14 feet of Croatians

[Rickster]

did I call it or what?

a couple weeks ago I pondered the possibility of getting Ivisic' twin brother to come here and lo and behold...

the offensive end possibilities are too numerous to go through...Z shoots the trey even better that T and I challenge any team to have the ability to guard 2 bigs who can shoot out on the perimeter.

the defensive end will be where smart scheming is needed I think because neither of them are capable of defending quick 3s or 4s who move well both with and without the ball. My thought is when we want both of them on the floor for the offensive mismatches, we should think about switching to a 1-2-2 zone and just let them defend the rim and baseline. Put someone long-ish and athletic up top and execute traps and/or switches on ball screens, force a lot of contested outside shots.

[ChiefSTL]

Best thing about getting Z is that it solidified that Tomi would be back. You're right about the potential offensive mismatches. The one thing it also helps offensively is that if one or both are on the floor with Ty, you still have shooters around Ty which could open up driving lanes for him. If Ty and Morez would've been in games together, defenses could've collapsed on us.

We still need another defensive perimeter player to help Boswell out who can also shoot, and I'd really like to get a long, athletic 4 to mix in with the Ivisic's. Sounds like it's going to be a little while before we hear anything on Dame Sarr, because he's going to go through the NBA Draft process. Only other thing would be if for some reason Will Riley doesn't grade out as well as he hopes, but I wouldn't bet on that.

[Vinegar Ben]

I think the addition of Tomi's brother will boost the offense but on the negative side neither of them is physical and play poor defense. Definitely need some beefy guys who aren't afraid of contact.

[12xu]

I think the addition of Tomi's brother will boost the offense but on the negative side neither of them is physical and play poor defense. Definitely need some beefy guys who aren't afraid of contact.

Yes in addition to the Ivisic twin towers, they should target a bigger body, 6'10" strong defense player who is already where Johnson is potentially. Someone like Queen from Maryland. I know this player will be very hard to find.

[12xu]

Illinois has now added two more European players - David Mirkovic from Montenegro, a 6'9" 250 lb. power forward and Mihailo Petrovic from Serbia, who is 22 year old playmaking guard who is 6'3. He has been playing for a professional team in the Adriatic League as well as the Serbian national team.

Illinois also hosted Andrej Stojakovic today, a 6'7" transfer from Cal, whose Serbian father was a 3 time all star in the NBA. Andrej averaged nearly 18 pts and 5 rebounds per game as a soph at Cal last season. The Illini are considered the favorite to land him also.

[hdhntr148]

my wife is croatian and it's a beautiful place to visit. is this an excuse for coaches to travel there? Lots of tall dudes around there and those adriatic players know how to shoot the ball.

do need some muscle, bulk and defense from a PF or two to make up for the lack of same by these guys.

[Rickster]

I watched some podcasts this weekend....including one with Mike Latulip. Can't remember if it was him or the host who said it's very unlikely we would see both Ivisic's on the floor at the same time.

I hope they're wrong.

I get it....we run the 5 out system. Our system voids the low blocks so cutters and pick and roll action can get to the lane. Fine. But is there a compelling reason why a skilled, somewhat veteran team with a huge coaching staff can't have another system/scheme/offensive set to use in case ...I don't know, outside shots aren't falling? Like maybe say a High-Low system with 2 big men who can both shoot and pass? Like Maryland did last year both times they blew us off the court?

Same goes on the D end....I get it that Big Z is not good at defending pick and roll. Could we not play a 3-2 matchup zone D with both twins defending the rim?

I'm not foolish enough to just rail against BU for any and every reason. He's built the Illini back into a national program, and it really wasn't that long ago that John Groce was trying to win games 48-46. So I definitely appreciate what BU has done. But I still feel like we just don't get creative and versatile enough with our O and D systems. I want to see some creativity and variation from this team this year who have 2 solid "captains" to lead them.

[ChiefSTL]

It'll be interesting to see the rotations. Underwood is never going to play his hand too early, so it's tough to say now. I think Humrichous is going to surprise us with another year of comfortability in the system. I think he shoots it better this year and is more like the stretch 4 that we envisioned last year.

