I actually have not seen one comment (other than in the article) about him not scoring.

I want to say they were good the following year and ran into the buzz saw that was Florida.

LOL, why didn’t I think of this simple and elegant algorithm?!!

Kentucky once went to the championship game without a starter over 6’5″.

Here’s a little primer—if he’s new, he’s a shooter.

Do you mean against Laval? I know he didn’t start every game in Canada, but even if he had I wouldn’t bank on that being the norm. Troy started at the 5 up there, but I’d be shocked (and depressed) if he plays center during the season. Inject Hanner into the line-up and ask who’s going to replace Yogi at the 1, and I think RJ comes off the bench. I know he’s definitely not starting over JBJ. Of course with our depleted roster I guess anything is possible.

Starter from day one!

……soo that didn’t work, haha

Where are you reading that everyone is worried about his scoring? Everyone is saying he will be a great player.

Let’s look on the bright side: no one on these comment threads will be complaining about not enough touches in the post this year!

I think that ‘Nova team is a better comparison – they even played 4 guards at times. They were still pretty successful – it’s the only other team that comes anywhere close to the makeup of this year’s IU team, and as I recall they were still a bit stronger for bigs.

I wonder if it had partly to do with our team incorporating more zone defense in Canada, which from what I understand is not used as much as man-to-man in high school?

They had Deron Williams enough said. All I was doing was stating that they had a 3 guard lineup. That team was really really good. That is like comparing the Varsity team to the 8th grade team. We don’t have that depth or players. I just hope we get in the tourney.

Yeah, I was going to say Augustine was a legit 6’10 who went in the NBA draft. Didn’t Villanova have a really strong 3 or 4 guard team around that time?

very good point re: depth. no way they go undefeated that deeply into the season if they don’t have at least some kind of frontcourt presence, no matter how good their guards are.

so definitely can’t make an apples to apples comparison, but maybe gives us some hope.

That Illinois team was a lot better in the frontcourt than IU figures to be this season, though – they had a senior-year Roger Powell, Jr. at PF and 6’10” James Augustine at center. Yes, he fouled out in the title game in 9 minutes of play, but that was because the refs were letting Sean May get away with everything for UNC. Augustine didn’t deserve all those calls.

Illinois also brought 7’2″ Nick Smith off the bench and had Sean Pruitt, Warren Carter and Jack Ingram at 6’8″ or taller. That Illinois team played a 3-guard offense, sure, but they had good depth at every position.

I can’t remember a team that was so deep in the backcourt and so thin down low.

Not too surprising… Even the best shooters in the world like Ray Allen or Steph Curry will have nights where they are 0-6… but he bounced back for 17 the next game, which is good to see!

oh yeah,and Illinois’ C fouled out in only 9 minutes. i can definitely see that game as the model for our upcoming season, for better or worse.