Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#101      
illiniguy24
Future Insider said:
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water………
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Steve Irwin Danger GIF
 
#104      
EyeoftheIllini
thefalcon5 said:
I don’t watch enough MACtion to comment more than this: those stats win you MAC POY?
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I don’t watch much MAC either, but leading scorer and second in assists on first place and conf tourney champ certainly puts you in the running. Add in 30 mpg, do everything MVP of said first place team and 1.7 spg (not saying as good on D as Kylan, but KB averaged 1.1 spg) — seems like a deserving conf POY. No idea how all that translates to B1G as only saw him in NCAAT game against AZ, and he didn’t play very well. But often guys that stuff stat sheet like he did this year have some dog in them.
 
#106      
The Dying Illini
Indy Illini Fan said:
Well … I didn’t even have to say it …

I’d also add though … If you’re an elite assistant … Why would you come here ?
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Yet there are still people putting their head in the sand thinking that this situation is similar to that of a Kelvin Sampson/his son type situation.

These kids who are evaluating Illinois are smart. They don’t want to go play for Tyler and Zach Hamer.

There is not a question in my mind that boosters/Whitman are asking the same questions of Brad.

If this is the hill that Brad wants to die on, he surely will die on it. You do not even have to be an insider to smell the stench of nepotism.

May not be why we’re missing out on every recruit/good assistant, but I am sure that is a factor in many.
 
#107      
jacekpardol
Illini1985 said:
Tbh while I'd love to get Sarr, I much rather take all the resources, money, time and effort in this recruitment and put it towards Watkins.

Getting Sarr will give us the b10 championship ceiling we want, however, Watkins is the type of piece that makes you an elite team from day one. A floor and ceiling raiser. He's also the type of wing that fits perfectly with what the staff has done so far. Its probably too perfect to be true.
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We need to replace TWO first round NBA picks so in your estimation Sarr > Riley + KJ? Not sure where you're getting this ceiling projection from, logically.

Also Tre + Rez >>>> than Big Z

We have a ton of work to do if you want Big 10 champ aspirations.
 
#108      
illiniguy24
Maybe it’s just because I played college ball but I just don’t understand how you don’t have a few go to plays that work.

If the ones you design don’t work…USE SOMEBODY ELSES!

Did they just forget what they ran when Gentry was here? Can’t watch film and take a couple from coaches across the country?

Just seems stubborn and or lazy
 
#109      
RockfordIllini
WolfpackIllini said:
I am not anywhere near a hoops coach - just a fan who watches the games very closely (intensely?).

That said, some of the stuff I saw when I watched:
- last year's O was TSJ doing anything he wanted, because he could, and Domask's Booty Ball, because he could. I don't recall being impressed by a system of set plays that worked all that well. But I am no coach.
- this year's O had some good set plays, but I did not see them all that often, or our guys just forgot how to execute, but we fell back all too often to volume 3-pt shooting, and our % was way below what it should have been, based on each player's history. In a few games, we drove inside and won tough fought games that way, but did not continue to do that going forward - a real headscratcher. And when we ran into an opponent with good D, they shut us down. So we may meet some metrics to earn a top O rating, but it just didn't pass the eye test to me. Just my opinion.
- on D, all I can say is we sure didn't seem to be able to get stops when we needed them. I think our guys played with passion and intensity, and never quit, but they got beat way too often. And, it seemed to me we had way fewer steals than a good D team would have. Again, just my opinion.

So, to me, our team significantly underperformed, relative to their individual abilities. This was very frustrating for me to watch, as a crazed fan. And this, to me, has a lot to do with coaching. JMVHO.
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To me both our offensive and defensive scheme scream that we are overly reliant on analytics/computer modeling. We don’t observe what the team is doing overall and game to game and adjust.

On offense, 3 points is more than 2 so we recruit shooters and shoot a high volume of 3s to outscore our opponent. Nevermind we constantly shot under 30% from 3 for games and often shot a very high percentage from 2, meaning analytically the 2 pointers were the more efficient shot (prime example being the first half against Duke where we shot like 67% from 2 and o-fer from 3). The computers say shoot a lot of 3’s, so shoot a lot of 3s we will. Nevermind that we can’t make them.

And on defense we play drop coverage to a fault because computers think mid range 2s are the worst shot to take. Nevermind if that’s the strength of our opponent like Sparty or Desmond Claude. We are just going to let them bury 12 footers all night. And that’s just game to game. We also don’t adjust our schemes to play to our player’s strengths. Kylan is so strong, and has such quick hands and feet he is one of the best on ball defenders in the country. It is a waste to have him constantly trailing his man. And it seems to me alot of our defense is predicated on guys avoiding screens a la Trent, DaMonte, Ayo, etc. But then we’ve also emphasized positional size, and bigger guys are just easier to screen. So we are constantly at a disadvantage because our bigger bodied players are getting picked off. If we are going to recruit positional size, we should switch more on defense.

