials would let have Kofi play any longer than they let Augustine? Probably less.
I have to put the upset over #1 Indiana in that territory.
This is a hypothetical and I’m probably being a killjoy; but I disagree.
I’ll take height and positional size anywhere I can get it…even with Kofi on my hypothetical team. Thank you very much.
I like getting Kofi weakside/off ball schematically on a lot of your actions too…so that it gives you more than just a traditional 4 around 1 thing; with Kofi posting up. I like the idea of him flushing dunk after dunk on that backside. But realistically you’re now asking Kofi to be a little more mobile and for longer periods of time. He got winded quickly as it was…just jogging block to block.
I don’t want Kofi anywhere near that wing…unless he’s up there setting ball screens and backscreens…and diving and rolling back to the paint. He’s not a good passer. If he sets up on the wing there’s gonna be times he ends up having to be a playmaker & that ain’t his forte obv. If you want to put him in the short corner a good amount of the time. I’m all for that. But it would be criminal to go totally away from Kofi getting a number of back to the basket post touches.
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Kofi would have been a better NBA player 30 years ago but Tomi fits today's NBA much better. The 3 point shot is basically the offense of the nba
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
- Status