Purdue Exhibition

[jaybacker11]

anyone have highlights?

[go_jays]

Loved what I saw from Pop Isaacs. I don't expect him to shoot 4-5 from 3 every game, but he did a lot of other things well. Played under control, made some great assists, and made several little jumpers in the lane. Need to cut down on the travels though. Neal also looked good. Love his rebounding, ball handling, and energy. And Ashworth looks like he is ready to be the leader (along with Kalk) for this team.

Biggest weakness: perimeter D and stopping the midrange shots from the FT line.

They're gonna have to figure out how to defend ball screens against high level guard play. But I don't think they are too worried about the midrange shot. Those, and shots in the paint, are the lowest efficiency shot on the floor... .79 PPS vs Corner 3s (1.20 PPS) and Above the Area 3s (1.05 PPS) are both better. Drop coverage and going over the top all the time is pretty predictable. And Ashworth is really getting torched even when he attempts to go over the top on those ball screens.

[go_jays]

Overall, a strong performance, especially with the run the younger guys had down the stretch. The two biggest questions walking away for me were:

1. Guard depth - we have some unproven guys on the bench behind Ash and Pop, but I’m not sure who will emerge from the Thomas/Knox/Davis group. It’s by no means a Clement situation, but until Fedor’s eligible there’s a decent drop between the starters to the bench

2. The 3/4 backlog - Mac mentioned in the post game that Miller and Green saw some action at the 3 last night. I have to imagine that’s partially a response to how McAndrew has looked in practice, Mac knows he needs to find him some minutes. I’ll be curious how Mac manages the minutes and roles between Green/Milller/McAndrew/Neal - maybe we see Neal play more 2 when Pop or Ash need a rest?


As a side note, solid 1st half for King, but still the same defensive issues. Hope to see him continue to make strides

Well, I think Davis had an outstanding game, actually. The one turnover looked like a freshman mistake to me that I don't think will happen down the road very much. The other, I don't remember. But only 2 TOs in 12 minutes of play against some pretty aggressive perimeter defense by a Top 14 team was pretty good, IMO

[go_jays]

31 points off the bench!!!!! Against a #14 ranked team. Sure, I realize it was an exhibition, but still!

The rotation included 11 players. Wow! Mac has to love that! And if and when Zugic becomes eligible?...Mac will have a problem unless they will let us play with 2 balls at a time.

And really, the amazing thing about this game was that it was very high tempo, against a very solid team that emphasizes defense... and we had lots of substitutions... and really the first game under the lights... We only had 13 turnovers and the continuity/organization/execution of play was really awesome.

I mean, really, this was a pretty incredible exhibition of basketball under those circumstances.

[JacobPadilla]

We have Fedor as well at 3. Prob going to be suspended the first 2-4 games.

About this...

Right now, Illinois is finishing up an exhibition at Mississippi (Illini are getting clobbered btw). and Ill is playing its two prized Euro recruits, Kasparas Jakucionis from Lithuania, and Tomislav Ivisic from Croatia.

Ivisic played last season for SC Derby of the top division of something called the Adriatic League. i never heard of it either, but he played against guys like Yogi Ferrell who finished up at Indiana and Frank Kaminsky, who turned Euro pro after playing at Wisconsin.

Jakucionis, the more celebrated of the two, played for FC Barcelona, mostly for their junior squad, but he played up a lot too, as part of a roster that included Ricky Rubio and Jabari Parker.

Both these guys were paid cold hard Euros to play basketball less than a year ago. The Illini European recruiter was quoted as saying that part of the appeal of both players is that they have international experience playing against older, established guys who've been playing professionally in Europe.

BYU played Boise yesterday in their exhibition. Leading BYU with eight assists was their new Euro, Egor Demin. Egor's a Russian who played last season for Real Madrid. Real. Madrid. And he didn't do it for free.

Prior Euro pro experience hasn't been an eligibility roadblock for these guys. Is it for Fedor, or is something else getting in the way? Or do Illinois and Brigham Young just have better lawyers than we do (a possibility I just can't get my arms around)?

I don't have a grasp on the specifics, but I think there's a difference between guys like Demin and Jakucionis, whose pro experience compares more favorably to the typical overseas recruits we've seen in college basketball, and Fedor, who has played in nearly 250 senior team-level professional games spanning six years.

[Dough Boy]

anyone have highlights?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7hiLaDHU8

[wildjays]

Once again this season' WBR's Matt DeMarinis and Hurrdat Sports' Jacob Padilla will break things down after the game in our Bluejay Beat podcast. This podcast is an exclusive to our Patreon subscribers. This one is being released for free so you can sample the content and more that will be provided this basketball season. Please subscribe at https://patreon.com/whitebluereview

In the meantime listen to the breakdown after Creighton's exhibition victory over Purdue.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/bluejay-b ... =join_link

[Django]

It’s a great sign if the Illini and BYU Euros are cleared. The NBA rule is pretty clear, you get an agent and sign a contract with them and you can’t go back to college. Period. As of now, you can sign a contract and play in Europe and then play here in college. Doesn’t seem right if they all of a sudden say, “well this player played for THIS team,” or “this player played for THIS many years,” etc., so HE can play but this guy can’t. Still trying to figure it out but I think it’s a great sign if all the others have been cleared. And Fedor got here late so it’s just a matter of the application process takes a certain amount of time?

