Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[HailtotheChief]

If we're being honest really the main hole right now is the 4 spot. we have options - really just Ben and Mirk - but neither are that certified guy like Bos, Tomi, etc.

It is entirely possible Ben starts. Zvonimir is traditionally the backup 5 with this lineup, but maybe Brad wants to start the two bigs together. Not sure if Mirkovic is quite as experienced or polished just yet.

If I had to wager would still probably go with: Petrovic, Bos, Stoj, Z, Tomi.

I think Big Z backs up the 5 and also plays the 4 some. I expect Big Zs time to be split between the 5 and 4. The total actual time that Big Z plays both combined to be about the same as Ben and Mirk get at the 4. I think those 3 can fill that role. I kind if expected them to be ahead of Ty eve. If his offense hadn't improved. Many thought it has but I just needed to see it to believe it.
If we add someone I'd prefer someone to back up at the 3 possibly ahead of Davis. It hurt losing White who couldve really filled out thus roster. Those are the 10 or so minutes a game that I see we could use some help. I do want some offensive pop too and Davis does have that.

 

[WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?]

Lets say if Ben does start - i think its more unlikely than likely - is that necessarily a bad thing? he's proven as a capable shooter and defender. its just about the consistency.

 

[IlliniFan42]

If we're being honest really the main hole right now is the 4 spot. we have options - really just Ben and Mirk - but neither are that certified guy like Bos, Tomi, etc.

It is entirely possible Ben starts. Zvonimir is traditionally the backup 5 with this lineup, but maybe Brad wants to start the two bigs together. Not sure if Mirkovic is quite as experienced or polished just yet.

If I had to wager would still probably go with: Petrovic, Bos, Stoj, Z, Tomi.

Interesting, I'm in the opposite camp where I'm more worried about our guard depth. Jason can also fill in at 4, just have no idea how he'll do.

 

[PleaseMakeABowlGame]

Interesting, I'm in the opposite camp where I'm more worried about our guard depth. Jason can also fill in at 4, just have no idea how he'll do.

Guard depth is a concern, not guard play. that means the top options are strong (Boswell, Petrovic, even Stojakovic), it's just if someone gets hurt - similar to a backup quaterback. In that case, Lee is a solid option.

would've really helped to have a quality athletic, bull-dosing 4 man (like morez for instance; and yes, he's very much got capabilities of a PF).

 

[Dan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1944061183449084120

https://twitter.com/x/status/1944089034176733307

 

[PasadenaIllini]

Guard depth is a concern, not guard play. that means the top options are strong (Boswell, Petrovic, even Stojakovic), it's just if someone gets hurt - similar to a backup quaterback. In that case, Lee is a solid option.

would've really helped to have a quality athletic, bull-dosing 4 man (like morez for instance; and yes, he's very much got capabilities of a PF).

Based upon what? Yeah, practice hype is positive but we've heard that song played many times before.

Brandon Lee hasn't played any basketball other than high-school or AAU. We might be lucky and he might develop into a solid option or better. But given that he's not bringing AJ level hype with him, it may turn out that he's not at all ready to contribute this coming season and needs additional time to develop. In the later case, unless we're able to find an additional backcourt transfer ready to play, we are in serious trouble.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

Based upon what? Yeah, practice hype is positive but we've heard that song played many times before.

Brandon Lee hasn't played any basketball other than high-school or AAU. We might be lucky and he might develop into a solid option or better. But given that he's not bringing AJ level hype with him, it may turn out that he's not at all ready to contribute this coming season and needs additional time to develop. In the later case, unless we're able to find an additional backcourt transfer ready to play, we are in serious trouble.

Why? You're sounding like Lee will be starting when he'll likely play freshman year RJ type minutes.

You have both Boswell and Petrovic on your team. That's very possibly 2 of the top 10 PGs in the big ten (and Kylan can comfortably play off the ball as a co-guard). Stojakovic can also handle it.

 

[PasadenaIllini]

Why? You're sounding like Lee will be starting when he'll likely play freshman year RJ type minutes.

