Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Million dollar question - is the roster set or do we plan on adding anyone else?
My concern with this lineup/roster right now (if needed to come up with one) is that there’s no one capable of creating their shot and just “getting one” outside of Stojakovic. Another shot-creating scoring wing would probably help.
I think most in the know have alluded to us maybe looking for a backup combo guard
We were after Sellers for that role but he ended up at Providence (because they were able to sell him on a larger role there)
With Petro/Bam/AS and also Ty/Jake/BLee in the mix there to possibly back them up, we currently don't have a sell for another 30 minute per game guy
There are still a few guys who fit that mold who are available, but not sure how serious we are about pursuing at this point
If we don't add anyone, I think its likely because the staff feels that second group (Ty/Jake/BLee) can get the job done
We were after Sellers for that role but he ended up at Providence (because they were able to sell him on a larger role there)
With Petro/Bam/AS and also Ty/Jake/BLee in the mix there to possibly back them up, we currently don't have a sell for another 30 minute per game guy
There are still a few guys who fit that mold who are available, but not sure how serious we are about pursuing at this point
If we don't add anyone, I think its likely because the staff feels that second group (Ty/Jake/BLee) can get the job done
I'd like to see a shooter at the 2/3 that can hit 40% from three. Maybe Jake can be that guy or Ben can return to form. Otherwise we are incredibly thin once again from three.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
I’m not mad about a 3 and d addition, but:
Big Z: career 37.5% 3 point shooter
Big T: shot 35.7% from 3 last year
Mirkovic: shot 42% in U19 ABA League Championship
Boswell: before last year, was a career 38% 3 point shooter
Davis: shot 38% as a freshman, 34% last year
Ben: shot 41% before transferring to Illinois, 34% last year
Isn’t 6 guys in the mid to upper 30’s pretty good?
AS will show a better 3 point % this season as well imo, at Cal there was nobody else the defense needed to pay attention to lol
Honestly, not a bad bounce back candidate. Tyson was completely misused by Davis at UNC. You don't shoot 40%+ from 3 as a freshman and sophomore and forget how to shoot as a junior. He just never got any consistent minutes to develop any sort of rhythm.
Will be interesting to see how Medved does this year. I don't think he has the talent to really compete in the big10 but he's brought in a couple of nice role players pieces(it's just his entire roster is role players).
I agree with your point overall. I would expect our shooting to be better than last year. Boswell and BH's percentages improving alone would be enough to do it.
I'm just not sure I'd include Mirk in this list. Yes, in the U19 league he shot well. In 3 games. He went 3-7 in 3 games. That's not the sample I'd be drawing from.
In big boy ABA, where Mirk played the vast majority of his minutes, he shot 32.6%. Still good - just not mid-to-high 30s good. What has me wondering about the transition to high-major college basketball is what happened to that percentage when his 3pt volume went up later in the season. Until late in the season he was a 1 or 2 threes a game type of guy. In the last 6 games he upped the volume, and shot 4-20 from 3 - 25%. So at that higher level, when defenders were looking at him as a threat to shoot it, he wasn't that great.
Who knows how it will translate, but I wouldn't pencil him in as a guy that'll be drilling them from the start. Might be a bit more of a Will Riley progression to that part of his game. Or might just not translate at all initially.
My question would be where do we draw the line as to a useful sample size? 7 attempts obviously tells us nothing, but is 20 attempts enough? Some even argue that full seasons are not even large enough samples to derive shooting ability.
There is definitely the potential to be a solid 3pt shooting team. You didn't mention Stojakovic who has shot 32% from 3 in his first two seasons but was an 82% free throw shooter but he was touted as a great shooter as a prep, his jump shot looks mechanically sound, and obviously has the NBA sharpshooter bloodline.
On the other hand I don't really know what to think of Boswell. Shot the ball fairly well albeit was straky at Arizona but looked lost last year for most of the season. I think he was shooting under 20% for the season at some point in February.
