Illini in the Pros (Basketball)

[NarrowJ]

But it's very possible that he wasn't happy with his freshman year role.

Then why sign another contract with us? This keeps being ignored.

To me this isn't even close.

Backed out of a signed contract and went to bitter conference rival and won a NC, punked us in our own building, then talks sh1t about us about every chance he gets... probably a level above Pearl & Gordon for me, but maybe its the recency

 

[EmeraldCityIllini]

Morez wasn't seen as one of the five best players on the team. This is evident by him not being on the court at the end of games. Regardless of the fouls, if you're seen as one of the five best players, you'll be on the court at the end of the game (unless you're disqualified with fouling out, which rarely happened even with Morez).

The lineup we rode with was:

PG - Kasparas
SG - KB
SF - Riley or Tre
PF - Hummer
C - Tomi
(obviously there was some fluctuations because we had so many injuries)

For those that so vehemently disagree, go back to the game at Northwestern in the big ten opener.

I’d be careful on one game sample sizes, especially if you’re citing early season games. Keaton didn’t finish the UConn game for us. Riley didn’t finish games for us when he was struggling. Mirk wasn’t finishing games early for us against Nebraska and Bama.

Another big reason Morez couldn’t finish some games outside of fouling, was that you simply couldn’t have him on the court in a one possession game offensively because he was such a free throw liability

 

[jamarvelous31]

Money and playing time.

I am not an insider but I am pretty sure Rez’s money went to Mirk and Z.

I am pretty sure if we lost Tomi or Mirk this offseason we would’ve gotten the overseas big that went to ‘Nova. I think it would’ve been a similar situation.

That doesn't seem accurate. Z was already committed.

Morez was slated to make ~1M and Mirk was coming from a league (AdmiralBet ABA League) where the average salary was $200k a season with no other teams noted as pursuing him.

 

[WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?]

I’d be careful on one game sample sizes, especially if you’re citing early season games. Keaton didn’t finish the UConn game for us. Riley didn’t finish games for us when he was struggling. Mirk wasn’t finishing games early for us against Nebraska and Bama.

Another big reason Morez couldn’t finish some games outside of fouling, was that you simply couldn’t have him on the court in a one possession game offensively because he was such a free throw liability

my point remains the same with later season games. the only reason he had somewhat of a minutes uptick is that Tomi was hurt. he was never seen as one of our 5 best players.

I think we did a much better job of managing our freshman this past season. david wasn't playing behind Ben at the 4.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

That doesn't seem accurate. Z was already committed.

Morez was slated to make ~1M and Mirk was coming from a league (AdmiralBet ABA League) where the average salary was $200k a season with no other teams noted as pursuing him.

No input on Mirk, but Z had nothing to do with Morez. He came here because of his brother. Nothing more, nothing less.

Our insiders were on it weeks/months before the season concluded.

Everyone knew where he was heading when he entered. Was probably the most obvious recruitment we've had.

 

[RichieRebel]

That doesn't seem accurate. Z was already committed.

Morez was slated to make ~1M and Mirk was coming from a league (AdmiralBet ABA League) where the average salary was $200k a season with no other teams noted as pursuing him.

Quick Google search says Rez entered March 28 and says Big Z committed April 5th

 

[EmeraldCityIllini]

No input on Mirk, but Z had nothing to do with Morez. He came here because of his brother. Nothing more, nothing less.

Our insiders were on it weeks/months before the season concluded.

Everyone knew where he was heading when he entered. Was probably the most obvious recruitment we've had.

So Z was coming here no matter what and if Morez stayed that meant Z was the third string center?

 

[lstewart53x3]

So Z was coming here no matter what and if Morez stayed that meant Z was the third string center?

Z would’ve been the backup center and Morez would’ve been the starting 4. Likely no Mirk.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

So Z was coming here no matter what and if Morez stayed that meant Z was the third string center?

Morez would've been the starting PF. Ivisic twins at Center.

Mirk would've been the backup PF along with Ben, though I think it's likelier he would've never came.

....

As a frosh Morez's role was primarily backup 5 man, with Ben and Tre White getting most of the minutes at the 4 (let's not forget Tre played the 4 alot on that team, particularly late in the year when Riley came on).

As a soph, his role would've expanded, with our starting frontcourt likely being Morez / Tomi.

 

[jamarvelous31]

Morez committed when he was in 9th grade because he loved Illinois and wanted to stay home. No one had an ounce of a clue what the roster would be.