So I think analytics are great and we should incorporate them and they do work in the aggregate as evidenced by the fact that we are near to the top in BIG wins the last 6 years or whatever it is. But if we aren’t able or willing to make adjustments based on matchups, personnel etc it does put a cap on how far we can go IMO. When Pope sees we are parking our center at the free throw line and so just runs a ball screen for his 45% three point shooter 25 feet from the basket so he gets any shot he wants and we don’t adjust, that tells me that we are playing the games on a computer vs what is actually happening on the court.
 
#110      
My2Cents
Indy Illini Fan said:
www.espn.com

Nate Johnson - Kansas State Wildcats Guard - ESPN

View the profile of Kansas State Wildcats Guard Nate Johnson on ESPN. Get the latest news, live stats and game highlights.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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Don't know much about this guy, but I would be leery of a guy who has grown up/played all his basketball in/around his home city falling victim of becoming "just another guy" if he were to move to Illinois. Question is.....how are his "ladder" skills ?
 
#112      
PIT_ILL
Indy Illini Fan said:
I’m criticizing the offensive performance this year …

Stop shooting so many 3s when it isn’t working …
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I mean you can argue that isn't an effective offense but clearly the strategy was to shoot threes and rebound misses for close put backs.

Generally that worked pretty well. They were one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country.

Now getting people open for those threes to get a better % is a different story. If they are hitting a higher team % we aren't having this discussion. The offense lacked the motion of pieces to get better shots
 
#113      
ChiefGritty
The Dying Illini said:
we’re missing out on every recruit
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Not only do we already have a Top 50 transfer portal commit, it is the twin brother of someone already on the team with firsthand knowledge of how the program operates.

The Dying Illini said:
There is not a question in my mind that boosters/Whitman are asking the same questions of Brad.
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Claims of tension in the Whitman/Underwood marriage have been habitually connected to open jobs elsewhere and absolutely zilch, zero, nothing has come of them in any concrete sense.
 
#115      
the juiceman cometh
Big Jack said:
Come on look at the talent on the teams the last two seasons. We should have been top 5 with that amount of talent. You have TSJ, CoHawk and Marcus last season and 2 1rst round NBA pics and Tomi would probably be a late 2nd if he entered the draft. That team was loaded any one could have coached them to a top 15 offense.
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Come on, you can't actually believe this can you? If you do, then why does coaching matter at all? In fact that's the best argument in favor of Tyler and Hamer. They make less than the other ACs. Way less. Fire OA and Geoff, hire two more cheap young guys, and have boosters divert all their donations to the NIL fund.Because if it's all about talent and anyone can do it, why do we care who the coaches? Just maximize the talent!

Better yet, hire some bum to coach the team for $100k, hire zero assistants, and have even more money diverted to the NIL pool.
 
#116      
Emerson Bigguns
The Dying Illini said:
Yet there are still people putting their head in the sand thinking that this situation is similar to that of a Kelvin Sampson/his son type situation.

These kids who are evaluating Illinois are smart. They don’t want to go play for Tyler and Zach Hamer.

There is not a question in my mind that boosters/Whitman are asking the same questions of Brad.

If this is the hill that Brad wants to die on, he surely will die on it. You do not even have to be an insider to smell the stench of nepotism.

May not be why we’re missing out on every recruit/good assistant, but I am sure that is a factor in many.
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Is this even a thing at this point? I don't think the contracts of our current assistants have expired yet... TA is still under contract, so we weren't going to start paying someone else while he is getting paid.

We've brought in two outstanding front court prospects with multiple years of eligibility left and retained at least as many of our core players as we have lost. (Which is not easy for anyone to do these days) Do we need a couple more guys? Yes. Is it mid-April? Yes.

So does everyone.
 
#117      
WolfpackIllini
A good coach (and/or team leader) will make his team better than the sum of its parts.
It just doesn't seem to me that our team has been playing anywhere near the sum of its parts.

I dunno, maybe my indulgence in Orange KoolAid has me over-estimating our players?
But KJ and WR are top-10 in the draft, Tomi not far behind, and KB was possibly our best player at the end of the year.
So I don't think I am over estimating anything, am I?
 
#120      
Kendall Gill’s Uncle
Birdus said:
I don't think so. Most of the people that I know that are fans could care less about these forums. They are excited about Illini hoops and just go to cheer and have a great time. Example of that would be my brother and some of his family and friends. They don't even keep up with the portal but he will have season tickets this year a support the team. He suffered through the previous coaches and finally got turned on enough to get back to State Farm.
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I used the sarcasm indicator. I’ll keep sarcastic jokes to myself moving forward.

Only meltdowns, more athletic Larry Bird, and random food thoughts from me going forward. Sorry I stepped out of line.
 
#125      
EmeraldCityIllini
I'm not trying to be snarky, but if Tyler Underwod truly does run the entire offense, I'm actually kind of impressed a 28-year old can run a Kenpom top-15 offense in college hoops - especially if our frosh superstar played half the year hurt. I also thought we scored a ton of layups on OOB plays under the hoop... *ducks

I'd love Nate Johnson as a 2-guard paired with a big-money wing by the way.
 
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