You have both Boswell and Petrovic on your team. That's very possibly 2 of the top 10 PGs in the big ten (and Kylan can comfortably play off the ball as a co-guard). Stojakovic can also handle it.

Because Andrej, Kylan, and Stojko can't play 40 minutes a game effectively during the B1G season. Because foul trouble happens. Because injuries often happen.

 

[The Sprouting Divot]

See this May 28 post:

Byron A. Jackson ...
@ByronAntJack


Alabama basketball was pursuing Keonte Jones in the portal but he has some major legal issues to overcome. One being a 1st degree sexual assault accusation with a person under 16. A lot of early pursuers have backed off on his recruitment… To be continued


8:24 PM · May 28, 2025
·
A few years ago, Jones was also involved in the death of a 55 year old homeless man. The man approached Jones asking him for money. Jones promised $6 if the man would do a backflip. He filmed the man's attempts, and on the third try, the man landed head first and broke his neck. Jones could be heard laughing on the film as he walked away and did not call for help. No crime was committed, so Jones was not charged.

Hard pass on this guy.

Yikes. What a piece of !!!!.

 

[logjam]

Based upon what? Yeah, practice hype is positive but we've heard that song played many times before.

Brandon Lee hasn't played any basketball other than high-school or AAU. We might be lucky and he might develop into a solid option or better. But given that he's not bringing AJ level hype with him, it may turn out that he's not at all ready to contribute this coming season and needs additional time to develop. In the later case, unless we're able to find an additional backcourt transfer ready to play, we are in serious trouble.

Why? You're sounding like Lee will be starting when he'll likely play freshman year RJ type minutes.

You have both Boswell and Petrovic on your team. That's very possibly 2 of the top 10 PGs in the big ten (and Kylan can comfortably play off the ball as a co-guard). Stojakovic can also handle it.

All he said is Lee is a solid option if there's an injury...

 

[WyattEarp]

Based upon what? Yeah, practice hype is positive but we've heard that song played many times before.

Brandon Lee hasn't played any basketball other than high-school or AAU. We might be lucky and he might develop into a solid option or better. But given that he's not bringing AJ level hype with him, it may turn out that he's not at all ready to contribute this coming season and needs additional time to develop. In the later case, unless we're able to find an additional backcourt transfer ready to play, we are in serious trouble.

Forgive me, I couldn’t resist:

 

[PepeSilvia]

Lets say if Ben does start - he's proven as a capable defender.

What? Defender?

 

[freddbird]

See this May 28 post:

Byron A. Jackson ...
@ByronAntJack


Alabama basketball was pursuing Keonte Jones in the portal but he has some major legal issues to overcome. One being a 1st degree sexual assault accusation with a person under 16. A lot of early pursuers have backed off on his recruitment… To be continued


8:24 PM · May 28, 2025
·
A few years ago, Jones was also involved in the death of a 55 year old homeless man. The man approached Jones asking him for money. Jones promised $6 if the man would do a backflip. He filmed the man's attempts, and on the third try, the man landed head first and broke his neck. Jones could be heard laughing on the film as he walked away and did not call for help. No crime was committed, so Jones was not charged.

Hard pass on this guy.

Too often people read something and do literally zero research. So, Keonte James, from Madison Wisconsin is a different person than this other Keonte James, who was 28 years old in 2020, when he did that thing described.

Homeless man died after botched backflip; police arrest man who allegedly offered him $6 for stunt

Police say a man offered a homeless man $6 if he could land a backflip. The homeless man suffered a fatal injury trying to do so.

www.ktvu.com

Don't believe everything you read just because someone said it on the internet. A lot of people had opinions based on this, but were too lazy to do a basic search and simply chose to judge. @Fly Illini Fly! @PleaseMakeABowlGame @WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? @The Sprouting Divot

 

[PleaseMakeABowlGame]

Too often people read something and do literally zero research. So, Keonte James, from Madison Wisconsin is a different person than this other Keonte James, who was 28 years old in 2020, when he did that thing described.

