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.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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
- Miracle Mile
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...
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
from last summer. kid has it going on:
hope he hits his ceiling (because it's sky high)
hope he hits his ceiling (because it's sky high)
So his agent wants him to go somewhere he'll be "featured," and he's going to a team that's likely loaded with more talent than anyone?View attachment 50001
Tipton (never wrong, always original /s) also with a CB in for Dook
Chugged the Kool Aid till the very end
Don’t pretend the above isn’t an exaggerating also. Only McBride got above 9 points per game (10.0). All those guys you mentioned were one dimensional even if they had roles to play. I enjoyed that team but my point was don’t compare it to this one.
Nope that is not what any one wants. I think what people are saying is we would just like one more role player like Justin Harmon. Someone who has played college basketball, has experience and is willing to get a good pay raise and have a bench role. I know some insiders compared Brandon Lee to Andre Feliz last year. Well that didn’t happen. All people are trying to say is yes Keaton was amazing and we got lucky since Petro sucked. But what if we get a year like when we had Skyy and Jayden Epps. If that is Coleman then this team is not making the final four. That is what people are trying to say on this board. We all trust the staff but I have seen people say that after Skyy and Epps year Brad wasn’t going to trust freshman and now he is trusting that freshman are going to be big contributors. Now we are back to hoping 3 freshman are great.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?
Some of you are beyond miserable, goodness.
WE DO NOT NEED THE THREE FRESHMAN TO BE PERFECT OR GREAT. ITS NOT CRAZY TO ASK TOP 50 RECRUITS TO BE THE FIFTH AND EIGHT OPTIONS ON A REALLY GOOD TEAM.
Why do you think they went after Blackwell? The staff can recruit/want all the talent in the world. The players have to want it too.
agreed that offense will be number 1 and by big margin since Purdue isn't gonna be around. likely setting the kenpom record if mirk and stojakavic take the steps I expect. that alone can get you to final four. Alabama has done it
I'm concerned a bit at defending small guards again. Boswell had issues there last year but was disruptive at points and always wanted that assignment. I don't think we have answered that question for next year. stojakavic showed promise but once again would have trouble against the small guards
That will not make the "jake is only a forward" folks happy.
We really gotta move on from thinking about Brad's system as fitting neatly into 1-5 where each position is traditionally defined.
I know BU and staff tried to get Blackwell. I give credit for going for it.
I am assuming this is a Top 5 team as put together right now? You agree?
If Coleman and Morillo do well (which, I think they can), then the team is even stronger.
Question for me is: did other schools get that much better for next year as well? Maybe Florida?
I am hoping the Illini can stay with these teams in the Top Ten like this past year.