Illinois Quick Facts

Things I learned at Illini hoops practice Things I learned at Illini hoops ...

Though this week is a dead period for recruiting, Illinois’ coaches aren’t taking it easy. Bruce Weber and his guys are holding four of the team’s 10 days of practice leading up to the Italy trip in August.

Weber flung open the doors to the media for Tuesday’s two-hour session, which served as the first chance to see Illinois’ seven new players work out in an organized full-team setting.

Here are some facts, observations and opinions based on that session --- the fourth of the 10 practices the NCAA allows before a foreign trip --- and some interviews that accompanied it.

1. I asked a half-dozen observers for their pick as the most impressive newcomer. While nobody limited themselves to one pick, the one name that came up every time was 6-foot-10 center/forward Nnanna Egwu.

It’s easy to see what’s to like about Egwu: He’s as quick and as rangy as James Augustine. Remember how Illinois used to trap opposing guards at the top of the key with Augustine? Egwu can and will do the same thing.

He also has a knack for blocking shots and boasts a quick second leap when battling for rebounds. And when Tuesday’s practice was over, he stuck around for a few extra minutes and displayed a compact 3-point shot. I’m not saying he’ll take those in a game, but it’s clear that’s among the areas that can develop as his Illini career rolls on.

Egwu runs the floor as quickly and fluidly as Augustine did, which is one reason why everybody talks about Egwu’s “motor.” So he was asked where he got said motor. “I bought it from Jiffy Lube for $39.99,” he replied with a smile. So he’s quick off the floor as well.

2. Illinois has the opportunity to put several absurd athletes on the floor at the same time to cause defensive havoc. If Weber chooses to play Egwu and 7-foot-1 Meyers Leonard together in the frontcourt --- and go with some combination of Brandon Paul, D.J. Richardson, Crandall Head and Joseph Bertrand in the backcourt --- they’re going to shrink the half-court considerably for opposing offenses.

Since I said it to other media types in the balcony at Ubben, I’ll type it here as well: I think it’d be really interesting to see Illinois playing DePaul’s full-court style of defense. The Illini won’t do that in all likelihood, but they’ll get a great opportunity to work on uptempo matters in Italy because they’ll be playing games with a 24-second shot clock.

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