NCAA Tournament: Strengths and weaknesses of top 16 overall seeds

Illinois Fighting Illini: 23-6 (16-4)

Weakness

There are two common denominators among the games in which the Fighting Illini not only lost but struggled to win. The first thing that Illinois needs to happen, is for one if not both of their talented freshman to play a supporting role to Ayo Dosunmu. When Adam Miller or Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year Andre Curbelo becomes a scoring threat, it takes a lot of the responsibility off of Dosunmu.

When there is not another threat to score off the dribble, Dosunmu tends to take it upon himself, especially down the stretch in a close game. Whether or not he has been the primary ball-handler for the previous 38 minutes, Dosunmu will be in crunch time. Dosunmu’s over three turnovers per game is a factor in Illinois being second in the Big Ten in turnovers.

Another weakness Coach Underwood will have to keep in mind is keeping Kofi Cockburn in the game. Cockburn can be exposed on defense if he is put in screen action on the perimeter, if Cockburn picks up fouls he is not on the floor. The second reason it is difficult to keep Cockburn on the floor late in games is his success at the free-throw line which is 54 percent.

Strength 

The fact that the Fighting Illini has two players in Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn who would be contributing in the NBA instead of March Madness is the obvious strength of the Illini. Cockburn is able to be so much more effective while staying out of foul trouble thanks to the presence of junior forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili. The five points over 14 minutes that Bezhanishvili averages pale in importance to the different looks he provides to opposing teams.

Bezhanishvili’s mid-range ability is the ying to Cockburn’s yang power moves. With the Big Ten’s Sixth Man coming off the bench for 21 minutes to replace and at times play alongside Dosunmu, Coach Underwood’s bench is a strong point.