April 20th, 2022 at 10:36 AM ^
Andre Drummond 2.0 could have made a lot of money 15-20 years ago.
He’s significantly worse than Drummond is right now
He's bigger than Drummond. He'll still make a lot of money. A backup that plays (which is probably Kofi's future) makes a lot of money in today's NBA.
April 20th, 2022 at 10:36 AM ^
Thank god, Illinois should be very beatable this year imo. Illinois fans don't seem to be aware how big of a drop off losing Plummer, Frazier, and Kofi will result in
April 20th, 2022 at 10:43 AM ^
We'll see. I do think they take a step back given what they're losing, but there's a good recruiting class coming in, and they seem to have Michigan's number since Howard arrived. Haven't beaten them once since Beilein was coaching.
There always seems to be that one guy for them that when they play Michigan, just steps up and shoots the freaking lights out. Underwood's scheme must just match up really well with what Michigan does under Howard.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
They have typically combined Kofi (who is a load even for Hunter and has gotten him into foul trouble in the past, which affects Michigan on both ends) with athletic versatile wings that have been kryptonite for Michigan's undersized ballhandlers (and even Franz, though I think in part he just had an off night).
They have been the rare team that can matchup with Hunter in the post and muck up the actions Juwan likes to run on the perimeter because of their switchability and athleticism.
The good news is it does look like Juwan is trying to get more athletic at the wing and guard positions, and of course it's tough to replicate Kofi.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:10 AM ^
The biggest reason Illinois has had Michigan's number is Kofi. Plummer and Frazier are also huge loses. Skyy Clark is not going to be as good as Illinois fans think he will be, RJ Melendez should be solid, but besides that it's a lot of projection of young guys and role players. If we get Shannon and prevent him from going to Illinois, I don't see how this is the year we don't start putting Illinois back in their place
April 20th, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^
They lose Curbelo as well (transfer portal)
April 20th, 2022 at 11:44 AM ^
There are a number of Illinois fans who are not at all upset about this, calling it addition by subtraction, or a net zero situation at worst. Per the Illini fans, he loses as many games as he wins, way to streaky and inconsistent, too many bonehead/sloppy moments. They're fine with it.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:56 PM ^
ah yes. notoriously level-headed and rational Illinois basketball fans.
He was 5/7 from the field against Michigan. It was one of 3 games in which he shot better than 50% (the others were 2/3 against NW and 8-15 in a 2OT loss to Purdue). He shot 33% for the year overall, 37% from 2 and 16% from 3. He had 60 assists to 53 TO.
Illinois played 5 games after that, in which he was 7/35 (1/8 from 3, which is close to his career average), with 17 assists and 16 turnovers. After he started 0/4 in their 2nd round game against Houston he got benched, and it’s hard to blame Underwood for that.
For comparison, sophomore Zavier Simpson shot 29% from 3 and 56% from 2, with an assist-turnover ratio of 2.5. So Curbelo was about 60% the shooter that sophomore Zavier was, and turned the ball over way more. I’m not saying Curbelo is a lost cause, but it’s easy to understand fans’ frustration with him.
April 22nd, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
none of this changes the fact that the Illinois basketball fanbase is more than a little unhinged
April 20th, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
Raise a banner.
Any banner.
April 20th, 2022 at 10:37 AM ^
Illini fans were bizarrely hopeful he'd return, when he barely stayed last year.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:37 AM ^
If a player for Michigan did what Kofi did to Illinois last off season, I don't know if I would be able to cheer for them
April 20th, 2022 at 10:39 AM ^
But, the RCMB told me he is transferring to MSU along with Trayce Jackson-Davis! *eye roll emoji*
April 20th, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^
Apparently, the big msu rumor right now is that Max Christie is seriously considering entering the portal if he doesn't get a good draft eval.
It's a reddit rumor so take with a grain of salt, but word is that Christie's family/entourage are unhappy with Izzo for the lack of development and weak draft stock. The way some of the msu guys talk about it, may have some legs.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:18 PM ^
DOTMAN has basically confirmed that Christie is highly unlikely to return to MSU, even if he were to withdraw from the draft.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:27 PM ^
Thanks for confirming, but what is a DOTMAN?
DOTMAN is/was a rivals insider. He had some pretty good intel for awhile, but did get some things wrong (i.e. Jaylen Brown and Malik Hairston comes to mind). Either way, DOTMAN seems to still have a good reputation, so his opinion is likely spot on.
He's an insider to some degree and posts at 247 and UMHoops. He has connections inside the athletic and academic sides at UM.
He hasn't gotten everything right over the years (no one bats 1.000) but I'd say he's worth listening to.
