Thanks Dan! ILL
Pregame: Illinois vs BYU (United Center), Saturday, December 17th, 8:30pm CT, BTN
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Tate wrote about Kipper being ready to go vs BYU. Had this to say:
"Nichols appears to be blocked by Black, Hill and others at his natural forward position. But if he is sound defensively, that skill might earn valuable minutes while the regulars rest. Or he might challenge Jalen Coleman-Lands if the versatile Hill isn’t stressed by the defensive assignment at 2-guard."
If Kip and Malcolm are on the floor together, is kip capable of guarding the 2 so Malcolm can guard the 3, or is kip more of a 3/4 defender like black? I think Tate brings up a good point that Malcolm could have some trouble guarding 2s.
"Nichols appears to be blocked by Black, Hill and others at his natural forward position. But if he is sound defensively, that skill might earn valuable minutes while the regulars rest. Or he might challenge Jalen Coleman-Lands if the versatile Hill isn’t stressed by the defensive assignment at 2-guard."
If Kip and Malcolm are on the floor together, is kip capable of guarding the 2 so Malcolm can guard the 3, or is kip more of a 3/4 defender like black? I think Tate brings up a good point that Malcolm could have some trouble guarding 2s.
I don't know if Kipper can guard the 2 or not (practice reports say he can), but my biggest take away from the CMU game was that MH can.
There were several possessions that he guarded one of the 2 small dynamic scorers. Hill was clearly the most effective on the ball defender against them that day. I don't know if it is in the best interest of the team for him to guard 2's for long stretches of the game, but he is definitely capable.
My hope is that eventually 3 of Kipper, Hill, Black, and DJW play for long stretches of the game with TA at PG. This would keep TA from playing the 2, limiting minutes for Tate at the 1.
DJW seems a ways from PT right now.
Having another guy who takes pride in defense would be great to have. I think our post defense is just going to be a weakness we'll have to live with, but I think we could see noticeable improvements otherwise.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
I'm with ya. People that don't want us to be ranked are basically saying they don't want us to be good. Well, I guess they got their wish! I'll personally hope we get back to the days when we were ranked consistently and fighting for B1G championships and high tourney seeds. :thumb:I feel ya.
I used to get so mad when people would say, "I don't care about rankings!" or, "We lose whenever we're ranked, I'd prefer we weren't ranked and stayed hungry!" during the 2009-2013 stretch when it seemed like we'd always climb in at least once (only to finish outside of them). I definitely care about rankings. Not only is it a sense of pride to be a fixture in the top 25, you get more coverage on virtually every sports site anywhere, people who hadn't heard much about your team yet just assume you're good (which is great for perception) and I honestly believe it plays a huge (if subconscious) role in the committee's Tournament seeding. Gimme that beautiful number next to "ILLINOIS" seven days a week and twice on Sunday!
Dan
Admin
Malcolm switching on to guarding Keene really was a great adjustment. Malcolm shut hime down
TownieMatt
CU Expat
- Chicago
From this I doubt Kipper sees much PT. Though he doesn't look like it, we have to remember that he's never played in a college game before. Can't just toss him into the deep end.
Illini1221
Peru,IL
Especially against a good team like BYU. I almost wish they had one more cupcake game to allow Kipper to get into the flow a little bit. It would be tough to expect a lot of him in his first few games, especially against quality teams and a rivalry game.
I'd like to see him on the court in both halves for a total of 5-8 minutes, but I can imagine a million reasons why that might not happen.
The have sold it in the past so I expect they will.
So, if you had games featuring Illinois and Northwestern in Chicago, and you wanted to honor a legendary Chicago basketball figure or two, who would you choose?
Two guys from DePaul, obviously.
http://www.chicagolegends.com/news/2016/11/16/general-ray-meyer-and-mark-aguirre-to-be-honored.aspx
Two guys from DePaul, obviously.
http://www.chicagolegends.com/news/2016/11/16/general-ray-meyer-and-mark-aguirre-to-be-honored.aspx
It is but per KenPom BYU is third in the country in tempo. KenPom also predicts an 81-80 Illini victory. So at least according to his formula the O/U is reasonable.
That new advanced stats page that was posted has it 80-79 BYU so also pretty close on the O/U
Hopefully the Northwestern-Dayton game doesn't run late
They tip off at 6 pm, so shouldn't be a problem.
Mizzou is terrible. In theory there should be some opportunities to get him on the court, but as we know it will probably be an unnecessarily tight game. That, and Groce hasn't exactly exhibited a willingness to divvy out too many minutes to our young guys in blowouts, at least not consistently.
Basketball band not making the trip.
Marching Illini @MarchingIllini
The Fighting Illini Basketball Band will not be making the trip to the @UnitedCenter due to weather! All the best to @IlliniMBB
Marching Illini @MarchingIllini
The Fighting Illini Basketball Band will not be making the trip to the @UnitedCenter due to weather! All the best to @IlliniMBB
BlindLoyalty
- FartNoiseMotivation
There are going to be tumbleweeds inside the UC. Producer/Director certainly will be ordered by the BTN --> "no crowd shots." Late start, bad weather and morgue-like atmosphere could be a recipe for an upset.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Lots of built-in excuses, yes. Team needs to be laser focused on the game and ignore stuff out of their control. Which is true for all games. If someone isn't playing well, at least we have depth now. Critical game, as I'm sure the team is acutely aware.
It's the same for both teams, so I don't think that's accurate. They need to show up to play, and then play!
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