He’s in his own head. Second guessing and hesitating making mistakes. His confidence is so different than it was the first 10 games or so of the season. It’s sad to see. We all recognize his abilities
Illini Basketball 2021-2022
- Status
He’s in his own head. Second guessing and hesitating making mistakes. His confidence is so different than it was the first 10 games or so of the season. It’s sad to see. We all recognize his abilities
I’m a press and zone guy as much as anybody. It’s literally how my teams play.
However, we don’t have a ton of depth, Trent goes 40 minutes half the time. I just dont know if it’s the best use of our team’s energy reserves this year. We could go deeper into the freshman and do it, but I’m not sure we really want to extend their defensive responsibilities like that.
As far as zone, unfortunately our best lineup just doesn’t have great size and length for a college zone. You can play a 3-2 with short guards but then you need kofi to cover corner close outs, which I’m not sure you want to do. I think our best 2-3 lineup would include kofi, hawk, RJ, Grand and Frazier/Curbelo, but I’m not sure what you’d get consistently from an offensive standpoint with that group.
True. The casual observer might conclude
maybe he went from a little too much confidence to way too little confidence at times? I think that’s fair.
All of this is clearly guess work but…
I trust Brad caring about these guys as human beings beyond just as B-ball players. (Not saying anyone else here didn’t/doesn’t btw) Underwood seems to have a good track record in that regard.
Maybe it was a necessary evil for him to go through some of this junk to reach an equilibrium, if you will…to get to a place where he plays within himself? I dunno.
But I’m choosing to be optimistic on this one, I feel like overall he’s trending in the right direction.
How can you say he's trending in the right direction? He's regressed to the point where he can't stay on the floor and the freshmen are taking his minutes (which they should be).
He makes way too many mental mistakes to go along with his physical mistakes (closing out with hands down, turnovers, not boxing out on rebounds). Poor body language. Underwood has described coaching him as "two rams butting heads" in a press conference earlier this season.
He needs to put it together soon or he's not gonna see the floor except in warmups.
EDIT: And I'm a big fan of CH. I thought he had the potential to have a career like DJ Wilson from Michigan a few years ago. Skinny, talented but raw. Got drafted as a junior but you could see progress in his physique and his game each year. I'm just not seeing it with Coleman yet. Maybe he'll have that AHA moment at some point but he has a long way to go right now.
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sacraig
- The desert
I don't think anyone is saying that. But it seems pretty clear that, when firing on all cylinders, they're the best, most complete team in the Big Ten. Of course, teams have off nights here and there and consistency is part of being a great team, too. One off night is enough to lose to anyone in this league (e.g., we lost to Maryland).
There's also a lot of basketball left this season and teams evolve and improve in different ways. It's certainly possible that we grow into a better team than them. For example, maybe Curbelo hits full stride and Hawkins figures it all out and starts playing like we all think he can. That's impossible to predict. But it seems pretty obvious right now who is the best in the conference.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I prefer to take it one game at a time and see where we are after that next game .......Last I looked we are in a 3-way tie for FIRST place in the B1G and next up is the mildcats this Sunday .....We might be in 1st place all alone by that game's tip off.....who knows what the future will bring .......Just enjoy the fact we are in a very ELITE place considering all the adversity we faced this year..........I still think our best BB is still ahead of us and with the long week of practice this week we can iron out some of our weaknesses and improve our on court chemistry...........JMHO
As for me personally, once we are all healthy and in game shape I would want the starting line up of Trent, Andre, Damonte, Jacob and Kofi. Plummer subbing for Trent and Andre. Coleman, RJ and Goode at the 3/4. BBV and Omar at the 5. When and which ones and how long depending on game situations. Should be able to keep key players fresh enough to finish out the games.
Like I said…just choosing to be optimistic.
I’d like to think he is trending in the right direction …but I don’t disagree with anything you mentioned.
I did not know Brad made that comment about what it is like to coach him. But based on some of his antics and outbursts
from early in the season I can’t say I’m too surprised.
Also, I’ll admit, I was thinking of VERY recently like mainly just this last game in fact…where he admittedly saw limited time….
I thought there were some good things on defense here and there…less colossal blunders…attitude seems marginally improved but I honestly don’t know; it’s utterly subjective and tough to gauge such things.
(I forgot to tape the game…so that rules out a rewatch & I don’t have a stat sheet in front of me.) Also, I’ve slept since then and my memory ain’t that great…but that’s what I recollect. I’ll leave open the possibility I could be wrong.
I’ll say this. The thing that he does that drives me nuts is his penchant for immediately putting that one dumb dribble down on the floor with no where to go. He puts it down in such terrible places…in traffic, in front of outstretched defenders, (as if to say: here take it!) and very often he takes one dribble and wastes the dribble altogether.
EDIT: He’s in good company on the lack of boxing out and crashing the boards.
More often than not…TO’s too.
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Illini_1979
- Oregon
Dickie V. has Kofi as First Team on his "midseason" All-Americans team.
www.espn.com
Dick Vitale's 2022 midseason college basketball All-Americans
The 2021-22 season is headed toward a thrilling finish, and Dickie V was able to identify three teams of standouts trending toward All-America status.
