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GYERO

Illinois has no depth.

Riley and Jakucionis are both FR so getting physical and being up in their grill will throw their timing.

Ivisic is a stud and Anari has to take that challenge on and prove something here. Everytime he has been challenged he has been up for it.

Butler vs Boswell will be bull vs bull, hopefully Butler is smart and doesn’t go after stupid fouls because we need him the whole game.

Those four literally play 36 minutes a game and if we run pace, which they want to do, we could tire them out.
-I think the keys to the game will be limiting their 3 point attempts and somehow winning the turnover battle.

-We normally aren’t great at forcing turnovers but Jakuciounus is turnover prone and we’re going to have to focus on/and take advantage of that. I think Butler/Chandler will be on him primarily as he’s their pg and Oweh will be on Boswell.

-Winning the turnover battle will be important because they’ll probably win the offensive rebounding battle.

-The most concerning matchup to me defensively is Carr on Riley. That’s a tough matchup and no one off of our bench matches up with him well either. Maybe BG for stretches if he plays some 4 but not Ansley. Carr needs to be on the floor as much as possible and take advantage of the smaller Riley guarding him on the other end.

-They actually have a couple of good players off of their bench but only play 8 guys. Humrichous is a good player and shoots a ton of 3s. 6-9 and shot just about 20 3s less than Brea on the year so can be a matchup nightmare.

-They have a freshman big off their bench (Johnson) who puts up 7 & 7 in only 18 minutes per game so he’s pretty solid too.

-I like the fact that we’re an underdog now and Pope can use that to his advantage. Kinda wish we were the lower seeded team because some of our biggest wins have come when it was least expected. Their crowd is gonna be rowdy.
 
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Pope said at the post-game presser that Vernon Hatton was the first Mormon to play at UK. I didn't know that.

I hope Pope focuses on getting at least some non-seniors in the portal. That UNLV kid has the profile of someone who could contribute for 2 years, for instance. I hope be builds a core nucleus and then just adds star transfers and one and dones as they appear.
 
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Pope said at the post-game presser that Vernon Hatton was the first Mormon to play at UK. I didn't know that.

I hope Pope focuses on getting at least some non-seniors in the portal. That UNLV kid has the profile of someone who could contribute for 2 years, for instance. I hope be builds a core nucleus and then just adds star transfers and one and dones as they appear.

According to rafters (I know) Chandler is for sure coming back, which is great news. Continuity has been this program’s biggest weakness the last 15 years imo
 
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UK / Illinois is also the highest total (170) by 15 points to the next closest BYU / Wisconsin (155). Then Oregon / Arizona 152.5, UCONN / Florida 151.

The lowest total is Drake / Texas Tech (126). Tech laying 7.5 in such a small total seems a bit high. May look at Drake +7.5.

May also play Florida -9.5 v/s UCONN, Creighton +9 vs Auburn, and Baylor +12 playing Duke, over 155 BYU / Wisconsin. BYU scored 80 on a tough VCU team and Wisconsin scored 89 against Montana and could have been over 100 if not a blow out. There will be 3's galore in this game, very little defense.
 
HOB showed something about his finance moving to KY when they get married in May. Kinda good news…..


….just wonder if the other 4 wives are willing to move as well. 🥁
 
Meat grinder thiero would have been fun to watch in this one. Thought we were awful at the rim but Rick may expire on live telivision. Going to hammer Johnnies at the half.
 
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