Illini Zip

I like Tavari’s active hands and jumping the passing lanes.

I don’t like that Princeton is taking the ball right out of hands at times.

Baker leaving sure surprised me. It’s getting harder to be excited about recruits until we see them perform in an Akron jersey. Because we just don’t know if they will pan out. And I am someone who really enjoys following the recruiting process

a.k.a. The Unicorn.

We were hearing great things about Mahaffey in the off-season before he got hurt. Has anyone seen enough of Brisco to have an opinion? And I’m waiting to hear if Okonkwo was rewarded an additional season.

Due to the transfer portal, I think there is probably a lot of teams around the country learning just how difficult it is to add a bunch of players to your roster at one time. Although, I think our situation is a bit of an extreme with 5 transfers and 3 true freshman. And of the 5 returning players only Scott, Nate and Tavari had really seen the court before this year. Amani not so much and Marvin redshirted last year. There will be some turnover again next year, but hopefully we will have established a much stronger core and it will be far less disruptive.

Tavari has shown improvement on offense and he can really fill up the basket at times. But he still has his head-scratcher moments. And I am always nervous with him inbounding the ball. Also, I think it’s amazing how much better Young is already on defense and he’s only an inch taller. There is a lot of season left to play so who knows, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Young surpasses Tavari. And with Tai Perkins coming in next year Tavari needs to make the most of this season.

What game was it that he had that bad fall? I would assume that is where he injured his shoulder.

Townsend gave us the "Enrique Freeman" treatment. That was hard to watch.

Lots of growing pains. Keep grinding guys.

When was the last time Nate Johnson successfully hammered home a fast break dunk? I'm to the point where I'm hoping he just lays it up and takes the points.

Do we know if James Okonkwo was awarded an additional year?

I agree, but I think we will have 3 week-long breaks this OOC schedule. It just seems too erratic for my liking.

I don’t have a problem with the Zips playing D3 teams on occasion. But I agree we looked like a team that hadn’t played in a long time. For whatever reason the games are not well spaced this year.

I feel for the Zips radio announcers. Trying to keep up with who was doing what was challenging. I can’t imagine being the one tasked with broadcasting that action. And good for Evan Wilson.

Listening to Groce’s comments I gather we can expect to see a 9 or 10 player roster until everyone is playing up to standard in practice and in games. Wilson must have had the worst grade before last game and Scott before this game. I do think his goal is to eventually play 11 deep at some point.

Zips are looking good early. And nice to see Seth Wilson in there.

https://gozips.com/news/2024/11/25/mens-basketball-nate-johnson-named-mac-player-of-the-week

I think this week off will be good for Harris as well. I imagine his back is quite sore from yesterday’s fall.

I hope Wilson works his way back into the rotation soon, even if for only a few minutes at a time. I don’t want him to fall too far behind the rest of the team. He has a good shot from deep, has plenty of game experience and his big body will help in certain match-ups. But he can’t be a liability on the up-tempo style of play either.

*named. “Naked” is funnier.

I like that they are diving for loose balls. Good measure of their intensity.

No Wilson tonight.

Please don’t let it be season ending.

We have a bunch of guys who could get hot from deep, but I would be surprised if Hardman doesn’t break a record somewhere.