Sam Webb and Tim McCormick hinted at the same thing re: Christie and dissatisfaction with Izzo in the latest TMI hoops podcast (They did not mention the TP as an option.)
FWIW — This was the same podcast where they noted that it might be time to get optimistic about HD returning.
April 20th, 2022 at 10:45 AM ^
Happy to not have to deal with him any further, but we'll see what kind of NBA future he has. Seems like a guy who would've been a bona fide lottery pick if he was playing 20-25 years ago, but that obviously isn't the case now.
April 20th, 2022 at 10:58 AM ^
Someone on the twitters had a great line yesterday. Something like, "He's got to decide between getting drafted in Round 2 or getting ousted in Round 2."
/chef's kiss
April 20th, 2022 at 12:00 PM ^
That was Scott Bell. He's gotta be the best Michigan-biased troll on the net.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:00 AM ^
He is kind of a poor mans Deandre Ayton. If Kofi can develop that 15ft elbow shot, no reason he cannot stay in the league 10+ years.
They key is he needs to be drafted to the right team. Take the Bulls for example, Vuc is god awful defensively and if he isn't hitting shots, he is almost un playable. But with how Chicago's roster is constructed, Kofi in the middle, with 4 out, that solves their rebounding and middle defense issue. Also when they go through slumps, they can throw it down low. I think Kofi, who clearly works hard on his body, could lose some bulk, and increase his athleticism could be a very serviceable big depending on the team he is on.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
I would say he's a very poor mans Ayton. Ayton is a much better athlete, has a little bit of the jump shot, and is a solid passer for his size.
Cockburn, is just big. He is extremely strong and a good rebounder, but will have to play drop coverage and can not pass. I have a hard time seeing him stick around on more than end of the bench contracts.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
Yeah, there was a time when Kofi was the blackest of holes offensively in the conference, and while he's gotten a bit better he's still not much of a playmaker. He's decently skilled around the rim but he's also a guy who's had a significant size advantage against most of his competition and he doesn't seem like a guy who'll be able to compensate against the much more athletic guys he'd see in the pros. The fact he struggled against Arizona and Houston, two of the more athletic teams he saw all year, isn't a great sign for him in that respect.
I agree he's an end-of-the-bench big guys. I've seen his ceiling as a "wider" Steven Adams, which feels like a disservice to Adams but I guess is a reasonable comp. There aren't a lot of guys in the NBA like him, but that's likely on purpose.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:16 AM ^
They are going to be a COMPLETELY different team next year. They lose Cockburn, Frazier, Curbelo, Williams and Plummer.
I would assume they are going hard after guards in the portal because this is their projected lineup next year:
PG: Skyy Clark Fr. (5 star PG, more of a scoring guard, note - he is a top 30 player, not a top 10 player, meaning he most likely isn't one of those guaranteed one and dones)
SG: RJ Melendez So. (Was a 4 star, good shooter, averaged 8.5 minutes a game last year)
SF: Luke Goode So. (Averaged 9 minutes a game last year)
PF: Jacob Grandison 5th year Sr. (Solid player, good shooter, didn't play many minutes in the tournament... injured?)
C: Coleman Hawkins Jr. (If Illinois is somehow good next year it will be because of this guy. He pops)
A bunch of their players have hit the portal so their bench is impossible to predict at this point.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
No way Frazier is graduating. He's been there 19 years. What's one more?
April 20th, 2022 at 11:30 AM ^
On the Zonker Harris plan?
April 20th, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
I swear Frazier was on the Illini team we beat in the Big Ten Confernece Tournament in 2011. I am almost positive he has been there for 11 years.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
Omar Payne transferred as well. They have Dain Danja coming in, a 6’9 260 lb load but they will take a big step back. They have benefited from getting a lot of upper classmen to stay.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
Skyy Clark is not a 5 star talent anymore imo. His torn ACL really affected his athleticism and he's basically been on and off injured his whole senior year. If Illinois thinks he's going to come in and be Ayo or Frazier or Plummer then they're going to be in for a huge shock
April 20th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
Doing some quick math - and depending on whether Grandison has another year (he was listed as a Grad Student last year, but the "COVID" year might be a factor), I show Illinois losing 80-90% of their minutes played from this past season.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
Every day that goes by has me just a little more confident that Hunter is returning.
He was at the Tigers game a few weeks ago and was enjoying himself there- I just get the feeling he's really happy at Michigan and can make just as much money with NIL deals compared to what he'd make in the G-League.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
I hope you are right. It’s crazy that there are only four days left for those decisions and we haven’t heard much of anything about any of the three.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:28 AM ^
I think Houstan and Hunter are staying and Diabate is leaving. Just a hunch.
