Besides the fact that Cliff and everyone else did a great job on him on the defensive end when he plays defense I noticed last night he doesn't come over and help on drives to try and block shots very interesting
Kofi
- Thread starter richthedentist
- Start date
On Ron’s drive late in the game he just stepped out of the way
He was caught between Ron and Cliff I believe, so in his defense if he steps over it's an easy pass to Cliff for a dunk
In Kofi's defense, every time he got the ball he was mobbed. Cliff was given space to operate 1 on 1 in the post. Kofi did his job by still putting up 20 points, and enabling his shooters to get of a lot of good shots that they clanked. Our D had a lot to do with those bricks. But still, you can't just compare the stat lines of the two players and say that Cliff outplayed Cofi.
Not taking anything away from Cliff who is blowing up right now. No telling how high he will go.
He does not move very well. He is a giant of a human being, extremely strong and thick, His flexibility is meh.
He was running on fumes after being taken out of the game 5 minutes in ….
He was caught between defending Ron and his man. If he stepped in front of Ron, his man would have been open for an easy layup so he got caught in no man's land. He should have stopped Ron and forced him to make the pass.
Exactly. He did not step out of the way. He was anticipating a pass to Cliff so goes from being in position to contest the shot quickly making a quick step toward Cliff with his right arm out. He had to make a choice. He actually did a good job trying to get Harper to think that he was going to contest his shot before he steps to the side trying to intercept a pass. If it was Mulcahy, the pass would have come. Harper is just more inclined to taking it himself. I think that RU sometimes over passes inside at times.
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I think that it's largely because people do not try him though. I say that last night. We went inside, but stepped back on the shot or floated a much higher shot than usual. We got a lot of offensive rebounds yesterday where we passed the ball back out instead of going up with it. Kofi definitely affected the shots in the paint even if he was not blocking them.
His backup averages more blocks per game even though he only plays 10 minutes.
You can say that but the reality is that was a bad defensive decision by him. Every high schooler knows to stop ball first.
Probably splitting hairs since the odds are they score either way but I would prefer to force Harper to make a pocket pass, Cliff to make a clean catch and dunk then to give RHJ a clear path. There is also the possibility that RHJ gets a charge call after the pass if he just gets there and waits.
Ron attacked Kofi several times as teams know he doesn't block shots as well as the average big man. This is how you get him off his game and in foul trouble.
When they're not deducting fouls from him when you're looking the other way.
After cliff blocked his shot he disappeared
I don't buy the highlighted portion of your post but I do agree he alters shots. I think it's just that he is not a particularly good shot blocker. He's on the slow side and not overly athletic.
No idea what you were watching but in my eye test (and many stats), Cliff outplayed Kofi. Their games are so different and Kofi is much more physical but Cliff had a bigger impact, especially in the 2nd half
It's really hard to make apples to apples comparisons when Kofi was the focus of our defense and Cliff was not the focus of theirs.
Cliff was the better player in the summer and throughout the season off the court in the "conditioning department". Kofi's turbo button on the Xbox controller wasn't working.
Yep when in doubt you stop the ball. But hard to kill him for that .
The dunk sealed it
Illini D does not help on drives much, would rather give up 2s than 3s. Also Kofi knows he is more valuable on the court than sitting on the bench with foul trouble.
I do agree he should have taken the foul late on that Harper drive. One of many bad decisions by Illini players.