But you know for a fact if Brad had developed a great relationship with the kid, and had built trust, the kid and his family would at least come back and let them match and still be interested in staying here. Brad burned that bridge by the stupidity of playing Ben over Morez.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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We're paying for a Ferrari and getting the performance of a Mustang. Mustang's are still good cars, but not worth the price of a Ferrari.
(Also the Ferrari isn't pushing out assistant coaches for his son and son's rec league buddy.)
No wonder. In our last game against Kentucky, I believe Morez did not get in the game until over 8 minutes had elapsed in the first half.
What a terrible day to have eyes and reading comprehension.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
This guy isn't a Formula 1 fan I see
I said a few weeks ago the end of the season would tell what’s going on with the program depending on players entering the portal. There has to be a reason why this happens every year that somebody’s not telling us. A kid that commits in the eighth grade to his dream school just doesn’t up and leave after one year because of money. The problems run deeper And somebody needs to come forward and say what those problems are.
Don't hate the player (or the coach in this case), hate the game.
I think it's simple. We need more NILs. More $$$. And I am not being sarcastic. I know insiders have said we have top 10ish NIL in the country. But what's the actual gap between us and the top spenders? Fundamentally, all of our recruiting pains in the portal/NIL era can be attributed to a mismatch between our ambitions and our wallet size. We try so hard to optimize the roster given the constraint of our wallet (limited) and the constraint of our ambition (very high). All the struggling originates from this optimization problem. You can solve it more easily by either increasing our wallet or lowering our ambition. We clearly don't want the latter. So more money it is.
I think it's simple. We need more NILs. More $$$. And I am not being sarcastic. I know insiders have said we have top 10ish NIL in the country. But what's the actual gap between us and the top spenders? Fundamentally, all of our recruiting pains in the portal/NIL era can be attributed to a mismatch between our ambitions and our wallet size. We try so hard to optimize the roster given the constraint of our wallet (limited) and the constraint of our ambition (very high). All the struggling originates from this optimization problem. You can solve it more easily by either increasing our wallet or lowering our ambition. We clearly don't want the latter. So more money it is.
I think Tomi stays. But it’s up to donors at this point
USAFILLINI
- Florida
I know right? No loyalty at all, It’s like, every time a new coaching job opens up, having your agent out there floating your name again.
Money talks, and actions speak louder and being stubborn just burns bridges. And now here we are, dealing with the mess.
I'm a huge Formula 1 fan, specifically Lando. I will happily change my comment to say McLaren.This guy isn't a Formula 1 fan I see
I think it's becoming increasingly clear that the actual market has not been set yet. Apparently, the market for a player will bear a lot more than what has been paid out to this point.
So let me get timeline straight:
- Morez commits to Illinois in 8th grade
- As a freshman, he plays quality minutes off the bench, increasing more and more as the season goes on (Similar to our highest rated recruit in program history)
-End of the season clearly shows a priority in usage and trust in Morez from the Illinois staff
-We gave him a competitive NIL offer that he essentially agreed upon and his role would be increased from this year
-His dad convinces him to leave Illinois bc he can be an NBA player at another program + make more money
-Enters portal
I’m struggling to see here what the staff could have done to change this? Sure, playing Ben over him was a mistake in hindsight but nothing at the end of the season indicated it would happen again. NIL wasn’t the issue because he agreed to the NIL deal and I’m sure Illinois wouldn’t have minded paying him ~1 million.
Is the expectation then to pay TA absurd amounts of money to keep him? Let Morez play on the perimeter similar to Ivisic? Change the entire identity of the team to play through him so he can go to the NBA?
None of this points to being an everyday guy and frankly just sounds like his inner circle gave him bad info (Adam miller and Epps).
- Morez commits to Illinois in 8th grade
- As a freshman, he plays quality minutes off the bench, increasing more and more as the season goes on (Similar to our highest rated recruit in program history)
-End of the season clearly shows a priority in usage and trust in Morez from the Illinois staff
-We gave him a competitive NIL offer that he essentially agreed upon and his role would be increased from this year
-His dad convinces him to leave Illinois bc he can be an NBA player at another program + make more money
-Enters portal
I’m struggling to see here what the staff could have done to change this? Sure, playing Ben over him was a mistake in hindsight but nothing at the end of the season indicated it would happen again. NIL wasn’t the issue because he agreed to the NIL deal and I’m sure Illinois wouldn’t have minded paying him ~1 million.
Is the expectation then to pay TA absurd amounts of money to keep him? Let Morez play on the perimeter similar to Ivisic? Change the entire identity of the team to play through him so he can go to the NBA?
None of this points to being an everyday guy and frankly just sounds like his inner circle gave him bad info (Adam miller and Epps).
We're turning into a JC program with way too much roster turnover. Our staff had to find a way to keep Morez Johnson. No excuse at all for this failure.
