Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[lonelytylenol]

He played in three games, THREE, against teams that made the tournament. He field goal percentage for those 3 games? 35.8%. That’s not 3pt% that’s straight up fg%. Everyone here saying stuff like what would he have done? “Make shots.” Clearly against competition that is above average, he cannot do that.

Looking at his game log, I see at least 7 games against tournament teams, and he shot 40% overall and 48% from three ...

date	opponent	fgm	fga	fg%	3m	3a	3%
11/14	Utah St	3	11	27%	2	3	67%
11/26	Iona	7	13	54%	3	3	100%
12/22	Boise St	7	15	47%	2	7	29%
12/31	Saint Mary's	5	13	38%	1	3	33%
1/7	Gonzaga	7	14	50%	1	2	50%
1/21	@Saint Mary's	3	9	33%	1	1	100%
2/2	@Gonzaga	4	14	29%	3	8	38%

It's also worth noting that he was their leading scorer, which probably means he frequently drew the opponent's best defender, perhaps was a focus of opponent scouting reports / game planning, and perhaps was relied upon to take some tough shots (e.g. short shot clock situations, end-of-half and end-of-game situations, etc.).

 

[ChiefGritty]

Tyler Herro?

I think Herro is more of a combo-y facilitator than Podz and he isn't actually as good of a shooter at least statistically.

But that's a perfect comp in terms of their somewhat unexplainable hair/facial expression choices.

 

[alexander58]

I didn't ever see a video like that with Ayo. He seems to be doing just fine with Donovan not handling himself like this.

The 59 yr old in that video should not be red faced screaming obscenities in the 18 yr olds face.

It's not a good look for our program.

When grown men don’t get your message , it’s time to resort to….. UNICORNS!

 

[Rap47]

Honestly my view of it is just don't do it out on the floor where the cameras can see you.

Which sounds hypocritical and unprincipled, but my genuine feeling is that doing that to a player out in the open is showing him up publicly in a way that's substantively worse than doing it person-to-person in practice.

BU is a Huggins-Martin guy. He is at the in-your-face end of the spectrum compared to other coaches. Also like Huggins and Martin he's a bitingly, witheringly sarcastic person. Kids that take that the right way, the way it's intended, are always going to really respond to that and feel a lot of love from him and loyalty to him. But it's not for everyone.

I wouldn't play for BU. I just wouldn't thrive in that environment. But I also wasn't a very successful athlete for not entirely unrelated reasons. I was a think-too-much space cadet and that's not going to gell with BU, see Mayer, Matthew.

Space cadets are not needed, but someone who will listen to the coach is.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

I REALLY hope that some people saw the post game interview with Izzo and them kidding him about braking a clipboard in half and his comments after. Things such as "we're going to coach them hard", "we're not going to let them get away with stuff", etc. If a soft soap approach is what your players require....have to recruit players that embrace your style. BU's approach is tough love. The recruiting approach needs to possibly change?

 

[Illiniwiththechief]

This is not a great take. He was getting screamed obscenities at face to face.

That wasn't a good look by BU. Hopefully he can fix that relationship.

Look I hate Indiana as much as the next guy but I see a little bit of Bobby knight in BU and Bobby knight hangs banners.

 

[Indy Illini Fan]

 

[whatahack]

Are these not so subtle hints...

 

[NarrowJ]

Khalif Battle the younger brother of Tyus Battle, for those who remember him.

 

[Sedino]

Well, first off…don’t twist what I said. I didn’t say he was gonna morph into Oscar Robertson. Yes, he’s slower and not super-athletic. That doesn’t mean he can’t shoot, does it? You think Luke Goode is Carl Flippin’ Lewis?
Or Jacob Grandison was Usain Bolt…had he stayed he would have been out there too. Goode is no stellar athletes he was deemed talented enough to grace the court.

Arkansas is high-caliber defensively…and they play with physicality. (They’re lengthy too but we’re actually slightly more so.)
No argument with any of that. But the flippin’ shots were there more often than not and we didn’t even execute as well as we were are capable.

Podz is is not as bad as you’re trying to make him out to be. You can double-down on this narrative all you want. But he’s drastically improved and he has done it against quality competition this season.
He shot %40 from 3. Better than anyone
on our team by a long shot…pun intended.

I don’t think he would have been able to do much off the dribble. So I’m with you there. But to not even say he might have been able to knock down some shots for us is just doubling down on a narrative without being reasonable.

I honestly would agree with you if it weren’t for the simple fact that in the 3 games he played against tournament teams this year, he shot 36.5% from the field…. Which is awful.

 

[Sedino]

Looking at his game log, I see at least 7 games against tournament teams, and he shot 40% overall and 48% from three ...

date	opponent	fgm	fga	fg%	3m	3a	3%
11/14	Utah St	3	11	27%	2	3	67%
11/26	Iona	7	13	54%	3	3	100%
12/22	Boise St	7	15	47%	2	7	29%
12/31	Saint Mary's	5	13	38%	1	3	33%
1/7	Gonzaga	7	14	50%	1	2	50%
1/21	@Saint Mary's	3	9	33%	1	1	100%
2/2	@Gonzaga	4	14	29%	3	8	38%

It's also worth noting that he was their leading scorer, which probably means he frequently drew the opponent's best defender, perhaps was a focus of opponent scouting reports / game planning, and perhaps was relied upon to take some tough shots (e.g. short shot clock situations, end-of-half and end-of-game situations, etc.).

