madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
Pregame: Illinois vs Duke, Saturday, February 22nd, 7:00pm CT, FOX
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4-D chess... Let Will at 6-9" guard Flagg. He gets absolutely demolished and realizes he's not quite ready for the next level. Brad/Boosters have a "timely" meeting with him about NIL for next year. We enjoy Will for another season.
Wow, I thought the forecast was calling for sunnier weather since a few days have passed. Clearly the meteorologist once again was wrong.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
It has been bad the last few weeks, but come on now. The Illini will be favored to win that game at home and even the Purdue home game might become a coin flip. This is an extreme overreaction to the situation.
This is more of a bigger problem. Offensive strategy. Everyone in college basketball runs ball screens but the Illini run the 2-man game with no action on the weak side. During the ball screen, the other 3 players stand and wait for our PG to make a play. We just got beat by 2 teams (WI and Michigan ST) that have completely revamped their offensive philosophy. Go back and watch the movement in their offense compared to ours. Also, I don't know anything about Tyler (he could be a basketball savant for all I know) but whenever the cameras show our bench, Brad seems to be only talking with his 28-year-old son. I find that interesting when you have assistants with way more coaching experience on the bench.
If you map out the sickness, it sounds like Tomi, Will, Dra, Tre, and Jake have been the ones to get sick. It could be Tomi's immune system isn't used to North American disease so he gets it first and it spreads from there to American players who seem to get over it faster.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
I can't. I see someone mentioned 79. I wasn't old enough for that one but as I understand it, that was just massive injuries at the wrong time that drove it off a cliff. I can say I've never seen a time whose high to low in terms of quality was so wide. They looked spectacular against Oregon & Indiana in particular. Truly looked like a final four capable team. I know some of the L's have been with illness or injury issues but even healthy they looked horrid at NW and the end of MSU.
The only possible win Illinois has coming up and IMO it's a longshot, is Iowa. And they CAN shoot 3's. Duke will be painful.
NASchamp
- Atlanta
I too am so sad about our prospects going into this game. I was so excited for this matchup at the beginning of the year. Now, I’m just hoping we don’t get blown out on national television.
That being said, Duke isn’t infallible. They have played a super easy schedule in the ACC and their advanced metrics aren’t as good as you would expect. If we come out with 40 minutes of fight, and actually make our 3s at a good clip, this could be interesting. What do we have to lose?!
It would also be so Illinois to have a chance of actually stealing this one down the stretch and blowing it in the final minutes. Would that be more painful than a blowout?
That being said, Duke isn’t infallible. They have played a super easy schedule in the ACC and their advanced metrics aren’t as good as you would expect. If we come out with 40 minutes of fight, and actually make our 3s at a good clip, this could be interesting. What do we have to lose?!
It would also be so Illinois to have a chance of actually stealing this one down the stretch and blowing it in the final minutes. Would that be more painful than a blowout?
His D is holding him back, IMO
I am interested to see how Duke does in the tournament. Because of how bad the ACC is, they've been in a lot of blow outs. Can they execute in the last 4 minutes of a close game? With the strength of the SEC, B1G, and B12 there are a lot of teams with close game experience that Duke doesn't have.
I expect that sort of experience was why they agreed to this game. Assuming we get blown out again, our consultation prize is that we deprived them of that.
Though I'm still holding out for a dead cat bounce for this Illinois team. One game where shots fall and they pull things together to make a statement prior to scattering to the NBA and where ever NIL takes them. I'll take a Duke upset or a tournament upset. Either would cap this season as not a total disaster.
The last time a game was hyped about "pro scouts" (Rutgers) KJ finished with 7 points....I would like to see Brad use this Duke game to get KJ back on track. I wouldn't start him...send a msg as well as give him a chance to let his nerves settle a bit. I have zero knowledge of the young mans family life or background, but I can't imagine the weight on ones shoulders to perhaps not only set themselves up financially but also help the loved ones. It doesn't look to me like he is having fun anymore...the injuries..himself included and illnesses have probably made him try to do too much. Obviously each player reacts differently to hard coaching, this seems like a nice opportunity to not just help the team, but also help a young man relax and show the world what we know he CAN be. Light a fire while also calming the nerves. Shrugs, there is a very good chance that's why I am just a fan and not a coach 
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No, but this season reminds me of our 1978-1979 team. Had a great start to the season, beat Magic J & Sparty, and on January 15, 1979 we were ranked 4rth in the country. Steve Lanter our point guard got injured, we had no quality back-up pg and we lost our last 5 games of the year. No post season that year, not even the NIT. That team had some good forwards and centers; Eddie Johnson, Mark Smith, Derek Holcomb, James Griffin, Neal Bresnahan and Levi Cobb
This. I think we may have a bit of a leg up if we're able to keep it close right for that reason. However, keeping it close is more than unlikely at the moment.
Maybe it will be snowed out.....
Why did you remind of this? I work really hard on removing it from my memory.
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
I disagree. Even when 100% healthy, we rely too heavily on our 3 pt shooting, which is too erratic, AND when we having a bad night at 3s, we revert to hero ball. That does not bode well for the win or go home nature of tournament play.
Even if I am wrong, we won’t be healthy in March because Morez won’t be back in pre injury form (“healthy”) by then.
KJ turns the ball over on 25.4% of his usage possessions. Whoa
I bet on Duke when Flagg was gassed againt Clemson's slow bigs and slipped before he could take the shot to win the game. Here's to hoping we get that version of Duke. Clemson wasn't even playing that well.
That really is eye-opening. I looked this up, and it seems to be entirely the case.
This also got me looking at NBA observer's views on this and they are mixed: the turnovers, and here again it is the careless head-scratcher ones, are a big red flag. There are other concerns expressed, about defense and shooting excellence, but despite these concerns and the turnover-paloozas, KJ seems to clearly be a first-round "take" as is.
I was surprised to see a comp to Brandon Podziemski .... and that brought me back to thinking about how weird a missed opportunity THAT guy was. I know there were me-first vs team-first issues, but looking at the numbers at Santa Clara (5th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage!!!) and then in the NBA, it's hard not to see this as anything other than a stunning missed-eval.
This also got me looking at NBA observer's views on this and they are mixed: the turnovers, and here again it is the careless head-scratcher ones, are a big red flag. There are other concerns expressed, about defense and shooting excellence, but despite these concerns and the turnover-paloozas, KJ seems to clearly be a first-round "take" as is.
I was surprised to see a comp to Brandon Podziemski .... and that brought me back to thinking about how weird a missed opportunity THAT guy was. I know there were me-first vs team-first issues, but looking at the numbers at Santa Clara (5th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage!!!) and then in the NBA, it's hard not to see this as anything other than a stunning missed-eval.
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