Here’s what I learned from the exhibition opener against Wayne State College of Nebraska: Nothing.
There’s no reason to draw conclusions from this game, unless you’re prepared to envision a season in which Meyers Leonard loiters on the bench and Sam Maniscalco, Myke Henry, Crandall Head and Devin Langford don’t play at all.
In past seasons under Bruce Weber, lessons learned in the pre-season were forgotten and dismissed by February. This time, Weber himself dismissed the experience. He complained that the visitors forwarded a scouting tape only fifteen minutes in length, in which none of the players wore jersey numbers. If the purpose of an exhibition game is to test run game prep/game day routine, this exhibit failed.
Let’s assume Wayne State won’t be invited back. Rather than playing the role of our patsy, WSC used this trip as a recruiting tool. They tried to win, damn them.
Basketball mastermind Lynda Paul observed WSC’s strategic plan unfold from the Illini parents’ section, noting their employment of offensive sets in building an early second-half lead.
Were it not for all the fouls, this plan might have toppled the Illini.
Wayne State centers Darren Moore and Nick Wuebker fouled out in 11 and 6 minutes, respectively. Forwards Clayfell Harris and Derrell Williams needed 17 and 19 minutes to disqualify themselves. When contemplating reports of achievements by Illini Mike Shaw (8 rebounds) and Meyers Leonard (18 points), keep in mind that these two flourished in the second half, when their Division II opponent was not merely short-handed, but actually short.
Will you ever again see Ibrahima Djimde earn PT in equal doses with Nnanna Egwu and Meyers Leonard (13, 13 and 16 minutes)? Well, maybe.
Nnanna was learning a lesson about holding, grabbing, reaching, hand-checking. Meyers was learning (or if not actually learning, at least being taught) some sort of lesson.
Djimde is a load. He can move people out of the way with one enormous swipe of his ass. If it were illegal for basketball’s frontcourt players to touch the ball (like an offensive lineman), Djimde would be just about perfect. When he got his hands on the ball, Illinois generally received some kind of penalty.
It’s possible that Djimde got extra tic because his adoptive family traveled a long way to see him. Djimde’s American “mom” Alicia Anderson and “aunt” Leslie Thomas drove seven hours from Huntington, W.Va.
Anderson and Thomas are two of the regular house moms for Huntington Prep’s team of international teen stars. Thomas currently looks after Andrew Wiggins and Xavier Rathan-Mayes, an Illini recruit. Assistant coach Jay Price spent a lot of face time on Anderson and Thomas, and he smiled a lot.
Here’s a slideshow of pictures from Tuesday’s game.