I'll still be surprised if Underwood goes much zone, but we have the new assistant this year this is going to be our defensive coach, so we'll see what he likes to implement. My only worry with a zone is yeah, we'll have length, but I'm not sure how quick we are. Ball reversals lead to gaps to drive against a zone which leads to open kickouts when the D collapses.

Petrovic is known way more as a penetrator and not much as a shooter, so I can see a lot of high ball screen with him and Tomi. I think we'll score points this year just like we have been, but I don't know if we've got a defensive stopper on the wing with Ty out.

[Rickster]

It'll be interesting to see the rotations. Underwood is never going to play his hand too early, so it's tough to say now. I think Humrichous is going to surprise us with another year of comfortability in the system. I think he shoots it better this year and is more like the stretch 4 that we envisioned last year.

I'll still be surprised if Underwood goes much zone, but we have the new assistant this year this is going to be our defensive coach, so we'll see what he likes to implement. My only worry with a zone is yeah, we'll have length, but I'm not sure how quick we are. Ball reversals lead to gaps to drive against a zone which leads to open kickouts when the D collapses.

Petrovic is known way more as a penetrator and not much as a shooter, so I can see a lot of high ball screen with him and Tomi. I think we'll score points this year just like we have been, but I don't know if we've got a defensive stopper on the wing with Ty out.

I hope you're right on Brickhouse. I'm more of a "believe it when I see it" person on him. I'll gladly eat crow if he can shoot the 3 at a 39 or 40% clip.

I agree with your take that this year's team will be able to score. I can easily see 80 ppg for this team. Which means we don't need to hold teams under 30% shooting and 60 pts. Part of why I'd like to see a willingness to use some different D sets. If team foot speed is a concern, how does Petrovich and Humrich guarding cutters and ball screens not exacerbate that problem? Ball reversals against a zone only hurt of the other teams shoots in the 40%'s.

I dunno...from the "30,000 foot level" I just think being mired and stubborn about using only 1 or 2 systems/schemes on both ends is the difference between a 27-5 season and a 2 seed vs a 22-10 season and a 5-6 seed.

[ChiefSTL]

It'll be interesting to see the rotations. Underwood is never going to play his hand too early, so it's tough to say now. I think Humrichous is going to surprise us with another year of comfortability in the system. I think he shoots it better this year and is more like the stretch 4 that we envisioned last year.

I'll still be surprised if Underwood goes much zone, but we have the new assistant this year this is going to be our defensive coach, so we'll see what he likes to implement. My only worry with a zone is yeah, we'll have length, but I'm not sure how quick we are. Ball reversals lead to gaps to drive against a zone which leads to open kickouts when the D collapses.

Petrovic is known way more as a penetrator and not much as a shooter, so I can see a lot of high ball screen with him and Tomi. I think we'll score points this year just like we have been, but I don't know if we've got a defensive stopper on the wing with Ty out.

I hope you're right on Brickhouse. I'm more of a "believe it when I see it" person on him. I'll gladly eat crow if he can shoot the 3 at a 39 or 40% clip.

I agree with your take that this year's team will be able to score. I can easily see 80 ppg for this team. Which means we don't need to hold teams under 30% shooting and 60 pts. Part of why I'd like to see a willingness to use some different D sets. If team foot speed is a concern, how does Petrovich and Humrich guarding cutters and ball screens not exacerbate that problem? Ball reversals against a zone only hurt of the other teams shoots in the 40%'s.

I dunno...from the "30,000 foot level" I just think being mired and stubborn about using only 1 or 2 systems/schemes on both ends is the difference between a 27-5 season and a 2 seed vs a 22-10 season and a 5-6 seed.

I think you can use different systems without going zone. You can choose different ways to guard a ball screen, different amounts of ball pressure or drop coverage, different help rotations, etc. I'm not against a zone, I just think it's gotta be the right fit. If you look at the top 20 defensive efficiency teams last year, all the ones I'm familiar with are majority if not all man defenses.

As far as foot speed goes, I was mostly commenting that on if both Ivisic's are in at the same time in a zone defense. I do hope we get away from so much drop coverage and start pressuring the ball a little bit more. But we gotta have the guys to be able to do it. I wouldn't wanna do it with Ivisic or Hummer.

[Rickster]

You can choose different ways to guard a ball screen,

fair enough.

if I just simply see much less of trying to go over a ball screen 35 feet from the basket I'll be happy...that's the dumbest defense action there is