Week of 1/12 Games Thread

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#230      
The role of Skyy Clark is being played today by…,
😄
IMG_1996.jpeg
 
#236      
Morez had 16pts and 16 rebounds. For all the despisers here, there's no denying he's been very good for them.
Yeah, there's also no denying that Darth Vader was very good for the Sith, and that Saruman the White was very good for Sauron.

Call me a despiser, but I refuse to say anything nice about Morez. Recommitting to Illinois and then turning around and leaving for an in-state rival is inexcusable. If there is a part of his character that is capable of doing that, then I'm glad he's gone. I get that everyone is a mercenary these days but you can't tell me that there are others on our team who weren't also receiving higher bids.

Morez is in good company at Michigan, and I can't wait to beat that team in Champaign.
 
#237      
Yeah, there's also no denying that Darth Vader was very good for the Sith, and that Saruman the White was very good for Sauron.

Call me a despiser, but I refuse to say anything nice about Morez. Recommitting to Illinois and then turning around and leaving for an in-state rival is inexcusable. If there is a part of his character that is capable of doing that, then I'm glad he's gone. I get that everyone is a mercenary these days but you can't tell me that there are others on our team who weren't also receiving higher bids.

Morez is in good company at Michigan, and I can't wait to beat that team in Champaign.

Saruman was very overrated.
Never lived up to his promise. Toward the end of his career, was even beaten by a team of sub-5-foot players.
 
#238      
Depends on what his actual reason was imo.

Still wouldn’t say I’m seeing the nba level playmaking and shooting chops he was throwing kofi under the bus for.

(I chuckled at the airball from 3 last night)
He's way more athletic than Kofi was and it's not close. Also way better shooter (both free throws and threes).

There's always going to be these comments no matter how well he plays. He's projected first team All BIG on kenpom, and likely the second best player on probably the most talented team in America.

With how good our team has looked, there's really no point in dwelling on it, and it's foolish to think he hasn't been great this year, and is struggling to find meaningful production (like it sometimes feels reading this thread).

Until the past few posts, I didn't even know he was shooting 40% (albeit on 10 shots), and had 16&16. But was notified know he had one airball.

If we're being honest, he's also probably a better roster fit for Michigan than Illinois with all the spacing we look to create. We look for shooting and skill. He's more of the Oscar Tschibwe prototype (which fits their philosophy).

At the end of the day, all it was is a young man making the best decision for his future. We don't have to like it, but it's not that deep.

Illinois as a program is also not left in the weeds like the Eric Gordon saga.
 
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#239      
Still wouldn’t say I’m seeing the nba level playmaking and shooting chops he was throwing kofi under the bus for.

ESPN has him as 45 on their draft board update. I expect he'll have to prove his 3 pt range more than 4 of 10, but he's in the conversation. FT shooting is 82% and he's getting points at the line. Definitely showing improvement.
 
#240      
Yeah, there's also no denying that Darth Vader was very good for the Sith, and that Saruman the White was very good for Sauron.

Call me a despiser, but I refuse to say anything nice about Morez. Recommitting to Illinois and then turning around and leaving for an in-state rival is inexcusable. If there is a part of his character that is capable of doing that, then I'm glad he's gone. I get that everyone is a mercenary these days but you can't tell me that there are others on our team who weren't also receiving higher bids.

Morez is in good company at Michigan, and I can't wait to beat that team in Champaign.
Traitor u! 3 guys who transferred in from within the conference. including Roddy Gayle who transferred to Michigan from Ohio State! eww

Star Wars Trump GIF by slicedbread
 
#242      
Yeah, there's also no denying that Darth Vader was very good for the Sith, and that Saruman the White was very good for Sauron.

Call me a despiser, but I refuse to say anything nice about Morez. Recommitting to Illinois and then turning around and leaving for an in-state rival is inexcusable. If there is a part of his character that is capable of doing that, then I'm glad he's gone. I get that everyone is a mercenary these days but you can't tell me that there are others on our team who weren't also receiving higher bids.

