Illinois basketball fans

[InspiredLebowski]

Alex Legion transferring. His mom must've gotten word from God.

[IlliniFan]

Alex Legion transferring. His mom must've gotten word from God.

I know Game was a fan of Legion, but after watching him the past year and a half, it is obvious to me that he is not a division 1 caliber basketball player. He can't dribble, he can't defend, and he can't finish at the rim (I'm assuming because he never gets there). He is supposedly a great shooter in practice. Wonderful. That will do the team lots of good.

Sorry, had to get that out. Best of luck to him wherever he goes, which will probably be a D2 school so he can play immediately. I think his departure frees up a scholarship to accommodate our 3 man 2010 class so I guess there is no pressure on Semrau to leave the team next year, unless of course he wants to.

[wang4three]

Best of luck to Alex; I was hoping he'd be productive for us this year..but it's unfortunate. I wonder if he will go the Jamar Smith route or just try out for the D-League.

[DeuceWallaces]

All you Illinois guys were singing a different tune on Legion last year. Even deleting my megative threads on him. Totally lame. I told you he was a head case.

Three schools down. I wonder who's next on his list.

[wang4three]

Nice win tonight! Mike and Mike were beasting!

[IlliniFan]

Wow talk about a stressful game. Thank god we got the victory. Tried to give it away with that turnover but managed to finish this one. Much needed win for this team.

[TheGame414]

All you Illinois guys were singing a different tune on Legion last year. Even deleting my megative threads on him. Totally lame. I told you he was a head case.

Three schools down. I wonder who's next on his list.

I'm not aware of any megative threads or even what megative means, but I've made it clear that this thread isn't for gratuitous insults of Illinois players. Yes, before he played bad, we had a different opinion. Then he played poorly, and our opinions changed. Shocker, right?

The thing is...you were still wrong. Legion worked hard and, one driver's license snafu aside (which turned out to be a legitimately honest mistake) wasn't a headcase. He didn't cause problems or whine and by all accounts was a good teammate.

He's just not a good basketball player.

He can't handle the ball and isn't quick enough to run off screens to consistently get open. I thought he showed flashes of his ability with his double-digit games early on against Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State- all on the road- last year, and thought his production fell off because he couldn't get regular enough minutes to get in a groove.

In reality, the scouting report on him was simple; get way up on him and don't let him catch it clean, and he's done. Weber knew this, other teams knew it, and he didn't defend or do anything else well enough to contribute. Plain and simple. When Brandon Paul got off to a strong start and established himself as the third starting guard, Alex was done.

(In reality, the coaches had probably known for quite some time that BP3 and Bill Cole were gonna push Alex out of the rotation.)

So neither one of us were right. You were wrong about him being a headcase, and I was wrong about him being good.

[TheGame414]

Best of luck to Alex; I was hoping he'd be productive for us this year..but it's unfortunate. I wonder if he will go the Jamar Smith route or just try out for the D-League.

If he isn't quick enough to get shots up and not a good enough ballhandler to create his own shot against Big Ten defenders, what makes you think he can do it against D-League defenders, most of whom were good college players?

[InspiredLebowski]

Legion's going to FIU to play for Zeke according to the ESPN crawl

[wang4three]

If he isn't quick enough to get shots up and not a good enough ballhandler to create his own shot against Big Ten defenders, what makes you think he can do it against D-League defenders, most of whom were good college players?

Because anyone can try out for the D-League? I've watched D-League play, the talent level there isn't really all that great. Mustafa Shakur looks like Chris Paul out there.

[IlliniFan]

Because anyone can try out for the D-League? I've watched D-League play, the talent level there isn't really all that great. Mustafa Shakur looks like Chris Paul out there.

That's not the point. What makes you think that a player who can't get off the bench in college is good enough to play with above average college players in the d league? We know he can try out, but he won't be able to make it.

[wang4three]

That's not the point. What makes you think that a player who can't get off the bench in college is good enough to play with above average college players in the d league? We know he can try out, but he won't be able to make it.

Perhaps you can point out where I said he was going to make it in the NBDL. I just said he might as well try for it because what's the point in sitting out for another year just to play 1 year of college basketball? Might as well give your shot at the pros. That's all I've suggested. The both of you have read that Legion has impressed in practice over the summer. He seems to be a practice player, so stuff like try outs and what not could be something excels in despite not being impressive on court. If Latavious Williams is being given a shot for youth and talent, Alex could squeeze himself onto a team too. The NBDL is not that impressive, I'm pretty sure they're just looking for players to begin with.

[TheGame414]

Because anyone can try out for the D-League? I've watched D-League play, the talent level there isn't really all that great. Mustafa Shakur looks like Chris Paul out there.

And Mustafa Shakur was a pretty good college point guard who started for a Top 5 team. Alex Legion couldn't crack the rotation regularly for a borderline Top 25 team. Shakur is quick and smooth with the ball. Legion is neither of those things.

The talent level isn't great but like I said, most of the players were, at the very least, decent college players. Alex Legion is a bad college player.

[TheGame414]

Perhaps you can point out where I said he was going to make it in the NBDL. I just said he might as well try for it because what's the point in sitting out for another year just to play 1 year of college basketball? Might as well give your shot at the pros. That's all I've suggested. The both of you have read that Legion has impressed in practice over the summer. He seems to be a practice player, so stuff like try outs and what not could be something excels in despite not being impressive on court. If Latavious Williams is being given a shot for youth and talent, Alex could squeeze himself onto a team too. The NBDL is not that impressive, I'm pretty sure they're just looking for players to begin with.

I never said that you did say he'd make it in the NBDL. I'm just saying, what's the point? If he can't play above Bill Cole how is he gonna play above those guys?

And we've found out, subsequently, that reports of him impressing in practice were way overblown. He regularly was smoked by Jamar Smith in practices.

[wang4three]

I never said that you did say he'd make it in the NBDL. I'm just saying, what's the point? If he can't play above Bill Cole how is he gonna play above those guys?

And we've found out, subsequently, that reports of him impressing in practice were way overblown. He regularly was smoked by Jamar Smith in practices.

Because there are D2 and D1 bench players in the NBDL. You really think Legion is even worse than them? The NBDL is not that far advanced than the college ranks. It's not Europe where the collection of talent and competition is overwhelmingly higher. Actually, it maybe even worse than college players considering there are no superstars in the making in there. It really is just a collection of mediocre college players and now is including high school players. If you think Legion right now is worse than an outside top 50 recruit out of high school,then maybe he won't make it in the NBDL... but based on the facts at hand, I don't think it's inconceivable that he has a chance to get on a team. If you ask me, they're struggling to get players to play.

Have you seen the NBDL? It's not all as impressive as you make it to be.