Illini BB

[JimJohnson]

Curbelo is blowing up this year. He's the program's most important recruit in years. A true point guard who plays exactly the style that Underwood's system needs. Plus Miller. No way Underwood is getting canned.

The team this year looks like they could turn a corner if Griffin continues to play with this confidence, they can figure out how to get something from Giorgi when Cockburn is on the floor, and if they can hit some shots. They play pretty good defense usually, although I wish they'd play more aggressively against the high ball screen. Not sure Underwood is capable of running an effective half court offense with this group. But making some shots will obviously help with that.

I hope he does his own thing when he comes and doesn't let Underwood drag him down. Wood seems to enjoy sucking the life out of our players.

 

[Parade_Rain]

He's more important, by a good margin.

Guard play is by far more important that post play in CBB. KC, for as good as he is, has not scored from outside the paint once this year.

This is silly. Cockburn has been an absolute game changer save a couple of games.

 

[dennehy]

This is silly. Cockburn has been an absolute game changer save a couple of games.

He's changed the game to the tune of 10-5. He's changed the game in that he has forced them to run a different system. He has changed the game in that Giorgi can't do much of anything when they are both on the floor. And they can't pressure and run the way Underwood likes, which hurts Ayo's game. Not his fault on any of this, but his impact doesn't match his stats. Almost no player who is solely a paint player does in the game today.

This offense needs a really good point guard much more than a center who doesn't do anything outside the paint on either end of the floor.

Plus Curbelo is going to be a 3-4 year beast. You'll see.

 

[dweebs19]

Happy with the performance against Purdue, but they need to bring it against Wisconsin. This team has a tendency to not show up in some halves. Seriously if this team were consistent, I wouldn't worry about making the tournament. Maybe Griffin should start ahead of Damonte

 

[Parade_Rain]

He's changed the game to the tune of 10-5. He's changed the game in that he has forced them to run a different system. He has changed the game in that Giorgi can't do much of anything when they are both on the floor. And they can't pressure and run the way Underwood likes, which hurts Ayo's game. Not his fault on any of this, but his impact doesn't match his stats. Almost no player who is solely a paint player does in the game today.

Underwood has changed his schemes because they don’t work at the P5 level. Refer to Texas, Shaka Smart and Havoc.

Giorgi can’t do anything because he doesn’t understand the 4. That isn’t Cockburn’s issue. Let me know when Curbelo gets his 3rd Big Ten Freshman of the week award before the start of Spring Semester next season.

This team is top 10 in FT allowed, is a great rebounding team and has been better defensively without fouling this year. Kofi alters shots. He has a long way to go. NCAA is not the NBA. Kofi does not need to be a 3 pt shooter to be impactful.

Illinois looked damn good with Trent bringing up the ball Sunday. He will be doing that a lot more. Suggesting Kofi has hurt Ayo is bizarre. Ayo is still skinny and can dunk the ball on a really good day. Still not strong enough to finish through contact. Nobody has fucked Ayo. He isn’t particularly good on defense. They ran a lot of spread Sunday and are slowly but surely ditching the stupid weave. That isn’t a Cockburn thing. That’s an Underwood thing.

This offense needs a really good point guard much more than a center who doesn't do anything outside the paint on either end of the floor.

Plus Curbelo is going to be a 3-4 year beast. You'll see.

This offense could have a great PG and without a C isn’t going to be great. This team has not had an inside presence in years. Kofi is a generational talent who will be back next year. Needs more lift, more moves and a 15 footer.

I have no need to see what Curbelo can do. I’m sure he will be a great addition and make players around him better and add more assists than any guard Illinois has right now. You made a super duper strawman there. And just like Kofi this year, Andre will have some rough games next year to go with the really good ones.

 

[dennehy]

Underwood has changed his schemes because they don’t work at the P5 level. Refer to Texas, Shaka Smart and Havoc.

Giorgi can’t do anything because he doesn’t understand the 4. That isn’t Cockburn’s issue. Let me know when Curbelo gets his 3rd Big Ten Freshman of the week award before the start of Spring Semester next season.

This team is top 10 in FT allowed, is a great rebounding team and has been better defensively without fouling this year. Kofi alters shots. He has a long way to go. NCAA is not the NBA. Kofi does not need to be a 3 pt shooter to be impactful.

Illinois looked damn good with Trent bringing up the ball Sunday. He will be doing that a lot more. Suggesting Kofi has hurt Ayo is bizarre. Ayo is still skinny and can dunk the ball on a really good day. Still not strong enough to finish through contact. Nobody has fucked Ayo. He isn’t particularly good on defense. They ran a lot of spread Sunday and are slowly but surely ditching the stupid weave. That isn’t a Cockburn thing. That’s an Underwood thing.
This offense could have a great PG and without a C isn’t going to be great. This team has not had an inside presence in years. Kofi is a generational talent who will be back next year. Needs more lift, more moves and a 15 footer.

I have no need to see what Curbelo can do. I’m sure he will be a great addition and make players around him better and add more assists than any guard Illinois has right now. You made a super duper strawman there. And just like Kofi this year, Andre will have some rough games next year to go with the really good ones.

Giorgi can't do anything because he's a center. How can the most program changing make the second best player on the team from last year much worse? As I said, not his fault, this is mostly an issue of roster construction. That's my point. Not that Kofi isn't really good, that he doesn't have nearly the impact on the team that his stats suggest - because the team doesn't have a real point guard and Underwood's system totally demands it.

All those stats you cite, great. This was the year they were supposed to turn the corner. Kofi is much better than we thought he'd be. Everything should be in place. And yet this team has to improve a great deal to even make the tournament. They aren't the sum of their parts.