Morez is in good company at Michigan, and I can't wait to beat that team in Champaign.
Meant in-conference, was too focused on applicable blockbuster movie comparisons and got sloppy.
 
#243      
He's way more athletic than Kofi was and it's not close. Also way better shooter (both free throws and threes).

There's always going to be these comments no matter how well he plays. He's projected first team All BIG on kenpom, and likely the second best player on probably the most talented team in America.

With how good our team has looked, there's really no point in dwelling on it, and it's foolish to think he hasn't been great this year, and is struggling to find meaningful production (like it sometimes feels reading this thread).

Until the past few posts, I didn't even know he was shooting 40% (albeit on 10 shots), and had 16&16. But was notified know he had one airball.

If we're being honest, he's also probably a better roster fit for Michigan than Illinois with all the spacing we look to create. We look for shooting and skill. He's more of the Oscar Tschibwe prototype (which fits their philosophy).

At the end of the day, all it was is a young man making the best decision for his future. We don't have to like it, but it's not that deep.

Illinois as a program is also not left in the weeds like the Eric Gordon saga.

Hustling, rebounding, athleticism around the rim? Im all in. But he told us he didn't want to do that.

As for Kofi, they aren't really the same. Morez isn't big enough to be an NBA center nor a P4 college center. When Mara goes out, the rim protection, much like it did without T last year, craters. Is he a much better shooter? 10 attempts in college is not really anything anybody in the NBA would take stock in, and he's a career 69% from the line, compared to Kofi 63% - but Kofi had a ton more attempts. He said he wanted to playmake, well he's got a negative assist to turnover ratio in Ann Arbor.

The roster fit part, I agree with. Dusty plays with two bigs, and one is an elite rim protector covering up what morez does poorly. Outside of throwing Illini legends under the bus and lying about coming back, what bothers me is the roundabout circle. Morez is in second round mocks, just like he would be/was here, and that's based on doing what he does best. Not some facade of outside shooting and perimeter playmaking. you summed it up with the Tschiebwe comp - the irony is that is the player he told us he dislikes lol.
 
#244      
He's way more athletic than Kofi was and it's not close. Also way better shooter (both free throws and threes).

There's always going to be these comments no matter how well he plays. He's projected first team All BIG on kenpom, and likely the second best player on probably the most talented team in America.

With how good our team has looked, there's really no point in dwelling on it, and it's foolish to think he hasn't been great this year, and is struggling to find meaningful production (like it sometimes feels reading this thread).

Until the past few posts, I didn't even know he was shooting 40% (albeit on 10 shots), and had 16&16. But was notified know he had one airball.

If we're being honest, he's also probably a better roster fit for Michigan than Illinois with all the spacing we look to create. We look for shooting and skill. He's more of the Oscar Tschibwe prototype (which fits their philosophy).

At the end of the day, all it was is a young man making the best decision for his future. We don't have to like it, but it's not that deep.

Illinois as a program is also not left in the weeds like the Eric Gordon saga.
I agree it's useless pondering and musing. Also, had he stayed, we likely wouldn't have had some of the pieces we have now, most notably Mirkovic (I still think Z would've been here regardless as there were talks even before last season ended he wanted to play with his brother).

We're not left for dead, and don't have to prove it with pensive saltiness.

At the same time, it's still great to bring the passion and energy on 2/27.
 
#245      
Morez had 16pts and 16 rebounds. For all the despisers here, there's no denying he's been very good for them.
I despise his circle. I get that he's an adult, but I think this was mostly driven by dad/agents/runners/other members of the circle. Morez from HS soph to senior and during his freshman year w/us was nothing but respectful and a very good representative of the university. He always played hard for us, and I wanted him to become an even better version of Leron Black for us.

I'm obviously not rooting for him as he plays for a conference rival, but other than that I have no ill will toward him. It seems I'm in the minority in this position, but transferring - even intra-conference transferring is no longer abnormal.

