Pregame: Illinois at Rutgers, Wednesday, February 3rd, 5:30pm CT, BTN

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#52      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
EDIT: I forgot DJ Williams. Fixed

Someone earlier said we'd be missing 5 of our top 8-9 guys. I wrote out my rankings (IMHO - feel free to disagree with me). I am also including Darius Paul who I saw play 0 minutes ever.

1) Hill - Active :chief:
2) Nunn - GTD :(
3) Coleman-Lands - Active :chief:
4) Thorne Jr. - Out :tsk:
5) Black - Out :tsk:
6) Abrams - Out :tsk:
7) Paul - Wasted opportunity / off team :mad::mad::mad:
8) Finke - GTD :(
9) Williams - Active :chief:
10) Morgan - Active :chief:
11) Jordan - Active :chief:
12) Tate - Active :chief:
13) Lewis - Active :chief:
14) Austin - Active :chief:
15) Liss - Active :chief:

By my count that would be 6 of the top 8 guys. Starters would be #1, 3, 9, 10, and 11 best players on the team with only #12, 13, 14 and 15 on the bench to give you any minutes.

We might lose to Rutgers, guys.

#teamfrankenstein
 
#54      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
Our kind of luck doesn't exactly make me want to go out and buy a lottery ticket (especially in Illinois)..., can you short the lottery? There's gotta be some money in that for Illini fans?
 
#56      
Without Nunn and Finke, our chance of winning is about 5%.

Thought maybe with extended minutes, Mav, AJ and DJW all step up and play well to help out Malcolm and JCL.

Rutgers 57 - Illini 51 in one of the most brutal BIG games of all time.

The points will be high only b/c the D will be so bad.
 
#60      
Think we lose this one...just running out of players--but would be soon much better to get a win, a loss would be a new low.

Hope Groce bubblewraps the players we have left.
 
#61      

RedRocksIllini

Morrison, CO
Think we lose this one...just running out of players--but would be soon much better to get a win, a loss would be a new low.

Hope Groce bubblewraps the players we have left.

Gonna be a war (pillow fight?) of attrition. Rutgers has had a ton of injuries this year as well. Winner might be the last team to be able to put 5 guys on the court.
 
#62      
Or we could take the advice so often given to Groce on these boards and bench both point guards in favor of someone who poses a greater scoring threat. Our lineup would then be:

DJW
JCL
AJ
MH
MM.

That would leave AA on the bench to backup all five positions.

Does that work for you?

That lineup would work for me unless/until Rutgers shows a sufficiently effective press or pressure defense that would require using a PG. Just have whoever has the weakest defender matchup bring the ball up (except Mav). Sub in KL and JT and AA for rest purposes otherwise. Use TOs strictly for rest rather than strategic reasons if necessary.

We're not having a postseason. It was disheartening to me last game to watch AJ drive in nicely and put in his own miss, then a few possessions later have the ball stripped from him and get benched for most of the rest of the game. And DJ hardly played at all. It is time to play these guys and take your lumps with their mistakes as they work through them. Nothing against AA or the others, but AJ and DJ have to start getting more significant tick now. Frankly, we need more guys who can make plays by putting the ball on the floor and we might as well practice it in games with our younguns. Rutgers stinks. Use Mav down low, inside/out the ball, and drive constantly against Rutgers, all with the above as the principal lineup, and let's see how things go with 5 guys who can score out there. Go Illini.

Edit: I see much of these same thoughts have been made over in the last game thread, by HOC et al, so just make this a ditto to those.
 
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#63      
EDIT: I forgot DJ Williams. Fixed

Someone earlier said we'd be missing 5 of our top 8-9 guys. I wrote out my rankings (IMHO - feel free to disagree with me). I am also including Darius Paul who I saw play 0 minutes ever.

1) Hill - Active :chief:
2) Nunn - GTD :(
3) Coleman-Lands - Active :chief:
4) Thorne Jr. - Out :tsk:
5) Black - Out :tsk:
6) Abrams - Out :tsk:
7) Paul - Wasted opportunity / off team :mad::mad::mad:
8) Finke - GTD :(
9) Williams - Active :chief:
10) Morgan - Active :chief:
11) Jordan - Active :chief:
12) Tate - Active :chief:
13) Lewis - Active :chief:
14) Austin - Active :chief:
15) Liss - Active :chief:

By my count that would be 6 of the top 8 guys. Starters would be #1, 3, 9, 10, and 11 best players on the team with only #12, 13, 14 and 15 on the bench to give you any minutes.

We might lose to Rutgers, guys.

I'd move Williams down below Lewis
 
#64      
7) Paul - Wasted opportunity / off team :mad::mad::mad:

I think it is a waste of time to continue to list Paul and his potential impact on the team. Unfortunately, Paul was a huge mistake for Groce, messed up 4 times (too many) before he was finally kicked off and never played a single minute for the Illini. He is a totally different case than the injured players, no excuse there.
 
#65      
EDIT: I forgot DJ Williams. Fixed

Someone earlier said we'd be missing 5 of our top 8-9 guys. I wrote out my rankings (IMHO - feel free to disagree with me). I am also including Darius Paul who I saw play 0 minutes ever.

