KU vs Illini exhibition thread

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Please forgive my ignorance. What are the arguments the team is worse off by having him on it?

[pdub]

The main one being a concern that he isn't a good fit, especially defensively, compared to what we 'traded him for' which would be Ernest Udeh Jr and Zuby Ejifor.

If you are simply saying are we worse off with Dickinson then no Dickinson and Udeh and Zuby then I don't think i'm part of that argument.

[MICHHAWK]

well. i don't like him because we had to pay him to come here.

and that will never change no matter what he does at KU.

but, he will be our best player.

[mjl2]

Please forgive my ignorance. What are the arguments the team is worse off by having him on it?

Start off with the assumption that we would have Udeh if we didn't get Hunter.

Ball screen defense, as Self has mentioned, is not good with Hunter out there. He makes the whole team defense break down. It happened in Puerto Rico and it happened yesterday.

He's also not a particularly good shot blocker per minute.

Udeh was much better at both those things.

The defense would be phenomenal with Udeh. The question is whether Hunter's offense is worth that trade-off. Based on what I have seen so far I lean towards no.

There's a lot of time to see what Self will do to adjust.

[pdub]

Sure.
That too.
But that's different to me than arguing whether he's a bad fit.

I don't think he will be. I think his jump in offensive capabilities ( * including maybe some selfish shooting * ) will mitigate any defensive liabilities. But I can see why some might think otherwise.

I'd have preferred keeping Udeh and Zuby because I like having four year players in the system even if it means our team might not be as good.

[pdub]

Please forgive my ignorance. What are the arguments the team is worse off by having him on it?

Start off with the assumption that we would have Udeh if we didn't get Hunter.

I think for this argument to be made you can reasonably assume without Dickinson, we'd have BOTH Udeh and Zuby.

If the response is, "weLl yOU dOnT kNOw ThAT" then it's not worth arguing about.

[KUTradition]

i just wish at least one of them would have stuck around

both had oodles more upside than Braun

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

The main one being a concern that he isn't a good fit, especially defensively, compared to what we 'traded him for' which would be Ernest Udeh Jr and Zuby Ejifor.

If you are simply saying are we worse off with Dickinson then no Dickinson and Udeh and Zuby then I don't think i'm part of that argument.

Thanks for the response!
Yeah, if we look at it "trade" wise, it remains to be seen. We probably lose something defensively but
I think most non-biased KU fans would have traded Udeh and Ejifor for Dickinson - and maybe I am wrong but it seems our head coach (that is a Naismith Hall of Famer) feels that way too.
As I say too often, I feel defense can actually be taught and improved on easier than offense.

If we simply look at it as having him on the team or not having him on the team, I think KU is better off having him on the team.

[pdub]

"but it seems our head coach (that is a Naismith Hall of Famer) feels that way too"

I'm guessing this is the case as he was the prize transfer but it's possible he didn't fully expect either or both Udeh/Zuby to transfer because of it.

[mjl2]

Sure.
That too.
But that's different to me than arguing whether he's a bad fit.

I don't think he will be. I think his jump in offensive capabilities ( * including maybe some selfish shooting * ) will mitigate any defensive liabilities. But I can see why some might think otherwise.

I'd have preferred keeping Udeh and Zuby because I like having four year players in the system even if it means our team might not be as good.

Yes, it is a different take, hence it not being my usual "I agree with pdub".

I think that a lot of our strength is the individual defense of Juan and McCullar, and that gets somewhat neutralized by the entire team defense breaking down because Hunter can't get back quick enough after showing on a screen. And I think the number of points we'll give up because of that is higher than 98% of fans realize.

Hopefully I'm the idiot here

[pdub]

I think that a lot of our strength is the individual defense of Juan and McCullar and mutherfucking KJ Adams, and

fyp

[KUTradition]

"but it seems our head coach (that is a Naismith Hall of Famer) feels that way too"

I'm guessing this is the case as he was the prize transfer but it's possible he didn't fully expect either or both Udeh/Zuby to transfer because of it.

i don’t think he anticipated BOTH of them bolting

[twocoach]

Please forgive my ignorance. What are the arguments the team is worse off by having him on it?

Start off with the assumption that we would have Udeh if we didn't get Hunter.

Ball screen defense, as Self has mentioned, is not good with Hunter out there. He makes the whole team defense break down. It happened in Puerto Rico and it happened yesterday.

He's also not a particularly good shot blocker per minute.

Udeh was much better at both those things.

The defense would be phenomenal with Udeh. The question is whether Hunter's offense is worth that trade-off. Based on what I have seen so far I lean towards no.

There's a lot of time to see what Self will do to adjust.

The only issue I have with "The defense would be phenomenal with Udeh" is that he fouled at quite the prodigious rate. 7.7 fouls per 40 last season. Sure, some of that is that since he knew he didn't have to play all game that he could be more aggressive and that Self would yank him for dumb fouls, reducing his minutes. But there is really little actual proof as to whether he could stay on the floor long enough for us to have a great defense with him.

[pdub]

May I present to you freshman Udoka Azubuike?

[twocoach]

Weird that neither ESPN nor CBS Sports has any mention of the game last night. ESPN did mention Pitino's St. John's team losing an exhibition to a D2 program however...

[InfiniteJ]

May I present to you freshman Udoka Azubuike?

A marvelous 11 games of dunking, fouling, and huffin' & puffin' up and down the floor. I always wondered what could have been his Freshman and Junior years had he not gotten hurt.

[pdub]

Junior year I think we woulda been a 1 seed.
We were 12-1 and number 5 in the nation before Dok went down and maybe, mayyyybe, with more winning, Vick wouldn't have lost his mind.

[MICHHAWK]

The Big Fella is my second or third favorite player of the HCBS era.

[pdub]

Sherron Collins. Perry Ellis. Big Fella.

[MICHHAWK]

obviously SC.

i cannot choose between The Big Fella and JWith. so i won't.