While 4-9 from 3 is nothing to get too excited about, that's a big increase compared to 0-0 he had when here. His stats have increased across the board. I'm very happy w/Mirk as his replacement, and I doubt we get Mirk if Morez is still part of the squad even though they are very different players. I'm happy w/where our roster landed, and I'm sure Morez' camp is happy that he's at U of M.
 
#246      
I agree it's useless pondering and musing. Also, had he stayed, we likely wouldn't have had some of the pieces we have now, most notably Mirkovic (I still think Z would've been here regardless as there were talks even before last season ended he wanted to play with his brother).

We're not left for dead, and don't have to prove it with pensive saltiness.

At the same time, it's still great to bring the passion and energy on 2/27.

Meh, Morez started it lol. If you wanna take shots at our coaches, legends, current roster (like he did with the lame practice footage release) im gonna constantly bring the energy in having our program's back. I love our group
 
#247      
He's way more athletic than Kofi was and it's not close. Also way better shooter (both free throws and threes).

There's always going to be these comments no matter how well he plays. He's projected first team All BIG on kenpom, and likely the second best player on probably the most talented team in America.

With how good our team has looked, there's really no point in dwelling on it, and it's foolish to think he hasn't been great this year, and is struggling to find meaningful production (like it sometimes feels reading this thread).

Until the past few posts, I didn't even know he was shooting 40% (albeit on 10 shots), and had 16&16. But was notified know he had one airball.

If we're being honest, he's also probably a better roster fit for Michigan than Illinois with all the spacing we look to create. We look for shooting and skill. He's more of the Oscar Tschibwe prototype (which fits their philosophy).

At the end of the day, all it was is a young man making the best decision for his future. We don't have to like it, but it's not that deep.

Illinois as a program is also not left in the weeds like the Eric Gordon saga.
Who? Idkwti.
 
#248      
Hustling, rebounding, athleticism around the rim? Im all in. But he told us he didn't want to do that.

As for Kofi, they aren't really the same. Morez isn't big enough to be an NBA center nor a P4 college center. When Mara goes out, the rim protection, much like it did without T last year, craters. Is he a much better shooter? 10 attempts in college is not really anything anybody in the NBA would take stock in, and he's a career 69% from the line, compared to Kofi 63% - but Kofi had a ton more attempts. He said he wanted to playmake, well he's got a negative assist to turnover ratio in Ann Arbor.

The roster fit part, I agree with. Dusty plays with two bigs, and one is an elite rim protector covering up what morez does poorly. Outside of throwing Illini legends under the bus and lying about coming back, what bothers me is the roundabout circle. Morez is in second round mocks, just like he would be/was here, and that's based on doing what he does best. Not some facade of outside shooting and perimeter playmaking. you summed it up with the Tschiebwe comp - the irony is that is the player he told us he dislikes lol.
He's vastly improved this season and is shooting 82%.

I do agree with the second bolded, the role for him at Michigan could've also been duplicated at IL this season. But there is an aspect to philosophy, style, etc.

I know this is a way too generalized point, but I do wonder if his lack of minutes had an impact on his decision. Only 17mpg. There was some discussion here that his camp (initially) was not happy with lesser minutes. Let's be honest: he did not play as much as Mirkovic this year (or Ben last year) at the 4 spot
 
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#249      
Morez had 16pts and 16 rebounds. For all the despisers here, there's no denying he's been very good for them.
All his points were scored exactly as he did here - back to the basket or put backs. Only difference is his free throw shooting.

7’3 Mara gives this team the ability to play aggressive risky defense. UW was horrible against them, settling for 3’s after dribbling or driving into the mess and taking difficult 2’s.

Most of us wanted Morez here but it wasn’t our choice.

His 3 point shooting is on a tight leash.
 
#250      
Is building an army of Aruk-hai the LOTR equivalent of getting 16 points & 16 rebounds?

The sub-5-foot players couldn't have done it without the Ents (Ivasics)

ents GIF
him spitting on the signed contract and running to Michigan is the equivalent of looking into the palantir and thinking he would be king..... but the ring obeys only one master and does not share power.

Julian Bond Day GIF
 
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