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General Category => Fighting Illini Basketball Forum => Topic started by: Lkdog on February 13, 2022, 03:58:45 PM
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We have 5 tough games left out of the 6 remaining regular season games.
Then BTT.
Then NCAAs.
We have not really been settled on a rotation all year due to many factors.
Staff has done decent job getting us through this to be fair.
Who do you go with down the stretch?
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Leave the starters as is. Curbelo and Melendez 1st off the bench, with 15-20 minutes for Melendez.
Curbelo and Melendez have the best speed on the team.
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Plummer (35)
Frazier (35)
Melendez (25)
Grandison (25)
Kofi (35)
Bench: Williams(20), Hawkins (10) Curbelo (10), Payne (5).
Williams and Curbelo can split minutes depending on how the offense is going. If starters are scoring then play Williams more. If offense is stagnant play Curbelo more
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It's hard to say. Frazier, Kofi, and Plummer are the core. Everything else is TBD. RJ, Goode and Belo are the other 3 wild cards, with RJ being the hottest of the 3 of late.
Damonte, Grandison, and Payne have struggled more so than not lately.
Like LK said we are a mess. Good thing is finding ways to win while playing ugly.
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I still see us as 5 or 6 seed. We will likely split our last 6. Big Ten Tournament will be a crap shoot.
At Rutgers
At MSU
Penn state
At Michigan
Indiana
Iowa
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I still see us as 5 or 6 seed. We will likely split our last 6. Big Ten Tournament will be a crap shoot.
At Rutgers
At MSU
Penn state
At Michigan
Indiana
Iowa
The last two years we found another gear down the stretch. We need to get focused and Curbelo needs to calm the fck down.
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At Rutgers
At MSU
Penn state
At Michigan
Indiana
Iowa
C'mon bro, it's not that hard.
Try one more time.
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Cut me a little slack I was half way through my 12 pack at the time.
At Rutgers
At MSU
Ohio St.
At Michigan
Penn St.
Iowa
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Cut me a little slack I was half way through my 12 pack at the time.
At Rutgers
At MSU
Ohio St.
At Michigan
Penn St.
Iowa
(https://c.tenor.com/nDXpxZ8ffu0AAAAC/varsity-blues-puke-and-rally.gif)
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So can non students use student tickets if the student gives them to you?
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So can non students use student tickets if the student gives them to you?
We used to look at the DI to see what teams were out of town on football Saturday's. Find a name, get drunk, and use the name to get in the athletic gate. Then go sit in West Block I.
Bunny, Mary and Nancy were usually the West Block I cheerleaders.
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Frazier-35 min
Plummer- 25 min
Damonte/Melendez-20 min each
Grandison- 28 min
Kofi- 33 min
Curbelo- 15 min
Goode- 10 min
Payne- 7 min
BBV/ Podz- 7 min collectively
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We used to look at the DI to see what teams were out of town on football Saturday's. Find a name, get drunk, and use the name to get in the athletic gate. Then go sit in West Block I.
Bunny, Mary and Nancy were usually the West Block I cheerleaders.
Now that’s ingenuity
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So does that mean we can or do we need student ID’s? Plus we need a negative test to enter, correct?
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Frazier-35 min
Plummer- 25 min
Damonte/Melendez-20 min each
Grandison- 28 min
Kofi- 33 min
Curbelo- 15 min
Goode- 10 min
Payne- 7 min
BBV/ Podz- 7 min collectively
No Hawkins?
I remember having some success running high low action with Hawkins and Kofi early on when we were trying to figure shit out with all the roster fluctuations. The times I’ve seen Grandison do it like yesterday were not so good.
Glad to see RJ coming on. He’s always been the most impressive of the freshmen thus far from what I’ve seen but he’s really turned it on. He gives us quickness, athleticism, shooting we needed at the wing and seems to be in the right place more often than not.
Concerns me to be considered a F4 contender and be so reliant on a top 100 ish true frosh but he’s definitely giving us more than Hawkins seems to be able to. Grandison needs to figure shit out and get hot down the home stretch here.
