Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[AirNeazy]

What about Booth? Isn’t it more likely that Hum plays at the 3 and Morez /Booth fight for minutes at the 4?

Very well could be, just depends on how players look once they actually start competing in practice I guess. But you don't bring a player like Morez here to potentially be 3rd string behind someone who avg 6/4 last year. My money is on him getting a whole lot of minutes (for a freshman) regardless of if he starts or not.

Just my opinion though, we'll see what happens as I am by no means an insider

 

[Illini90]

Richmond is likely landing at St. John's as well, been that way for a while. If they got a kid from college that's not Demin I think it would be someone not named Richmond.

That being said, I think there is a better than 50% chance we get Demin right now

If Demin wants to play college ball. He will be an Illini. Money is not a factor here. Just a matter of what Egor wants to do.

 

[IlliniwekKDR]

Playing for us has to beat being drafted into fighting wars in Ukraine

 

[ChiefGritty]

Demin is by far the preferred wing. Kadary Richmond is more of a combo-guard and not a very good shooter.

Kadary Richmond absolutely projects as a better 2024-25 college basketball player, even if Demin has the much brighter pro future.

Almost a 5 year age gap between them.

Either one of them would be a home run for us though.

QUESTION FOR SMART PEOPLE - Can Booth become CoHawk?

For sure, a lot of similarity there.

The book on Booth is that he's got a tendency to drift and disappear too much, just kinda hanging around the perimeter and not grabbing games by the scruff of the neck. But there's an NBA talent level there, and a lot of skill overlap with CoHawk.

 

[STATS GUY]

What about Booth? Isn’t it more likely that Hum plays at the 3 and Morez /Booth fight for minutes at the 4?

Depends on the team and the match up. Whoever is at what position will need to be able to slip the PNR screen and knock down a 3. Go hard to the glass.

 

[aaeismacgychel]

Yeah, didn't really know where to slot in Tre since I thought Ty was going to be locked in at the 3.

That's super interesting to me that you really don't see Ty as our starting SF. Don't think we see him at PG again, he's definitely not a shooting guard, and we have more depth options at the 4 (unless we really, really wanted to go small ball I guess?). Where do you see Ty's role on the roster?

My gut feel with the roster this year is the positional numbers are going to be fairly meaningless outside of Boswell at the 1 and Ivisic at the 5 and will be based on rotation and matchup more than anything. Just based on how the team is constructed thus far, we're guard light especially on the defensive side of the ball. Now the additional 2 or so adds should shore that up significantly, but as of right now, Ty is probably the best perimeter defender on the roster and if you are playing Ivisic and Humrichous, both of who are big and can shoot, Ty is a natural fit as one of the defensive guards, who will rotate down on offense as Ivisic or Hum switches out.

In fact, watching the clips and movement of Ivisic off ball, I really think the combo between him and Ty could go off, especially with a passer like Bos and a shooter like Hum. If you can get Ivisic and Ty to sync up their offball movements and cuts as Hum fills the gap, I see that being an absolutely lethal offensive combination. Mismatch city with a PG who can dissect the play for the option? Absolute yes from me and should be positively filthy.

 

[tts22]

Props to Underwood and Whitman for going out and getting Antigua.

Props to the staff for embracing how recruiting has changed and the portal works. They have planned for it - months in advance.

It's pretty impressive the team they are putting together for basically starting over with only a couple of holdovers.

And, it's no wonder SOME of these dudes are leaving. The recruits they are bringing in are simply better or have higher ceilings.

DAMN IMPRESSIVE

 

[BashCtIllini]

QUESTION FOR SMART PEOPLE - Can Booth become CoHawk?

Look at their stats:

Hawkins (Soph): 19 mpg, 5.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.5 apg, 44.2% FG, 29.2% 3pt, 65.0% FT
Booth (Fr): 19.9 mpg, 6.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.5 apg, 39.1% FG, 29.7% 3pt, 63.4% FT

They're extremely comparable. I personally was never a Coleman fan, but he did make a big jump his Sr year and was a much better player. So if Booth can make a similar jump, I'd say it certainly looks like it.

 

[theNewGuy]

We're the Illini. He's The Tomahawk to me. We've needed a new one since the NCAA took our Sweet Sioux one away.

The Tomahawk is what happens when teams run into the defensive duo of Ivisic and Coleman next year.

 

[Get yourself a new map]

I am conflicted and would love to hear the staff's thought process after it all materializes.
One the one hand, I think there is enough skill here offensively that I want to add some defensive teeth at the 2/3. TI affords you the ability to have a minus shooter there in Richmond.