Personally, I kind of chalk up Boswell's struggles to shot selection with him taking too many off the dribble or deep 3's but if the coaching staff is pushing that type of shot then you might see the team shooting once again be very streaky. I know a lot of people talk about KJ being hurt but I think a lot of his struggles late in the year could also be attributed to poor shot selection and falling in love with the step back.
Plenty of capable shooters on the roster but the overall team shooting percentage and performance will likely depend on whether they are getting good looks and taking open looks where they can step into their shot and toe the line or are they trying to jack up as many 3's as possible and taking too many deep 3's and off the dribble attempts(no one on this team is Steph Curry)?
To give up a recent example, look at how well Coleman shot his final year here compared to the rest of his career. It was the result of getting in rhythm looks and limited the attempts from 3-5 feet behind the line. Some of it is also sample size variance but good shot attempts is the key to being a good shooting team.
Well, I agree these are very small samples sizes we're drawing on.
But even so I'd argue a 7 shot sample against lower level competition means absolutely nothing.
The season-long sample means more. Still not hugely revealing but it tells us something.
The small sample at the end of the season I brought up also means next to nothing. It just raises a question, but doesn't really provide an answer.
Which is why my ultimate conclusion is that we shouldn't count on Mirk being a huge 3pt threat. Maybe he will be. I would love it if he was. But I don't think the data is there to count on it.
Bigtex
- DFW
certainly hope that each of our shooters improves their % in 25-26 There were many TEAMS last year (or any year) that as a team that made 3s at a higher % than our highest % shooter. To shoot as many 3s as Illinois does, there needs to be a couple of 40+% shooters to win the quality out of conference games that Illinois continues to schedule.
Agreed, and certainly the season-long % carries more weight... and if he shot 42% on a small sample, 20% on a small sample, and 33% on a much larger sample, then I'd venture to guess the 33% number is closest to resembling his true shooting skill
Also, just to step away from the 3 point % discussion and look at the big picture, for a moment - Tomi averaged 7 pts 4 reb in the ABA for SC Derby his year prior to Illinois in which he put up 13 pts 8 reb. Mirkovic just averaged 9 pts 7 reb for the same team in the same league, so for folks expecting him to come in and ride the pine... I think they're in for a nice surprise
I'd say you are only good as you were last year when it comes to shooting, or hitting, or pitching.
Z: 37.5%
T: 35.7%
Davis: 34%
Ben: 34%
Andrej: 32%
KB: 24%
Mirkovic is a wild card. Say 32-35%?
Petrovic at 33%.
I believe the key to shooting better from three is shooting less from three.
I personally don't count on freshmen unless they are high 4/5 stars. Outside of that, is Jake a good ball handler? He hasn't shown me enough last year. I hope AS handles ball well. Ty is good enough but without a 3 pointer. We are not desperate but it is nice to be on the safe side.
Mirk obvious has offense. It's his defense will be put to test. But at the minimum, I think he is a 10-15 min player.
Kezza Giffa - Ole Miss Rebels Guard - ESPN
View the profile of Ole Miss Rebels Guard Kezza Giffa on ESPN. Get the latest news, live stats and game highlights.
Backing out of USC commitment?Kezza Giffa - Ole Miss Rebels Guard - ESPN
View the profile of Ole Miss Rebels Guard Kezza Giffa on ESPN. Get the latest news, live stats and game highlights.www.espn.com
EDIT - Just saw his social for my answer (yes)
1m4tr
Cliffmas
Dude had the yips shooting last year. He hit the side of the backboard more times than you could imagine. We were hard Don Ben H but Cade showed about 10% of what Ben H did. Cade showed that he didn’t belong in D1 basketball last year. Zero defense. Slow. Definitely couldnt play at the pace UNC played at. Minnesota playing at a much slower pace might be a good spot for him. Total misevaluation of Cade last year. Maybe he’ll turn it around and then the UNC fans can have yet another complaint against Hubert. Cade made over $600k in NIL last year and UNC fans feel like they got robbed.
Ben H is four times the player of Cade.
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