Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
But you do realize we’re only 15 days into the process… right?
1m4tr
Cliffmas
Also discounting Ethan Brown and Zavier Zens, who I assume the staff quite likes.
I mean, if you consider last year's team 10 deep including Lee and Petrovic, then you have to also consider this year's team the same way.
I LOVE this freshmen class! If they stick together and we add a couple of bigs next year (transfers or recruits,) They will be dynamite. Great shooters, assisters, positional size, they have all the earmarks of a top-notch Illini team. I'm sure we will see great contributions from most if not all of them this year. Our coach is not afraid to play freshmen, if they're willing to play defense and rebound,
They are the product of a final four year...
They are the product of a final four year...
Actually, it was Ty and Petrovic. Just had an unexpected injury (in the summer).
Petro turned out a bust, but we went into the year 9-10 deep.
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Duke is extremely thin down low though. I'm not sold on them yet. We have more depth in the frontcourt and we have people panicking about another 4, which I actually agree with. They're gonna be vulnerable if they don't keep adding.
Florida however, clear cut favorite and they'll probably get their other big back too on top of Haugh. Its why we can't get comfortable where we are.
1m4tr
Cliffmas
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this is the clarity the board needed. if that's the trade (stojakavic + qc) vs Blackwell. then I'm happy with that trade. rather keep our players who went to final four and were studs in the tournament. also I like 5 stars
Do we even know what a point guard is in today's day in age? I would say Jeremy Fears type, but not too many like that anymore.
The way offenses rely soo much on pick and rolls instead of actual plays, I think a point guard just needs to be a creator and decision maker. Coleman won't be the guy right away in crunch time, but anybody who watched him play knows he will be one of our lead guards and most likely penciled in at the one. He doesn't have the type of passive mentality that an Adam Miller or Skyy Clark has that limited their potential. He's a straight dawg, and he won't be shy. Its a good problem to have.
Honest question: how do you think other stacked teams (not just/necessarily this offseason) have done it? Lied and made false promises? Offered ridiculous amounts of money? Are more desirable for some other reason (prestige, connections, etc)?
It is also understandable why the staff is choosing to wait. There are only a few impact guys left in the portal. You have to imagine the bidding right now is getting absurd as other teams begin to panic because they don't have 8 guys they really like.
Even when it comes to guys we may hope to target, due to the overall lack of difference makers, they are probably being over pursued at present.
There is a lot of parity among guys who remain out there. Once some of the panic bidding calms down, there will likely be some decent guys who haven't found a home yet.
Once the musical chairs start to fill up, we will likely find a guy or two who fit our needs and are more ready to accept a role. No one wants to be left standing when the music stops.
Do we know who this is in reference to?
I think we're overrating the "point guard" and "lead ballhandler" roles. Our offense runs like NBA, so the bigger question is who initiates the offense. That will be Vaaks, Mirk, Stoj, Coleman, or anyone else for that matter, based on matchups. Defined roles are fluid, which makes us more dangerous
Program is going in the right direction but still a lot of room for growth. Hard to compete yearly for championships if we can only max out at 1 top recruit per team before they bolt.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
One the one hand: agreed, this is the correct read of the situation.
On the other hand, the correctly analyzed primary ballhandler/offense initiator on May 1 of the offseason:
2022-23: Skyy Clark
2023-24: RayJ Dennis
2024-25: Kylan Boswell
2025-26: Mihailo Petrovic
The ACTUAL primary ballhandler/offense initiator come the heat of conference season
2022-23: Epps/Mayer
2023-24: Marcus Domask
2024-25: Kasparas Jakucionis
2025-26: Keaton Wagler
What other teams have done this? We're one of the very few teams in the portal era to return almost all of our core players from a Final 4 roster. It's much easier to sell an experienced player on coming to a team and earning his minutes when the entire roster is new.
So the primary ballhandler has ended up being a taller, non-traditional point guard that can get their own buckets. Which is exactly what Vaaks looks to be.. So you could argue that Brad is just cutting out the wasted time on trying to fit a true point guard into his system.
Edit: I didn't even notice RayJ at first. IDK if a joke but it made me chuckle.
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This should be pinned to the top of the page!?!
And 2022 was Andre Curbelo... who looked a shell of himself for most of the year due to concussions.
There's a video floating around from some years back. I believe it was high school but maybe a small college and it went something like this.
A bunch of recruiters spoke about why students should join their specific branch of the military; free education, easy path to skills, etc.
Then a marine recruiter got up and basically said a bunch of reasons you shouldn't join the marines; harder, you may be asked to die, worse pay and conditions, etc.
When all was said and done the Marines had a long recruiting line and the others didn't. I think Brad not promising playing time is a good policy. Its probably also easier to recruit the marine type attitude right out of high school than transfer portal guys. We need to keep improving our prep recruiting. Transfer guys have already preselected themselves to be either money or playing time chasers instead of winning team chasers.
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