Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

#1      

Dan

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


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IL Returnees
David Mirkovic
Tomislav Ivisic
Zvonimir Ivisic
Jake Davis
Andrej Stojakovic


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New IL Signees
Zavier Zens (2026 F) committed & signed on April 17th.
Quentin Coleman (2026 G) committed on April 3rd, signed on April 19th.


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New IL Unsigned Commits
Stefan Vaaks (Providence transfer guard) committed on April 12th.


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2026 Recruiting (early signing period)
Ethan Brown (2026 G) committed on July 30th, 2025, signed on November 15th, 2025.
Landon Davis (2026 F) committed on August 6th, 2025, signed on November 12th, 2025.
Lucas Morillo (2026 G) committed on October 24th, 2025, signed on November 19th, 2025.


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Unofficial Illinois Loyalty Portal Tracker by soupy17
B1G Roster Tracker by NarrowJ


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IL players who entered name into NBA Draft
Keaton Wagler declared for NBA Draft on April 11th.


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IL players who entered transfer portal
Mihailo Petrovic entered transfer portal on April 11th.
Toni Bilic entered transfer portal on April 11th.
Ty Rodgers entered transfer portal on April 16th.
Brandon Lee entered transfer portal on April 19th.


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2027 Recruiting
Quinton Kitt (2027 F) committed on November 27th, 2025.
Mason Martin (2027 G) committed on January 16th, 2026.
 
#2      
FloridaMan
Any new word on Blackwell???
just joking GIF
 
#3      
hodgesonfire
Dan, is this the entire roster? Jatsky (sp) or any others around? Just curious. Looks like 11 spots full. Will the team will carry 15?
 
#4      
pruman91
stlrunner said:
Sorry…don’t have time to catch up on all 32 pages. Can someone just tell me whether we are going to be good or not next season? ;)
Click to expand...
thinker01.jpeg
]Now you've done it.......you have put me in the " Ponder Zone ".......when I ponder about a subject another certain subject invades all my senses and leaves me in a disoriented quagmire of erotic thoughts and wishes........but you asked a ponderlicious question so here goes.........

" will we be any good next year ? "........simple concise query , and worthy of a response.........................
rooks38.jpg
...............................ummm , with the number of returning ..........
rooks 38.jpg
]
........................players with , ummmmm..........................FF exper........
rooks41.jpg
ience , ummm yes I would venture an affirmative yes to your ......................................................................
rooks14.gif


question.................................................light headed now , going to epic Taylor trauma levels........must maintain.........must.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

psyc41.gif


psyc135.gif


One small step for man , one giant leap for pruman91.........................it really really is.........................

psyc39.gif


celestial connection affirmed................................................................

psyc99.gif
..................................................................................life is a trip....it really really is............................
 
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#8      
PasadenaIllini
illiniguy24 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2045919468941943271

For those still worried about a point guard on offense just watch this clip.

First play Vaaks absolutely left THE Illini legend Bryce Hopkins in the dust and set up an easy dunk
Click to expand...
I don't think people are worried about what Vaaks will be bringning to our team. The biggest concern I'm reading is that we are relying on freshman or on players who haven't played lead guard to fill in that role when Vaaks is off the floor. This puts us a Vaaks injury or Vaaks foul trouble away from a lot of potential problems. I'm excited about what Coleman looks like he'll bring to our team, but he isn't a lead guard. Having watched some tape of Ethan Brown, he doesn't strike me someone who's ready to play lead guard for a championship level team. It looks to me like he's going to need some more time to grow.

I would echo the commenters who are saying they wish our coaching staff would add a veteran lead guard.
 
#9      
Oracle21
I assume we are gonna be looking for a quick guard from Europe then if the portal is done.

As it stands now, we have nobody that can man up against a Dent, Boyd, Philon, Cadeau level quick guard. With our collection of tall players I hope it’s 100% zone next year if we don’t add anyone else of real significance.
 
#10      
Illinilosch
illiniguy24 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2045919468941943271

For those still worried about a point guard on offense just watch this clip.

