Fly on the Wall Part 1 - Meet St. Francis
December 20, 2021
It’s a 2-day scout and game prep for Illinois basketball in today’s day and age of analytics and video, and our insider Brad Sturdy was able to be a fly on the wall for two days of prep and scouting before the St. Francis game last weekend. In the first of this 3-part series, we look at the last full practice prior to the game.
9AM Friday
At 8:30AM, the 3 Freshmen, RJ Melendez, Luke Goode and Brandin Podziemski are getting shots up in the State Farm Center. I’m told that one of the biggest (pleasant) surprises has been the time spent in the gym by these 3. Although they have had their issues at times, they are beginning to ‘get it’. Underwood said the last week of practice and these 3 games over break will be important for them if they want to be in the mix in Big Ten play.
‘Film Room’ is called out repeatedly as the timer on the State Farm Center basket ticks down, and the players, coaches and staff head to the ‘Ready Room’.
The Ready Room in the State Farm Center is the multi-media room, there are about 25 seats in 3 rows where the players sit in the first two rows and they watch film and clips. The session starts with Underwood going over COVID and the situation right now, with all of the shutdowns in college basketball, but quickly turns to the film session. This is actually the second film session on St. Francis. The players received their personnel packets and St. Francis team sheets on Thursday.