Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#678      

PapaKvells

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PapaKvells
Mitch Hennessey said:
Hey folks,

Full-time Baylor fan, part-time IllinoisLoyalty lurker. You may remember I posted back in November when Dain Dainja committed and I poured a little cold water on the party that was in full swing. I will do no such thing this time.

Matt Mayer is awesome. Great player who got better every year he played for Baylor, great teammate, great hair. I'll break down his game below and why I think he left Baylor ultimately, but congratulations and please, please, treat him well.

Matt Mayer's progression over 4 years at Baylor:

Freshman year - Averaged 12 mpg, 4.6 ppg, shot 31% from 3. Complete loose cannon. Never met a shot he didn't like, and was just as likely to come in the game as the 7th-8th guy in the rotation and jack up a shot from the logo as he was to even pass to a teammate. He would come in the game and then frequently get benched immediately. You could tell the potential for him to be a big-time player was there, though.

Sophomore year - Averaged 12 mpg, 4.8 ppg, shot 38% from 3. Steady improvement. You could tell that the light was starting to come on. When Mayer entered the game, you knew what kind of night he was going to have within the first minute. He would either make smart passes, take shots in the flow of the offense, play solid defense, and eventually score double digit points, or he would jack up an out of rhythm 3 in transition, brick it, lose his man on defense and give up a layup, and then dribble the ball off his foot and get benched for the rest of the game. It was one or the other, no real in-between games. The difference was, when he was on, Baylor was unbeatable.

Junior year - 16 mpg, 8.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, shot 40% from 3. Mayer was the ideal 6th man on the best team in the country. He knew that his role was to be instant offense when he came in the game, and he delivered. Spectacular dunks, timely defense in the passing lanes leading to run-outs, fantastic three point shooting, and creative driving and passing. He declared for the draft after the season, but got sick in the predraft process and didn't perform as well. Got a 2nd round grade and came back for his senior year.

Senior year - 23 mpg, 9.8 ppg, 5.0 reb, shot 32% from 3. Last year was a weird year for Matt. He started the year in a horrible shooting slump (he was shooting something like 17% from 3 through the first 10-12 games of the year), yet Baylor was rolling over everyone they played, and other guys were starting to step up and fill the alpha role it was assumed would be Mayer's. He eventually came around and got his shooting numbers back up to average, but he seemed to be forcing things too much. He would have games where he scored 0 points the entire game and then scored 9 in the final two minutes to seal a victory on the road. He would take out of rhythm shots or play iso ball to try and get himself into the flow of the game. He rarely got benched, but for foul trouble, yet only played the 6th most minutes on the team. Despite all of that, he improved in every other aspect of the game (on ball defense, passing, playmaking, off-ball rotations, etc.). He took good shots, for the most part, yet they didn't seem to want to go in. You could tell he was frustrated in many games. Declared for the draft, saying there was a 2% chance he was coming back to college, and entered the transfer portal the final day it was open. He got a tooth knocked out early in the season, then got the same tooth knocked out in a home game against Texas Tech that would end up being Baylor's first loss last year, and I wonder if that wasn't bothering him the whole season. Oral pain is a real b-tch.

Strengths - shooting, playmaking, passing, defense, rebounding. Never, ever lacks for confidence. A great presence in the locker room and on the practice court. I never heard a bad word about his work ethic or attitude.

Weaknesses - tries to do too much at times. Not as good off the dribble as he seems to think he is, which can result in silly turnovers from time to time. Before the Villanova game this past year, he admitted to Kris Budden (I think she was the sideline reporter for that game?) that he gets incredibly nervous before big games and gets in his own head. It was a strange thing to say publicly, but once he said it, you could kind of notice it in his game. He would play great against teams Baylor was supposed to wax, but would seem off in tight games, or in games against top tier opponents. He commits silly fouls and gets himself out of games due to foul trouble too often.


Why I think he left - only Matt and his family can say why he truly left, but my best conjecture is as follows: four years is a long time to stay in a college program, especially when you have the potential to be playing at the next level. I think Matt came into last season thinking he'd be "the man," with a chance to show pro scouts that he deserved to be in the Association, but it didn't work out like that.

Baylor had a really balanced team until injuries kneecapped the season, and there wasn't the need for an alpha to take over until the regular season ended, and by that point Mayer was kind of in the third-scorer role he had occupied all season and wasn't able to break out of it (although he balled out in the tournament).

To compound matters, Baylor basically gave away his scholarship. That's not to say that the player who fills it next year will be a better player than Mayer; on the contrary, there won't be many better players than him on the Baylor roster, period, much less newcomers. But I think the relationship had run its course, and both parties had some interest in moving on.

Mayer wanted someplace he would be playing 30 mpg, and that isn't Baylor next year. He's good enough, but that's not how Baylor's rosters are typically constructed on the wings.

Last thing I'll add: if you read any Baylor message boards, you may see a small number of fans disparaging him on the way out the door. Keep in mind that Baylor's fanbase is almost myopically focused on football, and many of them either don't pay attention to basketball until football season ends, or don't know how to observe the game. A lot of fans formed opinions of Mayer when he was a freshman/soph and never adjusted their opinions as he improved the last two years. They would only see the bad passes, occasional bad shots, and silly fouls and assume he was the same player that frustrated them years earlier.

