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Way too early BIG power rankings

milehiiu

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Long Duk Dong

Long Duk Dong

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, CoachSS said:

Come again?  I don't believe I worded it like that whatsoever. 

For clarity, Indiana and Ohio State had the exact same conference record last year at 8-12. I don't think that puts anywhere years away from the other. 

No?

I like Ohio State's squad a lot next year. Given how I expect 2020 to pan out for Indiana and the development, I think I'll like what IU has to offer quite a bit moving forward. 

Maybe I interpreted it wrong. You have OSU as a top 15 team and number 2 in the conference provided they can get find some perimeter shooting. That's competing for a conference crown 

Then you turn around and say that Indiana is years away from competing for a conference crown. So it seems that they are years ahead of us. They are also killing it in recruiting.

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BruceDouglas

BruceDouglas

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, CoachSS said:

#6 Illinois- The good? The Illini return almost their entire core. The bad? Outside of 13 days last February, this team was dreadful on both ends of the floor. Hope springs eternal with a solid backcourt tandem and a budding to-be-sophomore big man in Bezhanishivili.
Good: Trent Frazier, Ayo Dosunmu return as does Kipper Nichols and Georgie Bezhanishvili. There's a bit to like there from the backcourt and Georgie B. 
Bad: Illinois wasn't very good on offense or defense and in their last 8 games, they had 6 defeats with their only wins coming over a drowning Northwestern team.
Questions: Illinois' defensive efficiency was 11th last year in the conference out of 14. Can Underwood's pressure/ deny-adjacent style of havoc start to pay dividends or should ball-screens continue to gash the Illini defense? Which of the "other" Illinois players is going to take a leap? Between Damonte Williams, Alan Griffin and Tevian Jones the Illini need another wing-type to emerge to lighten the scoring load for Dosunmu. Can someone else in the front court, specifically Kofi Cockburn (the Illini's top-rated recruit), emerge enough to help and support Bezhanishvili?
What I think: This is a very tough team to figure. On one hand, you return the majority of guys who were 3-13 in conference play (minus the 4 wins during a magical 13-day run in February) who struggled to score and defend. On the other hand, you have a group of younger players who should emerge during a year where other programs have way, way, way bigger problems. I'm optimistic Illinois can be in the middle part of the conference. I'm still unsure if it's because of anything they are doing or the absolute carnage taking place at other programs in the league.

 

As an Illini fan, I'll say this is pretty fair and the skepticism is warranted until it's proven on the court. And I share the concern about the defense, it needs to improve from "awful" to at least "mediocre" if Illinois is going to move up in the standings. I do think we may a big jump up, but seeing predictions like Torvik at #14 is a little too much.

One important guy you're missing in your analysis is Andres Feliz. Like a lot of transfers, it took him half the season to get adjusted to playing at the Big Ten level, but he was pretty good in conference play. That back court is going to be really good.

Lots of interesting story lines in the league this season, Howard taking over for Beilein, can Gard get Wisconsin back on track, can Painter continue Purdue's recent trend, how long does it take the Mayor to get something going in Lincoln, etc....

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Lurker

Lurker

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, CoachSS said:

Come again?  I don't believe I worded it like that whatsoever. 

For clarity, Indiana and Ohio State had the exact same conference record last year at 8-12. I don't think that puts anywhere years away from the other. 

No?

I like Ohio State's squad a lot next year. Given how I expect 2020 to pan out for Indiana and the development, I think I'll like what IU has to offer quite a bit moving forward. 

Don't forget CJ Walker, a transfer from FSU and Tech high school in Indy.  I think He and DJ Carton will be huge for them.

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Stlboiler23

Stlboiler23

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Lurker said:

Don't forget CJ Walker, a transfer from FSU and Tech high school in Indy.  I think He and DJ Carton will be huge for them.

Walker decommitting from Purdue is the reason they ended up landing Carsen Edwards. What a trade off that turned out to be. 

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5 championships

5 championships

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, dbmhoosier said:

The fact that he has us below PU and Illinois and didn't mention him at all speaks volumes to me.  I hope I'm wrong but I wouldn't expect much from JH.

He has us above Illinois and one spot below PU which have a lot of question marks as well. Like he said it really could go a lot of different ways 4-9

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slojoe

slojoe

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, IUCrazy2 said:

Expectations adjust over time.  Right now, I have lowered my expectations to just making the tournament.  That used to be a given but it has not happened 7 years out of the previous 10.  So while I used to want to be Top 3 in Conference and get to the Sweet 16 and then see where things went, now I just hope to get enough wins to get invited to the tournament.  If that starts to happen with any regularity, then I will increase expectations.

So my expectation would be to have a tournament team in year 3 for Miller.  I expect him to struggle to meet that expectation based on prior results and our roster.  Hopefully we have a season like Purdue last year where a team that appeared extremely pedestrian on paper, caught lightning in a bottle and did well.  But really that is what we are hanging our hopes on right now, guys doing things they have not really done consistently since they have been here, whether that be staying healthy, good shooting, taking care of the ball, hustling, etc.

I know this, if I were Miller after the past 2 years, I would be kind of weary of the third hand I have dealt right now.

Making the tournament is fine, but there also needs to be improvement in offense and development of players that is sustainable.  I expect to see improved defense, but that alone won't be enough.

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rico

rico

Posted
Posted
30 minutes ago, slojoe said:

Making the tournament is fine, but there also needs to be improvement in offense and development of players that is sustainable.  I expect to see improved defense, but that alone won't be enough.

Improved defense?  Hell, we need to worry about improved outside shooting.

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3Ballin

3Ballin

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, rico said:

Improved defense?  Hell, we need to worry about improved outside shooting.

Can it get any worse????   We've got to be getting to the point where our "blind squirels" will be finding some nuts....right? 🤷‍♂️🙏

And there ya go HSN.....i tee'd that one up for ya.  I expect some high level gifs and smart @$$ comments. 😁🤣

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HoosierJax

HoosierJax

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Can you elaborate or just cryptic?

Nothing cryptic...just been working on campus and you hear stuff...i did hear the locker rooms at Cook Hall are being renovated, that Schillings was fired and that IU is close on a couple recruits .

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rico

rico

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, HoosierJax said:

Nothing cryptic...just been working on campus and you hear stuff...i did hear the locker rooms at Cook Hall are being renovated, that Shillings was fired and that IU is close on a couple recruits .

Who is Shillings?  LOL

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dbmhoosier

dbmhoosier

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, HoosierJax said:

Nothing cryptic...just been working on campus and you hear stuff...i did hear the locker rooms at Cook Hall are being renovated, that Schillings was fired and that IU is close on a couple recruits .

I would guess the recruits we're close on are Leal and Galloway.  I doubt we get any big time commitments soon but those 2 wouldn't surprise me.

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