Illinois is a completely different team from when we played them in November. Wagler was a bit piece then. UConn is also a totally different team than that game in November. Reed and Mullins didn't play that much and both had 2 points. I'm not sure how much you can get out of that game back in November.
They like to ISO Wagler and Mirkovic. The latter concerns me more. AK will need to be on his Ps and Qs defensively and if it's true Jaylin is close to full recovery, he will have to be contributor and see some time on the floor.
Mirk has slow feet so AK should be able to stay in front of him and also use his length well to contest shots.
Duke got pretty close. They were down 15 to Siena, I think.
Wagler is a nice player - but he's still a freshman. He's not explosive, is savvy. Eveyone indexing hard on game 1 and the fact that they're a different team. Someone not named Wagler is going to have to have a really good game to win this one.
Yup - he's clever, and he's long. He's not strong or explosive. Stay in front of him, keep a hand in his face, make him work. And like you said, do not bite on the ball fakes and pumps. Jordan Scott on MSU held him to 2-16. He's 6'7" 200, sound familiar. Feel this one out - start Silas on him, see how that goes.
Wear him down by chasing AK around picks/screens in our sets. Everyone talks about Illini offense-and they're good when they're hitting shots. But they have to defend us-probably not gonna turn us over and will let us run our sets. Will take its toll on their conditioning over course of the game. Can also see us picking up some quick baskets in transition-steals-deflections-long rebounds from missed threes- by beating their Bigs down the floor.
Both. Demary primary defender but I’m guessing Ross handles a lot of the responsibilities when he’s in the game to let Demary rest a bit.
If we win the whole thing, off chance he's jumping RIP at 17 ppg.
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I hear you. I don't remember why he only played 15 minutes in the game against us.
… And arrogant. Don't forget arrogant.
The Illinois board did a breakdown and it was mainly foul trouble. He also didn’t play that well when he was in the game.
Wild card defender other than Silas/Ross on Wagler for a change of pace-Malachi. Hear me out. We've seen shorter dudes like Bazz/Boat wreak havoc with taller guards like Harrison twins of Kentucky. Who were 6'6". In their grill -tight D-swiping at higher dribble radius due to their height advantage. Malachi has consistently held his own as Silas has gotten himself back in shape during the Tournament and leading up to the Tournament. Who is Malachi guarding when Silas is on the bench catching a blow? Boswell? Just sayin' could provide a 5-7 minute break(for Silas) of tough NYC disruptive D to break up their offensive flow. Do Ross/Silas match up better vs Wagler? Yes they do.
I believe it was ten games. We went 3-1 in the 1998 tournament, 6-0 in 1999.
