Agree. With pink eye, antibiotic drops clear it up quickly. Believe Hawkins also had it and he's fine. Something seems amiss. If he couldn't see, BU wouldn't put them out there for safety reasons. He also looked just fine on those free throws. I just think his confidence, offensively, is shot right now.
Pregame: Illinois vs Houston, Sunday, March 20th, 11:10am CT, CBS
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I always look at matchups when trying to analyze a game and Houston is EXACTLY the kind of team that we struggle against. We are so undersized in the backcourt and they are big, physical and ultra athletic, then, offensively, they can really score...which takes us back to the athleticism. How will Kofi handle that? Quickness gives him a real issue. Illinois will have to play their best game and Houston will have to not be overly sharp for us to pull this off.
Trent’s eye. My goodness. Get well soon!
TheFameProtector
- Champaign
Kofi said they had great energy in practice. Reading between the lines, he's intimating that something changed between then and game time (but he's not sure what). Plummer said "the energy" (see the clip on the homepage) -- that doesn't sound like somebody saying "my energy."
I think the point is that Goode or RJ have a better chance of making Houston pay for doubling Kofi than Grandison, given Jake’s current state of health.
Whitmans Sampler
- Eastern Iowa
If the opponent leaves RJ open on the perimeter, advantage Illini. He’s shooting 60% from 3 on the year.
My head: 77-56 Houston
My heart: 61-58 ILLINI
My heart: 61-58 ILLINI
We had a huge lead in that game and McNeese St started making threes and we had taken our foot off the gas.
If I remember right, we went a LONG time before we got our first win over a better-seeded team, and have only done it twice.
I mean, Kofi drew how many fouls yesterday? He shot 10 free throws. The unfortunate reality is fouling him is a team’s best option when he’s not making free throws, as it tends to frustrate him and throw him out of his comfort zone. And teams with plenty of frontcourt depth can keep hacking him to take us out of any offensive flow. I actually thought the refs were pretty generous with how Kofi was officiated compared to the B1G slate
Let's make sure we get him a chance to play in a game or two next weekend, when that's all cleared up.
ginabackes00
CrazedUIFan
I agree. They called more last night. But overall, if they would call the arm grabbing he would either foul out more players or defenses would have to adjust. This would give him better opportunities to pass out or finish/score.
My head: Illinois wins
My heart: Illinois wins
My hand : Illinois wins
My eye: Illinois wins
My heart: Illinois wins
My hand : Illinois wins
My eye: Illinois wins
Matchups are certainly a big factor in the tourney, no doubt about it. On one hand, Houston is a bad one for us. On the other hand, it’s just so common for all the “on paper” analysis to go out the window. The logic says otherwise, but in a weird way it feels almost encouraging to be an underdog amidst the chaos.
My hope is that Houston gets frustrated by our defensive intensity & quickness. They haven’t been in many games where they didn’t have a significant advantage in athleticism. They have struggled against high quality teams.
We just have to play like one.
We just have to play like one.
or we could take an approach that doesn’t sacrifice our defense - like ya know, DMW shooting the ball.
Cook
- Richmond, VA
This is the key word. We need to play fundamentally sound, and really limit self-imposed mistakes. Hopefully we got all of those out of our system last night.
9-15 is not really a good enough sample size to suggest he will always hit at a high clip.
DMW can shoot the ball extremely well, especially when left open. He needs to get over the jitters and start shooting. Everyone on here dogs him because for 3 years he was afraid to shoot the ball. Last year I was hoping would be a bit of a breakout year for him confidence wise, but he has regressed a tad. No reason he can’t light it up again and we wI’ll need him to shoot the ball if we are going to have a chance. When he shoots in volume he shoots so much better - made half as many 3s as Melendez has all season in a single game…. (4-10). I don’t know where this narrative started that DMW can’t shoot comes from, but he definitely CAN shoot and can hit 3s at a very good rate. Wish people would take a moment to judge him by more than a missed shot every so often or his lack of confidence resulting in not shooting. Once he’s not in the flow of the offense, then he’s right to not shoot. He’s a guy that does well IN RHYTHM. So kick out from the post and shoot he will be fine. He struggles when he starts thinking.
SuperMetroid
- Evanston
I haven’t seen either of these teams much. How were they able to force so many turnovers? Does Memphis press a lot?
Tacomallini
- Washington State
our defense doing well and other teams shooting poorly often go hand-in-hand. I think the Illini D yesterday was stellar.
EDIT: I clearly didn't read your second sentence.
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He did not have that many TO in the Indiana's game but otherwise the stats are similar. I really hope Belo and Trent wake up on their offense.
This is what gives me hope for tomorrow. If we can keep their offense under control and catch a little fire, we can definitely win. Our defense is our strength. Houston has a high powered offense, but TF, DMW, and curbelo can take away some open 3s and really help them.
Remember when it was legal to clear everyone out of the way by extending your elbows and swinging? In fact big men were taught to do that. If that were still allowed they would not be reaching in like they do. Or if they did, they would only do it once! Unfortunately if Kofi makes any effort to raise his elbows to protect the ball or rotates his body he will be called for the foul and possibly a flagrant 1 or 2. I don't understand why reaching in is not a foul and a guard running into Kofi on a layup drive with Kofi's arms straight up is a foul on him. He is holding his ground going straight up and the foul is on Kofi.
I would suggest that most on this board never give our defense credit. Hint: they’re the same people that want to put freshmen in for Damonte in a tournament game.
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