My turn to vent:
1. I agree with everyone that player movement is out of control and ruining the sport. Guessing NCAA doesn’t really care as long as the tourney remains a cash cow. However, if we continue to have mostly upset free tourneys like this year I will be curious what interest and ratings look like going forward.
2. I love Brad, but I think we’ve peaked under him and it’s due to nepotism. You look at the players we brought in and the players like Dix and Sanfort that we are targeting in the portal, it’s pretty clear we are going all in on spacing/analytics and this looks to be Tyler’s doing. But basketball is played on both ends of the court. The teams that make runs are strong both offensively and defensively. Tyler may be good for his age but good for his age does not mean he’s qualified to steer the ship of a top tier BIG program. If we keep building the team to be Tyler’s play thing I believe we will fall back to being a second tier BIG program.
3. Regardless of what system you want to run, if you can’t find a way to incorporate Morez into what you’re doing you’re not a very good coach. Reminds me of when the Bears hired Mike Martz and he immediately traded Greg Olsen because he can’t use non-blocking tight ends in his system. You have a player like Olsen or a player like Morez you figure out how to use them.
4. On Morez vs Ben: Nevermind their per 40s, but Ben we only got one year plus a potential bonus year for at best a complementary player who provides shooting and spacing. Morez may be the platonic ideal of a college basketball player at this point in that he is dominant at what he does but hes a little undersized and has some skill limitations that means he will likely stay in college at least 3, probably 4 years. You have to keep a guy like that around, particularly a guy who’s been committed to you since he was a frosh in high school. If you prefer Ben to Morez, I think you’re an idiot. I don’t care what system you’re running or what the computers say. We keep preaching every day guys but keep running them off.
Alright, rant over.
1. I agree with everyone that player movement is out of control and ruining the sport. Guessing NCAA doesn’t really care as long as the tourney remains a cash cow. However, if we continue to have mostly upset free tourneys like this year I will be curious what interest and ratings look like going forward.
2. I love Brad, but I think we’ve peaked under him and it’s due to nepotism. You look at the players we brought in and the players like Dix and Sanfort that we are targeting in the portal, it’s pretty clear we are going all in on spacing/analytics and this looks to be Tyler’s doing. But basketball is played on both ends of the court. The teams that make runs are strong both offensively and defensively. Tyler may be good for his age but good for his age does not mean he’s qualified to steer the ship of a top tier BIG program. If we keep building the team to be Tyler’s play thing I believe we will fall back to being a second tier BIG program.
3. Regardless of what system you want to run, if you can’t find a way to incorporate Morez into what you’re doing you’re not a very good coach. Reminds me of when the Bears hired Mike Martz and he immediately traded Greg Olsen because he can’t use non-blocking tight ends in his system. You have a player like Olsen or a player like Morez you figure out how to use them.
4. On Morez vs Ben: Nevermind their per 40s, but Ben we only got one year plus a potential bonus year for at best a complementary player who provides shooting and spacing. Morez may be the platonic ideal of a college basketball player at this point in that he is dominant at what he does but hes a little undersized and has some skill limitations that means he will likely stay in college at least 3, probably 4 years. You have to keep a guy like that around, particularly a guy who’s been committed to you since he was a frosh in high school. If you prefer Ben to Morez, I think you’re an idiot. I don’t care what system you’re running or what the computers say. We keep preaching every day guys but keep running them off.
Alright, rant over.
He didn't do much to earn his position outside of being Brad's son but he has done enough with the offense to merit staying on staff unlike Miles Smith.
The number 3 ranked offense in the country on Kenpom last season and the number one scoring offense and #14 on Kenpom in the Big Ten this year.
Obviously I can't speak to rumors about how players feel behind the scenes, but it's hard to argue with the overall results with Tyler coordinating the offense the past two years.
The situation with players being yearly nomads that can bail on a team at any time is 100% created by the NCAA’s never-ending greed and hope that they can get Congress to grant them an antitrust exemption, so the NCAA can go back to not needing to pay players above the table. The NCAA clings to hope that it can go back to not paying college football and basketball players anywhere near their true market value, so this is the situation fans get. The NCAA and schools could start signing players to binding contracts tomorrow if they wanted, but that would mean the NCAA would be abandoning its delusional quest for an antitrust exemption. The useless, overpaid NCAA admins will not give up the antitrust exemption hope since the moment they do so, a lot of those useless admins will be out of jobs.
Dammit!
We ain’t targeting Sandfort to be a main piece
Hey, Morez will never be a NBA baller. Make every single penny possible. Life is short. Coaches leave every year. Tim Anderson got hosed! Make millions in next 3 years.
His defense wasn’t so hot either.Disclaimer: I love the guy—he's an absolute DAWG who brings the edge and toughness.
I genuinely hope he returns and finishes his career as an Illini.
However, "tweener" bigs who aren’t shooting threats or dominant in the low post are easier to scheme against
For me I didn't put much stock into them leaving because they went to loser programs. It's when freshmen transfer to winners, then I worry.
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