First play Vaaks absolutely left THE Illini legend Bryce Hopkins in the dust and set up an easy dunk
Click to expand...
Yeah I'll go ahead and make the comparison, no matter the stretch or the reach it may come off sounding like....

There's a WHOLE LOTTA Keaton Wagler in those Stef Vaaks highlights. Damn!

Color me excited!!!

😳
 
#11      
altgeld88
pruman91 said:
View attachment 49966]Now you've done it.......you have put me in the " Ponder Zone ".......when I ponder about a subject another certain subject invades all my senses and leaves me in a disoriented quagmire of erotic thoughts and wishes........but you asked a ponderlicious question so here goes.........

" will we be any good next year ? "........simple concise query , and worthy of a response.........................View attachment 49967...............................ummm , with the number of returning ..........View attachment 49968]
........................players with , ummmmm..........................FF exper........View attachment 49969ience , ummm yes I would venture an affirmative yes to your ......................................................................View attachment 49970

question.................................................light headed now , going to epic Taylor trauma levels........must maintain.........must.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

View attachment 49971

View attachment 49972

One small step for man , one giant leap for pruman91.........................it really really is.........................

View attachment 49973

celestial connection affirmed................................................................

View attachment 49974..................................................................................life is a trip....it really really is............................
Click to expand...
Nothing like starting a Monday morning and seeing our Brother Pru back in top form. :illinois:
 
#12      
illiniguy24
PasadenaIllini said:
I don't think people are worried about what Vaaks will be bringning to our team. The biggest concern I'm reading is that we are relying on freshman or on players who haven't played lead guard to fill in that role when Vaaks is off the floor. This puts us a Vaaks injury or Vaaks foul trouble away from a lot of potential problems. I'm excited about what Coleman looks like he'll bring to our team, but he isn't a lead guard. Having watched some tape of Ethan Brown, he doesn't strike me someone who's ready to play lead guard for a championship level team. It looks to me like he's going to need some more time to grow.

I would echo the commenters who are saying they wish our coaching staff would add a veteran lead guard.
Click to expand...
And I would echo what @LvilleILL1 said…Coleman, our fifth option on paper and backup PG is an incoming five star or a top four star the #32 overall recruit in Morillo
 
#13      
NarrowJ
PasadenaIllini said:
I don't think people are worried about what Vaaks will be bringning to our team. The biggest concern I'm reading is that we are relying on freshman or on players who haven't played lead guard to fill in that role when Vaaks is off the floor. This puts us a Vaaks injury or Vaaks foul trouble away from a lot of potential problems. I'm excited about what Coleman looks like he'll bring to our team, but he isn't a lead guard. Having watched some tape of Ethan Brown, he doesn't strike me someone who's ready to play lead guard for a championship level team. It looks to me like he's going to need some more time to grow.

I would echo the commenters who are saying they wish our coaching staff would add a veteran lead guard.
Click to expand...

This is one of those types of problems that most teams have (backup PG/ball handlers).

Coleman is a more than capable backup, as you’ll see when this now 5 star recruit puts a uniform on.

We also have David who helps tremendously in this area and is a luxury 95% of other teams do not have.

Michigan State had to run Denham Wojcik as a backup ballhandler last year. I’d even go so far as to say Coleman is a better quality option there than a Malachi Smith at UConn or Michigan having to have a non-PG run everything when Cadeau is out (after Cason went down). We are nowhere near dire straits at this point in time, and especially won’t be after adding a guard during the summer as it’s been said we willl do.
 
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#14      
stlrunner
pruman91 said:
View attachment 49966]Now you've done it.......you have put me in the " Ponder Zone ".......when I ponder about a subject another certain subject invades all my senses and leaves me in a disoriented quagmire of erotic thoughts and wishes........but you asked a ponderlicious question so here goes.........

" will we be any good next year ? "........simple concise query , and worthy of a response.........................View attachment 49967...............................ummm , with the number of returning ..........View attachment 49968]
........................players with , ummmmm..........................FF exper........View attachment 49969ience , ummm yes I would venture an affirmative yes to your ......................................................................View attachment 49970

question.................................................light headed now , going to epic Taylor trauma levels........must maintain.........must.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

View attachment 49971

View attachment 49972

One small step for man , one giant leap for pruman91.........................it really really is.........................

