College basketball is exactly like poker- you need a winning hand of the five very best that you can put out there. When Illinois Fighting Illini basketball took the floor against VCU in Miami, I tweeted how much I really liked the starting five that Illini basketball Coach John Groce went with for that game- Guard Tracy Abrams, Guard Malcolm Hill, Guard Jalen Coleman-Lands, Center Mike Thorne and Forward Leron Black.
The result was a blowout win over Virginia Commonwealth, and they haven’t looked back since. After the win over Brigham Young at the United Center tonight, it’s become clearer and clearer that this five needs to be the starers the rest of this season; it’s the most talented lineup 2016-17 Illini basketball can trot out there.
Same starters for 4th straight game, same throwbacks for 4th straight game.?#Illini go for 5th-straight win tonight.
If it ain't broke… pic.twitter.com/PBMUQazzdv
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) December 18, 2016
You could obviously play a lineup where you have guys with higher recruiting rankings, players who had more stars next to their name when they entered college basketball. You could obviously go with a more experienced starting five, or perhaps a smaller lineup with Hill at forward and the three guards.
Scrap that, this line-up is winning, this is the way to go. John Groce after the 75-73 win over BYU, about whether this will be the lineup or not.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
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