After watching the worst all-star game in history, you draw that conclusion. This was more And1 than an actual basketball game. They had a 5-foot fat guy in an toon squad uniform announcing on the floor. No conclusions can be drawn from this game whatsoever.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
After a 30 second clip, I am also all in on Ethan Brown. This guy can run the point. Perfect Underwood positionless basketball guy.
Just me, but I’d rather have a combo guard along the lines like you mentioned (Justin Harmon) and a athletic big that is nasty inside and can give you rebounds,D, and be a serviceable scorer than Blackwell. But in order for that to happen one more player on the current roster would have to enter the portal and eventually decide to transfer elsewhere. Maybe we already got a guard on the roster to fill that need in Brandon Lee.
Last edited:
And going to the league.
My take was a little different. What I saw was a kid who was aggressive in calling for the ball as he crossed into the lane and got to the right places on the court offensively and defensively. Seemed very confident in his game.
wettsten
- Chicago
wagler 2.0. confirmed.
Another "ic", sign him up!
blackdog
- Champaign
Players that can drive and finish through contact with both hands get me a little excited.
I agree- I thought he stood out with his aggressiveness, IQ, confidence, playing against the best HS class in a very long time- he was going against Boozer, Koa Peat, Ament, Acuff, Dybansa etc and didn’t look out of place - which was an eye opener for me at the time. Those guys are all going to the league and we get another year of Mirk- it’s going to be special!
Ya, hopefully he doesnt play 30 MPG and average 24 for us, unacceptable !
Appears Illinois has a talented 5 man freshman class. The question with them individually is which ones will shine when the lights are on in packed arenas under a ton of pressure. Wagler and Mirc were confident and skilled enough to handle it. Which frosh are strong enough, confident enough and possess enough skill to step up quickly. Got to have a level of cockiness to excel. Going to be fun to hear insiders tidbits from practices about who's looking good ala Wagler.
Why haven't Vaaks and Coleman signed by now? What are they waiting for? Why is not a concern?
Question because I’m unfamiliar: does the Portal Tracker sheet Crystal Ball prediction get updated as time goes on, or is it set only once?
Asking because Blackwell still has Illinois as the prediction; assuming a change if insiders believe we are not getting him.
Asking because Blackwell still has Illinois as the prediction; assuming a change if insiders believe we are not getting him.
Coleman comes off the bench. He’s already signed. We don’t need internal recruitspeak. He will have a role but he’s not a superstar.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
I feel like the focus should be more on role players who can provide depth, defense, and athleticism now. It would have been goo to get Blackwell, but I never really considered him make or break if Andrej stayed. I think money has more value filling in the pieces instead of getting an alpha.
I thought Mirk played great in the Summit given limited minutes. I was stoked at how well he defended and rebounded vs Boozer in the post really better than anyone in that game. Given how much we have struggled in post D vs big powerful players i specifucally remember being happy with how well Mirk did that and could fill that role for us. He did that and much more.
You make an outstanding point, but you have to dig in a little deeper to uncover where we can and are attacked. We have size, but it's limited to being tall. Outside of Mirk, there's not a ton of physicality there and his hurdle is athleticism. I loved when he said that one of his major goals is to adding dunking to his game. He recognizes the hole and I'm sure he got that feedback immediately from those at the pro ranks. He's got to be more explosive, which is where Fletch comes in.
With regards to the twins, they really want no part of the paint. Tomi, in the NCAA Tournament, finally showed that he can play in the paint offensively with that nice little jump hook. It's almost impossible to stop. Z really didn't have much of an offensive game unless it was being on the receiving end of a lob of hitting the three, where he really struggled towards the end of the year.
Defensively, we really didn't handle quick guards or physical, athletic bigs that carve out the lane and thrive on working the boards. We struggled in many games getting critical boards on the defensive side. Morez, Reed Jr(the physicality that UCONN brought)., MSU's whole roster.....they really focused their attack there. Being physical, enjoying contact, playing through it is a frame of mind. There's a fight to it....there's a "that's my ball or you're getting an elbow in the chest" component to it. That's what keeping the twins out of the NBA right now. They have all of the other tools. There's Z and T over 7 feet, then there's Mara. That dude was an A-Hole but was nasty. The twins can be that, but it's between the ears
Then, we go back to quickness, which those in the media, coaches and analysts comment on. It's EXTREMELY difficult for 6'7" to stay in front of a shift 6'2" that can play on the wing, shoot it or take you off the bounce. Asking Tomi to cover the three point line, then stop penetration is too much, which is why drive and kicks hurt us. Those who yelled "why are we letting up wide open threes!!!???"....that was the issue 99% of the time. Drive, where someone has to collapse by leaving a shooter, then the ball getting kicked out....it's really tough to recover.
Fears, Dent, Philon, the moron from Wisconsin(twice) caused a ton of problems. We got a break when the kid from VCU injured himself in the first few minutes of the game. We still win, but he would have been a headache.
This was WAY too long. Apologies. However, that's why you can't just throw size out there. Eddie Johnson had a pretty critical system after the Vaaks announcement. He wasn't wrong. I still think that needs to be addressed, even if it's just with a bench player who can come in and change the momentum for us defensively.
Id much rather add a true back up power 4. I know people are saying Morrilo can back up the 4 some but i dont see a 6'7" at best 180lb frame doing that well in the B10. Im not drinking that Kool Aid.
I would love someone besides just Z to back up Tomi and Mirk effectively. He is really the only experienced other big we have. It us especailly concerning iven both Ivisic's leg, ankle and other health issues. For me thats a larger concern than guard play. We have some guys that can fill in to help handle the ball after Vaaks. True size down low its more limited. Only Z has much experience backing up the 4/5. Ben filled that role and now we could use someone beside Jakstys with a frame 6'9" or taller and 250 lbs.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
I remember watching and thinking Mirk had a chance to develop and contribute some during the season.
I like being really wrong in that type of way.
Listing at start of this thread says he and Vaaks have not signed