I didn't look up anything, but to the best of my memory, Kofi has had like 3 games in his career where he was in foul trouble.
Pregame: Illinois at Purdue, Tuesday, February 8th, 8:00pm CT, ESPN
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altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Ouch. That's harsh. These guys lost to Wisc at home by 5.
This is a true battle of game strategy....X and 0s will be key to our success.
Hopefully refs don't tip balance either way.
Hopefully refs don't tip balance either way.
Looking forward to Kofi getting some revenge in this one and staying out of foul trouble- if the last couple of games are any indication, he's going to be more aggressive than the last time he played Purdue
Below is the final section from Brad Underwood's Video ($39.99) ))) ,entitled Brad Underwood Open Practice: Defense
Multiple Defenses
Add other defensive strategies to your defensive system, such as the Black 1-2-2 zone defense and varying styles of full court pressure. You'll learn how to implement the zone defense with two different breakdown drills for your front and backline defenders and also see it in action with 5-on-5 scrimmage.
Additionally, you'll see how to build the Double Fist full court man-to-man press with two practice drills to build up the ball pressure. Underwood shows how you can take this run and jump defense and convert it into a half-court trap.
Has he ever used this at U of I ? I don't know.
sacraig
- The desert
It roughly agrees with Torvik, though. I think it's fair.Ouch. That's harsh. These guys lost to Wisc at home by 5.
Yeah it would be fun to throw zone out there, but since the turn of the calendar we've been a top 15 defense. Hard to complain about that kind of action. It's actually been our offense that has taken a step back, but perhaps that more regression to the mean.
Brad is doing great. Sometimes when coaches take over and have immediate success its not because of them. In fact some bad coaches start out good because of the players they inherited and the programs culture, then they drive them into the ditch. My observation is this. If a coach comes in and takes over a struggling program there should be an uptrend and improvement by the third year with positive outlook for more. Brad has definitely done this. Now we all can armchair coach and think he should have done this or that but in the end he is the only one who has all the info and facts to make those decisions. I for one hope he retires a Fighting Illini many years from now.
Hard to throw Podz in a game of this magnitude, but he's like a Da"Monte without the game experience and seasoning. That guy has to get some rest.
Bigtex
- DFW
No baker against us. The clowns saying hawkins can’t play defense missed him shutting down Harper (1 for 9) and us blowing out Rutgers.
A zone would be an effective change of pace.... Maybe BU is saving it for the NCAA tourney? Shock and awe kinda thing.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Guessing this will turn out to be the toughest contest of our 30 regular season games --- vs. #3 at their place with a packed house. I think we're due to finally hit 3's at a 42% clip once again. Kofi will log more minutes than game #1. And I don't think Purdue can beat us 4 times this year (if Katz' prediction comes true).
87 ILL
83 PUR
A win puts us at 10-5 vs Quad 1/2 opponents this year. Very definitely Top 10 quality!! (BTW, no team ranked in the top 25 has yet played more than 15 quad 1/2 games). Hence, we'll finally be back in the mix for a #1 or #2 seed in the tourney. We need to play round 2 in Chicago.
87 ILL
83 PUR
A win puts us at 10-5 vs Quad 1/2 opponents this year. Very definitely Top 10 quality!! (BTW, no team ranked in the top 25 has yet played more than 15 quad 1/2 games). Hence, we'll finally be back in the mix for a #1 or #2 seed in the tourney. We need to play round 2 in Chicago.
TheFameProtector
- Champaign
Imo, game comes down to whether Kofi can finish around/over Edey's length. Will be interesting to see what adjustments BU has made to try to get him in better positioning.
TheFameProtector
- Champaign
Hunter also killed us down the stretch with a few timely plays off penetration. We did a good job putting the clamps on Ivey -- do that on Hunter too and Purdue's ballhandling and passing from the guard position (ie, not Williams) is very limited.
I'm sure Juwan will find some way to say that they have to reschedule one of those because of "conditioning." He seems to be the only coach who can get the B1G to call off games because his team isn't ready to play. IIRC, that's why they couldn't play here last year, since their COVID layoff had caused them to be out of shape, or some such garbage.
Playing an effective zone is not easy. Each type of zone has subtleties that need to be executed. Without spending lots of time insuring everyone understands exactly what their role in the zone is supposed to be, it can be a disaster. Unless Illinois spends a lot of practice time on a zone, throwing one out there is not a great move IMHO.
BlindLoyalty
- FartNoiseMotivation
The good news is Purdue has a hard time finishing off games and they have lost games they never should lose. The bad news is they are the best offensive team in the country, their roster is the best in the B10 and they have the pieces to stifle Kofi. The Illini need to score points and lots of them to win this game. IMO, the offense or lack of offense from Williams, Grandison and Kofi will determine the outcome. The time for talk about how great this team is or can be is over. If Illinois is an elite team, a big ten title team, a final four caliber team this is a game they win. See you all in West Lafayette.
I mean, they did beat us in Champaign which frankly seems more relevant...Ouch. That's harsh. These guys lost to Wisc at home by 5.
I would like to see Kofi pass out of the paint to an open player. He doesn't have to try to force it over Edey everytime. Would also like to see Kofi get deeper on Edey and get him to foul. Would love to see Kofi get two fouls on Edey early.
It's also not a substitute for being fundamentally sound individually. It can mask some personnel mismatches or disrupt specific offensive approaches but if you suck at man to man, you're probably going to suck in a different way at zone.
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