Pregame: Illinois vs DePaul, Friday, November 17th, 7:30pm CT, BTN
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Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
AJ's dad, you are a class act. While I am watching AJ play well, each time I think of his dad and how proud and happy he must be and that I am happy for him because you have always been a class act when interacting with people on the Internet.
It is an absolute joy to see a student athlete that does not grouse when at first things do not go his way, but works hard, gets an opportunity and then takes advantage of it!
Amen, Judson. AJ has put in the work and he/we are benefiting from it. Good kid and I'm thrilled he's becoming an important part of what we're doing.
ILL in IA
- Iowa City
Lesson for us as fans as well. Mav showed the past 2 years, as Aaron has started to this year, not every player that comes in and can start and get major tick right away. Guys develop into good players. And Mav and AJ are just a sample on the list. We build up so much expectation in the recruiting thread, most of it is impossible to live up to.
Underwood sure loves the 3 freshmen guards. I noticed against EIU and again against UT-Martin that Da'Monte does everything well that doesn't show up in the box score. His footwork on defense is outstanding, he moves without the ball, works at setting screens, setting others up, very unselfish. Mark Smith, not much to say. He's going to be a force. Frazier's game could become dynamic, and once he gets straight on D he will be the complete package.
A.J., man I love it. My brother and friends always used to bring him up when we'd talk hoops and ask when he was going to get his chance, what the heck happened to him and so on... He's athletic and his 3 point shot is beginning to translate. Very awesome.
A.J., man I love it. My brother and friends always used to bring him up when we'd talk hoops and ask when he was going to get his chance, what the heck happened to him and so on... He's athletic and his 3 point shot is beginning to translate. Very awesome.
I’ll be curious to see how many people are gonna be there especially in the student section because this is a “break” game even though break doesn’t technically start until tomorrow so there’s no Krush.
Probably both. Probably not familiar enough to run a ton of counters, haven’t been put in position to need to switch it up a lot. We need to start slicing teams with the basics and have them overreact. Then we can mix it up on em.
We also haven’t tried run any of the (what I call) looping sets yet. Those are crazy hard to guard sets that lead in well to spread.
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I had a question about this, sort of, for a typical Friday night game if the students are on campus, what is sort of the "thing to do" before the game?
bredhartmann
- Centralia, IL
Happy hour.
Doc Awesome
- YOU
Line -8.5 on Bovada.
Im putting it all on DePaul going against (and Sebulba).
Im putting it all on DePaul going against (and Sebulba).
You make some good points, ILL in IA. I especially agree with you about Maverick Morgan. However, I think the Aaron Jordan case is a little different. Not only was Jordan not given much playing time (especially in his sophomore year), but he was never given the opportunity to be allowed to make some mistakes and develop. I firmly believe that Groce and his staff did not like him or his basketball ability (Even though they recruited him). The best thing to happen to Aaron Jordan was John Groce getting fired. He was never going to see the floor under Groce.
KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
- Chicago, IL
For students? It used to be wait in line 2 hrs for Orange Krush to get in 1 hr before the game. But that may have changed with the new arrangement.
O/U 153
I never bet on Illini sports. But even if I did I would pass this whole thing. So much uncertainty.
I don't know about Groce and staff not liking him, and don't know if he'd never see the floor under Groce, but your point about having never been given the opportunity to make mistakes and develop is definitely true. Not sure I've ever seen a guy enter and then nearly immediately get pulled in games as AJ was last year. (I viewed it as ridiculous, and commented to that effect throughout last year). I credit AJ for going through that without public complaint (especially when JCL struggled so much to make shots for an extended part of last season), and for sticking with the program. I haven't been able to watch us yet this year (we cancelled cable and I can't go to a bar for every game at my age), but glad to see (hear) AJ is getting meaningful minutes and contributing greatly to date. Hope his confidence is building and he keeps contributing this way throughout the year.
A question: I'm a big proponent of posting up guards, and since BU advertised his desire to do that, I've been waiting to see it. I'm guessing that in keeping things simple so far, we haven't shown much if anything in that regard on offense yet. Agree? And for those familiar with BU's system, when would you think we'll start seeing that introduced, and which guys do you figure we'll use that way?
Though I have an advanced degree from DPU, I have little to no affinity for the school, so I hope we beat the snot out of them tonight. Go Illini.
Doc Awesome
- YOU
Is the new arrangement involving you going to Purcell pavilion from now on?
Doc Awesome
- YOU
Insert DePaul with Sebulba
A question: I'm a big proponent of posting up guards, and since BU advertised his desire to do that, I've been waiting to see it. I'm guessing that in keeping things simple so far, we haven't shown much if anything in that regard on offense yet. Agree?
Ulysses, I do not think that the Illini have actually posted up so far in the early going, but, if and when they do, you will see that Mark Smith has the capability to take any guard to the rack. He is the goods.
As for Aaron Jordan, I just assumed (and kept my thought to myself) that Jordan was a wasted scholarship and that Groce must have given up on him. Obviously, I was dead wrong in thinking that. Aaron Jordan showed us so far that he can play and he can contribute, and his performance so far has nothing to do with "development". The fact is that Groce and his staff totally mismanaged Aaron from the start. A case of "coaching malpractice".
Ulysses, I do not think that the Illini have actually posted up so far in the early going, but, if and when they do, you will see that Mark Smith has the capability to take any guard to the rack. He is the goods.
As for Aaron Jordan, I just assumed (and kept my thought to myself) that Jordan was a wasted scholarship and that Groce must have given up on him. Obviously, I was dead wrong in thinking that. Aaron Jordan showed us so far that he can play and he can contribute, and his performance so far has nothing to do with "development". The fact is that Groce and his staff totally mismanaged Aaron from the start. A case of "coaching malpractice".
The Groce Jordan thing never made sense to me. Groce always said practice mattered, and he said that AJ played well in practice. He even started AJ now and then. But starter or non-starter, AJ never got very many minutes on the floor, and whenever he got yanked, it was anybody's guess if he'd ever be back.
Ryllini
- Lombard
I like our chances in this one. I think the full week to prepare will help the guys fully grasp the scout. I worry about the quick turnaround against Marshall. Although, the experience gained last weekend with the quick turnaround hopefully opened their eyes of what this is all about.
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