***OFFICIAL ILLINOIS AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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Parcival said:
Yeah, because he doesn't move very well. Are you Freeman's dad?
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In what regard? He's a center. He had a couple blocks. Several rebounds. He looked fine. He got lost on defense a few times, but so did the entire team.

Put it this way, he's miles better than Konate or Diedhou.
 


howeda7 said:
In what regard? He's a center. He had a couple blocks. Several rebounds. He looked fine. He got lost on defense a few times, but so did the entire team.

Put it this way, he's miles better than Konate or Diedhou.
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Konate literally had bricks for hands. I've never seen a worse center in B1G basketball... sure Freeman is better than him but that's not saying much.
 

Parcival said:
Konate literally had bricks for hands. I've never seen a worse center in B1G basketball... sure Freeman is better than him but that's not saying much.
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Diedhou was worse though...
 




howeda7 said:
In what regard? He's a center. He had a couple blocks. Several rebounds. He looked fine. He got lost on defense a few times, but so did the entire team.

Put it this way, he's miles better than Konate or Diedhou.
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He is miles better than two guys who were also bad roster mistakes by Pitino
 




The 13th scholarship player on any good team doesn’t see the floor much. But Freeman looks better than most guys we have seen historically at the end of the bench.

He got lost on defense a couple times but was doing exactly what Robbins does on defense. Far too much switching on defense for me. Cockburn can’t hurt you twenty five feet from the basket. Why guard him out there?
 







bc2211 said:
in an offense that depends on breaking down the defense off the dribble.
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So, is that offense a thing?

It would appear to be completely the wrong offense to use, in the Big Ten.
 


46Gophers said:
All these years with Pitino as our coach and there have not been any reasons to be really excited about the program and it's accomplishments. Winning the NIT, no...barely getting into the NCAA tourney no, nothing that makes you feel real good about this program and its direction. Unlike the football program, there has been a wealth of local talent yet we see their success elsewhere. What does he have to show for all of his years?
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16-17 I know I was pretty pumped up for the Big Dance. And then they crapped out against Middle Tennessee.
 




Yeah, but Coyle could've been ready for him though, and ducked out the side door before he could corner him. Then put a sign on the door at the Athlete's Village saying "No Coyle's here, come back next month".
 



golfing18now said:
So now you are arguing his roster compilation has improved over time?
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I can’t remember what year they were weighing down the roster.

roster compilation has long term been an issue no doubt
 

Some guy said:
Admittedly I didn’t even watch the Indiana game if that is what are you are referencing.

ihnen does some nice things. He is athletic.
but he doesn’t have the handles to be a slasher. He doesn’t have the shot to be a shooter. He doesn’t seem savvy enough to be a decent do everything guy.
He has his good moments. But for every good moment he has two errant passes. For every good moment he dribbled one off his knee or loses his man on defense. Ihnen isn’t getting minutes on a top 20 team.
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I was one, after watching Euro Games, who had no hope for Ihnen when he was recruited. But he has shown some talent and has a body that can be developed. He has always been a perimeter player. But he has much more upside than that. I assume the staff realizes that and are working him hard to become a more productive player of offense. He has improved a lot on D and uses his long arms to keep the ball in play.

If his body will allow, I can see him adding 40 lbs and he could be a force inside. I know that is a lot to ask.

He is long and lanky and is not an effective dribbler as he has not developed the "short and rapid" bounce. Can he get there and put the ball on the floor? If so, he could be a headache to match up againt.

Again, I am asking a lot but who knows............................
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
I was one, after watching Euro Games, who had no hope for Ihnen when he was recruited. But he has shown some talent and has a body that can be developed. He has always been a perimeter player. But he has much more upside than that. I assume the staff realizes that and are working him hard to become a more productive player of offense. He has improved a lot on D and uses his long arms to keep the ball in play.

If his body will allow, I can see him adding 40 lbs and he could be a force inside. I know that is a lot to ask.

He is long and lanky and is not an effective dribbler as he has not developed the "short and rapid" bounce. Can he get there and put the ball on the floor? If so, he could be a headache to match up againt.

Again, I am asking a lot but who knows............................
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He has some upside long term, but if you’re pretending he is good enough right now to be a contributor on a top 20 team, you’re fooling yourself. And the discussion was me against a bunch of people who think we have the talent to be a top 4-5 team in the big ten (thus making us a 1-2 seed and top 10 team)

I couldn’t even tell you who our 5th best guy is.
With two guys hobbled, I couldn’t even tell you who our third best guy is.

we lost a guy (Omursa) who I love as a guy who wanted to be in the program but it totally a one way player who gets into foul trouble when he plays his own way...and he was a mainstay of the rotation. This isn’t a top 20 roster let alone a top 10 roster. No coach in the big ten could turn this team into a top 4-5 in the conference kind of season.

They have one guy who will be first or second team all big ten (Carr)
One guy who will be third team or honorable mention (Robbins)
Two guys who are decent role players on solid teams (Gabe and Johnson)
A freshmen with some upside (mashburn)
And then a bunch of guys who wouldn’t see a single minute for any of the top 4 in the conference. (Mashburn might not have either)


Minnesota split with the team that is in 5th but that doesn’t mean they could finish 5th. They don’t have the depth of talent to be consistent.
 

Spottedmuskie said:
I've been an advocate for getting Freeman more minutes, but I can see why he hasn't been playing that much. Not very athletic and continues to miss his defensive rotations
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We have a very hobbled Liam and scar studded Curry as mainstays. That's the hand RP is dealt with. I see the potential in Freeman although he may not be game ready in the sense that he should not start. But I see the moxy in him to put him out there much more than he has. Am I missing something?
 

For all the discussion of the tournament, and then the bubble, this team has played like a bad high major team since the best win of the season over Michigan which occurred over a month ago.

Some of the things that go on with this team just baffle me. Eric Curry trying to split a double team at the top of the key? Tre Williams going between the legs step back jumper like he's James Harden (I believe he's like 1-7 on that shot in the last 3 games and bobbed his head all the way back down the court on the one he did make). Guys telegraphing passes and throwing them with no zip or purpose (looking at Mashburn, Williams, and Robbins here in the first half). Defensively, you had guys just dying on screens and forcing Robbins on a bad ankle to switch with them out on the perimeter. Then at some point everybody quit. You can argue when that happened, and I'd argue it was before the half court heave went in but they certainly were done after it.

One major frustration I have with Pitino basketball is his refusal to go small. Now with the injuries and defections this year it would have been difficult to do it today. Illinois second biggest guys was 6'6, Maryland started nobody taller than 6'6, I believe Purdue often was "small" at the 4, Iowa often plays Weiskamp there, etc, etc. What happens with us the past two years is we keep two bigs on the floor but we have no advantage because of it. We're not physical or skilled enough inside to take advantage of the size and we give up spacing and then on the other end of the court we're at a speed/skill disadvantage when trying to defend. With Robbins this year and Demir last year we have a guy who is not a strong rebounder and arguably at least a little soft manning one of those two front court positions. If you are going to stay big, you need to dominated the paint stats and we simply don't do that.
 



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