I didn't like what I saw from either one of them considering the opponent they played.
Tisdale really didn't score much. He rebounded okay but considering the opponent, it's tough to tell if this is things to come or just a trick like Illinois's 1 football win. Shot like 1-6, looked a little sloppy out there.
And Legion was an even bigger dissapointment. Not only did he shoot 2-6 but you could tell he was also wildly sloppy. There was one point where he and Tisdale were coming past half court and he passed it to Tisdale and left him all by himself just past the halfcourt line. I mean who does that? You know he's a center, you know he can't put it on the floor, use your head better. He just went to his "lucky" spot near the baseline and left Tisdale to fend for himself. Great job teammate.
I agree w/ you in that neither of them played a great game last night, however I'm not going to get to worried about it after 1 exhibition game. As a whole, the game was pretty sloppy from both teams. The refs seemed to be calling it very close all the way around (both teams in double bonus for a large part of the game)! That needs to, and I'm sure will improve! As for Tisdale, I am not really worried. I think he will find his groove. The jury is still out on Legion, but I am hopeful that he will turn it around.
I was very pleased w/ what I saw from the freshman (especially DJ) as well as Keller and McCamey. Davis took a back seat to the action, but seemed to do well in the second half. Semrau doesn't seem to have made the turn yet. Billy Cole looked really good on the offensive side. He needs to tighten up his D though. What is up w/ Stan Simpson and Jeff Jordan? Neither got any PT, and even Bubba got some garbage time! Anyone who knows, please enlighten me. Anyhow, I think this will be a fun team to watch!
It might be that Jeff Jordan is "paying his dues" and won't be immediately inserted into game action due to the fact that he hadn't played basketball in many months and so he probably lost some of his abilities during that time.
I don't know why Simpson wasn't brought in.
But again, with Legion, when DJ and Brandon both played better than Legion, both showed me something, I mean it's just a matter of time before Legion will be regulated to bench role status. There's no way you can tell me Legion is better than Brandon Paul.
I also liked what I saw from Tyler Griffey. I think he's got a chance next year to play a major role once Keller is gone. They may redshirt him but if Stan Simpson doesn't do anything, then maybe they won't?
I was there, too. I agree with both of your comments. I didn't like what I saw, especially in the first half. Like they were playing they have never played a college basketball game before!
Oh wait. A lot of them haven't... so I am not too worried. First half was definitely full of first-game jitters, especially Joseph Bertrand, who looked on occasion like didn't quite know what this big arena was about. But Weber managed to get them settled at half-time and they played a lot better in the second half. Not great, mind you, but they went from 15 turnovers in the first half to about 3 or 4, and they even displayed some team play on occasion.
I was pleseantly suprised by McCamey's ability to take charge at the time when the team seemed letting go. I liked what I saw from Keller as well. Tisdale and Mike Davis seemed a bit lost, especiially Tisdale - but again, I am not worried the first game.
Weber explained some things in the post-game interview. Jeff Jordan didn't play because apparently he didn't take care of business academically. It seems Jeff Jordan seems to have issues doing both basketball and going to classes - perhaps that is why he quit the team earlier. Weber was saying something along the lines that "it isn't fair to the others who also have to perform academically". He said Jordan will sort things out and will be back.
He also said that the team was suprised by how quick and physical Missouri Southern was. They played the press a lot - hence the turnovers - and Illinois hasn't practiced that much yet. They have been only practicing for two weeks and many are freshmen who have never seen this. Basic things like you don't spin against the press... Weber had to coach a lot. They only had a 10 minute tape on Missouri Southern where they couldn't even see the numbers it was so bad. So they had to adjust to what they played during the game. Tisdale apparently doesn't do well against teams that have lots of smaller, quick guys. But Weber said it was a good experience for the team, to have faced this style of play so early.
Alex Legion's shot is beautiful. But the next time he has the ball, he turns it over then he fouls the shooter. He really needs to improve his ball handling and decision making.
DJ Richardson is awesome. He ran the point a lot of the game and he can tell he has skills. Some of the passes he made were just brilliant, and he can score, too.
