Basketball - IlliniGuys.com

Ked's Recruiting Roundup - James Brown High Demand Big Man from St. Rita

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 17, 2022

James Brown, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound center from St. Rita High School in Chicago, is already a five-star prospect and considered one of the nation's top 30 recruits in his class.

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Cockburn Believes His Legacy Defined By Long NCAA Tournament Run

Illinois’ All-American center Kofi Cockburn knows he can write himself into a different level of Illini history over the next few weeks.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 16, 2022

PITTSBURGH -- While the immediacy of NCAA Tournament results don’t typically allow for long-term thinking, Kofi Cockburn has given himself several months to think about this 2022 postseason run.

When the All-American center returned to Illinois for his third season of college basketball, at least part of the reason was to give it another go in the month of March to reverse the legacy produced by an admittedly disappointing performance last year in a 71-58 loss to Loyola (Chicago) in the second round.

“Absolutely I envisioned it,” Cockburn said Sunday. “I knew how good we were. I still don’t think we’ve come close to hitting that peak at being as good as we can get. We’re still learning and still getting better. I definitely envisioned this. These guys are really tough guys. They’re winners.”

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Illini Coaches Have Highlighted Defensive Issues They’ll See in NCAA Tournament

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 16, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Following the win at Michigan State last month, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood came to his entire coaching staff with an edict.

After the earlier-than-anticipated exit from last year’s NCAA Tournament, Underwood wanted his assistant coaches and off-the-floor analysts to come to him with a list of three or four items that would cause Illinois problems in postseason play. The Ubben Practice Facility lab of assistant coaches consisting of Chester Frazier, Geoff Alexander and Tim Anderson came up with three items for a deep dive look: defending centers in pick-and-pop offense, ball screen coverages and transition defensive communication.

It should come as no surprise that the Illini coaches are focused on the defensive end of the floor as, according to KenPom.com, they’re 32nd in the nation in overall defensive efficiency, 27th in defending two-point field goals but 100th in defending the three-point arc.

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