Let me correct my statement then. Against teams that got in without an automatic bid, and didn’t have to win a conference tournament in their not good conference. That leaves USU, Saint Mary’s, and Gonzaga. In those 5 games he shot 22/61 which is…. 36%. Which is still awful

He did great against not good teams. He did very poorly against average to above average teams. Podz is a good kid, and a good basketball player. He would have been torn apart by Arkansas.

 

[skyIdub]

I REALLY hope that some people saw the post game interview with Izzo and them kidding him about braking a clipboard in half and his comments after. Things such as "we're going to coach them hard", "we're not going to let them get away with stuff", etc. If a soft soap approach is what your players require....have to recruit players that embrace your style. BU's approach is tough love. The recruiting approach needs to possibly change?

Runaway clipboards are no joking matter. I hope they got it stopped.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

Runaway clipboards are no joking matter. I hope they got it stopped.

They did get it stopped. They won. The grammar policing was solid. You're getting a "like" for the catch.

 

[skyIdub]

They did get it stopped. They won. The grammar policing was solid. You're getting a "like" for the catch.

I just look for laughs! But thanks!

 

[foby]

Me on Loyalty while reading the never-ending stream of hypothetical arguments that both parties are convinced that they are completely right even though there will never ever be a way to prove it;

 

[Indy Illini Fan]

Are these not so subtle hints...

Guys we are taking an interest in ... Per sources ...

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

Me on Loyalty while reading the never-ending stream of hypothetical arguments that both parties are convinced that they are completely right even though there will never ever be a way to prove it;

There's some frustration, so it's expected. Everyone was hoping for more. Now, it's the blame game and the truth is that when the train derails as bad as it did, there's plenty of blame to go around.

 

[phats22]

There's some frustration, so it's expected. Everyone was hoping for more. Now, it's the blame game and the truth is that when the train derails as bad as it did, there's plenty of blame to go around.

i disagree

 

[CoachHooleyHoo]

Ooof....that's pretty discouraging really if that's who we're going after. Battle looks legit against decent competition so no issue there. I hope they're aiming a little higher than an undersized C from the MAC & a guy who shoots the 3 like this year's team (32%).

 

[lonelytylenol]

Looking at his game log, I see at least 7 games against tournament teams, and he shot 40% overall and 48% from three ...

Let me correct my statement then. Against teams that got in without an automatic bid, and didn’t have to win a conference tournament in their not good conference. That leaves USU, Saint Mary’s, and Gonzaga. In those 5 games he shot 22/61 which is…. 36%. Which is still awful

He did great against not good teams. He did very poorly against average to above average teams. Podz is a good kid, and a good basketball player. He would have been torn apart by Arkansas.

Boise St. did not win their conference tournament. They were one of four Mountain West teams to make the tournament.

Iona did get their conference's automatic bid, but to be fair, they also dominated their conference (17-3).

I'm not a scout. I watched zero Santa Clara games. I have no idea whether Brandin's draft projections are justified, nor how well he would have played in our game against Arkansas. I do, however, appreciate when critiques are based on facts, and might go so far as to say that we owe that much to the targets of our critiques.

 

[WyattEarp]

I honestly would agree with you if it weren’t for the simple fact that in the 3 games he played against tournament teams this year, he shot 36.5% from the field…. Which is awful.

 

[FloridaMan]

Ramey sure would have been nice on this year's team. Ended up shooting 40% on over 200 attempts. Surely there is someone like him in the portal this year. If they are a Fr or So, even better. Hopefully the three mentioned are fallback plans only, just judging by stats.

 

[BashCtIllini]

call me scarred, but I immediately look at shooting percentages for every potential transfer. I don't care about ppg. We've seen what happens when you bring in new team leaders.

I also assume, stepping up to a better conference means your percentages are likely to go down. Though an argument can be made that not being the focal point of the defense would lead to better shooting. That said, I hope these guys aren't the top of our list.

 

[Sedino]

Boise St. did not win their conference tournament. They were one of four Mountain West teams to make the tournament.

Iona did get their conference's automatic bid, but to be fair, they also dominated their conference (17-3).

I'm not a scout. I watched zero Santa Clara games. I have no idea whether Brandin's draft projections are justified, nor how well he would have played in our game against Arkansas. I do, however, appreciate when critiques are based on facts, and might go so far as to say that we owe that much to the targets of our critiques.

You’re right, they lost to USU so it really makes no difference. And all the facts still point to Podz not being a viable player against higher competition.

 

[Rudd21]

Looking at his game log, I see at least 7 games against tournament teams, and he shot 40% overall and 48% from three ...

date	opponent	fgm	fga	fg%	3m	3a	3%
11/14	Utah St	3	11	27%	2	3	67%
11/26	Iona	7	13	54%	3	3	100%
12/22	Boise St	7	15	47%	2	7	29%
12/31	Saint Mary's	5	13	38%	1	3	33%
1/7	Gonzaga	7	14	50%	1	2	50%
1/21	@Saint Mary's	3	9	33%	1	1	100%
2/2	@Gonzaga	4	14	29%	3	8	38%

It's also worth noting that he was their leading scorer, which probably means he frequently drew the opponent's best defender, perhaps was a focus of opponent scouting reports / game planning, and perhaps was relied upon to take some tough shots (e.g. short shot clock situations, end-of-half and end-of-game situations, etc.).

Pods also lead the WCC in rebounding as a 6’5 guard. If you shoot 45% from 3 and lead your league in rebounding, you’re a good player.