That's what it feels like. We'll see what the staff has a response / follow-up, but that single tweet makes me question a lot. Very disappointing.
Pregame: Illinois at Minnesota, Saturday, January 23rd, 7:30pm CT, BTN
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That's what it feels like. We'll see what the staff has a response / follow-up, but that single tweet makes me question a lot. Very disappointing.
Sleepy Floyd
Kicking it with Fat Lever
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The staff is not that stupid.
Thorne is also involved in the decision. He might've wanted to play, and he might not want to be in college for a 6th year. It's easy for us to say, sure, sit out another 9 months, but it's one thing to talk about it and another to do it (while still busting your butt in practice and the weight room, while not making any money doing it). If he wanted to play and was cleared, he's got to go.
Thorne was going to play again this season, whether he came back a bit too early or not is a different issue and pointless to argue. He was cleared and ready to practice, there was no way he was going to get approved for a 6th year waiver with that being known. Itd be one thing if it was late February, but it was mid January.. I always thought that Thorne was going to be a redshirt candidate but his injury and surgery just wasn't season ending.
If he continues to be unable to play, a la Leron Black, then I see no reason why one game followed by new problems would disqualify him from a sixth year waiver. He clearly wants to play now, and I assume he will play if he can play, but if he cannot play, he can still seek that sixth year. Whether he wants it if he is unable to go again this year is for him to decided.
Oh, FWIW, and apropos of nothing you said, I suggested starting MH at the 3, MF at the 4 and MT at the 5 in the Indiana pregame thread. I don't know nearly as much about basketball as HoaC, but I did suggest it first. I just didn't take the extra step of benching both PGs.
Once you've played in a game after the mid point of the season, the medical red shirt is no longer an option. So his college career is over after this season.
Wow. Just wow. I didn't know that. Let's hope the missed Friday practice is just a short term setback.
Where do we stand in total assists?
Our a/t ratio is probably good because we do not pass or penetrate on the dribble much
One pass and shoot
Pretty much this. We have no idea if Thorne would have been cleared for a 6th year much less if Thorne even wanted to come back for a 6th year. If he wants to play and the doctors clear him, you play him.
http://www.athleticscholarships.net/2012/07/17/how-get-medical-redshirt.htm
Medical Hardship Requirements
To be eligible for a medical hardship waiver, a student-athlete has to meet the following criteria:
The student-athlete must suffer the injury during one of their four seasons of college competition or during the senior year of high school.
The injury must be incapacitating. That means it must be a season-ending injury.
The injury must occur prior to the start of the second half of the season.
The student-athlete must not have competed in more than 30% of the season or three contests, whichever is greater.
According to this site, it just says that the injury must happen before the second half of the season, which it did. Since it is the same injury he is dealing with, he may still be eligible for a redshirt since he is still under the 30% of games played for the season. I may be wrong though.
Edit: Looking at the one above it. I guess since he came back for a game that disqualifies it from being season ending since he played a game. These rules are so hard to actually understand.
Assists/Turnover Ration... No 34.
Assists/Game... 14.1 which puts us at no 136.
I'm getting these stats from ncaa.com
346 Division I teams
We rank 9th in turnovers/game, 34th in assists/turnovers.
323rd in FG% defense.
311th in rebounding margin.
Tate and Lewis aren't disasters. Defense and rebounding are.
Nope, just probably the lowest rated B1G PG's.....that's a disaster.
Serious Late
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Thorne did practice, I believe quite a few times, before coming back.
Tate and Lewis would be serviceable if the team had Black and Thorne for the whole year at full strength. By themselves they are not the problem. The problem is the team lost 2 more fairly big contributors and they just don't have the horses to replace that. (most don't) JCL and Finke are good young players but they are not ready to be major contributors yet. Both are very early in their careers so that shouldn't be unexpected.
The team has basically one better than average defender in Nunn and quite a few well below average defenders (all the freshmen, Lewis, Mav, etc). Abrams, Black, and Thorne would really make a big difference on that end of the floor. Abrams is a plus defender, Black and Thorne are plus rebounders and solid if not spectacular defenders.
The team has basically one better than average defender in Nunn and quite a few well below average defenders (all the freshmen, Lewis, Mav, etc). Abrams, Black, and Thorne would really make a big difference on that end of the floor. Abrams is a plus defender, Black and Thorne are plus rebounders and solid if not spectacular defenders.
Rebounding is a huge part of team defense. We've seen a number of times recently where the team actually played decent defense and forced a missed shot only to give the other team another chance by failing to grab the rebound. They don't have to block shots to impact defense, though having a big dude in the lane can also be helpful in deterring guards from trying to drive to the hoop.
Tate and Lewis are a problem. It is not just because of their lack of offense but more so because their defense has been so bad. A big part of our defensive problem this year has been the inability to prevent dribble penetration. When the opposing pg consistently gets in the lane it breaks down any defense. It is this dribble penetration that leads to the scrambling defense and open threes. This has been a big problem.
If the team doesn't have a good showing in this game it is not going to be pretty in illini land (and rightfully so.) I want to say they will be up for this game and blow Minny out, but nothing ive seen over the past couple games gives me any reason to believe that's any more possible than not. Plus Minny is desperate. This is a game we have to win.
Agreed. one of the reasons we were able to beat Purdue is their lack of dynamic pg made them much easier to defend at the point, and prevented as many open 3 point looks due to scrambling defense.
Any word on Thorne?
Source?
9th in the nation in turnovers per game.
315th in the nation in rebounding margin... last in the B1G.
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/151/p7
If his original injury was his only injury and it was before the halfway point, and if he is unable to play from here on out, it could certainly be argued that it was a season ending injury even if he did try to come back for one second half case.
The NCAA being the NCAA, and Illinois having the luck of Illinois, I would not want to put money on that argument, but the argument certainly passes the giggle test (i.e., one can make the argument without laughing).
But if we want to make that argument, we need to keep Big Mike's scholarship tied up for many, many months while the NCAA ponders a ruling. While we do that, other potential bigs are likely to head elsewhere.
My original preference was for MT to come back for a sixth year, as I thought a good case could be made for it and I thought it would have been best for Illinois. Now, I hope Mike gets better and suits up just as soon as he can. That is certainly best for him, and it will be good for this team as well, even if this is a lost season already.
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