The biggest issue I saw was the lack of half-court play. Almost no sets were run, individual efforts were dominating. But you can really chalk that up to a bunch of freshmen and the changed roles for the more experienced players. There is a lot of time to get better. Weber says it might take until December to sort out just what role everyone plays. There is nothing to worry about. This team is young but very talented and they just have to learn to play together.
Yea, I thought DJ Richardson handled himself real well. Had a couple dumb turnovers in the first 5 mins. of the game but he settled down and really looked like a mature sophomore or junior out there. I already like this guy, even if he has times where he'll struggle, he clearly is going to be committed to playing defense.
Sorry gezemice but it was simpson that sat out for the class room issues not jordan.BW said he told jordan that he would not play the first game and maybe not the seond but they will make that call later on in the week
Yea, it seemed kind of weird that Jordan would be the one with the grade issues since he has been mostly focusing on school up until just a couple of weeks ago.
It's a bit early to make too much of a first exhibition game of the year especially with regard to the sloppiness of play. The more interesting thing I think is seeing how much athleticism the team has now. One of the players that hasn't been mentioned who seemed to shows some pretty good flashes of athleticism is Brandon Paul. If he plays well enough, I think he could challenge Legion for a starting position on the team. Here's what Paul Klee had to say:
First EXHIBITION game. I'm not worried. Guys will be learning to play with each other, player rotations will be experimented with, and the freshmen (and Legion) will be getting used to translating their game from practice to the "real" court.
Hell, I think Weber started McCamey, Legion, Keller, Tisdale (9 boards) and Davis. There's only one real ball-handler in that lineup, you know that won't last.
Sounds like they turned it over some in the first half, but REALLY cut those down in the second. If Bertrand can fully recover from his knee injury (they say he's about 80%) he may not red-shirt because, "he can just do some things that the other guys can't." I read that quote and was pretty impressed. But wow, dude is SKINNY. Don't know if he can take the pounding of a full Big Ten season yet.
All that being said, hopefully Simpson gets his grades together, Jordan gets back into the rotation and Legion and Tisdale pick their games up. PLENTY of time for all that happen, not gonna harp on or get too disappointed in a first exhibition game performance.
And from all I read they say that the (sorta) new & improved McCamey is CLEARLY the best player on the team. Hopefully he keeps up the intensity and hard work.
I agree with you guys, this team is going to be much more fun to watch.
All I heard was Legion puts up 28 pts. in the scrimmage, he's back, the DI had 2 columns devoted to him on the same day about he's the darkhorse player to watch.
These people who buy into that are extremely naive.
Those that have proclaimed Legion ready for prime time after going nuts in the scrimmage are premature, as are those who have written him off completely after half a season and one exhibition game (and just seem to be itching to say I told you so).
If for some unknown/crazy reason Brandon Paul should have a bad season I say we lock him in a vault never to see the light of day again.
All I've ever said about Legion is the jury is still out on him; and I guess you can count the entire Illini coaching staff among the "naive" crowd that thinks there is still a decent chance he can get it done. If that kid balls like he has every year of his career except last year, we will be a MUCH better team for it. I, for one, still have hope that he's going to come through for us.
Those that have proclaimed Legion ready for prime time after going nuts in the scrimmage are premature, as are those who have written him off completely after half a season and one exhibition game (and just seem to be itching to say I told you so). Bsisko - Thanks for posting exactly what I was thinking. For some reason, I think people are almost hoping Legion will fail so that they are proven right about him. Clearly this is a new year with new players and a new dynamic. The fact is, the guy is on the team and got on the team for good reason. His performance last year was disappointing for sure but there's no reason to write the guy off. The fact that he has been doing well in practice tells me that his difficulties in game situations are between his ears. I think it's good to see the guy get some positive press praising his ability, how much potential he has and how much he can contribute to the team so he can get some confidence. He has played well before. There's reason to believe HE CAN PLAY WELL AGAIN. I root for every ILLINI player to do well and hope that every player I think is a bust proves me wrong. This goes for coaches too. I have posted that I think Ron Zook should go. He has had plenty of time to show what he can do. Since I don't do the hiring and firing he may well be here awhile - if he proves me wrong that will be just fine....
It's not that I'm hoping he fails. I said previously that I hope he can regain his skills that he used to have and be the comeback player for the Illini but this guy just has no confidence. He has less confidence than Tisdale does.
