Thought he was out of eligibility...played in PIT tourny for seniors.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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I don’t know but he was a real gas when he was here! /s
And that's how you win championships. Oh wait Duke, with all that talent hasn't won one since 2015.
I hope not. Let Jake come in and provide a heater off the bench. In big games it is tough to dig yourself out of a hole. We were able to against Iowa and Houston, but we were playing with fire, with Dre on the bench. Let Jake have his 10 to 15 minutes a game, but let's not play from behind to start the game.
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skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Nope. That's your strawman.
I never made that argument. I posited as to the difference between obtaining ANOTHER depth guard in the portal (like Petro) vs. what we already have in house (freshmen).
So that everyone can see how obvious your strawman is without navigating back to my post...here the post you quoted....
"For all of you hand wringing about “we need another guard” please go back and read all of the posts after Petro signing last summer.
Then make your case for doing the same thing again this summer."
Wagler is a lotto pick. Vaaks was not. Both were/are rising sophomores. Kylan’s injury hurt his offense. But it’s a stretch to say Coleman as a freshman will be a clear upgrade.
And I expect some YoY improvement but Tomi actually declined YoY this past year. We’re banking a lot on step ups from Dre and Mirk. The YoY improvement could happen but it’s no guaranteed thing.
Ask Loyer and TKR.
Give me Andrej over Blackwell any day of the week. 
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
It is interesting that the better a program does, the more angry the fan base becomes.
Since we were in a battle with Duke this offseason, I spent quite a bit of time on their boards. They’re absolutely miserable.
So we should have gone to the portal instead of retaining our guys who all would’ve been top guys in the portal had they entered?
Wagler is a lotto pick. Vaaks was not. Both were/are rising sophomores. Kylan’s injury hurt his offense. But it’s a stretch to say Coleman as a freshman will be a clear upgrade.
And I expect some YoY improvement but Tomi actually declined YoY this past year. We’re banking a lot on step ups from Dre and Mirk. The YoY improvement could happen but it’s no guaranteed thing.
Ask Loyer and TKR.
I don’t think starting Jake was the problem….most efficient offense was with Jake on the court.
Tournament Andrej doesn't happen if he's handed a starting role and doesn't improve his D & rebounding.
Davis earned that starting role and I would be shocked if he doesn't continue to put in the work. I'd rather make Coleman take it from him.
Honestly I think the majority here can get behind this sentiment, and that it sums up the discourse since #theRetention wrapped up. How optimistic we are coming off a great season with great potential for the next, and an incredible returning roster that we cannot wait to see come November. But that there are also just a couple tweaks in the formula that look visible to those of us not in the practice facility. Blackwell could have made us undoubtedly favorites, but if he doesn’t want in, we don’t want him anyway. No matter what, we’re going to be a threat all season.
Explain.
What other team is bringing back roughly 70% of their overall production? If you're referencing losing Wagler to the draft or Boswell to graduation, then literally every team is worse....on paper. If you compare Vaaks stats, on paper, with Keaton.....how much is the fallout....on paper?
What does the jump from a Freshman Vaaks with no talent around him to a Sophomore jump with shooters everywhere look like?
Losing Boswell/Petrovic, but picking up Coleman/Morillo, what's the comparison?
A full summer of practice together, having everyone admitted and cleared, along with the retention......what does that do?
How good will the freshmen be come March?
I'm not going to jinx us on health.
When you take on transfers, all you're assessing is numbers. You have no clue what the fit is. What if we take on Blackwell and he doesn't move the ball around? What if his personality doesn't mesh with the retained players who are very, very close? Is he the odd man out?
You just never know.
Btw.... Michigan lost the conference player of the year. On paper, they're worse.
Edit: Mirk, Drej and Tomi would have all be top 15 transfers in the portal.
So we should have gone to the portal instead of retaining our guys who all would’ve been top guys in the portal had they entered?
Worse than the team at the end of the season because you lost a lottery pick. But we are much better on paper than than we were on paper to start last year.
Every single year over a dozen guys are lotto picks and somehow college basketball still has good players every year. You'd think we'd be down to guys who just constantly dribble off their foot by now. Very strange.
Wagler is a lotto pick. Vaaks was not. Both were/are rising sophomores. Kylan’s injury hurt his offense. But it’s a stretch to say Coleman as a freshman will be a clear upgrade.
And I expect some YoY improvement but Tomi actually declined YoY this past year. We’re banking a lot on step ups from Dre and Mirk. The YoY improvement could happen but it’s no guaranteed thing.
Ask Loyer and TKR.
The Sprouting Divot
Invisible and Bulletproof
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Of course they're miserable - have you met many Duke people?!
A former colleague got his law degree at Duke. While there, he picked up a masters in public policy just to meet other people who were not Duke law students.
Big success breeds bigger expectations. We keep making sweet sixteen and elite eights for each of the next 5-7 years but no championship games, the fan base will re-calibrate failure from the groce years of being excited just to make the tournament. Until we fail consistently at a higher level, our expectations will remain lower.
Question for one of the "insiders". Why would the staff not want to recruit to be the team to beat instead of just another contender?
My wife
This is where I think the concerns about adding a high-usage Blackwell are legit. Sure, he'd score a lot more and make more "wow" plays than Jake, but it's not hard to imagine the offense as a unit being just one step away from firing on all cylinders consistently.
Starting tomi, mirk, andrej, jake and vaaks doesn't give me the same concerns about 'efficiency' as having blackwell in there instead of jake. But it sounds like we'll just never know.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
I was… but I’m assuming that’s obvious since I posted the GIF.How many people here were living in town watching these two when they were on WCIA together? Show of hands.
Never said that.So we should have gone to the portal instead of retaining our guys who all would’ve been top guys in the portal had they entered?
In an earlier post, I described gaps we had in last year’s team:
- Perimeter defense
- Low post offense
These things allow for us to better weather cold 3 point shooting nights like what plagued us vs. UConn.
The shots that rimmed out were not some easy lay-ins. Whether that be Kylan, Andrej, or Mirk. If they were so easy why not dunk them instead of bringing the rim into question? There’s an athleticism gap here. Roddy Gayle, Burnett, and McKenney were 3 guards on Michigan that could dunk. And that’s before we even talk about the athleticism of their frontcourt with Yaxel and Morez.
Was it ideal for Keaton to go 2-10 from 3 launching 30ft’ers? Why didn’t we continue working the ball in and drawing fouls the way Michigan did? Cadeau shot the most free throws in the final.
We made the Final Four. No one is denying that achievement. We played 1 team seeded higher than 9 en route. Beating Houston in Houston extinguished a lot of the demons from the 2022 loss.
But we’ve now lost three straight times to UConn. One blowout. One comfortable win. And one that was within 2 possessions but never closer the entire second half. How much did Tarris Reed Jr hurt us with dunks and low post finishes? Have we addressed that gap?
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Good point. We sort of assume all our returning players will get better. But that's not always the case.
Wagler is a lotto pick. Vaaks was not. Both were/are rising sophomores. Kylan’s injury hurt his offense. But it’s a stretch to say Coleman as a freshman will be a clear upgrade.
And I expect some YoY improvement but Tomi actually declined YoY this past year. We’re banking a lot on step ups from Dre and Mirk. The YoY improvement could happen but it’s no guaranteed thing.
Ask Loyer and TKR.
You could make this argument about anybody in college basketball then.
Blackwell could get worse next year...
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