Homeless man died after botched backflip; police arrest man who allegedly offered him $6 for stunt

Police say a man offered a homeless man $6 if he could land a backflip. The homeless man suffered a fatal injury trying to do so.

www.ktvu.com

Don't believe everything you read just because someone said it on the internet. A lot of people had opinions based on this, but were too lazy to do a basic search and simply chose to judge. @Fly Illini Fly! @PleaseMakeABowlGame @WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? @The Sprouting Divot

The top part may remain valid though:

"Alabama basketball was pursuing Keonte Jones in the portal but he has some major legal issues to overcome. One being a 1st degree sexual assault accusation with a person under 16. A lot of early pursuers have backed off on his recruitment… To be continued"

https://twitter.com/x/status/1927883626626113933

 

[PasadenaIllini]

Too often people read something and do literally zero research. So, Keonte James, from Madison Wisconsin is a different person than this other Keonte James, who was 28 years old in 2020, when he did that thing described.

Homeless man died after botched backflip; police arrest man who allegedly offered him $6 for stunt

Police say a man offered a homeless man $6 if he could land a backflip. The homeless man suffered a fatal injury trying to do so.

www.ktvu.com

Don't believe everything you read just because someone said it on the internet. A lot of people had opinions based on this, but were too lazy to do a basic search and simply chose to judge. @Fly Illini Fly! @PleaseMakeABowlGame @WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? @The Sprouting Divot

I agree that it's horrible for the prospective basketball transfer Keonte Jones that we got this all wrong (including me), but could it be that we made an error in judgment here and that all of us aren't incurablely lazy?

When someone posts something, I generally presume positive intentions and don't do a lot of counterchecking of their claims.

 

[Rich]

Reading is hard, ok?

 

[Rebounding Dog]

Too often people read something and do literally zero research. So, Keonte James, from Madison Wisconsin is a different person than this other Keonte James, who was 28 years old in 2020, when he did that thing described.

Homeless man died after botched backflip; police arrest man who allegedly offered him $6 for stunt

Police say a man offered a homeless man $6 if he could land a backflip. The homeless man suffered a fatal injury trying to do so.

www.ktvu.com

Don't believe everything you read just because someone said it on the internet. A lot of people had opinions based on this, but were too lazy to do a basic search and simply chose to judge. @Fly Illini Fly! @PleaseMakeABowlGame @WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? @The Sprouting Divot

2 Keonte James? 2 Keonte jones??? My brain hurts

 

[Jinanjieke]

Too often people read something and do literally zero research. So, Keonte James, from Madison Wisconsin is a different person than this other Keonte James, who was 28 years old in 2020, when he did that thing described.

Homeless man died after botched backflip; police arrest man who allegedly offered him $6 for stunt

Police say a man offered a homeless man $6 if he could land a backflip. The homeless man suffered a fatal injury trying to do so.

www.ktvu.com

Don't believe everything you read just because someone said it on the internet. A lot of people had opinions based on this, but were too lazy to do a basic search and simply chose to judge. @Fly Illini Fly! @PleaseMakeABowlGame @WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? @The Sprouting Divot

Sorry about that. The Keonte Jones report on the homeless man's death was in the same thread as Jackson's comment on Alabama's stopping recruitment of the Madison Keonte Jones because of the sexual abuse of a minor charge. That sexual abuse charge is, I think, accurate. BTW, the article about the homeless man, published in a Las Vegas newspaper, identifies the person involved as Keonte Jones, not Keonte James. I missed the reference to his age.

 

[WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?]

I mean it has to be something for the guy to not be on a roster on July 13th and for heavy pursuers to have backed off (especially that we've heard rumblings). The question for him is will he be absolved enough to play college ball again (and if he'll be worth pursuing).

 

[the juiceman cometh]

Sorry about that. The Keonte Jones report on the homeless man's death was in the same thread as Jackson's comment on Alabama's stopping recruitment of the Madison Keonte Jones because of the sexual abuse of a minor charge. That sexual abuse charge is, I think, accurate. BTW, the article about the homeless man, published in a Las Vegas newspaper, identifies the person involved as Keonte Jones, not Keonte James. I missed the reference to his age.