On the other hand, are we still missing/needing a guy who can flat-out get you a bucket when necessary? Is 3Gor so good offensively all-around that you just can't pass on him if he's gettable? That team would be BIG.... Is that too much length such that we struggle to guard the ball? Does it not matter because the rim is better-protected than it was this year?

Feels good to potentially have to make this call. Would be thrilled with any of the four names being floated around for that last big minutes spot.

 

[SkyysNotFalling]

Egor Denim is a projected 1st round pick in next years draft…

Tomiskav Ivisic projected late 2nd round pick

Carey Booth on draft boards as late second/undrafted….

Kylan Boswell is a top 75 prospect in the 2025 class…

 

[pruman91]

I expect BU & staff will repay Morez's loyalty for hanging with the Illini for those 2 + years as a commit..........He will have to play his way out of being in the rotation...........And I don't see that happening at all.......

I expect he either starts the season off starting or being the first sub in..........Practice will decide that............I think Morez will be a star for ever how long he is with the Illini.........he has all the tools and he is an extremely motivated young man , at least he was in all the games I watched........JMHO............

 

[illini0440]

What about Booth? Isn’t it more likely that Hum plays at the 3 and Morez /Booth fight for minutes at the 4?

It’s much more likely that Hum was recruited to play the 4 and small ball 5

 

[ChiefGritty]

Ivisic, Morez, Booth and Humdinger is just a really nice blend of talents, ages, experience levels, etc. Those guys are all going to make each other better practicing against each other and will all compete for minutes giving us great depth on the inside.

Ty and Tre can contribute at the 4 as well, but if that bunch of bigs locks down the 4 and 5 they can also contribute to bigger lineups as a 3.

Demin as a knockdown shooting wing with PG skills is really the cherry on top here, this is exciting stuff. We need wing scoring but also cover for Boswell and he's both in the same guy.

 

[Birdus]

I agree, although I can't imagine a starting lineup that doesn't include Tre White. But I'm still greedy; give me Egor and we might be no. 1 in first AP poll. It would be a lineup to win a national title.

I think White is going to be good! Really Good!

 

[Central IL Illini]

Have you not seen around 2000 players enter the portal this year?

With the free unlimited transfers it's basically in a players best financial interests to at least enter the portal every year

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

Not gonna lie: knew Tomislav was a lock to commit and been thinking about Egor so much...haven't really gotten to think about Tomislav that deeply.

Think he's surely a upgrade from Dain. As much as ILL fans love him, there were times where he was just not playable for reasons that were both related to matchup issues and him just not playing well at times. Way better on D and on O imo.

Great get and if we truly saved such a great amount by taking him and moving away from these other 5s (Cliff, etc), this is truly a steal. He honestly might be more productive than Cliff next season and def. has a chance to be just as productive as any big in the portal.

 

[Illini92and96]

QUESTION FOR SMART PEOPLE - Can Booth become CoHawk?

Yes, modern science is amazing.

 

[Birdus]

You're right. These players are so interchangeable.

 

[New Creation]

Imagine if we got Egor Demin?

Bos 6'2
3Gor 6'8
Hummer 6'9
Rez/Booth 6'10
Big T 7'1

 

[DeonThomas]

Could you please post this over on the football recruiting thread too, please...........?

 

[BradUnderwoodLover]

I really hope Richmond is not the wing we get. Can’t shoot at all and was a stat stuffer on a non tourney team…

 

[ChiefGritty]

I think White is going to be good! Really Good!

I'm a low-key believer too, but it also has to be acknowledged that he was really bad last year, so RELYING on him to be a centerpiece of the team would introduce major downside risk into projecting next season.

 

[BWA]

With the free unlimited transfers it's basically in a players best financial interests to at least enter the portal every year

Only exception would be if a player sees that their current coaches are going to get them drafted early in the draft AND the team offers a nice chunk of NIL up front to keep them around.

 

[Emerson Bigguns]

Props to Underwood and Whitman for going out and getting Antigua.

Props to the staff for embracing how recruiting has changed and the portal works. They have planned for it - months in advance.

It's pretty impressive the team they are putting together for basically starting over with only a couple of holdovers.

And, it's no wonder SOME of these dudes are leaving. The recruits they are bringing in are simply better or have higher ceilings.

DAMN IMPRESSIVE

That’s where I’m at… Yes we lost some guys who have the potential to be really good B1G players, but we are replacing them with guys who have the potential to be NBA players.