1) Hill - Active :chief:
2) Nunn - GTD :(
3) Coleman-Lands - Active :chief:
4) Thorne Jr. - Out :tsk:
5) Black - Out :tsk:
6) Abrams - Out :tsk:
7) Paul - Wasted opportunity / off team :mad::mad::mad:
8) Finke - GTD :(
9) Williams - Active :chief:
10) Morgan - Active :chief:
11) Jordan - Active :chief:
12) Tate - Active :chief:
13) Lewis - Active :chief:
14) Austin - Active :chief:
15) Liss - Active :chief:

By my count that would be 6 of the top 8 guys. Starters would be #1, 3, 9, 10, and 11 best players on the team with only #12, 13, 14 and 15 on the bench to give you any minutes.

We might lose to Rutgers, guys.

In addition to the fact that Paul should not even be on this list, the evaluation seems pretty biased IMO. Finke should be higher on the list, so far he has been a better player than Black, no doubt about that. Leron has been very inconsistent in his brief career, even when healthy. Furthermore, Mav should be higher on the list as well, DJW may have more long term potential, but on this team, Mav has had higher contributions and impact. Actually, DJW should be below quite a few guys.
 
#67      
That lineup would work for me unless/until Rutgers shows a sufficiently effective press or pressure defense that would require using a PG. Just have whoever has the weakest defender matchup bring the ball up (except Mav). Sub in KL and JT and AA for rest purposes otherwise. Use TOs strictly for rest rather than strategic reasons if necessary.

We're not having a postseason. It was disheartening to me last game to watch AJ drive in nicely and put in his own miss, then a few possessions later have the ball stripped from him and get benched for most of the rest of the game. And DJ hardly played at all. It is time to play these guys and take your lumps with their mistakes as they work through them. Nothing against AA or the others, but AJ and DJ have to start getting more significant tick now. Frankly, we need more guys who can make plays by putting the ball on the floor and we might as well practice it in games with our younguns. Rutgers stinks. Use Mav down low, inside/out the ball, and drive constantly against Rutgers, all with the above as the principal lineup, and let's see how things go with 5 guys who can score out there. Go Illini.

Edit: I see much of these same thoughts have been made over in the last game thread, by HOC et al, so just make this a ditto to those.

Fyi, DJW is shooting 25% from the field and 0% from 3 point land.
 
#68      
Fyi, DJW is shooting 25% from the field and 0% from 3 point land.

I would take that over AA any day to be honest. DJW at least is a freshman and may have an excuse for not hitting his shots right now. He has a lot of potential and it will take time to get use to the college game. Most of his shots have been good shots just haven't fallen. :thumb:
 
#69      
Fyi, DJW is shooting 25% from the field and 0% from 3 point land.

And he'll probably continue at that pace when he plays 5 minutes one game, zero minutes the next, 2 minutes the next, etc., and gets yanked every time he makes a mistake. So I don't care what those percentages are now. They are no worse than Tate's, are they not (I didn't look)? Tate's ceiling has been discovered; let's start finding DJW's.
 
#71      
And he'll probably continue at that pace when he plays 5 minutes one game, zero minutes the next, 2 minutes the next, etc., and gets yanked every time he makes a mistake. So I don't care what those percentages are now. They are no worse than Tate's, are they not (I didn't look)? Tate's ceiling has been discovered; let's start finding DJW's.

This!
 
#72      
And he'll probably continue at that pace when he plays 5 minutes one game, zero minutes the next, 2 minutes the next, etc., and gets yanked every time he makes a mistake. So I don't care what those percentages are now. They are no worse than Tate's, are they not (I didn't look)? Tate's ceiling has been discovered; let's start finding DJW's.

Amen. Tate has hit three 3 pointers in his college career. One each season so far. He isn't anything special handling the ball. I would much rather see something different than the same thing over and over again when it continues to fail...I hope some of the freshman start getting more minutes starting with this game. Best case scenario for this season is NIT so why not realize that and get some guys experience?
 
#73      

Foggy Notion

San Francisco
Dan is our shrink, and Loyalty is our couch ;).

Group therapy

1840206_1_201227_262436_6_024.jpg
 
#74      
And he'll probably continue at that pace when he plays 5 minutes one game, zero minutes the next, 2 minutes the next, etc., and gets yanked every time he makes a mistake. So I don't care what those percentages are now. They are no worse than Tate's, are they not (I didn't look)? Tate's ceiling has been discovered; let's start finding DJW's.

Well, Tate's numbers aren't good.. 42% from the field (team is 43% overall) and surprisingly, Tate's fg% was better than both the heralded transfers, Cosby and Starks, last year. I know that isn't saying much.

But, yes they are worse than Tate's, substantially worse. And DJW is averaging 8.6 mpg, not 2, 5 and 0. I don't mean to get down on DJW. I'd like to see him get more minutes myself.

I am sick of the hate on Tate. It's in just about every thread on the board. Can you guys start a special thread for Tate bashing? I could avoid it and I'd even promise to stop my annoying posts defending him.
 
#75      
Amen. Tate has hit three 3 pointers in his college career. One each season so far. He isn't anything special handling the ball. I would much rather see something different than the same thing over and over again when it continues to fail...I hope some of the freshman start getting more minutes starting with this game. Best case scenario for this season is NIT so why not realize that and get some guys experience?

Illinois is ranked no 11 out of 346 teams in turnovers per game. Taking care of the ball is not a problem.
 
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