r/fightingillini • u/StandTall29 • 12h ago
Men's Basketball The Illini need a third star. Can Tomislav Ivisic be Illinois basketball’s next Luther Head?
https://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/article/tomislav-ivisic-luther-head-illinois-basketball-22481364.php6
u/tech-slacker 11h ago
Being a third star is all relative and typically people look at stars as being offensive players.
Outside of injuries Tommy’s main problem is his motor. He’ll likely have his ups and downs once again.
With Andrej, Mirk, Vaaks, and Coleman they’re likely to be the stars while the twins essentially can be looked at as one star player. Usually when one is down the other is up. Both are rarely down.
Offense will be critical from the two for this team to go deep but more than that they need to rebound and play tough interior d. Both have not been consistent with this. We’ll see where it all goes. Tommy has some leadership qualities on the floor but hoping maturity and motor have improved.
6
u/royallex 10h ago
I think we found a common middle ground last year. When his 3 wasn't falling, coaches eventually made the adjustment to let him work inside the paint on post ups to get into rhythm.
2
u/jcwillia1 9h ago
wonder if we will see tomi's outside game re-emerge now that keaton is not there. theoretically vaaks is that guy but different dynamics - different players...
2
u/vegasAzCrush 9h ago
No. Different position. Big T needs to take care of all little things he is capable and stay healthy. He does not need to do more as the rest of team will do their jobs too.
They all need to play D. Control lanes. Shoot well but when a teammate is off they must step up. Coaches just need to push ball to the ON players.
When all clicking team pushes 100. When not clicking Team D raises floor for Ws.
1
u/lonedroan 10h ago
If memory serves, Luther Head was that teams leading scorer and was perceived as the third star more as product of flash/personality (Dee) and stronger all around game that would translate to the pros (Deron). Head is not the relevant parallel to Tomi. Vaaks is.
The better 04-05 parallel for Tomi, although still not a perfect one, is Augustine. Of course, Tomi’s game and the game in general are quite different than Augustine and his era. But like Augustine, Tomi doesn’t need to consistently take over in any sort of starting role for this team to go far. Instead, he needs to be reliable enough on defense and the boards, while knocking down his 3s and other shots when the offense flows to him.
-5
u/kinggarbear 11h ago
Tomi sadly hasn’t been the same since he had Mono 2 years ago. Love the guy and I still think he’s a vital part of the team, but he’s not the go-to guy we expected him to become during his first year
2
u/vegasAzCrush 9h ago
Tomi was fine last year and is good this year. They need to look at his best high percentage locations and put him in that position.
I would love to know just how many three stats they keep. By location? Self created shot selection? Shot off pass from left or right? Or corner or top? Slow methodical vs pushed? Step back?
Distance? Short vs mid vs line vs long.
Used backboard? This last one I see as a Jorday stat and loved when Ayo used ti kill opponents.Where is Tomis best or worst?
1
u/elh0mbre 8h ago
Pretty sure Tyler is king of this shit - it's one of the big reasons our offensive efficiency is so high.
2
u/jcwillia1 9h ago
were you not watching basketball during the back half last year?
1
18
u/CRoseCrizzle 10h ago
The author needs to do a little more research. Vaaks is clearly that guy and was brought in from providence to be that guy.
Tomi will have his games and moments as he's a talented offensive player but Tomi won't have the ball in his hands as much as Vaaks, Mirkovic and Stojakovic.
Coleman might be the X factor when it comes to that discussion but he's just a freshman. He'll have a good year and probably has the most NBA potential but I'm guessing the Illini will lean more on the more experienced guys.