skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Understand people want to be positive but anyone thinking this offseason was anything but a massive failure is delusional. This is a bubble team
Well slap my a$$ and call me delusional then.
Understand people want to be positive but anyone thinking this offseason was anything but a massive failure is delusional. This is a bubble team
Yeah...kind of like Ben is the only way the Evansville transfer is referred to hereYeah...he'll be Just Mike here at Loyalty...where getting names right ranks somewhere between actually reading the thread, and asking Insiders the same question 372 times.
Hard to make this determination in May. Let’s see who’s on top in March.I struggle a bit with Indiana and Mike Woodson out-portaling us this year.
Yeah, he's a developmental guy. We need a SG who can contribute right away, not a guy who might transfer again after developing with us for a year.Sharavjamts would be an end-of-the-bench guy.
I can see them taking him IF they also land a combine participant who can play on or off the ball.
Demin may be the best player available portal and Euro combined (for those in play) and deserves the biggest payday. If Illini won't pay Demin his asking price, I understand drawing the line somewhere, but am still bummed out after firmly believing Demin would have given Illinois their highest ceiling next season, in a long, long time since 2005. Getting two other players for the same or less than Demin's asking price is still not providing equivalent performance. I just hope Illinois lucks out with an NBA draft pullout and a secondary player to get to 12. Sadly I don't think even an draft pullout player would be as good as Demin, but hopefully still good enough to propel Illini deep into NCAA tourney. Still a crapshoot getting a pullout, as they will want big money too, likely over $1.5M.It's a wide range of potential outcomes as it stands.
A number of load-bearing pieces (particularly DGL, Ty, Booth, White, and Morez) where a 90th percentile outcome is a stud, and a 40th percentile outcome is not someone who is making a contribution toward winning high-major basketball.
Whereas Domask, Guerrier, TSJ, Coleman to an extent, those were guys with really high floors who we knew we could count on winning contributions from. Ty is a little like that, Humdinger is a little like that, but that's not the character of this next roster generally.
It's just going to be a high-talent, low-experience team by design that's going to be reliant on the right traits emerging from players who haven't shown them yet. But a high floor 15ppg scorer type who can be trusted to soak up offensive usage would go a long long way to making the probabilities look friendlier. (As opposed to Demin who only enhanced the boom or bust factor)
Mike would be a good reserve with possibly better skills than who transferred out. Just need to still get an alpha elite wing around 6'6-6'9.Sharavjamts would be an end-of-the-bench guy.
I can see them taking him IF they also land a combine participant who can play on or off the ball.
But is he still a proponent of a flat tax?Not sure how serious we are about Monsanto from Wake Forest, but my oldest daughter is a recent grad from there. I have been to a bunch of games as it is super easy to get tickets and I live in NC. He was injured for a large portion of last year, but when he played over the last 2 years, he regularly shot the lights out. He is definitely more of a catch and shoot guy, and he is streaky, but I watched him drop 6-7 treys per game on multiple occasions. Not an "Alpha" type guy but was often their leading scorer. Can't really comment on his defense because at Wake Forest, defense was usually optional. Steve Forbes (appears, at least) to be of the mind of just outscoring the other team. When their shots were falling, they could beat anyone, when they didn't fall......
Kid appeared to be an EDG as best I could tell. He was pretty chill and well liked on campus per my daughter. Take that for whatever it's worth.
A lot of talented players with high ratings out of high school, that haven't had right opportunity or coaching them to their strengths.We have a very high ceiling but I wouldn’t say this team is a tournament lock. we’re depending on a lot of guys to breakout
Wife was a grad from there. They've been my second team for many years. So I've followed them somewhat, closely.Not sure how serious we are about Monsanto from Wake Forest, but my oldest daughter is a recent grad from there. I have been to a bunch of games as it is super easy to get tickets and I live in NC. He was injured for a large portion of last year, but when he played over the last 2 years, he regularly shot the lights out. He is definitely more of a catch and shoot guy, and he is streaky, but I watched him drop 6-7 treys per game on multiple occasions. Not an "Alpha" type guy but was often their leading scorer. Can't really comment on his defense because at Wake Forest, defense was usually optional. Steve Forbes (appears, at least) to be of the mind of just outscoring the other team. When their shots were falling, they could beat anyone, when they didn't fall......
Kid appeared to be an EDG as best I could tell. He was pretty chill and well liked on campus per my daughter. Take that for whatever it's worth.
Understand people want to be positive but anyone thinking this offseason was anything but a massive failure is delusional. This is a bubble team
I don't know if it's bamboozled, but it definitely feels like where we were ahead of the curve on transfers and the portal for a couple years, other teams caught up.What we can say clearly at this stage is that we have been completely bamboozled by the market price of talent in this market. We've done a creative but still incomplete job of finding value in sneakier ways, but we've been unable or unwilling to pay the revealed market value of a host of players where we thought we'd elbowed out other suitors.
That's a broader thing than just the 2024-25 Illini team. I have said from the very beginning that this portal season was going to be a learning experience, and those lessons are trickling in.
Just bizarre on so many levels. Honest to god, does Egor Demin know what a Mormon is?
Did he redshirt the 21-22 season? The stats seem to skip that year on ESPN.Jamir Watkins has a lot of TSJ in his game - he would be the plug and play starter to fill that lead scorer role. I can easily see him having a TSJ type season next year. The NBA draft is the biggest question mark, but if he's not guaranteed first round, I can see him coming back to college to get $1M+ NIL which we happen to have
seems to be the guy.Sarunas Marciulionis, maybe?
NIL has made the market a free for all and has not actually leveled the playing field. Whoever has deeper pockets or donors that step up can outbid you. Comparing numbers to last years players just means current numbers keep rising and almost doubling or more and in the future watch out. NCAA is becoming powerless, otherwise instituting a cap and implementing tighter restrictions would have helped level the field.What we can say clearly at this stage is that we have been completely bamboozled by the market price of talent in this market. We've done a creative but still incomplete job of finding value in sneakier ways, but we've been unable or unwilling to pay the revealed market value of a host of players where we thought we'd elbowed out other suitors.
That's a broader thing than just the 2024-25 Illini team. I have said from the very beginning that this portal season was going to be a learning experience, and those lessons are trickling in.
Just bizarre on so many levels. Honest to god, does Egor Demin know what a Mormon is?
That would be nice to have, but I just don't see a player that over the last 2 seasons averaged around 24 minutes per game and started 54 games agreeing to be an end-of-the-bench player in his junior year.Sharavjamts would be an end-of-the-bench guy.
I can see them taking him IF they also land a combine participant who can play on or off the ball.
He tore his ACL in his right knee in September, and missed the whole season.Did he redshirt the 21-22 season? The stats seem to skip that year on ESPN.
Jamir Watkins Career Stats - NCAAM - ESPN
Complete career NCAAM stats for the Florida State Seminoles Forward Jamir Watkins on ESPN. Includes points, rebounds, and assists.www.espn.com
That would be nice to have, but I just don't see a player that over the last 2 seasons averaged around 24 minutes per game and started 54 games agreeing to be an end-of-the-bench player in his junior year.
Sorry no, outcome wouldn't be the same,, not unless Illinois was allowed to play with 6 on the floor versus opponents only with 5. Demin is different caliber of player. If Illini can't afford Demin or even a NBA withdraw, they may have to settle for two just good rather than elite players. Like Monsanto & Sharavjamts . .If we land both Watkins and Mike then it’s just as good as landing Egor IMO