Whats your thoughts on Gardner in 23 and Brown in 24. Possible?
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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We won't win the BIG10 without another impact transfer or two, but come March I would bet we are playing like the best team in the BIG10.
Kofi raises the floor for sure….I’m not sure he raises the ceiling though
I like the compare...thanks and I agree with your compares with 21-22 players. I also agree with others to expect RJ to start,...in fact I'm kinda expecting him to break out as a b10 top echelon player.
All that said, I really think we will have a whole new playbook. We have a host of playmakers that we didn't have...which is not captured in the player comparisons.
Roger's, clark, harris, epps, Dainja....all have playmaking abilities at 1 through 5 now. Add that to improved CH and RJ...and I can see why BU smiles alot these days.
BUs big challenge is to get new systems/plays installed quickly (Including D), teach Freshmen and build chemistry fast.
As illini 0440 mentioned, we have talent and versatility,....it is up to coaches to maximize those new team traits and get more wins than this year and compete for B10 champion. If he does that he should be COY candidate.
I'm cautiously optimistic....
Kofi was incredible, but I think Brad sneaky is happy to open it up and let the athletes he has/bringing in run.
After seeing the Gardner videos you can’t help but hear the Fletch sell and what he did to Kofis body.
Kofi 100% raises the floor and ceiling of the offense, he's been one of the best offensive players in the country for the past two seasons.
Agree. It would have been his off season development to achieve that ceiling but it is definitely higher with him.
I’d be okay with that
I think the point is that, to a degree, Kofi limits what we can do on both ends. He's obviously dominant one on one offensively, but he's not very good passing out of double teams and teams can scheme (like Houston) to double him and recover, and really bog us down and create turnovers. Defensively he protects the rim pretty well, but not amazingly, and does not guard the perimeter well. Again, the other team can scheme knowing Kofi is going to drop in the paint and the person guarding the ball handler is going to go over screens. Usually teams are not good enough to beat that consistently, but some have clearly scouted it properly and have the personnel to exploit it, and have done so.
We are being really selective. Maybe too selective but scholarships are so valuable. Don’t want to have them all tied up when the next Skyy or Dainja becomes available.
Of course he has clear negatives to his game, but so does every other player in the country. He is one of the best finishers in college basketball, great offensive rebounder, and probably attracts the most attention near the rim in the country. The attention that he commanded down low helped open up shooters, which was a big reason why Plummer and Grandison have been able to impact the game more than their true talent level because they fit with Kofi so well. Furthermore, Illinios was 8th in offense in 2020-21, I would say that's a pretty high ceiling.
A lot of college coaches would disagree with you. He raises the floor. He’s the safety net. And that’s not a knock on Kofi he is a tremendous talent. But you become very one dimensional in offense and defense with a guy like Kofi on the floor. Again not a knock…he has been dominate on offense.
Again, they were 8th in the country on offense in 21', that's a pretty high ceiling. Kofi's rim gravity plus play finishing and offensive rebounding make him lift the ceiling of an offense. If Curbelo was healthy all year and was able to utilize the pick and roll with Kofi more like last year a lot of you would stop downplaying his absence.
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Agree. But also it will be interesting to see how good of a coach Brad Underwood is without his “safety net”. That’s what defense s how high the ceiling is IMO.
I’m shocked they don’t think he can develop in a manner that the team ceiling is higher. I’ll leave it to the experts but still surprising.
I guess my concern is whether “young core” will be a thing in college basketball going forward with the transfer rate.
6’10” without a face. 7’1” with face.
I'd rather have Lucas, personally. From what I hear, its a possibility
I don’t take on research projects, but use your Google machine. Search for things like “Jordan Nesbitt st. Bonaventure” and “slu basketball suspension” you’ll hit 5 additional names since 2018 for not nice things. Not saying you or anyone else shouldn’t root for them, just that I find them hard to root for.
That's because Kofi was option 1B not 1A.
im with 0440, bringing him back would have put a cap on our offensive ceiling. floor would be nice don't get me wrong, but our ceiling is higher, Brad's style will be in full effect
Well he’s been pretty good every where else he has been without Kofi?
What happened when when shots weren’t falling outside?
Which is even more evidence that he is a ceiling raiser, thank you. His elite off ball skills like play finishing and offensive rebounding helped him score 37 points per 100 possession on 65% shooting WITHOUT being the primary option.
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