Illiini
- In the land of the Nittany Lion
How many Illini will be in Piscataway? I know at least two. Seriously, there are enough Illini--there has to be--in the Northeast and NY metro area that we should have a 500 turnout.
Purdue 93, Illinois 86 POSTGAME
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How many Illini will be in Piscataway? I know at least two. Seriously, there are enough Illini--there has to be--in the Northeast and NY metro area that we should have a 500 turnout.
Deleted member 631370
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500? Weak sauce.
Rewind to March of 2004. How many Illini invaded Mackey to watch Luther Head win the Big Ten title on a last second put back? We probably had a few thousand in attendance.
Me too. Maybe he heard the adage, "you have to go right at a shotblocker."
LarryGotFouled
- Allen, TX
Really like the way this group has continued to play hard in what has been a tough year. I was at the Nebraska game on Sunday when we got a good win at home and tonight was a very good effort against one of the best teams in the country. There is certainly some hope for the future if the players can continue to progress and we can get some big help for next year.
on mark smith.... I think he needs to learn how to look for Shooters on the outside and kick it out
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Deleted member 631370
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He did find Trent in the corner for an open three with about 4 mins left......unfortunately the shot didn't fall. Would have cut the deficit to 1 or 2 and potentially made it a very different game.
But yes, he gets tied up way too easily in traffic. That said, I'm glad he's attacking. Just needs to be smart with the ball.
Hopefully Ayo too.
Deleted member 547530
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That's the problem guards and wings should not be on a big man developmental curve. I agree big men can take a few years to be productive because of the physicality of the position and having to grow their basketball bodies and develop low post skills at P5 level. Guards and wings should come to college much more body and skill ready to play at the P5 level. MS is on a Mav learning curve and that should never be the case with a guard/wing. Example 1 - see TF
1st game in a while where I was actually excited about our play. Unfortunately we lost and the season is virtually over. Damonte seemed to have a great game for the limited minutes he played. After looking, he played half the game. Frazier and Black are great.
Not sure how but we held the Haa's to 10 pts, though Edwards lit us up. Mathias too.
We do have a good stable of guards with another arriving next year. The announcers were talking up our recruiting as if I missed something. Still just Ayo, correct?
I think BU is improving the team. Even though I did not think we would make the tourney, I thought we would at least be in the NIT conversation. Can't see driving ~4 hours to NJ again to see if we can escape last place. I have not even been watching live. We literally have 1/5 the BIG wins of MSU! 3 games out of 10th place in the Big 10.
Please send some encouraging recruiting news!
GO ILLINI!
Not sure how but we held the Haa's to 10 pts, though Edwards lit us up. Mathias too.
We do have a good stable of guards with another arriving next year. The announcers were talking up our recruiting as if I missed something. Still just Ayo, correct?
I think BU is improving the team. Even though I did not think we would make the tourney, I thought we would at least be in the NIT conversation. Can't see driving ~4 hours to NJ again to see if we can escape last place. I have not even been watching live. We literally have 1/5 the BIG wins of MSU! 3 games out of 10th place in the Big 10.
Please send some encouraging recruiting news!
GO ILLINI!
Yep. They closed us out, but we didn't roll over, and we did a number of things well. We still make a lot of mistakes, which worries me, but the overall product is looking better.
Tip of the hat to Carson. That kid made some bomb threes and had some dunks that would've brought the house down if they had played at home. It was a tough loss, but the guys battled hard for a full game finally!
What I liked from the game:
1) Consistent effort throughout the game
2) TF still gave you something in the first half even though he wasn't scoring. Loved that he didn't force too much (a few 3's were suspect)
3) Black is here for real...not just a pre-season workout hero anymore
4) Smith was on the floor. Anyone else worried that he would transfer?
What I liked from the game:
1) Consistent effort throughout the game
2) TF still gave you something in the first half even though he wasn't scoring. Loved that he didn't force too much (a few 3's were suspect)
3) Black is here for real...not just a pre-season workout hero anymore
4) Smith was on the floor. Anyone else worried that he would transfer?
Mark Smith Development
Good Article read from both Mark and BU perspective, really what we would all expect, just nice to see the commitment to ILLINI basketball and a kid that has struggled and wants to get better.
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/20180222/illinois-freshman-mark-smith-gaining-confidence
This is Frazier's team and its good to see he is already a leader trying to encourage and help others to get better.
Good Article read from both Mark and BU perspective, really what we would all expect, just nice to see the commitment to ILLINI basketball and a kid that has struggled and wants to get better.
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/20180222/illinois-freshman-mark-smith-gaining-confidence
This is Frazier's team and its good to see he is already a leader trying to encourage and help others to get better.
I noticed them running some very good offense this game. Drives me nuts when players hold the ball for 5-10 seconds doing nothing. I saw less of that this game with Alstork and Kipper doing it once or twice each. Frazier does it sometimes too, but with him at least you get the sense he's trying to set up his shot.
Good Article read from both Mark and BU perspective, really what we would all expect, just nice to see the commitment to ILLINI basketball and a kid that has struggled and wants to get better.
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/20180222/illinois-freshman-mark-smith-gaining-confidence
This is Frazier's team and its good to see he is already a leader trying to encourage and help others to get better.
That was a good read. Pretty much confirms what we all assumed, that he was getting down on himself, but everyone said the right things about not letting it affect him too much.
I don't mean to rip into Finke, but it's not baloney. Finke is averaging 5.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game in conference play. He is shooting 29% from 3 on the year. Stretch 4, eh? However you look at it those are bad numbers for a 4th year 6'10" player. He has been mightily inconsistent and straight up disappeared for lengthy stretches. Fink has scored <5 points in 10 games this year. That will not cut it. Finke is a fine player and a great representative of UI but just better suited for a mid-major conference. We absolutely needed more from him this year for any chance at this to be a successful year.
Concur, we had a lot fewer problems with them compared to Michigan State's bigs. I can see why other teams have beaten PU. Fortunately, Haas is a senior.
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
Good point. I agree. We’d certainly take them, but they’re not the type BU needs in the big picture. Haas seems like a bigger Mav Morgan.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
As much as Trent Frazier has been a great addition this season and has a lot of growth ahead, the player I've enjoyed the most this year is Leron Black. You could see the light bulb going off in his head the last ten games or so last season and he took a big leap this year. His outside shooting and free throws have improved tremendously, and his inside game has gotten even better. He has a chance to be a first team all Big-Ten next year if he is consistent and cuts down on his fouls.
I agree that MS isn't on the trajectory many thought, but he is far from on the mav learning curve. Mav was downright bad til halfway through junior year. I think he scored like 50 pts total his frosh year and didn't post a double digit scoring game until end of soph year. As bad of a freshman year he seems to be having in conference mark will end his frosh year with more points than Mav had in his first two full years of conf play.
Well then stomp your feet and say you aren't putting up with this crap any more!
Haarms is only a freshman. Not sure why you're making such broad statements about his game at this point.
I agree 100%. Leron has shown extensive growth and maturity this year. Long way from the problems he has had.
I thought this game was the best 40 minutes of basketball we played all year. I think the light has finally gone on for quite a few players.
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