Agreed - shooting or point guard, doesn't really matter to me. I'm not really the biggest Fland guy, but he certainly has the talent to improve.
If Christian Anderson enters the portal and goes there as was rumored... Lord.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
Agreed - shooting or point guard, doesn't really matter to me. I'm not really the biggest Fland guy, but he certainly has the talent to improve.
If Christian Anderson enters the portal and goes there as was rumored... Lord.
The post just says lower his minutes. Davis counts. If Morillo counts this year Davis counts last year.
Davis proved he could be playable on the 25 team. Brown hasn’t proven that. Outside of Wagler - which will never happen again - who’s the last freshmen outside the top 100 to get real minutes here? We saw it with Lee, it ain’t easy (and quite the gamble to be counting on it).
It just re-enforces the point that no one hangs banners for pre-season rankings...and The Tournament is still madness.
The key is to show up to the Dance often, and with enough DUDEs to get the job done. Even then, it's still going to end in disappointment most of the time.
We have the DUDEs. (...perhaps need a couple more dudes)
Time to get to work.
This could be our year... but contrary to how a lot of folks are acting, it won't be our ONLY year.
Our coach is doing a great job of balancing what we need now, with what we will need moving forward. I think we should appreciate that a bit more.
This program is doing all the right things, and is in tremendous shape to keep us on the short list of elite programs for many years to come.
didn't you see it was posted earlier. Billy Donovan has their 8th and 9th spots locked up. they good
I have a high level of confidence that a good portion of the people on here WILL NOT understand this. Haha!
I'm just waiting for the annual "since we're gonna go 10 deep in the rotation, Brad should just switch out all 5 hockey-line style" comments
Anyone want to take a stab at the minute distribution / projected stat lines
A 5-star recruit coming in and contributing right away is a far cry from Wagler’s performance this year on a lowly 3-star rating. That said, if Coleman were to be 90% of Wagler, I think everybody would be surprised. Wagler is the best freshman in Illinois history, regardless of HS ranking, so that’s a very high bar to place on an incoming freshman.
It's perfect, everyone plays 20 mpg.
Arizona’s 5th leading scoring Kharchenkov was a freshman 4 star recruit. Michigan’s 5th leading scorer was a freshman ranked 21st. Our leading scorer was a freshman ranked 150th.
If it works for Grinnel College it HAS to work here. Now were getting into some good offense! (really hope the /s isn't needed here)
What are "real minutes"?
Coleman Hawkins got about 6 min a game in 20-21. (167)
Goode snuck in at #98, and played 9 minutes a game.
DGL got about 7 mpg. (#148)
With a kid like Lee, I'm just not sure what his elite skill is...
With Brown, you can watch about 5 seconds of tape and see what his elite skill is.
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
I think some feel there's an imaginary line between "playable" and "unplayable". As if after Z, Drej, and Ben there was no one who was capable to get on the court.
I think Brandon Lee was absolutely capable to give you minutes, but Brad has an 8-man rotation, and outside of foul trouble/injury, that's what he's gonna stick with.
I think Brandon Lee was absolutely capable to give you minutes, but Brad has an 8-man rotation, and outside of foul trouble/injury, that's what he's gonna stick with.
For much of last year's cycle, I was consistently talking people off the ledge by saying, hey, we have two good freshmen coming in, too, that will get a good amount of minutes. The same is true this year. And that's before we even talk about Ethan Brown.
the only argument against is that he didn't see an uptick when guys were out. That's not *that* uncommon though, if you know an absence is temporary, you just tighten it up with the permanent players rather than try and integrate a new guy into the mix and possibly mess up the chemistry.
I said this in another context recently - it's *really* hard to be a "9th man" in the NCAA game. Minutes are going to be sporadic at that point, and not everyone is able to make the most of spot duty to push their way into a bigger role. Davis is an example of someone who kinda did that in 2024-25. A lot of guys flounder by trying to do too much and get themselves a permanent seat on the bench. If you come in trying to score a bunch and prove your worth, you're getting in the way, if you're just jogging up and down getting your cardio in, well why not re-allocate those minutes back to the higher impact guys. Only 40 minute games, long half-time break, built-in TV timeouts, there really isn't much reason to go beyond 8 and it's often more straightforward to just go lighter.
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I don't even remember where that narrative started because it's never even been remotely true
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
I’m old enough to remember when Andrej was “unplayable.”
Lee wasn't good enough to get in when he was the number 2 guard on the team and we only had 6 guys playing and kept turning the ball over because we didn't have guard play. He was expected pre season to be able to give at least some quality minutes. He wasn't.
That line of quality is a shifting point based on the product on the floor. We were better than expected so lee wasnt good enough. If you just go on projections based on ratings, Coleman isnt good enough to see the floor this year at Duke. We are improving as a program so average may no longer be good enough to get you minutes. If we continue on an upward trend good won't be enough, and if we aim be a championship quality program then eventually great may not be good enough.
UCLA and Louisville put all their eggs into the Blackwell basket.
They are in deep trouble now, exactly why Illinois pursued and closed on Vaaks and QC.
They are in deep trouble now, exactly why Illinois pursued and closed on Vaaks and QC.
But I thought Blackwell wanted to play for a winner?
So, maybe a simple “asked and answered” response would work? Certainly seems more productive than shouting down people who don’t seem to tow the company line. Isn’t a fan forum supposed to be an exchange of opinions?
sacraig
- The desert
That depends on (a) your definition of top recruit, and (b) what retention looks like.
Vaaks is a top recruit in the sense that he is a very good newcomer. He just came from the transfer portal. By that measure, we have Coleman, Morillo, and Vaaks (remember, Morillo is top 50, so is no slouch). Plus, you never really know who is going to blow up. Wagler wasn't considered a top recruit last year, and now he's a lottery pick.
Plus, we retained so much from last year that we have less need for high-impact freshmen or transfers. That doesn't mean zero need, but we don't need to reload the team with fresh recruits that have to carry the load.
sacraig
- The desert
I'm glad you're not their AD. Keep that man in Lexington forever.