Kofi needs better lateral quickness too. "Generational talent," lol. Those guys usually are one and done?

No idea what you're talking about with Trent bringing up the ball. They all bring the ball up about the same as they have all year.

"This team could have a great PG and without a center isn't going to be great." Do you even watch college basketball?

 

[Parade_Rain]

Giorgi can't do anything because he's a center. How can the most program changing make the second best player on the team from last year much worse? As I said, not his fault, this is mostly an issue of roster construction. That's my point. Not that Kofi isn't really good, that he doesn't have nearly the impact on the team that his stats suggest - because the team doesn't have a real point guard and Underwood's system totally demands it.

All those stats you cite, great. This was the year they were supposed to turn the corner. Kofi is much better than we thought he'd be. Everything should be in place. And yet this team has to improve a great deal to even make the tournament. They aren't the sum of their parts.

Kofi needs better lateral quickness too. "Generational talent," lol. Those guys usually are one and done?

No idea what you're talking about with Trent bringing up the ball. They all bring the ball up about the same as they have all year.

"This team could have a great PG and without a center isn't going to be great." Do you even watch college basketball?

Giorgi is a backup C unless he figures out how to shoot from the perimeter. You’re blaming Kofi for Underwood’s roster construction. Hilarious.

You obviously weren’t paying attention to the Purdue game. Your “They all bring it up the same all year” makes no sense. Trent handled the ball a lot more than Ayo. You know why? Ayo hurt his ankle in the walk through. Your postings on this subject are pretty far off.

And as for your comment about watching college basketball, yes. I watch plenty. It’s a guards game. That still doesn’t stop Kofi from changing the way teams game plan against Illinois compared to the past years when they haven’t had a true big man. You can’t teach 6’11”/290. There are very few true bigs who have major impact at the P5 level as Freshmen. Kofi is one of the few.

 

[dennehy]

Giorgi is a backup C unless he figures out how to shoot from the perimeter. You’re blaming Kofi for Underwood’s roster construction. Hilarious.

You obviously weren’t paying attention to the Purdue game. Your “They all bring it up the same all year” makes no sense. Trent handled the ball a lot more than Ayo. You know why? Ayo hurt his ankle in the walk through. Your postings on this subject are pretty far off.

And as for your comment about watching college basketball, yes. I watch plenty. It’s a guards game. That still doesn’t stop Kofi from changing the way teams game plan against Illinois compared to the past years when they haven’t had a true big man. You can’t teach 6’11”/290. There are very few true bigs who have major impact at the P5 level as Freshmen. Kofi is one of the few.

Not blaming Kofi, saying Kofi isn't as impactful because of duplication, which is Underwood's fault. I've written this three times. There is a huge difference that you don't seem to get.

There is no PG that bring the ball up the majority of the time. Certainly Trent is more of SG in his game than a PG. Yes they looked very good against Purdue. Helps that they were at home and Purdue made no shots. The offense was still pretty meh until the game fell apart at the end.

Kofi's played great, not disputing that. A true PG would have a greater impact because, as you say, it's a guard's game.

 

[JimJohnson]

If Illini lose, I better see some of you folks posting.

 

[Urblock]

You folks have been warned.

 

[dennehy]

Hell of a win.

 

[zack54attack]

Ayo, man. He’s damn good.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Trent brought the ball up the court all night, folks. That's 2 games in a row where it's clearly been defined. Ayo did a better job playing off the ball a bit and I loved when he had it in his hands, he looked to get Kofi the ball and on that break he led, he found Griffin in the corner for 3. Very satisfying win for the team and coaches, especially since they don't get Wisconsin at home this year.

 

[Parade_Rain]

If Illini lose, I better see some of you folks posting.

Tell us how much you want Underwood fired, JJ.

 

[TL1961]

It may well be. But they still looked like shit against Mizzou and MSU. And there was barely a peep from anyone after those embarrassing performances.

Also, despite their Pomeroy, they are out according to the latest bracketology.

I can’t believe people weren’t here on Christmas discussing the Missouri game. ?

 

[Parade_Rain]

Illinois now up to 30 in Pomeroy rankings. 11 Big Ten teams in the Top 40. Toughest conference in NCAA this year.

 

[TL1961]

He's changed the game to the tune of 10-5. He's changed the game in that he has forced them to run a different system. He has changed the game in that Giorgi can't do much of anything when they are both on the floor. And they can't pressure and run the way Underwood likes, which hurts Ayo's game. Not his fault on any of this, but his impact doesn't match his stats. Almost no player who is solely a paint player does in the game today.

This offense needs a really good point guard much more than a center who doesn't do anything outside the paint on either end of the floor.

Plus Curbelo is going to be a 3-4 year beast. You'll see.

Do you remember last year when teams spent all night making layups and getting offensive rebounds?

I can’t comment on Curbelo other than to say I am very happy to see him doing well. What you are posting is very good news.

But let’s just recognize the difference in the interior D this year.

 

[TL1961]

If Illini lose, I better see some of you folks posting.

Love that he posts “ I better see....if they lose”, and is nowhere to be found after the Illini win.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Do you remember last year when teams spent all night making layups and getting offensive rebounds?

I can’t comment on Curbelo other than to say I am very happy to see him doing well. What you are posting is very good news.

But let’s just recognize the difference in the interior D this year.

Let alone the rebounding, the alleyoops, etc. Not seen at Illinois in at least a decade or more.

 

[JimJohnson]

I have to admit, that was an impressive win.