Underwood: Ayo was phenomenal. He did what the best player in the country does when his team is down... I think he's the third-most efficient player in the country.
Underwood: A Minnesota team that got very old with transfers & have one of the best guards in the country in Carr. Center Liam Robbins is one of the best bigs in our league.
Underwood: Really frustrated with the way Kofi is being officiated. There's multiple occasions he gets his arm grabbed or gets pushed on an alley-oop. Doesn't get the ball because he doesn't flail out of bounds.
Underwood: Don't turn the Kofi flagrant in to the league because they were SEC officials.
Underwood said they're working with Kofi every day on his hands. Some passes are coming from new angles with Curbelo.
Underwood: My expectation level is so high for Kofi, he has a hard time meeting it.
Underwood on start of league play: That's what we play for.. To win a Big Ten championship. If you win the Big Ten, you have a chance to win the national championship. We've got to grind for the next three & a half months.
I know the BigTen is deep, but I think this is giving way too much credit to the bottom and not enough to the top of the conference. No way a team with 7 (6.8) losses wins the conference and that a 7-win team gets 13th place.This may have changed since you posted but as of this morning Torvik doesn't even have us favored in the next 10 B1G games let alone going 10-0. (@ Rutgers is 50% odds but -0.1 in favor of Rutgers). For reference, Torvik expects us to finish the season with only 12.3 conference wins and for Wisconsin to win the regular season with just 13.2 conference wins.
Vs Minnesota is the game Torvik has us most likely to win over the next 10 (80% odds and -8.9 point favorites) so let's make sure we really put them away.
Concast for B10 and - Customizable College Basketball Tempo Free Stats - T-Rank
T-Rank College Basketball Ratings and Rankings. And fun.barttorvik.com
Title Odds
TEAM WINS SHARE SOLE T4 Wisconsin 13.2 38 24 80.8 Illinois 12.3 22 12 66.9 Indiana 12.0 18 10 61.1 Michigan 11.9 16 8 58.6 Iowa 11.8 16 8 56.6 Ohio St. 11.0 9 4 42.0 Michigan St. 11.0 9 4 41.5 Rutgers 9.9 4 1 23.5 Purdue 9.1 2 1 14.3 Penn St. 8.9 1 0 11.4 Maryland 8.6 1 0 10.0 Minnesota 8.0 0 0 5.8 Northwestern 7.0 0 0 2.4 Nebraska 5.4 0 0 0.3
If the streak is bound to continue, I appreciate you picking again us.Bold pic:
Carr goes off for 35 points and Mashburn Jr. has a breakout game with 15 pts. The Illini supporting cast all repeat their sluggish performances at Mizzou, and Ayo can't buy a bucket after starting the game 4-4 from the field. Kofi's NBA stock continues to sink.
Minny 66
Illini 65
(Note: I've called each of the last three games incorrectly --- Baylor, Duke and Missouri. I cannot be trusted.)
That people over-emphasize the most recent game, even in Vegas.Vegas opens with Illinois -9 and quickly goes to -7. Not sure what to think of that big of drop.
Where would I indulge in such activities?Sure I’ll take some of Illinois -7 though
I think you can pretty much put that on repeat the rest of the year. If we have 2/3 of those guys nailing threes then we are pretty difficult to stop, even if we're just getting average from the big two.So we should win easily if we can get Trent, Miller, and Williams hitting shots (or really just 2 of those 3 hitting shots should be plenty).
Kofi has played with Cole Anthony + Ayo Dosunmu, two NBA-level CGs/PGs. This says a lot about Curbelo. If he can put on some LBs and become a knockdown outside shooter, I can definitely see him making it in the league. He's just so damn cerebral and skilled with the ball, and so quick and elusive that he can get past big guys to the hoop. He'd probably never start b/c of his size, and perhaps I am just way overexcited to have him on our team, but if guys like Chris Chiozza, Tremont Waters, JJ Barea, and maybe even Zavier Simpson can make it onto NBA rosters, then I can realistically imagine a scenario where Curbelo is able to do the same.“He’s a really interesting player. He sometimes makes passes that no one expects him to make. He seems the floor differently. I just have to start getting used to that. I’ve never really played with somebody like him who has that vision." #illini Kofi on Andre Curbelo.
An NBA Hall of Famer.....hmmmmI know how some people feel about comparisons on here. The sec announcers said underwood compared curbelo to steve nash.
when you watch him enough you can see what that comes from.
I know the BigTen is deep, but I think this is giving way too much credit to the bottom and not enough to the top of the conference. No way a team with 7 (6.8) losses wins the conference and that a 7-win team gets 13th place.
You forgot to mention Giorgi at 100% from three.I just noticed Adam Miller fell below 40% from 3 point range down to 37.9% (11-29). Trent is still hanging tight at 50% (12-24), Ayo's at 40.9% (9-22), and Williams is at a whopping 62.5% (10-16 and wow what a change from last year). As a team we're still at 44.3% which is pretty great if we can keep that up into the conference slate.
I wonder if the plan against Minnesota will be to shoot or get it inside to Kofi / drive the lane. I assume Minnesota's strategy will be to put their best defender on Ayo and occasionally double up Kofi. So we should win easily if we can get Trent, Miller, and Williams hitting shots (or really just 2 of those 3 hitting shots should be plenty).
Adam Miller hitting 3s is the difference between our close wins/losses and our comfortable wins.I just noticed Adam Miller fell below 40% from 3 point range down to 37.9% (11-29). Trent is still hanging tight at 50% (12-24), Ayo's at 40.9% (9-22), and Williams is at a whopping 62.5% (10-16 and wow what a change from last year). As a team we're still at 44.3% which is pretty great if we can keep that up into the conference slate.
In this conference , I would think to 5-6 is a strong possibility .How many conference losses will the B1G conference winner have???
Agreed. If Curbelo and Dusunmo are going to penetrate 1) others can not be standing around; 2) C and D have to kick the ball out more than one or twice.Adam Miller hitting 3s is the difference between our close wins/losses and our comfortable wins.
We need more consistency from him on shooting and curbelo on turnovers (shocker freshman need more consistency) but honestly that just comes with time and experience. They’re both so talented I have no concerns they’ll become what we need them to by February. Our top 7 would be extraordinarily solid if they grow how I’m assuming.