More behind-scenes preseason intel

But not as good as the UNLV team that lost to Duke in a different year. That was an AWESOME team.

 

I know we relive that season periodically, but I really enjoyed that Illini team. Was the quintessential case of "hard to beat a team 3x." To your point, the Villanova 4-guard lineup that won the NC might be an even better example of vertically-challenged hoops excellence.

 

You’re thinking football basketball is two 20-minute halfs
But yes I agree we’re going to be tough around the basket. Chinyelu looks like an absolute beast and with a 7’8 wingspan

 

The common denominator of that UNLV team and that Illinois team was the wealth of NBA talent.

 

Chris Harry points out that Chinyelu's wild-man play produces tons of foul trouble for him, and that the staff is working hard with him to cut down on that. As for me ownself, that doesn't worry me so much because of our frontcourt depth. If Rueben can create havoc for 20 minutes before getting into foul trouble, I'm okay with it.

 

20 minutes of aggressive rim protection is worth it. We want teams to be scared to take it inside

 

You are correct sir. LOL. I guess, with six bigs, we should be able to stay big with backups even late in season and the hopeful NCAA tournament. People than can deliver hips and muscle to counteract all the beefy bigs we will see this year.