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Offseason 2022


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5 hours ago, Drroogh said:

Malik looks like the kind of player TJD struggles against and CMW needs to challenge TJD to step up. Ought to be some fun practices.

TJD gets a legit, physical big to go up against and Malik gets a savvy, experienced athletic big to go up against. And IU benefits in both directions. 

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Our guy @The Daily Hoosier weighs in on The Whinin' Illini 

I think his analysis is spot on, despite what some of the interlopers say...

No experienced point guard is a biggie I think. Skyy Clark has talent, but I think the torn ACL shook his confidence a little. He seemed very tenuous in the Montverde games I watched after he came back from the injury. He also bailed on Kentucky when it looked like the competition would be a bit much for playing time at the 1.

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1 hour ago, IUFLA said:

Our guy @The Daily Hoosier weighs in on The Whinin' Illini 

I think his analysis is spot on, despite what some of the interlopers say...

No experienced point guard is a biggie I think. Skyy Clark has talent, but I think the torn ACL shook his confidence a little. He seemed very tenuous in the Montverde games I watched after he came back from the injury. He also bailed on Kentucky when it looked like the competition would be a bit much for playing time at the 1.

I love TDH’s Kofi take.

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48 minutes ago, rico said:

I love TDH’s Kofi take.

I can't say I follow them closely enough to have a strong opinion, but until proven otherwise, I think Underwood is a garbage coach. I always think of our Romeo/Morgan year. The BIG had figured us out: pack the lane and watch us lose. The fact that it took coaches so long to piece that together speaks to how bad college coaches are at strategy and in-game coaching, but that's a topic for another day. Despite that clear game plan for beating us, Underwood pressured us all day and we picked them apart. I guess if I was an Illinois fan I would say that their season was lost, so they might as well practice playing the way they want to play, but to not make adjustments to get your struggling team a win, strikes me as the move of a bad coach.

Obviously, their tournament results have only strengthened my take.

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While I think the Illini will take a step back this year and while i think that Underwood is not top tier coach, I do think that he is a good coach. He has out performed expectations these last couple of years. I got torn apart last year when I picked them in the second tier and the narrative here was that they'll be nothing without Ayo, they're assistants are gone, they have too much turnover, etc. - they ended up tied for first. 

I know we love to hate on the Illini (me too), but Underwood has adapted to a defense that's a better fit in this league. And when they played us the first time a scout apparently said something like: "If I knew nothing before walking into this game I would've picked Underwood as the guy who coached in the NBA." The guy is not as bad as some are making him out to be.....all coaches have bad games and bad match-ups in the tournament. He did finish top 2 in the conference in the last two years. Many of us would give our left testicle for that success. 

 

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2 hours ago, tdhoosier said:

While I think the Illini will take a step back this year and while i think that Underwood is not top tier coach, I do think that he is a good coach. He has out performed expectations these last couple of years. I got torn apart last year when I picked them in the second tier and the narrative here was that they'll be nothing without Ayo, they're assistants are gone, they have too much turnover, etc. - they ended up tied for first. 

I know we love to hate on the Illini (me too), but Underwood has adapted to a defense that's a better fit in this league. And when they played us the first time a scout apparently said something like: "If I knew nothing before walking into this game I would've picked Underwood as the guy who coached in the NBA." The guy is not as bad as some are making him out to be.....all coaches have bad games and bad match-ups in the tournament. He did finish top 2 in the conference in the last two years. Many of us would give our left testicle for that success. 

 

I thought the same thing for the Illini last year, but they did have 4 players coming back from the year before that had started a total of 95 games between them (Cockburn and Frazier both started 31 games in 20-21 and Williams (17) and Grandison (16)) and Plummer was as good as advertised and better than I thought. So, yeah, they exceeded my expectations.

But it's a little different this year... 

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29 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

I thought the same thing for the Illini last year, but they did have 4 players coming back from the year before that had started a total of 95 games between them (Cockburn and Frazier both started 31 games in 20-21 and Williams (17) and Grandison (16)) and Plummer was as good as advertised and better than I thought. So, yeah, they exceeded my expectations.

But it's a little different this year... 

I thought the key for them last year (other than Cockburn returning), was the growth and maturity of Trent Frazier. Before Ayo emerged and Frazier was previously asked to be "the man", his game was very similar to Devonte Green's. But last year, when they were asking more of him again, he didn't revert back to being wildly inconsistent. He was still a streaky shooter, but his 2 pt % went from 35% in 2019-20 to 51% last year. 

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3 hours ago, tdhoosier said:

While I think the Illini will take a step back this year and while i think that Underwood is not top tier coach, I do think that he is a good coach. He has out performed expectations these last couple of years. I got torn apart last year when I picked them in the second tier and the narrative here was that they'll be nothing without Ayo, they're assistants are gone, they have too much turnover, etc. - they ended up tied for first. 

I know we love to hate on the Illini (me too), but Underwood has adapted to a defense that's a better fit in this league. And when they played us the first time a scout apparently said something like: "If I knew nothing before walking into this game I would've picked Underwood as the guy who coached in the NBA." The guy is not as bad as some are making him out to be.....all coaches have bad games and bad match-ups in the tournament. He did finish top 2 in the conference in the last two years. Many of us would give our left testicle for that success. 