Ignore those comments. Matt Mayer is great. He's probably not going to be an All-American, or even a first team All Conference player, but he's going to have a long career playing basketball, whether it's the NBA or overseas. Best of luck to him. He'll always be a Bear in my book, but you guys can borrow him for a year.
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Thank you! I give you five Mike Singletarys for this post. Well done!
 
#684      

IMPE ALL STAR

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IMPE ALL STAR
Hmmm
hoopsfan47 said:
Not sure how "thin" or lacking in talent this team will be at point guard. There are three pretty highly rated freshmen that will disagree. But for certain, they will enter the season as unproven and inexperienced. As far as raw talent though, they are pretty strong and the situation is far better than in the Groce years. Let's just hope a couple of them can climb the learning curve pretty fast....and I somewhat anticipate that will happen by B1G season.
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Hmmm. I love our Freshman. I said IF one were to go down we’d be thin.

Other than Epps and Clark, who do have that could get meaningful minutes at PG? I don’t think we want a FR to have to play as many minutes as Trent did last year.
 
#685      

IMPE ALL STAR

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IMPE ALL STAR
PapaKvells said:
I may be in the minority, but I like throwing the kids into the fire. Clark and Epps will be surrounded by experience. Let them take some early lumps and grow into their potential a little faster.
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I agree. I’m mostly saying add a backup PG for some insurance.

Edit. Maybe Harris can provide more here than I realize.
 
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#686      

HailtotheChief

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HailtotheChief
IMPE ALL STAR said:
I agree. I’m mostly saying add a backup PG for some insurance.
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We need a 5. We only have one in Dain. We have Skyy, Epps, Harris, Ty, and others that could handle the ball. We don't have anyone besides Dain at the 5. To count on an undersized over matched 4 to play the 5 in the B10 and vs the top teams like NC 15 plus minutes a game will suck.
We are longer, taller, and have better shooters on the wings now but let's not try to play undersized in the post now that we fixed one issue. We need another big that's strong enough to play with the big boys in the post. That's what I expect us to add. Not everyone needs score. Filling a role others dont is what makes a great team. If we don't we are gonna miss BBV and Omar. I expect BU will certainly do that. He will be patient and try to do better though if he can.
 
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#689      

Calvin

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Calvin
Vinegarben said:
Lot of Coleman Hawkins hype on here. I still haven't bought into him. He hasn't proven he can play for 30 minutes and contribute.
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Dunno if he'll make a big leap this year, but he's already averaged 20 mpg. Looks like they'll be minutes available at the 4/5 if he's improved either his shot or his defense.
 
#691      

HailtotheChief

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HailtotheChief
ElGran said:
He said meaningful minutes.
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Without wearing orange tinted glasses how many 5s do we have that gave the skill and size it takes to match up in the B10? Suze wise it's one. We have much more depth at PG than at the 5 and it's not even close. TY may not play meaningful minutes but he us better suited than our 215 / 220lb guy at the 5.

I expect we will add a bigger body even if he isn't a stud to be big enough to play D at the 5 n rebound.

Ill
 
#692      

Oldskoolkoach

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Oldskoolkoach
Noblesville Illini said:
Now, the question is what type of offense and defense will we run?? Something tells me that it will be similar to what he ran at Oklahoma State with some modifications for the beefiness of the Big 10.
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The Grinnell System, aka, "The system" relies on shooting three-point field goals, applying constant pressure with a full-court press, and substituting players frequently.

We could be the only team in the country deep enough!
 
#694      

POWURR

POWURR
From Downtown
POWURR
Reloading in progress…
🔷🔶🔷🔶
Hugh Jackman Reaction GIF
 
#697      

hoopsfan47

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hoopsfan47
IMPE ALL STAR said:
Hmmm

Hmmm. I love our Freshman. I said IF one were to go down we’d be thin.

Other than Epps and Clark, who do have that could get meaningful minutes at PG? I don’t think we want a FR to have to play as many minutes as Trent did last year.
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To answer that, Sincere Harris is more than likely not to agree with the assessment that he is a non-factor. The top rated player in Ohio, he reminds me of Frazier from his clips. But, as I stated, we have no idea how any of the frosh guards will respond in B1G play when the guy guarding them, or the guy they are guarding, is just as good...if not better and more experienced. Going against competition that can hand you your jock most of the time is an awakening for all but a handful of over 1000 college frosh hoopsters every year. Some rise to the challenge...but most go into shock and get their confidence deflated for a period from a few seconds to a season. My only point is that there are three pretty talented frosh guards on the roster that will take issue with anyone stating the position is thin....and likely an entire coaching staff too.
 
#698      

CHK71185

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CHK71185
NOT an insider, but I can't shake this feeling that Nance will be joining the Beloved soon enough!
 
#700      

Dee_4_3

Dee_4_3
Dee_4_3
Is there any other true 4 or 5 in the portal that Illinois has real interest in other than Nance? Seems like a tough situation to fulfill minute obligations/promises to current commits/players and to feel safe about the depth at those 2 positions. Are RJ, TSJ, Mayer comfortable playing the 4 when needed?
 
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