Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#1      

Dan

Dan
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Dan
Welcome to the Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread :illinois:

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IL Returnees
Ty Rodgers
Kylan Boswell
Jake Davis
Tomislav Ivisic

IL Signees
Zvonimir Ivisic

New IL Commits
David Mirkovic


Unofficial IllinoisLoyalty List of Illinois Basketball Potential Targets by soupy17


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NBA
April 26: NBA Early Entry Deadline (11:59 p.m. ET)
May 11-18: NBA Draft Combine
June 15: NBA Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline (5 p.m. ET)


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IL players who left the program
Morez Johnson to Michigan
Carey Booth to Colorado State
Tre White to Kansas
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn to UNLV


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2025 Recruiting
1) Keaton Wagler (2025 G) committed on September 18th, 2024, signed on November 14th, 2024.
2) Brandon Lee (2025 G) committed on September 25th, 2024, signed on November 19th, 2024.
 
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#3      
TheGMan
Snl Season 44 GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
#6      
ILFaninFL
I had nothing to do with being retired, so I wondered when it made sense to go to the NBA or play college ball.

If you're in the top 15, you have to go to the NBA.

The point you must consider playing college over the NBA now lands in the 24 to 25 range of the draft. NIL right now makes it financially viable to go to college and work on your game. For someone like Will, returning and moving up to the top 15 range will make him much more money over his career, plus he'll get close to, if not better, than NBA money via NIL.

After looking at this, I would say Will might return to college. With development, he is a lottery-level talent.
 
#8      
sacraig
ILFaninFL said:
I had nothing to do with being retired, so I wondered when it made sense to go to the NBA or play college ball.

If you're in the top 15, you have to go to the NBA.

The point you must consider playing college over the NBA now lands in the 24 to 25 range of the draft. NIL right now makes it financially viable to go to college and work on your game. For someone like Will, returning and moving up to the top 15 range will make him much more money over his career, plus he'll get close to, if not better, than NBA money via NIL.

After looking at this, I would say Will might return to college. With development, he is a lottery-level talent.
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He is borderline top 15 in some mock drafts.
 
#9      
Birdus
sacraig said:
He is borderline top 15 in some mock drafts.
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Players ranked in the top 20 are typically under contracts that far exceed the minimum salary, which last year was around 1.1 mil. That being said, salaries could potentially reach millions or even tens of millions of dollars per year. Depends what the particular team is willing to guarantee Will. I don't see any scenario where he comes back unless he falls down into the lower tiers of the first round. Even then, there may be more incentive for him to go. Could he come back? Absolutely. I hope he does but I just don't see it. I hope I am wrong.
 
#10      
phats22
Birdus said:
Players ranked in the top 20 are typically under contracts that far exceed the minimum salary, which last year was around 1.1 mil. That being said, salaries could potentially reach millions or even tens of millions of dollars per year. Depends what the particular team is willing to guarantee Will. I don't see any scenario where he comes back unless he falls down into the lower tiers of the first round. Even then, there may be more incentive for him to go. Could he come back? Absolutely. I hope he does but I just don't see it. I hope I am wrong.
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its also starting the clock to get to that second contract which is where the 'real' money is (yea, multiple million of dollar for rookie contract is significant, but still far less than subsequent contracts)
 
#11      
nmillini
phats22 said:
its also starting the clock to get to that second contract which is where the 'real' money is (yea, multiple million of dollar for rookie contract is significant, but still far less than subsequent contracts)
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Cannot believe this is even a discussion. I started making a probability tree, but stopped because there is no question going now is best for Will. Like you, the fan in me is rooting for me to be wrong.
 
#12      
Combo
nmillini said:
Cannot believe this is even a discussion. I started making a probability tree, but stopped because there is no question going now is best for Will. Like you, the fan in me is rooting for me to be wrong.
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The fan in me is rooting for Will to be picked high in the NBA draft and for us to get another stud to fill his spot. Our guys going high in the NBA draft is a great thing. And Will seems like a good guy.
 
#13      
IndyIllini2
nmillini said:
Cannot believe this is even a discussion. I started making a probability tree, but stopped because there is no question going now is best for Will. Like you, the fan in me is rooting for me to be wrong.
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Just my opinion of course, but the last impression stands out in alot of cases. Riley struggled to create space and create shots against Kentucky. The NBA is all about just that, creating shots. With possible injury being a risk, I personally think another year of strength and conditioning would take his game to a whole other level. The money is always a factor, but NIL has changed some of that perception. I am not going to make a prediction, but if Riley is projected in the 20-30 range, which he is in many cases, I think the chance of a second year at Illinois are much higher than perceived.

KJ is a different story. I can see why the NBA scouts like him with his size and overall creativity in his game. But, compared to NBA players, his shot is nowhere near where it needs to be and his decision making is mediocre at best. Again, no prediction, but I think he will drop down the boards if he goes to the combine and continues to turn the ball over. Not saying he will be back, but there is that small chance that his flaws show more than his plus skills.
 
#19      
Bigtex
Have been saying it for a long time. Positional size is an advantage only if you exploit the size matchups. Being tall helps but isn’t necessarily the key to winning. All year long Duke was mentioned as having the tallest lineup / squad in ncaa. A relatively tiny Houston squad ended their season
 
#20      
wyckles
Bigtex said:
Have been saying it for a long time. Positional size is an advantage only if you exploit the size matchups. Being tall helps but isn’t necessarily the key to winning. All year long Duke was mentioned as having the tallest lineup / squad in ncaa. A relatively tiny Houston squad ended their season
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Ended their season because Duke quit going inside and stopped hitting any shots for the last 10 minutes of the game. Kind of like how Illinois lost to Duke, come to think of it.
 
#21      
NarrowJ
wyckles said:
Ended their season because Duke quit going inside and stopped hitting any shots for the last 10 minutes of the game. Kind of like how Illinois lost to Duke, come to think of it.
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Yes... Duke was widely considered the best college team in probably the last 20 years, and analytics supported that... Net Rating was like 10% better than UConn's juggernaut team last season... sometimes the best team doesn't win (Illinois 04-05, for a hits-close-to-home example)

EDIT: Point is just that anyone can beat anyone on any given day, one game doesn't make me want to roll out small ball lineups all season
 
#23      
the juiceman cometh
Bigtex said:
Have been saying it for a long time. Positional size is an advantage only if you exploit the size matchups. Being tall helps but isn’t necessarily the key to winning. All year long Duke was mentioned as having the tallest lineup / squad in ncaa. A relatively tiny Houston squad ended their season
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Maybe the lesson here is that in a single-elimination tournament the better team does not always win. I still think if you play that game 10 times, Duke wins the majority of them. You play the odds, prepare, and then hope it all works out. I like the odds better with a team built like Duke than built like Houston.
 
#24      
sdiver68
the juiceman cometh said:
Maybe the lesson here is that in a single-elimination tournament the better team does not always win. I still think if you play that game 10 times, Duke wins the majority of them. You play the odds, prepare, and then hope it all works out. I like the odds better with a team built like Duke than built like Houston.
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This.

I think there's also a lesson here for relying on NBA analytics at the collegiate level.
 
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