I won't say Underwear can't coach, but I will say this...despite his recent on-court success, he sure seems to have a LOT of turnover.  Makes me think that most players simply don't like playing for him.  The longer he is there, the more of a toll that will take on recruiting.  Ten players is a lot and while I realize that some probably graduated and some left to start making a living playing basketball, looking at Kofi's decision vs. Trayce's decision and the decisions of several players with eligibility left deciding to ultimately move on (at least more than normal it seems), I suspect Underwear is a bit of a prick and players just get tired of that.

Obviously, I've never played for him, but he sure seems like an abrasive prick to me.  Maybe players are seeing that as well.

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1 hour ago, FKIM01 said:

I won't say Underwear can't coach, but I will say this...despite his recent on-court success, he sure seems to have a LOT of turnover.  Makes me think that most players simply don't like playing for him.  The longer he is there, the more of a toll that will take on recruiting.  Ten players is a lot and while I realize that some probably graduated and some left to start making a living playing basketball, looking at Kofi's decision vs. Trayce's decision and the decisions of several players with eligibility left deciding to ultimately move on (at least more than normal it seems), I suspect Underwear is a bit of a prick and players just get tired of that.

Obviously, I've never played for him, but he sure seems like an abrasive prick to me.  Maybe players are seeing that as well.

IDK. Nature of the beast. Arkansas lost 8 players, including 4 to the portal. They are bringing in 5 portal transfers and 6 recruits.

Alabama had 5 enter the portal and 3 declare for the draft. They will have a 5 player recruiting class plus at least 2 portal transfers in.

I think most view those two schools as a good place to play.

 

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5 hours ago, 13th&Jackson said:

IDK. Nature of the beast. Arkansas lost 8 players, including 4 to the portal. They are bringing in 5 portal transfers and 6 recruits.

Alabama had 5 enter the portal and 3 declare for the draft. They will have a 5 player recruiting class plus at least 2 portal transfers in.

I think most view those two schools as a good place to play.

 

I'm a little skeptical that these two are equal.  I don't know who Arkansas lost to the portal, but it sure seems like Illinois lost some pretty high quality players who didn't go pro and certainly COULD have come back.  If Arkansas just lost benchwarmers to the portal, that would seem a little more natural than what Illinois went through.

EDIT:  In addition, it seems like Arkansas reloaded a lot better than Illinois, which might mean players view it as a lot more attractive place to play than Illinois.

Edited by FKIM01
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@The Daily Hoosier's take on Iowa 

Agree a lot with this one as well. I don't think Kris Murray will be as good as his twin, but McCaffery's younger kid, Patrick, can play. Filip Rebraca averaged 6 ppg last year but has averaged 11 ppg over his career, and is decent at the 5.

 I also think that if they get good guard play from Indy native Tony Perkins (who averaged over 11 ppg in his last 9) and Ahron Ulis who will probably be taking over the point from the departed Joe Toussaint, they can be a top 5 Big 10 team. 

Mike's right about their depth. They do have Connor McCaffery back, and the Sandfort kid has size and can shoot it, but Josh Ogundele needs to get into shape to be a viable backup. 8 deep but no room for injuries unless their 2 3 star guard recruits, Josh Dix and Dasonte Bowen can provide minutes... 

Edited by IUFLA
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13 minutes ago, SawatchHoosier said:

The problem is we're asking NCAA refs to enforce this. It's going to be a disaster. 

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i know almost no one will agree with this, BUT... i have always thought it was ridiculous to have a flopping rule.  seems awful hard to trust an official's judgment on whether a guy exaggerates a fall, etc. on the other hand, if a player does it well enough to fool an official, isn't that on the official and just a smart play by the player?  like i say, i know i am by myself on this one, but just how i feel about it.  

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2 hours ago, NCHoosier32 said:

i know almost no one will agree with this, BUT... i have always thought it was ridiculous to have a flopping rule.  seems awful hard to trust an official's judgment on whether a guy exaggerates a fall, etc. on the other hand, if a player does it well enough to fool an official, isn't that on the official and just a smart play by the player?  like i say, i know i am by myself on this one, but just how i feel about it.  

There is something to be said for this. If a ref thinks a player flopped then let him lie there. Some rules ask too much of the refs. 

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40 minutes ago, Lurker said:

I'm not quite sure how hiring a GM relates to what essentially comes down to Krzyzewski screwing over Tommy Amaker as his successor.

Just pointing out there seems to be a rift in the Duke family... 

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28 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

I'm not quite sure how hiring a GM relates to what essentially comes down to Krzyzewski screwing over Tommy Amaker as his successor.

Just pointing out there seems to be a rift in the Duke family... 

Agree. The optics look bad for them.  It would be pretty easy for an unscrupulous recruiter to make certain accusations.  If any of the former Duke players fan those flames, it would be pretty easy to torpedo Scheyer's reign as coach.  Looks like coach K handled things poorly in an effort to stay in control.

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27 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

I'm not quite sure how hiring a GM relates to what essentially comes down to Krzyzewski screwing over Tommy Amaker as his successor.

Just pointing out there seems to be a rift in the Duke family... 

I just thought having a GM with Nike and NBA ties would help continue the one and done basketball factory.  Having Scheyer as coach gives K an excuse to stay close as Amaker is a veteran coach and probably would prefer K stay in the distance. I would think the family that mattered were the  guys in the NBA now.

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