[Chicagojayfan]

LJ must have a long, long way to go.

his scrimmage DNP didn't tip you off?

Not much to say on Kalk and Ashworth. They look good.

I was impressed with Isaacs, especially for recovering from a somewhat shaky first half. He was great. Really quick with the ball and he has nice touch on that floater.

Neal was less impressive but he gives this team what it needs. A rowdy, athletic defender and he appears to be a solid decision-maker with the ball. He reminds me of Damien Jefferson.

I was surprised at Green's play. He seemed lost on offense at times and a bit tentative on the glass. Based on the coaches' comments, that seems to be an aberration.

McAndrew's talent is legit, he's just a long ways off physically. That quick release is deadly.

I thought Ty Davis played well for a true freshman PG. Assertive with the ball.

Incremental improvements from Traudt and King. Traudt should be more confident putting the ball on the floor a little bit. They look ready to give us some impact bench play.

This team could definitely use another big guard.

Pretty close to my thoughts. I think we have to caveat all of this with the fact that it was an exhibition game and while both teams wanted to win, it was secondary to finding out what they needed to find out about their teams

- Pop and Ashworth will be a deadly combination this year. They share the ball, can handle and distribute, and stretch the floor with their shooting. Something I haven't seen mentioned is how quick Pop is with his decision making when he has the ball. He's making a move, getting a shot and if it isn't there the ball is moving quickly - he's really fit into the system quickly

- Kalkbrenner was great. King was aggressive, but his big weakness will continue to be fouls (even if he gets the job at the 5 next year, it will be a center by committee approach as we can't count on him to be on the floor for 25 minutes, much less 30). I liked seeing Green get some minutes at the 5, although they didn't work out too well defensively against the big guys for Purdue, he should be able to play more than a few bigs even in the BE

- How many minutes can we play with Green and Neal at the 4 and 3 against good defensive teams? Ash and Pop shot lights out, but if they don't in a game, where will the shooting, spacing and scoring come from with those 2 playing forward? But fortunately, forwards may not be that clearly defined without Fedor playing. Neal, Miller, and Green all played the 3, with Green playing 4 and even some 5 as well. Jackson played with all of the above and Traudt as well. Mac's showing he's willing to play rotations that don't fit into what we mostly saw last year

- Davis looked solid off the bench, but we'll want to see how he handles the ball in BE play. McAndrew has a great looking shot and will clearly have a role, even if may struggle against some big forwards or quick wings. In addition, even Thomas and Knox showed some good things. People may not get a lot of minutes in every game, but this should be a deeper team than we've seen in a long time

So far so good, but non-Con schedule will have some bumps as things come together

[vivid_dude]

Great atmosphere for an exhibition game. It's tough to fully appreciate how everyone played in-person, so I re-watched. Here is how I saw things with the necessary caveat that it was one game, and everything below is likely an overreaction.

- The team looked quicker, overall. I noticed it at the game, but then really noticed it on the re-watch. Great fluidity to the offense.

- Davis and McAndrew belonged. Sometimes freshmen look solid early in the year, but it's against cupcake competition. Purdue isn't that. Very encouraging start to their Creighton careers. Will Jackson surpass McBuckets as the #1 Bluejay of all time? At this point, I have to say yes.

- I liked what I saw from Neal. Bouncy. Athletic. Great on-the-ball defense. A better ball handler than I would have guessed. He's the type of player CU hasn't had in a while, and I like the fit.

- Pop's shooting was great. That'll come and go, so I was more encouraged by his ability to finish around the rim with floaters. This is one of my perceived weaknesses on the team - individual shot creation. Pop showed some things.

- Jasen Green didn't have a good game. The effort seemed to be there, but he could not secure rebounds that he will need and his guy scored at will. Struggled with his shot too. Do we want him hoisting 3-4 three's per game? Not sure at this point, but leaning "no." Again, one game.

- Despite CU losing 49% of scoring with Trey and Baylor, I'm wondering if we will miss their rebounding more. Kalk, again, did his job on his man. In the past, that led to Trey/Baylor scooping up a lot of rebounds. I didn't see our guys going for the ball as aggressively or as effectively as our legends did. Maybe that's why they were legends.

- Ashworth is clearly a different guy than the player who debuted last season. Confident. Quicker. More assertive. If he gets back to 42% 3-point shooting shooting Steve, with volume, look out.

- Traudt, Miller, Fred, Knox each had moments - some good and some not-so-good.

- Love that it was mostly the back-ups who finished out the game. For those last four minutes, as Purdue kept cutting it to 4 or 5, with the lineup we had on the floor, I thought the game could get away from us. Never did.

- There are plenty of college basketball players better at the game than Kalk right now. But you'll never convince me that there is a more VALUABLE player to his team than Ryan Kalkbrenner is to Creighton University all across the NCAA.

- Weaknesses to be on the lookout for as we head into the regular season: defending other physical guards with Pop/Ash; rebounding; shot creation (although this one game tempered that fear a bit)