Is it? The only evidence offered at this point is that tweet from an account with 65 followers. Is there any confirmation of this outside of that? I haven't been able to find any.

 

[Efrem Winters fan]

If we're being honest really the main hole right now is the 4 spot. we have options - really just Ben and Mirk - but neither are that certified guy like Bos, Tomi, etc.

It is entirely possible Ben starts. Zvonimir is traditionally the backup 5 with this lineup, but maybe Brad wants to start the two bigs together. Not sure if Mirkovic is quite as experienced or polished just yet.

If I had to wager would still probably go with: Petrovic, Bos, Stoj, Z, Tomi.

This is one of the reasons the loss of Ty hurts so much. He is versatile, can defend and can play 1-4 if needed.

 

[ColSLU69]

ALI DIBBA, Southern Illinois, Guard, Senior, 6'5", 205 pounds, Born in Stockholm, Sweden.

2021-2022 Chicago State: 5 GP, 2 GS, 26.0 MIN, 51.2 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 83.3 FT%, 3.0 REB, 0.2 AST, 13.4 PTS.
2022-2023 Abilene Christian: 30 11 20.5 47.4 15.0 74.3 3.1 0.7 9.6
2023-2024 Abilene Christian: 31 30 31.8 47.7 34.7 72.8 4.5 1.2 15.5
2024-2025 Southern Illinois: 33 33 34.0 49.0 33.7 66.0 4.8 2.0 17.2

I know that this potential transfer's name has been mentioned and discussed. At least one post stated (or speculated?) that Ali Dibba was out of eligibility. Can someone refresh my memory as to why he's out of eligibility? It looks like Dibba only played 5 games for Chicago State in the 2021-2022 season, and then he played full seasons the next 3 years. Did he play for some other schools that I've not read about or listed above?

It looks like this kid is a solid player, including last season at Division-1 SIU (Carbondale). 17.2 points/game is nothing to sneeze at! In each of his last 3 seasons, Dibba's FG%, Rebounds, Assists, and Scoring have increased. His 3P% has leveled off to approximately 34%... decent, but not great. His FT% dipped a bit this past season, but he made 73-74% each of the 2 previous seasons. Again, decent but not great.

He looks fairly athletic in game videos, and he seems to play/try hard on defense. Dibba is listed as a SG on some sites, but it looks like he has decent handles. So, I'm guessing that he could also play some minutes at PG, and his 6'5", 205 pounds size leads me to believe that he could play some minutes at SF if needed. He wouldn't be a star at Illinois, but Dibba could be an experienced, athletic, versatile role player adding quality depth off the bench for the Illini next season... IF he has any eligibility left.

I'm only bringing up Ali Dibba because numerous posters think that the Illini should add another player to its 2025-2026 roster (I agree), but several other posters speculate that (after a no as to Keonte Jones) there may not be any available collegiate transfers worth adding at this relatively late date. I'm wondering if there might also be a European player who become available as a late addition. (But the Illini would need to be sure that this European player could help the team this coming 25-26 season.)

 

[freddbird]

Sorry about that. The Keonte Jones report on the homeless man's death was in the same thread as Jackson's comment on Alabama's stopping recruitment of the Madison Keonte Jones because of the sexual abuse of a minor charge. That sexual abuse charge is, I think, accurate. BTW, the article about the homeless man, published in a Las Vegas newspaper, identifies the person involved as Keonte Jones, not Keonte James. I missed the reference to his age.

Even I made a mistake! Thank you for pointing it out. That article is just what popped up when I searched for the event and noticed the close name lol. Also, I'm sorry for the direct callout. I'm actually more annoyed with that source than I am the forum posters, but I wanted to tag everyone that commented directly to make sure they realized it is a different person at least.

 

[Joel Goodson]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1944461774918496453

 

[Joel Goodson]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1944461232855282165

hmm, one of our ACs has pretty good NYC ties