View attachment 49973

celestial connection affirmed................................................................

View attachment 49974..................................................................................life is a trip....it really really is............................
Click to expand...
Question thoroughly answered.
 
#15      
soupy17
Trueblue777 said:
Is Blake Fagbemi on scholarship or is he a walk on? I thought he was on scholarship this year.
Click to expand...
Scholarship vs. Walk-on isn't too much of a thing to track anymore. Every team has 15 roster spots to fill regardless of that distinction.

By my count our roster sits at 12.

FR (4):
Morillo, Brown, Coleman, Davis

SO (4):
Jakstys, Mirkovic, Fagbemi, Vaaks

SR (4):
T. Ivisic, Z. Ivisic, Davis, Stojakovic

3 open roster spots as we sit today.
 
#20      
My2Cents
Ok I just want to state my opinion on this non-stop "we have to have another guard" , and people speaking in absolutes. Nobody here has any way of knowing what next year will bring us. We can dream, we can hope and we can see a great path, or we can spend the next few months telling every single player/staff member that reads these post, we have no chance because we don't have a veteran guard. Again, just my opinion but when we have zero clue how these players will mesh and gel over a full summer of Fletch and practices as a TEAM. How can we possibly know the results now? I'm almost 58...I 100% understand some worried about not having a veteran point guard. I myself have started to realize it's a new age, a different game then we grew up playing and watching. Take a look at our magical run in the tourney. Take a look at how often the team did not have a single senior on the floor. Look at the ones who stepped up their games, now look at the fact we have every single one of those players back this year except a FRESHMAN stud guard. So when people have already written this team off and started bashing every little aspect of how we don't stand a chance without a veteran guard it makes zero sense to me. Can we replace one freshman guard with another and get the same results? That is putting a lot on one players plate but maybe, just maybe, we won't need a freshman to have a once in a lifetime season because we have a lot of players returning who played significant roles to us winning in the tourney and can easily take a step forward. If this team gets knocked out of the tourney by a team that just dominates us down low these same people will come here and start saying "I knew for a 100% fact we didn't need another veteran guard, we needed a veteran center to battle down low". How about we just enjoy the fact we went to the final four and we can realistically get excited about a very good chance to return? Trust the change in times and realize these freshmen and kids play so many more summer league games than my generation ever played. They have a lot of experience and most are not taken back by the step up in competition as previous players were. Screenshot this, save it and come here next March/April and throw it in my face to show you were right and I will still believe the same things and know there are so many uncontrollables when it comes to the tourney. To end my rambling I also want to state, I am in no way saying our incredible home grown leader was not important, I love how dedicated he was and he played a big part in certain parts of the season, but that still doesn't change the fact we proved we can win without him doing a lot in the tourney.
 
#21      
LvilleILL1
PasadenaIllini said:
Having watched some tape of Ethan Brown, he doesn't strike me someone who's ready to play lead guard for a championship level team. It looks to me like he's going to need some more time to grow.

I would echo the commenters who are saying they wish our coaching staff would add a veteran lead guard.
Click to expand...
He's the 4th option at guard for now. Good god this fanbase is getting worse by the day.
 
#25      
Fly Illini Fly!
Illinilosch said:
Yeah I'll go ahead and make the comparison, no matter the stretch or the reach it may come off sounding like....

There's a WHOLE LOTTA Keaton Wagler in those Stef Vaaks highlights. Damn!

Color me excited!!!

😳
Click to expand...
I see more KJ than I do Keaton. (outside of just being two European guards and looking more alike)

The shot is more like KJ than Keaton — form and creating space off the bounce.

Keaton killed you with poise in his decision making. Called it the “old man game.”

Vaaks is more-so quick and decisive, like Kasparas.

I actually think he can be better than KJ — or definitely more efficient — if he keeps the TOs down (which Kasparas struggled with).
 
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