I disagree. Purdue has lost 3 times to teams we have beat, and they had their full roster when they did so. Our loss to Maryland was without Kofi and with a sick Curbelo. We have only really lost to Purdue at full strength. We are far more consistent than they are - far more likely to be firing on all cylinders. At least so far this conference season. Only if Purdue can be more consistent than we are through the remainder of the conference season could they be considered a better team.
Even if they are firing on all cylinders like our last game in the second half, we would have stayed with them if we hit a reasonable number of the open 3s we had. This is what happens in a road game. Put us on a neutral court, don't call ticky tack fouls on Kofi to take him out of the game, have both teams playing at their best and I think we win. Think we would have easily won the game at home had the refs not taken Kofi out of the game (their bigs scored 20 more than ours in that game - we played their bigs to a draw at Mackey).
As we saw the other night Kofi can hold his own against Edey and Williams. They have Ivey and Stefanovic from 3 and role players. We have Curbelo, Trent, Plummer from 3, and role players. Will be easier to slow Ivey down, and defend their 3, than for them to defend Curbelo and stop Plummer, Jake and Trent from 3. Ivey may make a lot of 2s, but Trent Plummer and Grandison need only make 2 shots for every 3 of Ivey's. A lot of Ivey's success in the second half was in transition - which resulted because we were missing 3s. Making threes would have also limited Ivey's effectiveness.
Understand we just lost a not so close game on the road to Purdue - doesn't mean they are the better team.
Well they were certainly better than us this past Tuesday night.....overall.....I would say that's still TBD
blackdog
- Champaign
Well they didn't just beat them Michigan STOMPED them....so what now?
the national
- the Front Range
Mich beats PurdueWe match up poorly with Purdue, and played a bad half; should have won last meeting but for refs taking Kofi out; and we lost at Maryland without Kofi and a sick Curbelo. Purdue has now lost 4 games in conference at full strength.
As tonight's game once again showed, we have been the more elite team on the whole since conference play started.
Andy gave Mich too much credit; I wrote that before they beat Purdy. No question Mich gets breaks both by media and the league and I am just tired of it enough to call it out when I see it. Now the Illini have to contend with all the takers and break out
Well, I remember how he absolutely gushed about NC's Sean May despite IL having the better season, so let's hope Dickie V's endorsement has the same magic.Dickie V. has Kofi as First Team on his "midseason" All-Americans team.
Dick Vitale's 2022 midseason college basketball All-Americans
The 2021-22 season is headed toward a thrilling finish, and Dickie V was able to identify three teams of standouts trending toward All-America status.
I love this illini team but it has weaknesses. What are 5 teams in the tournament you'd want to avoid because they will give Illinois some problems and possibly prevent them from winning a chip?
To me it'd be these 5 teams:
1. Purdue
2. Arizona
3. Houston
4. Texas Tech
5. Gonzaga
I know 3 of these will likely be 1 or 2 seeds, but they really are the only teams with size that can challenge Kofi. Houston and Tech play amazing interior defense, again possibly neutralizing the effect Kofi can have on the game. But besides these teams, I don't see many other teams that could stop illinois, which is why i think they will go far in the tournament this year. 3 pt line defense is probably going to save us from getting knocked out by one of these hot 3pt shooting mid majors in the 1st weekend.
To me it'd be these 5 teams:
1. Purdue
2. Arizona
3. Houston
4. Texas Tech
5. Gonzaga
I know 3 of these will likely be 1 or 2 seeds, but they really are the only teams with size that can challenge Kofi. Houston and Tech play amazing interior defense, again possibly neutralizing the effect Kofi can have on the game. But besides these teams, I don't see many other teams that could stop illinois, which is why i think they will go far in the tournament this year. 3 pt line defense is probably going to save us from getting knocked out by one of these hot 3pt shooting mid majors in the 1st weekend.
illini80
- Forgottonia
To me it’s clear, if we can consistently hit 3’s we can play with and beat anyone. If we continue to get inconsistent shooting we could lose in the second round again. There’s still time to get settled in and hopefully a consistent rotation with everyone back will get us in a better rhythm. The hole we have at the 4 spot is easy to cover with outside shooting, but if that’s not there it’s tough for Kofi to do it all himself. If Hawk could get it figured out, that would be huge for a deep run.
The hole in the four will be terrible against Michigan next time.
I’d like to see Kofi against Holmgren.
Bigtex
- DFW
Some big10 love on espn game day.
Fonz pick for teams to watch outside of top 10 - illinois
Seth’s pick for teams to watch outside of top 10 - Wisconsin
They also picked their “team” of best players - 6 players each
Fonz - kofi #1 over all
Seth - Ivey #2
Bilas - Davis #4
Bilas - Murray #9
Bilas - liddell #10
Fonz pick for teams to watch outside of top 10 - illinois
Seth’s pick for teams to watch outside of top 10 - Wisconsin
They also picked their “team” of best players - 6 players each
Fonz - kofi #1 over all
Seth - Ivey #2
Bilas - Davis #4
Bilas - Murray #9
Bilas - liddell #10
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