Pregame: Illinois vs Jackson State, Monday, November 3rd, 7:30pm CT, BTN

Status
Not open for further replies.
#151      
IllinoisssssssVarsity
RollChief said:
For 2 years in a row, we had close games against Oakland teams that killed us with their "amoeba" zone. We struggled against Oakland before going to play Marquette in 2023 and struggled against Oakland before playing Alabama last year.

I have a fun theory that Brad Underwood is good friends with Greg Kampe and secretly feeds him information about our offenses so that the Oakland games would be a true gut-punch tune-ups before real tests. They aren't playing this year because one more funky game against an Oakland team would start to raise eyebrows (we also lost to both Marquette and Alabama so maybe it didn't work as intended).

I have nothing to substantiate this and there is probably a much more practical reason to the funkiness with these games, considering the run that 2023-2024 Oakland team made.
Click to expand...
The zone is so unique that they don't even need intel to be effective. When you see man to man 99% of the time, any zone will throw you off for at least a couple possessions. Now we're talking a non-traditional zone that your standard odd or even front zone offense doesn't attack super effectively.

The players really get challenged on IQ, and their ability to read and react to a unique situation, because you also can't really replicate it super well in practice. As a huge proponent of zone, I honestly wish we played Oakland every year.
 
#154      
jrichisamazing
Illinisnake said:
I honestly would hate to see too much of this, I feel like Mirk will be a great distributor and booty ball has a tendency to slow down offense. Want to see up tempo, fast break type offense.
Click to expand...

We were 66th (3 in the B1G in tempo on torvik the year we played Domask booty ball. Not crazy fast, but faster than most.

Also, having a good distributor out of the post is like a cheat code offensively. If the defense brings any help Mirk can make them play.
 
#155      
hoopsfan47
RollChief said:
For 2 years in a row, we had close games against Oakland teams that killed us with their "amoeba" zone. We struggled against Oakland before going to play Marquette in 2023 and struggled against Oakland before playing Alabama last year.

I have a fun theory that Brad Underwood is good friends with Greg Kampe and secretly feeds him information about our offenses so that the Oakland games would be a true gut-punch tune-ups before real tests. They aren't playing this year because one more funky game against an Oakland team would start to raise eyebrows (we also lost to both Marquette and Alabama so maybe it didn't work as intended).

I have nothing to substantiate this and there is probably a much more practical reason to the funkiness with these games, considering the run that 2023-2024 Oakland team made.
Click to expand...
Conspiracy theories simply don't exist...........except for the indisputable fact that the entire world is in a conspiracy against me personally..........and don't call me paranoid!!!!!
 
#158      
BrownTown
hoopsfan47 said:
Conspiracy theories simply don't exist...........except for the indisputable fact that the entire world is in a conspiracy against me personally..........and don't call me paranoid!!!!!
Click to expand...
dale-gribble-appreciation-post-v0-g90j62wvy6nd1.png
 
#159      
GoodePodzMelendez
IllinoisssssssVarsity said:
The zone is so unique that they don't even need intel to be effective. When you see man to man 99% of the time, any zone will throw you off for at least a couple possessions. Now we're talking a non-traditional zone that your standard odd or even front zone offense doesn't attack super effectively.

The players really get challenged on IQ, and their ability to read and react to a unique situation, because you also can't really replicate it super well in practice. As a huge proponent of zone, I honestly wish we played Oakland every year.
Click to expand...
I have never been a fan of a zone as I grew up playing ball press but in this instance, I would like us to pressure more instead of falling back into the drop step defense. I want more pressure on the ball which leds to turnovers. I want is a motion offense to find windows to either get to the basket or hit a three. I saw too much standing around last year. When Davis was in the game, he constantly sat in the corner with limited options. He needed, like Will did, to find the window to where he has options. Tomi was very good at rolling out of the post and finding his window to shoot of dump to a cutter. Now with him and Z, it will create better spacing in which Wagler/Lee/AS or Boz to get to the basket with the constant moving. I wish Brad would show the passing/motion offense from the 05 team. That was beautiful. Constant moving, kicking the ball to the post three times, working the defense to get them out of position and after 15 passes, Dee has an open three. If we can implement both a motion offense and a more aggressive man 3/4 press, we will have more scoring opportunities.
 
#160      
IlliniCC16
Quick ticket question: My son and I are both diehard Illini fans and scored courtside tickets for Monday night's game. We are used to sitting quite a bit higher ;) so I don't know the ins and outs of those seats. I wondered if access to the tunnel to watch the team run out is a part of the Club 53 tickets? He's been wanting to do that since we started going to SFC, so hoping I can surprise him on gameday. Thanks in advance!
 
#162      
Brosky
I only have one question about this game: who all is healthy and ready to go full bore?
 
#163      
Tacomallini
IlliniTime said:
We’ve had other freshman bust out of the gate with big games. Brandon Paul, Adam Miller, maybe Georgi? Once teams start watching film of them and design defense against them, they had a more difficult time. He was a bit of an unknown in his first game. Damn good player, though. Love his skill set.
Click to expand...
Throwback public shaming - respect the Giorgi!
I-L-L
Embarrassed Shame GIF
 
#164      
Kams Blueguy
IlliniCC16 said:
Quick ticket question: My son and I are both diehard Illini fans and scored courtside tickets for Monday night's game. We are used to sitting quite a bit higher ;) so I don't know the ins and outs of those seats. I wondered if access to the tunnel to watch the team run out is a part of the Club 53 tickets? He's been wanting to do that since we started going to SFC, so hoping I can surprise him on gameday. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Yes I believe it is. I had those tickets in the 2020 season against Maryland woof. Was able to go into the tunnel and had access to some lounge before the game.
 
#170      
illinois_hustle
What determines playing time past the top few guys will be defense (this is Brad, after all), and health. And yes, whoever said that the most telling metric will be who finishes close games was spot on.

We don't know how either of these will go, but it will be fun to see how it all shakes out!

I hope that everyone stay positive throughout the process. I also hope we find our clutch guy (or two!).
 
#171      
Brosky
We need to keep in mind that nearly all college teams, not just us, are struggling to find out how their pieces fit.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back