Boogua Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Kofi is so damn impressive. Unbelievable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 I don't think Maryland or Michigan are truly top 5 teams (if they are, this is a down year in college bball), but still, the last two weeks have given me a lot of hope that Illinois can be really good come March. Like, get to the tourney and win a few games good. Kofi just went against two of the best bigs in the league and mostly dominated them. 20 more games to gain experience... Would be nice of Trent played like Trent again. And if Giorgi and Ayo protected the ball a little more. But overall the defense is sooooo improved. Effort and intensity has changed too. Night and day. That Miami loss may have been a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGajewski18 Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 5 hours ago, Jenksismyhero said: I don't think Maryland or Michigan are truly top 5 teams (if they are, this is a down year in college bball), but still, the last two weeks have given me a lot of hope that Illinois can be really good come March. Like, get to the tourney and win a few games good. Kofi just went against two of the best bigs in the league and mostly dominated them. 20 more games to gain experience... Would be nice of Trent played like Trent again. And if Giorgi and Ayo protected the ball a little more. But overall the defense is sooooo improved. Effort and intensity has changed too. Night and day. That Miami loss may have been a good thing. Agree with this and in all honestly, Illinois should be 9-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 I really didn't think Underwood would be so bad, but here we are. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 13 hours ago, bigruss said: I really didn't think Underwood would be so bad, but here we are. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Ayo and Frazier don’t play well together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGajewski18 Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Now that's a win! I-L-L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Great win, despite the officiating, which was absolutely atrocious. Illinois guys got murdered but Kofi picked up two for simply being too big. I thought they were trying to weed out flopping? Wisconsin (Davison in particular) were gifted calls all night. The total non-call on the last play (on Giorgi) was laughable, but hey, i'll take it given the crap Illinois (and other teams) go through at the Kohl Center. If Griffin doesn't start from this point forward Underwood should be fired immediately. Dude is too good to be losing minutes to Williams, who is, at best, an OK defender (when not matched up with someone bigger). He's a complete zero on offense. They were playing 4 on 5 last night when he was in the game. Take Rutgers and NW at home to get to 5-2.....then a tough slate going to Purdue and Michigan, home against Minn and then to Iowa. 7-4 would be amazing. 6-5 would be totally fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Yea this team is finally showing signs of what it should be. Take care of business at home vs a good Rutgers team and a bad NW team and we'll finally not be playing catchup in the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGajewski18 Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 On 1/9/2020 at 9:23 AM, Jenksismyhero said: Great win, despite the officiating, which was absolutely atrocious. Illinois guys got murdered but Kofi picked up two for simply being too big. I thought they were trying to weed out flopping? Wisconsin (Davison in particular) were gifted calls all night. The total non-call on the last play (on Giorgi) was laughable, but hey, i'll take it given the crap Illinois (and other teams) go through at the Kohl Center. If Griffin doesn't start from this point forward Underwood should be fired immediately. Dude is too good to be losing minutes to Williams, who is, at best, an OK defender (when not matched up with someone bigger). He's a complete zero on offense. They were playing 4 on 5 last night when he was in the game. Take Rutgers and NW at home to get to 5-2.....then a tough slate going to Purdue and Michigan, home against Minn and then to Iowa. 7-4 would be amazing. 6-5 would be totally fine. I'm fine with Griffin coming off the bench still because he provides a spark. Him and Feliz are those two guys that can do that from the bench and relish in those roles right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitesoxfan99 Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 On 1/9/2020 at 9:23 AM, Jenksismyhero said: Great win, despite the officiating, which was absolutely atrocious. Illinois guys got murdered but Kofi picked up two for simply being too big. I thought they were trying to weed out flopping? Wisconsin (Davison in particular) were gifted calls all night. The total non-call on the last play (on Giorgi) was laughable, but hey, i'll take it given the crap Illinois (and other teams) go through at the Kohl Center. If Griffin doesn't start from this point forward Underwood should be fired immediately. Dude is too good to be losing minutes to Williams, who is, at best, an OK defender (when not matched up with someone bigger). He's a complete zero on offense. They were playing 4 on 5 last night when he was in the game. Take Rutgers and NW at home to get to 5-2.....then a tough slate going to Purdue and Michigan, home against Minn and then to Iowa. 7-4 would be amazing. 