Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (May-June 2017)
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HTT isn't wrong. Jordan shot under 30% from the field overall and from 3 last year. Finke shot less than three 3's per game last year and Kipper was under 2 so the sample size for Kipper isn't huge. Finke has played 2 years so that's a little more reliable. Damonte really isn't known for being a knockdown shooter and it remains to be seen how his recovery goes. Frazier shot 34% from 3 as a high school senior. The money would be that better athletes and defenses might hurt rather than help that number. In short, having other players who can shoot would definitely be of benefit to the team.
No doubt about the benefit of adding shooters, but what about the two "Marks." How do they compare to Tim F.? I like Tim F, and would love to have him, but I think its a stretch to say we don't have any.
Agreed, but I'm partial to THT. Hope we are able to pull one of Finke/THT/Ayo
Ayo #1 lots of good choices after that. In BU I trust.
IMHO, in BU scheme, all those stats should mean very little. There is something called the "Underwood Special". And everyone should benefit from it.
I would nto be too worried - at this point in time - about the past.
Sal Iacuzzo
- Yonkers, NY
When talking about "shooters" it shouldn't be overlooked that Alstork is a very good perimeter shooter. Shot a better percentage than JCL last year.
The thing about big George is that I am sure he want to play that freshman year. All freshman want to play. Having 2 seniors and 2 sophomore's ahead of him is going to make it a little tougher to get playing time that first year.
I hope that one of the three commits also. I think that Ayo will be a starter wherever he goes, but I look at Illinois and they will have so many guards next year ahead of Ayo. I agree with another poster that said THT or Finke, not both. Can't take everyone. Finke has had years to see the campus. First come first served.
Wow, sounds like we should be a Final Four team!
What school has no one else at the position of an incoming recruit? So Conditt is going to worry about four guys ahead of him of which only 1 was even a top 100 player? Two of which are in their last year of eligibility (assuming they stay a 5th year)?
And Ayo will likely go to Kentucky, Duke, et al where they have two McDs AAs on the depth chart already.
WTF are you a fan of?
I would hardly call Nichols or Jordan great shooters. Nichols has too small a sample size, and Jordan hasn't shot at nearly the same level he did in high school when he was labeled a great shooter. All of our 17' guard recruits were pretty good shooters in HS but I wouldn't consider any of them "knockdown" shooters. Trent actually shot at a worse clip in his senior HS season than JCL did last year, and when JCL transferred a lot of people on this board argued that he wasn't an elite shooter. Now that we added two bigs that can at least be bodies down low shooting should definitely be a major priority.
Kipper
I have been the biggest Kipper proponent from day 1. I can't believe the shade that is thrown his way. There were times last season when Kipper and TJL showed the best motor and complete skill set on the team.
Kipper moved up in the depth chart, remember he had to sit for half the season. I remember folks saying Kipper will never hit 3's even though he was sinking them in high school.
I expect Kipper to be one of key contributors this year. He is not phased by the bright lights and has a good demeanor for high level athletics/competition. He has the physical abilities to play the SG,SF, and PF. His defense and rebounding set him apart, but his shooting and overall offensive game is coming around. His size at SG and SF along with Mark Smith at PG will cause problems. We saw it when Kipper and Hill were on the floor at times. Just never saw it enough.
I have been the biggest Kipper proponent from day 1. I can't believe the shade that is thrown his way. There were times last season when Kipper and TJL showed the best motor and complete skill set on the team.
Kipper moved up in the depth chart, remember he had to sit for half the season. I remember folks saying Kipper will never hit 3's even though he was sinking them in high school.
I expect Kipper to be one of key contributors this year. He is not phased by the bright lights and has a good demeanor for high level athletics/competition. He has the physical abilities to play the SG,SF, and PF. His defense and rebounding set him apart, but his shooting and overall offensive game is coming around. His size at SG and SF along with Mark Smith at PG will cause problems. We saw it when Kipper and Hill were on the floor at times. Just never saw it enough.
:clappy:
Agreed. I think he'll be one of our best players.
Illiniwek06
- N of I-80
I do not get the point of categorizing players as "shooter" or "scorer" as if they are mutually exclusive, but here we are. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Deleted member 8213
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I would disagree with the "complete skill set" part although thats only subjective and the stats may very well disagree with me. Kipper is what I would call a garbage player and I mean that in absolutely no negative way. He is a guy you need on the floor because he does all sorts of things with his motor that no-one else does. Defensive stops and big rebounds and offensive putbacks that turn the momentum of a game. That's Kipper's skillset. I don't know about the newcomers hopefully there's more of that but its something recent Illini teams have been sorely lacking and thats how he got minutes quickly.
While I agree Kipper is a fantastic player and there were multiple times last year where he the best guy out on the court, he is not a SG. His defefense, rebounding, and shooting are all positive, but his dribbling is mediocre, even for a SF. He's such a strong player and has such a high motor that it is masked well, but I'd rather have him at the 3/4 and get another ball handler in there at the 2.
You're not alone in your opinions. We see the freshman hype train every year, and it's impossible to disprove since we haven't seen the incoming guys play. And why would you want to? It's fun to get excited about the incoming talent.
However, when I look at what Kipper and Te'Jon did in spite of Groce's coaching, I don't get how they can be casually put behind incoming recruits. Alstork is a special case given he's a grad transfer that looks ready made for Underwoods system. I personally think Black will do well in Underwood's system, but I get the reservations about areas where he's perceived as weak.
One thing I think will be fun to watch, is having a deeper rotation. We'll get to see a lot of guys get chances. And Underwood doesn't rely on individuals nearly as much as his system, so he'll substitute more readily to exploit teams. Not sure how quickly our new bigs can get up to speed, but I think we'll be ok.
Deleted member 8213
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All of that is probably wrong.
I haven't seen too much Kipper hate to be fair. Although I have seen a lot of people putting Leron ahead of him on the depth chart.
For me, Kipper is a complete player who can do everything on the court whereas Leron is more one dimensional. If they are competing for playing time at all I will go on record saying I expect Kipper to win out.
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Not sure where he ranked as a scorer but Head was a elite shooter as well as a scorer and was an important piece on the 2005 team although not mentioned as much as Dee and Deron. Each player on that team had specific skills that combined for an elite team. However, I agree with the view that the recruits are always rated above existing players by many people and don't have better HS stats than the existing players had in HS. The shooting percentage also has a lot to do with the offense getting them open shots. MH took a ton of forced shots which significantly lowered his percentage.
Extremely unlikely.
It would only be for a year I guess. But the thought of rotating 5 bigs(Seniors Finke & Black, Sophs Greg & Vessel, then Freshman George) into 2 spots sounds like alot
If this happens, then it will be confirmed that Underwood & Staff are unprecedented big man savants.
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