Official 2004-2005 Fighting Illini Basketball Thread

[Aces McGee]

He's had so much hype, especially before last season, when he supposedly played so well with USA Basketball over the summer. But even though his scoring average went up, he took a step back in the pretty much all other statistical categories.

I've only seen him in his national TV games, and when I have, he's always had a pretty cold shooting night. My impression has been that he clearly has the athleticism and scoring ability to be a terrific player, but his floor game needs a lot of improvement. However, I figured that Clark and other Illini/Big Ten fans have seen more of him than I have, so I'm willing to defer to them at this point.

-McGee

[Clarkmeister]

Deron (pronounced similar to Darrin) Williams is one of the best players in college hoops. He can literally take over a game at will, D's up nasty, and can distribute the rock too. He's a lottery pick next year. Preaseason Big Ten player of the year.

Dee had the great freshman season and struggled most of last year. The reasons were several. First, he was injured most of the year and it wore him down. Second and related to the first point, he came into the season worn down after playing a ton in the offseason. Third, he really took a long time to adapt to the new system. Partly because he was young and it just takes time, partly because he was pouting about Self leaving town and he didn't *want* to learn. Once he grew up a little he started to catch on. He was on fire down the stretch last year and really carried us. I fully expect him to have the kind of year this year that was expected of him last year when he was the Big Ten preseason player of the year. That's Deron this year, but I look for Dee to really take it to another level. His biggest problem is that he doesn't drive to his left and teams play him that way, and despite his ability to get to the cup, he is so short that he gets an obscene amount of layups rejected. Its kind of wierd but for a guy so fast and electric, he's *not* a great finisher. He just creates so many chances that you forget about that.

Augustine is simply not aggressive enough, similar to Brian Cook. Now he's got nowhere near the game that Cook does, so he can't get away with it. Plays best when he's angry. He really needs to step it up.

Nick is very skilled but very moody and streaky. He's sometimes not worth the hassle.

Powell is streaky as all hell. If he starts off hot, look out, otherwise he's the invisible man.

Luther is great because he can always create his own shot, and he is (pardon me Andy) super clutch, having sparked more rallies than I can count with big-time 3 pointers when the rest of the team looked lost. Super athletic and can play 3 positions.

Those are the key guys. Jack Ingram is a somewhat skilled banger, Rich McBride is a highly touted 3-pt specialist who is still a year away IMO. The rest of the team is comprised of lightly played freshman and sophs who would have to make giant steps in order to meaningfully contribute.

[bugstud]

From what I saw, but mostly heard, before he broke his hand Randle had that kind of improvement

[Clarkmeister]

11/19 Delaware State W 87-67
11/21 Florida A&M W 91-60
11/24 Oakland
11/27 No. 25 Gonzaga
12/1 No. 1 Wake Forest
12/3 at Northwestern St.
12/4 at Arkansas
12/6 Chicago St
12/9 at Georgetown
12/11 Oregon
12/19 Valparaiso
12/22 at Missouri
12/27 Longwood
12/30 Northwestern St.
12/31 Cincinnati
01/5 Ohio State
01/8 at Purdue
01/12 Penn State
01/15 at Northwestern
01/20 Iowa
01/25 at No. 17 Wisconsin
01/29 Minnesota
02/1 at No. 9 Michigan State
02/6 Indiana
02/8 at Michigan
02/12 No. 17 Wisconsin
02/16 at Penn State
02/19 at Iowa
02/23 Northwestern
03/1 Purdue
03/5 at Ohio State

[Clarkmeister]

Any word on whether he'll try for a medical redshirt? They wanted him to redshirt last year and he got stubborn. May work out to our advantage if he ends up getting an extra year of eligibility.

[bugstud]

they said 4-6 weeks, so if he's back early I really doubt it. If it takes a while though I would hope so. Chances are Warren Carter who is suppsoed to fill his spot will underwhelm and the team will need him for Big Ten/postseason play.

[Aces McGee]

Nice scouting report. Your characterization of Dee is similar to what I had in my head, but again, I'd only seen him a handful of times.

Illinois is clearly the class of the Big Ten, but I think the league is going to be pretty competitive this year. Iowa has already beaten Louisville and Texas, and Michigan is an up-and-coming team. I fully expect Indiana and Michigan State to have bounce back years, also. Should be fun.

-McGee

[Clarkmeister]

85-54 Win over Oakland last night. Luther went off for 22 pts, 6 of 10 from 3pt range and 9 assists. That's one of the nice things about this team, there are 5 guys who could go for 20+ on a given night. Big Warren Carter looked decent too, but he's so untested that it's hard to get too excited about that.

http://fightingillini.collegesports....112404aaa.html

[Ponks]

yeeeehaw, go illini!!!

Ponks

[Clarkmeister]

Our first real game of the year is in about half an hour against Gonzaga. on WGN for those who are interested. This will be a great game to get us ready for Wake Forest in a few days. Let's hope we can carry over our white-hot shooting from the first few games into this one.