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Now that’s ingenuity
We were AOTC, unless someone else can claim it.
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No Hawkins?
He's our Zoom tomorrow. So you prolly oughta include him.
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No Hawkins?
I remember having some success running high low action with Hawkins and Kofi early on when we were trying to figure shit out with all the roster fluctuations. The times I’ve seen Grandison do it like yesterday were not so good.
Glad to see RJ coming on. He’s always been the most impressive of the freshmen thus far from what I’ve seen but he’s really turned it on. He gives us quickness, athleticism, shooting we needed at the wing and seems to be in the right place more often than not.
Concerns me to be considered a F4 contender and be so reliant on a top 100 ish true frosh but he’s definitely giving us more than Hawkins seems to be able to. Grandison needs to figure shit out and get hot down the home stretch here.
We have been struggling since the winter break and with more Curbelo.
Not exactly sure how much Curbelo has gotten us out of the rhythm we had going, but would be interested to see the points per possessions with him on floor vs not.
It has not been good.
And his bad episodes bleed over into rest of game as we try and right the offense after he leaves a path of chaos at times. He has had to be pulled several times in second half down the stretch.
Curbelo's Off Rating is 88.2 on KenPom which is worse on team by far of anybody who plays including Jobu Payne.
Both Trent and Grandison have been in extended shooting slump overall and from 3.
Really only gives us one reliable 3ball guy in Plummer who has gotten less looks with the new shoot first Curbelo V2 in the mix.
RJ coming on now has to play more for this 4 out one in offense to work.
Trent is 16/60 in last 9 games from 3.
Grandison is 14/53 in last 11 games from 3.
Both 26% which is a not a good EFG% and killing us.
That is 83 empty possessions.
30/113 is EFG% of only 39%.
The last thing of concern is Kofi has become the Bermuda triangle center again.
Ball never comes out.
Only five assists in last 9 games. Had 12 the previous 9.
He is forcing it while being triple teamed a lot.
We need Curbelo to be pass first and stop trying to be Steve Nash right now, and everybody get back to the share the ball mentality.
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I think that's about right (except* "fewer").
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Trent is 16/60 in last 9 games from 3.
Grandison is 14/53 in last 11 games from
The last thing of concern is Kofi has become the Bermuda triangle center again.
Ball never comes out.
Only five assists in last 9 games. Had 12 the previous 9.
He is forcing it while being triple teamed a lot.
Hopefully these are just mid-season slumps, but both at the same time can be a problem. They can get their shots back as easily as they lost them.
Keeps fingers crossed.
Against NU, Kofi was consistently getting the ball too far away from the basket. His first move was a dribble, and it seemed to carry over to when he was fortunate to get the ball closer to the hoop. We all know what can happen when he dribbles.
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I heard yesterday Illinois is 10th in Big Ten games at 3 point shooting %.
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I heard yesterday Illinois is 10th in Big Ten games at 3 point shooting %.
We're not bashful about jacking up 3s. Our season average (5th in conference) makes it look better.
(https://i.ibb.co/7XXL5M1/Screenshot-20220215-082450.jpg) (https://ibb.co/s22zGxV)
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Thx for the post Mn, that's a bad combination. Shooting by far the most 3s and in the bottom half of the conference in converting them.
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Thx for the post Mn, that's a bad combination. Shooting by far the most 3s and in the bottom half of the conference in converting them.
I don't mind the 3s too much, but we need to be more judicious on who's shooting them, and when.
And a missed 3 too often ends up with a long rebound and a run out for the other team. We're not always able to get back on defense.
DaMonte is 3-11 and Grandison is 1-9 our last 2 games.
DaMonte shouldn't be taking 5 per game and hopefully Grandison gets his shot back.
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No Hawkins?
I remember having some success running high low action with Hawkins and Kofi early on when we were trying to figure shit out with all the roster fluctuations. The times I’ve seen Grandison do it like yesterday were not so good.
