Illinois basketball fans

[TheGame414]

Posted this in another thread so I'll copy and paste, but It was about Jereme Richmond

I Played against Jereme Richmond this season. He didn't do anything special against us, but he was pretty spectacular when I saw him play against another a school though. People were claiming that he was cherry-picking though but the man is a straight up athlete. The dude has to get some muscle if he wants to make it to the pros or make a significant impact for Illinois. He weighs just as much as I do even though I'm like 8-9 inches shorter than him.

Whenever a kid is as hyped as Richmond has been for that long, he'll have detractors. People who see him play one time- usually in a game where that star's team kicks their team's ass and they don't need him to do much- and make flawed judgments.

He definitely needs to add muscle, but he'll likely play most of his minutes at small forward- and may even function as the backup point guard to McCamey as well as the starting SF- so it isn't nearly as crucial as it would be if he'd be playing the 4 or the 5. He definitely needs to add 15 pounds or so before he reaches the NBA, but unless he puts in a Tisdale/Davis-like effort in the weight room he shouldn't have a problem doing that. He'll likely play two or three years in college anyway.

[HisAirness3]

Whenever a kid is as hyped as Richmond has been for that long, he'll have detractors. People who see him play one time- usually in a game where that star's team kicks their team's ass and they don't need him to do much- and make flawed judgments.

He definitely needs to add muscle, but he'll likely play most of his minutes at small forward- and may even function as the backup point guard to McCamey as well as the starting SF- so it isn't nearly as crucial as it would be if he'd be playing the 4 or the 5. He definitely needs to add 15 pounds or so before he reaches the NBA, but unless he puts in a Tisdale/Davis-like effort in the weight room he shouldn't have a problem doing that. He'll likely play two or three years in college anyway.

Richmond was getting major hype at our school, shit people came to the game just to watch him play. He disappointed them though, because he didn't do much that night. His teammates are actually quite talented. All I know is, during the game I remember when he was shooting FTs the fans were yelling overrated and when he looked like he got hurt which was about 3 times everybody chanted p[COLOR="Black"]us[/COLOR]sy. Kinda funny actually.

[TheGame414]

When I was a senior in high school, Eddy Curry played at our school. Even though he put up 33 and 12 the reaction was pretty much the same: "So what, he's six inches and 100 pounds bigger than everyone else, big deal. Che (our big man) had 24 points against him." (Never mind that Che was built like a college small forward and was playing out on the perimeter.)

I think it's too ingrained in too many of us to go against the hype just to do it. There's maybe less than 10 kids in the last decade who consistently lived up to the hype every single night of their high school careers. The fact that Jereme Richmond didn't blow everyone's doors off every single time he took the court doesn't take away from another fact, that he was one of the 20-25 best players in his high school class, bare minimum.

[Hibachi!]

I miss the days of Dee Brown, DWill, and Luther head

[IlliniFan]

I miss the days of Dee Brown, DWill, and Luther head

We all do.

[wang4three]

Seems like Demetri will test draft waters. Nothing to get anxious about, we all anticipated this.

[IlliniFan]

Seems like Demetri will test draft waters. Nothing to get anxious about, we all anticipated this.

I have a feeling he will stay in. He seems pretty set on it. We'll see.

[wang4three]

I have a feeling he will stay in. He seems pretty set on it. We'll see.

Yeah I have that eerie feeling that he'll stay too. He got into it with Weber a lot this year and on national TV, wonder if he's done with the coaching staff as of now. He did get some nice praises when we played on TV and it is a weak PG year..I think he's strongly considering staying even if it was a 2nd round pick.

[ILLsmak]

If you still think Demetri McCamey isn't a true point guard, and that Illinois will be better off without him next year, I don't know what else to tell you. You can't be helped at this point if you still think this is remotely true.

Oh, there is no doubt in my mind (or most people's) that Metri is not a true PG, but the thing that worries me is that the Illini might struggle a bit without him. Like I said before, it's kind of like an abusive codependent relationship. In the beginning, we will be like WTF, but when it all winds down, we will be better.

Are we a final four team without McCamey? Probably not. But in order to be one with him he has to play smart and well. The Illini went as McCamey went this year... and while a lot of people might say that's because he is by far our best player (and probably is offensively) I believe it also has to do with the fact that he doesn't know how to get wins when he's not balling. no doubt, he lead some great upsets... but there are a lot of games we shouldn't have lost. You can't really put that on him, but then again if you want to call him our best player, you have to. If he gets credits for the wins where he played out of his mind, he deserves some blame for the losses.