I have no idea how the scholy situation works if all three wanted to come back- I'm not that smart.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:46 AM ^
I think if only 2 guys came back, Dickinson and Houstan would be my choices. Love Moussa but I think Houstan provides that shooting this team needs and he could probably slide to the 4 next year.
A potential line up of:
C: Dickinson/Reed
PF: Houstan/Williams
SF: Williams/Houstan/Barnes/Jett
SG: Shannon/Bufkin/Jett
PG: Collins/Bufkin/McDaniel
would be pretty nice
April 20th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
Projecting is fun so I am going to build off of your post here:
PG: Collins 32 / McDaniel 6 / Bufkin 2
I see Bufkin technically being the one in lineups where Dickinson has to be on the floor. It would be to steal a few minutes where all you need to do is space the floor and dump it to Hunter. Otherwise I think we are going to see Collins or McDaniel on the floor at all times.
SG: Shannon 24 / Bufkin 16
Shannon is a big experienced guard, if he comes here he will easily play 25 minutes a game. I also really believe that if Bufkin stays he is going to be hard to keep off the floor next year. He was very young and skinny last year and I think we are going to see rapid development from him.
SF: Houstan 22 / Jett 14 / Shannon 4
When Houstan goes to the NBA he will be a three, I would think that is what he is going to want to play in college in preparation. I think him and Williams are in a similar position when it comes to lateral quickness, but I would prefer Williams down low when it comes to rebounding and guarding non shooters. I predict Jett is going to end up deserving more than 14 minutes by the end of the year, but to start off he will be a nice shooter and a good athlete off the bench. To get Bufkin more minutes we can slide Shannon up to the three for a few minutes a game.
PF: Williams 30 / Houstan 10
Will Tschetter is the only other four on the roster if Diabate leaves. I think Houstan playing 10 minutes at the four is completely doable. Having Williams on the floor with Dickinson at all times should be a priority.
C: Dickinson 33 / Reed 7
Easy enough rotation here. I would really like to see Howard keep Dickinson's minutes as low as possible early in the season, maybe around 28 a night against the lesser teams. This would allow Reed to get some early meaningful run and help keep Dickinson as fresh as possible for the early big ten schedule where we may need to rely on Dickinson a lot. Then hopefully by the end of the year Reed is ready to come in for 7 minutes a game and give full effort and maybe be a positive.
I really think this would be a nicely built team. Tschetter is another season of development away in my eyes, and Barnes while intriguing is also probably another year away from contributing.
Collins after another year of development > Jones
Freshman McDaniel < Freshman Collins
Shannon/Bufkin combo = Brooks
Love Eli but his game had some limitations. Shannon would be an upgrade defensively for sure, and the potential offensive punch of Bufkin off the bench is intriguing.
Soph. Houstan + Jett >> Fresh. Houstan with basically no backup
Jr. Williams + So. Houstan > Fr. Diabate, Johns and So. Williams
This may be a hot take but in terms of lineup flexibility and overall play I think Williams and Houstan providing shooting at the four will be more valuable than Diabate. I love Moussa, I hope he comes back because I think he has game breaking defensive ability and will improve a lot. But there were times last year where he provided little.
Jr. Dickinson + Reed = So. Dickinson + Diabate
Diabate allowed us to play him at the five and be at least live with Hunter on the bench (we weren't living well, Hunter needed to be on the floor). I think Hunter will improve but I can't see him doing much better than last year's 19/9/2 on 56/33/80 splits. Maybe we see 22/10/3 on 60/35/85 splits? That would be pretty insane.
I differ from yours a little. It’s like 52-48, but I’m curious to see what Diabate turns into in year two so I think I’d like to get him and Houstan back IF we only get two back.
C: Diabate/Reed
PF: Williams, Houstan
SF: Houstan, Barnes, Jett
SG: Bufkin, Jett
PG: Collins, Dug
small mop up minutes go to Tschetter and Jace with Glenn redshirting. I can’t predict the other potential rotational guy without knowing who it is or what position they play. Hopefully it’s a pg, shooting wing or big(with two years to play at least). The real wild cards with my roster is who steps up between Barnes and Tschetter with both redshirting last year and minutes to be had this year.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:29 AM ^
Finally!
April 20th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
Just making Hunter’s path to Big Ten domination that much more clear.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:01 PM ^
When will Hunter announce? He's coming back right?
Rejoice!
I think the comparisons in the thread are a little too kind to Kofi (Drummond, Ayton, etc). He's not that skilled. I'd say his ceiling is more like Bismack Biyombo.
In other B1G men’s hoops news…
Julius Marble is in the portal
Joey Hauser is coming back next year. Not exactly sure what his other options were aside from transferring.
...for about ten days
Phew...gtfo Kofi. And I mean that in the most respectable " I dont want to play against you anymore" basketball way.