6-5 would be totally fine. Griffin needs 25 minutes (as long as he isn't in foul trouble). Starting him is irrelevant and bringing him off the bench actually probably works best for this team since they don't have a ton of shooters. If you start Griffin with Ayo and Frazier it makes it a lot harder to set the rotations such that two of those guys are always on the floor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 I disagree. I want to get out to a 10 pt lead in games, not get 10 minutes into the game down a few points, constantly clawing back. Again, Williams gives you absolutely nothing on offense. It's 4 on 5 to start the game until Griffin comes in. So why even screw with it? IMO the rotation would be Ayo/Trent/Griffin with Frazier and Kipper replacing the two guys that need a rest. Williams as the secondary back-up if needed for defense only. What was the deal with Tevian Jones? Did he do some academic thing? It sucks he was suspended so long. He's completely lost out there and there's really no way he can learn on the fly during conference season. He'd be a great alternative to Williams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGajewski18 Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 3 hours ago, Jenksismyhero said: I disagree. I want to get out to a 10 pt lead in games, not get 10 minutes into the game down a few points, constantly clawing back. Again, Williams gives you absolutely nothing on offense. It's 4 on 5 to start the game until Griffin comes in. So why even screw with it? IMO the rotation would be Ayo/Trent/Griffin with Frazier and Kipper replacing the two guys that need a rest. Williams as the secondary back-up if needed for defense only. What was the deal with Tevian Jones? Did he do some academic thing? It sucks he was suspended so long. He's completely lost out there and there's really no way he can learn on the fly during conference season. He'd be a great alternative to Williams. Who knows what happened with Jones. That kid has only hurt his college career. Illinois have over signed by one next season. Wouldn't be shocked if Jones is gone after the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Iowa destroyed Maryland with basically six players...well, really just two. And Garza can barely dunk, although he’s the perfect college player. This after losing at Nebraska, and 8 road games in their last 10, not to mention they’re without four of their top players. Not to mention Cook tried the NBA, Moss transferred to Kansas, Talent is way way down this year at the NCAA level. Could be an Elite 8 or Final 4 level of team with everyone coming back and healthy next year. Probably doomed for NIT with the depth issues. Of course, that hasn’t happened very much over the last twenty years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boogua Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 23 hours ago, whitesoxfan99 said: Griffin needs 25 minutes (as long as he isn't in foul trouble). Starting him is irrelevant and bringing him off the bench actually probably works best for this team since they don't have a ton of shooters. If you start Griffin with Ayo and Frazier it makes it a lot harder to set the rotations such that two of those guys are always on the floor. Agree with this. There are only two above average 3 point shooters in the rotation (Frazier and Griffin) and it just makes more sense to stagger them a bit, Griffin still gets starters minutes and can close games out. The shooting should be a bit better next year with the additions of Hutcherson and Adam Miller. Good sign that Underwood is making a strong all around roster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Oh hey look, Williams starts and they get down 7 after about 6 minutes because the offense sucks. Griffin comes in, immediately gets three rebounds (one offensive,) and they play 100 times better. Again though, now they have to dig out of a hole. So dumb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heads22 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Baylor halfway to putting away Kansas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boogua Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Illinois first 6 big ten games were all against KenPom top 35 teams. Record 4-2. I figured Underwood had the team trending upward going into the year, and here we are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 I’ve followed college hoops closely for 30 years now, and I can confidently say this is the worst overall talent level during that span. Even some of these guys supposed to be top picks, like Edwards, are overrated as hell. Wiseman and Anthony being out doesn’t help either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 Clearly the most important game of the day is SIU @ Bradley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mqr Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 On 11/26/2019 at 7:44 PM, mqr said: Methinks Dayton is going to be everyone’s clever tournament pick thatb isn’t all that clever This is aging poorly. They ain't sneaking up on anybody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGajewski18 Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Illinois begins a very tough 7 game stretch tonight @ Purdue. If they can go 3-4 during this stretch, I'll be more than happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 On 1/11/2020 at 1:27 PM, Boogua said: Illinois first 6 big ten games were all against KenPom top 35 teams. Record 4-2. I figured Underwood had the team trending upward going into the year, and here we are. Those first 12ish games the team looked brutal, but credit to them and the staff for finding their groove. They're about to get punched a couple times in this schedule, will be interesting and nerve wracking to see how they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boogua Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Alan Griffin makes a lot of dumb emotional decisions. Another reason why bringing him off the bench is the right move at this point, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Illini about to win at Mackey after getting ranked, then looking back in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 How much heat are Collins and Painter under? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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