Mike Davis is shit. I really liked him, and he said all of the right things coming into last season... like he's gonna try harder to rebound etc etc. But the fact that he is shooting floaters is the epitome of softness.

We don't really need a scoring big man, but we do need someone to go down and control the paint. We need some of those Michigan State guys... big physical bodies. Not everyone needs to be a skill player. Bruce is so interested in having a cleared lane that he's sacrificing controlling the one aspect that will win you games: the paint. Shooting will be off, but if you can get in and get boards and stop the other team from getting lay ups... you will get wins.

I think next year's team will be good despite us not having a PG, and I really hope McCamey goes.

But I wonder if we will win until we get some physicality inside. Even Augustine, Powell, and Ingram were tough. Then we got SP and did well, but we never really had the shooters on that team. Still, it's debatable whether our no-shooter defensive team was better than our no defense shooter team (of last year.)

Oh well, I'm still gonna watch, obviously.

-Smak

[wang4three]

Mike Davis declares for draft. He'll be back.

[Posterize246]

Illinois junior guard Demetri McCamey said on Friday that he will remain in the NBA draft if he is projected to be a first-round pick.

McCamey, a 6-foot-3 point guard, averaged 15.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1.5 steals this past season. He shot .454 from the field, .707 from the free-throw line and .341 from 3-point range.

McCamey has until May 8 to pull his name out of the draft to keep his college eligibility. He said projections on his draft stock have been inconsistent.

"It's all over the place, especially on the Internet," McCamey said on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "Somebody had something on the Internet about [McCamey] being No. 8, some said in the first [round] some said in the second [round] and some said not drafted. It's all over the place, but when you go to workouts in front of scouts and GMs, those are the real people so you'll have a better feel after you work out."

"A little bit but at the same time coach says you have to do the best for me and my future," McCamey said. "Chances like this don't come every day. If you are a guaranteed first-round pick that's something you have to take, and if you're a second-round [pick] that's when you have to weigh your options and see if you really want to do it or come back and improve your draft status for the following year."

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/new...te=1&p=4217322

[wang4three]

5 more days till we find out Demitri's decision.

[TheGame414]

Oh, there is no doubt in my mind (or most people's) that Metri is not a true PG, but the thing that worries me is that the Illini might struggle a bit without him.
-Smak

I've been gone for a few weeks but it's good to see that you're still living in a fantasy world. No, "most people" aren't as delusional as you. You remain the only person I'm aware of still spouting this nonsense. Stop saying stupid things.

Offensively, maybe only three or four guys played a better all-around point guard game than Demetri McCamey in all of college basketball last year. And it's nothing but spin to say anything besides Illinois is in deep trouble without McCamey next season.

[IlliniFan]

McCamey and Davis both coming back. I'm very excited for next season! I got tickets to the Coaches vs. Cancer thing in New York and wanted to see the team at full strength.

http://www.fightingillini.com/sports...050810aaa.html

[TheGame414]

Next year should be fun. Demetri will be one of the best point guards in college basketball. Leading a very good team and playing better defense should be the only things he needs to do to become a first-rounder.

Still, others need to step up in the ballhandling/passing department. It's scary to think how awful we'd have been last year without Demetri because no one else could create for others. D.J. and Brandon can get their own shot but even though we know they aren't point guards, they still need to be better at creating for others. Bertrand, I hope, can help as a backup ballhandler.

Obviously, this is an area where Jereme Richmond could provide an immediate, dramatic improvement on this team, with his playmaking abilities from the small forward spot. I think the question now becomes who gets squeezed from the rotation, unless you think Weber will regularly play 10 guys. Either Jordan (if he's back) or Bertrand will play because we need a backup PG, even if neither is a true point guard by any means. Paul, obviously, will play. Hard to imagine Griffey won't, and harder to imagine Leonard won't. Richmond will likely be the starting small forward, and if not he'd be an ideal big-minutes sixth man backing up the 1, 3 and 4.

It looks to me like Bill Cole will be the guy most likely to lose a rotation spot. Or at the very least, he'll find himself at the back end of it. His only hope in keeping one might be if no one else steps up as a three-point shooter.