Glad to see RJ coming on. He’s always been the most impressive of the freshmen thus far from what I’ve seen but he’s really turned it on. He gives us quickness, athleticism, shooting we needed at the wing and seems to be in the right place more often than not.
Concerns me to be considered a F4 contender and be so reliant on a top 100 ish true frosh but he’s definitely giving us more than Hawkins seems to be able to. Grandison needs to figure shit out and get hot down the home stretch here.
I would throw him in the same category as BBV and Podz
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I stated before B1G play, that RJ would be our best freshman and be getting more run by conference....well it's true and overdue, RJ will be the face of our team with Goode I think....BP is overmatched imo so far?
Play RJ serious minutes, he is a key for us until the end of this season....very instinctive on the court.
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I don't mind the 3s too much, but we need to be more judicious on who's shooting them, and when.
And a missed 3 too often ends up with a long rebound and a run out for the other team. We're not always able to get back on defense.
DaMonte is 3-11 and Grandison is 1-9 our last 2 games.
DaMonte shouldn't be taking 5 per game and hopefully Grandison gets his shot back.
quality and quantity are 2 much different things....I agree with not minding about them, however, it seems we are dependent on them when other teams are not and are shooting a much better %. This is also contributing to Kofi being a black hole again with passing, I am sure when we are way off with 3's he is being told to take over.
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That's the overwhelming majority of our problem. We take bad shots. They are almost always contested. I rarely see , I don't know maybe 1 out of 4 shots where we get a good look. Its always dribble dibble shoot. And there are way too many times in the game where Kofi has established one on one position on the low block where we fail to get him the ball. A lot of times he gets it on the high block and is forced to back his way in. Or even worse he doesn't even get a touch.
The only cure for this team IMO is that Curbelo gets it figured out. He is the only variable this offense has that can create the space needed and work the defense to a point to where no one can be double teamed without being burned. But he has to be able to do this without turning the ball over.
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Curbelo and Damonte have been pretty bad down this stretch, while Melendez is proving himself to be a solid rotation player, will Brad go with the younger guy down the stretch run? probably not, but here's to hoping
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That's the overwhelming majority of our problem. We take bad shots. They are almost always contested. I rarely see , I don't know maybe 1 out of 4 shots where we get a good look. Its always dribble dibble shoot. And there are way too many times in the game where Kofi has established one on one position on the low block where we fail to get him the ball. A lot of times he gets it on the high block and is forced to back his way in. Or even worse he doesn't even get a touch.
The only cure for this team IMO is that Curbelo gets it figured out. He is the only variable this offense has that can create the space needed and work the defense to a point to where no one can be double teamed without being burned. But he has to be able to do this without turning the ball over.
I swear we’re watching different games.
We’ve missed probably 20 wide open uncontested threes in the last three games.
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Those 20 wide open threes over the last 3 games are not necessarily good shots. Who's shooting them, when in the possession are we shooting them, the situation of the game when we shoot them. The fact we are shooting the most attempts of any team in this conference and converting in the bottom 3rd I think underlines my point.
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Those 20 wide open threes over the last 3 games are not necessarily good shots. Who's shooting them, when in the possession are we shooting them, the situation of the game when we shoot them. The fact we are shooting the most attempts of any team in this conference and converting in the bottom 3rd I think underlines my point.
Guys like Grandison, Frazier, Plummer, Williams who have all shown that they can hit them. It’s certainly not Kofi.
Yes, our cold streak has moved us from the top to the bottom of the league in percentage, that’s certainly a problem - but I definitely don’t want to see guys like Frazier or Grandison or Plummer start passing up wide open threes. Just gotta hit them.
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Illinois loses at Michigan, wins out at home, and flames out early in BTT.
But it’s a net positive because we aren’t dead tired going into the tourney and make second weekend as a left-for-dead 5 seed.
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Illinois loses at Michigan, wins out at home, and flames out early in BTT.
But it’s a net positive because we aren’t dead tired going into the tourney and make second weekend as a left-for-dead 5 seed.
Seems like a decent plan to focus on what matters.