Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (Week of April 1st, 2021)

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#126      
Joel Goodson
CubsIlliniFan said:
Its simple. We were a poor shooting team from outside. Numbers have a tendency to hide the reality. We did not have creators when it came to outside shooting. Frazier rarely created, Williams was too slow to create. Ayo was streaky. We did not have a guy people was scared of. Even Ayo has flaws. Teams who were long and athletic gave us issues. Next year, we will have better more consistent shooters. I am a firm believer that Hutch will be an option. Melendez and Goode can shoot over defenders that Williams and Frazier could not. We get TyTy into the mix or another shooter, we will have defenses spread out more. Teams knew that putting token pressure on Williams that he would not shoot the ball. Frazier, as much as he is a great Illini, was never consistent. We will be longer and have more pure shooters than we have had in several years. I expect Hawk and Grandy to be solid shooters. This will open up more scoring for either GB or Kofi if he returns. Teams cheated off certain players in which showed our other major weakness which was passing. I expect a more fluid, faster, better passing team next year which will open up shooters to hit shots.
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Minor quibble: not poor, more like mediocre. Agree w/the rest though.
 
#127      
Fanview
I don't think we were the best 3 point shooting team, but some people make it sound like we were atrocious. At 37.32% we were ranked 31st as a team. For comparison, Iowa was 10 and Michigan was 14. Baylor #1 was 41.06%. We could've definitely been better, but let's not exaggerate.
Source: NCAA

I think Goode, RJ, and a few other additions should improve our #s.
 
#128      
Navy_illini
I have a feeling this summer could be interesting. Does the NCAA actually rule on the FBI cases and how does that impact coaches/schools? I can see it being harsh to a slap on the wrist. Most likely the major programs get off. Does the NCAA adopt NIL and what will the rules be? Does the Supreme Court rule that the NCAA is a monopoly? College sports could look different next year and it will be interesting how it affects recruiting
 
#129      
dwpittman
Not to mention... I am okay with Kofi wanting to dunk everything, as he is very efficient scoring around the basket. However, one major area where he shows his lack of experience is sharing the ball. A more experienced player would be able to find a very good shooter for a wide open shot when they are triple teamed. I believe he had five assists or so on the SEASON. Our guys don't get those easy looks. May have hampered our team shooting percentage a bit.
Crossing my fingers that the pass out for the open three is the next frontier in kofi's game. Maybe that would be another check mark to make him more playable in the NBA.
 
#130      
RockfordIllini
Re: 3 point shooting. I think our biggest issue were most of our guys had low and slow releases and more set shot type 3’s, which means they all needed time and space to get them off, and we couldn’t, say, run ball screens to free them. Ayo, Grandison, and DaMonte fall into this camp. Trent and Miller were exceptions and could both elevate and get their shot. Griffin too before he left.

The good news is both Goode and Melendez appear to elevate on their shots and both stand 6’7. Also, as some have stated I think Miller is a better shooter than he showed this year but 34% at his volume isn’t irreplaceable. We should be able to find a 6’3ish wing who can elevate and shoot at that clip even if we don’t land TyTy or Nimari. This one stings but we should be okay,
 
#133      
zentrails
CubsIlliniFan said:
Its simple. We were a poor shooting team from outside. Numbers have a tendency to hide the reality.
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Loyola obviously left someone open every single time they double or triple teamed us.
I can't remember a single time we burned them.
Hopefully next season that doesn't happen nearly as often when we are doubled.
One more tall good 3 point shooter might be enough to do that.
 
#135      
altenberger22
Fanview said:
I don't think we were the best 3 point shooting team, but some people make it sound like we were atrocious. At 37.32% we were ranked 31st as a team. For comparison, Iowa was 10 and Michigan was 14. Baylor #1 was 41.06%. We could've definitely been better, but let's not exaggerate.
Source: NCAA

I think Goode, RJ, and a few other additions should improve our #s.
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I agree. 37.3% from 3 equates to 56% from 2-point range. Way beyond acceptable!!!!
zentrails said:
Loyola obviously left someone open every single time they double or triple teamed us.
I can't remember a single time we burned them.
Hopefully next season that doesn't happen nearly as often when we are doubled.
One more tall good 3 point shooter might be enough to do that.
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Great point. Being slow to figure out a solution to the Loyola double-team was probably our weakest coaching moment of Brad's tenure.
 
#136      
Deleted member 746826
zentrails said:
Loyola obviously left someone open every single time they double or triple teamed us.
I can't remember a single time we burned them.
Hopefully next season that doesn't happen nearly as often when we are doubled.
One more tall good 3 point shooter might be enough to do that.
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that was part of the problem we had with loyola, even though they doubled they were so quick to recover there was never enough space for our shooters to get something off.
 
#137      
Chieeeeffffff
This conversation about our three point shooting has me wondering whether Mike Davis was actually a good rebounder.

In all seriousness, I do think that just looking at our percentages is a bit misleading. Toward the season’s end we were pounding teams in the paint and a few games we only put up single digit three point attempts. Volume matters and perimeter shooting was not our identity. Agree with several posters that we had some shorter guys and slow/low releases on their jumpers. Melendez and Goode are taller, longer, and have lethal quick releases that open up the floor for everyone.
 
#142      
Fanview
Chieeeeffffff said:
This conversation about our three point shooting has me wondering whether Mike Davis was actually a good rebounder.

In all seriousness, I do think that just looking at our percentages is a bit misleading. Toward the season’s end we were pounding teams in the paint and a few games we only put up single digit three point attempts. Volume matters and perimeter shooting was not our identity. Agree with several posters that we had some shorter guys and slow/low releases on their jumpers. Melendez and Goode are taller, longer, and have lethal quick releases that open up the floor for everyone.
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Okay so I looked at the NCAA link I referenced earlier and looked at the volume (based on your argument). Only 25 of the teams on the top 50 3 point % teams shot more 3s than us. So our volume really isn't that low. I agree we could've shot it more though.
 
#143      
Chieeeeffffff
Fanview said:
Okay so I looked at the NCAA link I referenced earlier and looked at the volume (based on your argument). Only 25 of the teams on the top 50 3 point % teams shot more 3s than us. So our volume really isn't that low. I agree we could've shot it more though.
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Yeah but I guarantee you we played more games than most of those teams (e.g., Baylor). Apologies if you looked at attempts per game.
 
#144      
Fanview
Chieeeeffffff said:
Yeah but I guarantee you we played more games than most of those teams (e.g., Baylor). Apologies if you looked at attempts per game.
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That's actually a very valid point. Looking at the data, only ~4 teams managed to play 31 games (including us). We should've shot more than we did. You're right.
 
#145      
illini27jake

old interview but Gentry mentions them having to cut down on their 3pt attempts because they weren't a very good shooting team which lead to shooting a better %
 
#150      
the juiceman cometh
Shooting more 3s is a good idea if it will improve your scoring efficiency. We were the #8 most efficient offense according to Kenpom. A large part of that was Kofi's 65% fg%. You'd need to shoot 43% from 3 to match that efficiency. As a team we shot 55% from 2, and 37% from 3. That makes the 3pt shot slightly more effective if we could take more without lowering it (at 55% for 2, break even is 36.7%). However with higher volume that probably means less selective shots which almost certainly means lowering our 3pt%.

So essentially it looks like we struck a pretty efficient balance between 2pt and 3pt shooting, given our personnel. If Kofi leaves, we probably should shoot more 3s though.
 
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