Face wrote:
PRIME TIME, let's get it!
Illini have strong forward play. This'll be a different challenge but at this point I'll believe in anything.
Very true. BYU and Illinois are both high scoring teams that sometimes struggle defensively. That's pretty much where the similarities end. BYU was a big team, but that size was somewhat neutralized in their 5 out offense. Illinois is even bigger and takes full advantage of that size. Their smallest starter is 6'6" 210, and only one of their subs who sees regular minutes is smaller than that. For a point of reference, Drame is 6'7 200.
The Illini can knock down 3s too, but they're 20th in the country in points in the paint. Shannon is as good as anyone in the country off the dribble, and they are 29th in the country in offensive rebounds. They aren't a one man though. 4 guys score in double figures, and the most dangerous player outside of Shannon probably does't even start. It was Dainja, not Shannon, who got their run started yesterday. The game was tied with 14:00 left. Then Dainja scored 8 of the game's next 11 points and they never looked back.
Illinois is vulnerable defensively. They are 238th in the country in points allowed per game, and 7 of their last 10 opponents reached 80 points. While they do play somewhat fast, it's not because of tempo. They are 146th in defensive efficiency. The Dukes have played 13 games against teams ranked that low and are 11-2 in those games (Davidson and Princeton the two losses).
There is no doubt the Dukes will come out ready to battle. Hopefully, the refs let the players play, as I expect they will. I think we can slow down Shannon. Clark is a lock down defender, and the help defense has been exceptional recently. We need Necas and Drame to continue to play big and do the dirty work. It will be interesting to see who gets the matchup when Dainja is in. Mahorcic is the only Duke who has the size to battle with him. He's quicker than you'd expect from a guy his size though, so Dixon might be a better matchup. We'll probably see a bit of both. We also need to prevent their runs. They're going to put up points, but we can't let them score in bunches.
The Illini are wildly inconsistent. The best example of that is their two games against Northwestern. They won by 30 at home, but lost in Evanston. They lost to two teams that didn't even make the NIT in Maryland and Penn State. They also have been to the same number of Sweet Sixteens in the last 19 years as the Dukes (I don't think I need to tell anyone how many that is). They may be big, but it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. No team in the tournament has more fight than the Dukes, especially not Illinois.
Last edited by luckymcd (3/22/2024 3:45 pm)