Sorry gezemice but it was simpson that sat out for the class room issues not jordan.BW said he told jordan that he would not play the first game and maybe not the seond but they will make that call later on in the week You are right. Both me and my husband were surprised by that, but we may not have heard the beginning of the question and just assumed it was about Jordan. Stan Simpson does make a lot more sense.
Those that have proclaimed Legion ready for prime time after going nuts in the scrimmage are premature, as are those who have written him off completely after half a season and one exhibition game (and just seem to be itching to say I told you so).
If for some unknown/crazy reason Brandon Paul should have a bad season I say we lock him in a vault never to see the light of day again.
All I've ever said about Legion is the jury is still out on him; and I guess you can count the entire Illini coaching staff among the "naive" crowd that thinks there is still a decent chance he can get it done. If that kid balls like he has every year of his career except last year, we will be a MUCH better team for it. I, for one, still have hope that he's going to come through for us. I agree that scrimmages say nothing. The exhibition game tells a little more, but really it is just practice against another team. Many of these kids played the first time against another college team, the first time in a big arena, the first time after two weeks of practice. Even those who are returners are rusty and often in a different role.
About Legion. His shot is gorgeous. But he can't be a walking turnover. The problem might be between his ears, but you gotta get it out of there. Hopefully the gradual ease into the season will give him the confidence he needs. But if it doesn't, we can't play him, he will lose us games if he passes to the other team regularly.
I hope legion steps up too, but i think he just flat out sucks! Ill give him the chance, but Ill be shocked if I see anything but his ball hogging ass throwing the team out of its rythem and into another funk! I hope Webber doesnt waste to much time on him. I thought for sure he was going to be a stud for us. I dont think that Ive been more dissappointed in an Illini player in my life, I know he has the talant, or I thought he did, he really needs to step up! This is still a very young team with the potential to be a very good team, they have to play as a team, it they do they could really do some damage. If any of these kids try to carry this team by themselves then we'll go down fast. This is going to require a team effort and anything less wont get it done. This will be another test for coach webber and he'll need to do another great job of coaching if this team is to really make a run at a title, both in conference and on a national stage. A first round bow out isnt what I care to see, but it may be the best that this team has to offer. It should be fun!
I heard the coach comment about Alex trying too hard and that is my opinion as well. He needs to relax and not get hurried. When one is on edge, tries too hard, one worries, say about being taken out of the game, one tends to tighten up, both physically and mentally. If Alex can learn to relax and look at the game as having fun, one does not worry as much and loosens up. One must also remember that Alex is also learning alot about both the offense and defense, which is alot to have on one's plate. Imo, having fun and loosening up will help him alot.
He's had almost a year to loosen up? You've got to figure that at a certain point, too many excuses are being made for his inability to play within himself.
There's a reason why I'm not as critical of Tisdale as I am of Legion. There were expectations and those expectations aren't anywhere close to being met.
I watched the game closely to see just how poorly Legion and Tisdale played. Overall I don't think they did all that bad.
Legion threw a bad pass and took a bad shot. He also made a couple good passes and made a couple good shots. When he calmed down at the end of the game and took shots within the offense he showed that he will be a very powerful weapon on the perimiter. His height and shooting ability make him a difficult match up on the wing.
The one area I believe people mis-judge Legion is how athletic he is. He is not a jump out of the gym player.
Tisdale actually looked very improved, in my opinion. His lateral quickness and rebounding were vastly improved over last year. His un-impressive box numbers were misleading because he didn't get many good looks at the basket.
Overall I was impressed with the team. It is obvious that the up close in-your-face defense Minnesota used to expose our guards last year won't work with the athletic guards we have this year. Our freshmen will just drive around those type of defenders. I also thought our bench was much improved over last year. Illinois could easily go 10 deep this year.
The main weakness I saw was our rotations when we played zone defense. There were too many uncontested, slow skip passes and open baseline shots. I hope that was just a work in progress, because with an effective zone Weber can really utilize our height.
The only player who I wasn't impressed with was Davis. He seemed kind of asleep.
I could easily see a line up of Cole 6'-8", Tisdale 7'+, McCamey 6'-2", Davis 6'-8" and Keller 6'-8".