Well... he wasn't our top option at the 4. Ben was, and to an extent Tre. During the season, his role was mostly backup 5 (starting 5 when Tomi was out).

To me this isn't even close.

No.

But I think it's very possible that he wasn't happy with his freshman year role.

Morez started at the 4, next to Tomi, end of Jan until he fractured his wrist to end the regular season.

He re-signed with IL. He then went to UM team with a similarly loaded frontcourt where he got a whopping 5% more usg and 7.5 mpg.

Isn't it more believable that my dude saw a chance to double his money and didn't feel loyal to a staff that no longer had Tim on it?

 

[jamarvelous31]

Quick Google search says Rez entered March 28 and says Big Z committed April 5th

By all accounts the staff had him in the bag much longer than that.

I asked the folks in the know, "googling it" does not make that you..

 

[RollChief]

He lost minutes at Illinois because he was playing behind Humrichous, who coach hoped would get out of his slump. Underwood is a fantastic coach, but this was a misstep -- Morez was already one of the better players in the B1G.

This is a bit of a stretch... an absolute rebounding machine sure, but I wouldn't classify anyone in our 2024-2025 frontcourt as one the better players in the B1G after seeing them matched up against Derick Queen and Julian Reese...

Quick edit because I see some folks mentioning Z's recruitment, but how cool is it that we have another year with both the twins? With Z's athletic ability and the demand in the NBA for guys who can shoot and provide rim protection (against Wemby, etc.), it's awesome that we get another year of the twins. It seems like Z could so easily go pretty much anywhere else and get way more usage (and a starting position) but is sticking around for another season. Really excited to watch the Ivisic boys again.

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

Backed out of a signed contract and went to bitter conference rival and won a NC, punked us in our own building, then talks sh1t about us about every chance he gets... probably a level above Pearl & Gordon for me, but maybe its the recency

If you want to compare him to Gordon, I can see that.

Pearl's actions were evil. No comparison.

 

[and 69 others]

I don't actually think so. With the Ayo contract and Ball trade they have already eaten up the space created by the Randle trade and then some. They're now hard-capped at the second apron due to the Ball trade, and currently they are about $9.6 million under that hard cap.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2070149610916483542

I guess the upside here is that they may not actually be able to re-sign Hyland and/or Clark if they command anything above the vet minimum (Conley probably takes the minimum so I'm assuming they'd re-sign him) which could give some assurance to TSJ's prospects of playing. But the flipside is that the easy route to freeing up salary is dumping Josh Green's expiring deal and to do that you also have to give up something desirable. Without a ton of future picks to trade, I think TSJ looks like a viable candidate.

Makes me smile to see Ayo getting 20-large.

 

[and 69 others]

100%

But the point was the reason he gave in the interview was complete horsesh1t

 

[RichieRebel]

By all accounts the staff had him in the bag much longer than that.

I asked the folks in the know, "googling it" does not make that you..

Moving the goal posts now.

It wasn’t a 100% guarantee if Rez stayed. There were insiders that said it wasn’t going to happen. I think Rez was jealous of T’s usage and the staff didn’t know how he’d respond to that.

 

[skyIdub]

Oh goody, we’re back to Morez Jonson talk…

 

[HensonHall71]

Sorry but that is wrong and not even close. He was on the floor as the 5 better than 60% of his time here, as a back to the basket rebounder. Dusty spaced the floor out better for his game and given him the freedom to be on the perimeter. Yes he backed up Mara some but not nearly as much as he did here. I think he was correct in leaving if he had stayed here he would not have been the 9th pick plain and simple. Nothing wrong with BU's plans for him but just a fact

Not sure what you are talking about - he said he didn’t want to play center so the staff went out and got Big Z to be the backup center. He would have played exactly 0 minutes at center here. He played a lot of center at Michigan when Mara was out. Tyler’s offense would have allowed Morez a lot of freedom, his jump from freshman to sophomore year was very predictable- he was really coming on last year before he broke his wrist

He was happy enough to sign to come back and when someone offered more money he left. His family was upset Tomi got more money than him, but Tomi had a better year and every team would have offered Tomi more. It was then a lot of BS excuses for why they left that wasn’t necessary- Brad never complained about him leaving, he went out and got Mirk

In hindsight - I don’t think Michigan wins a title if he stays at Illinois and he would have improved our chances but that is just hypothetical. He was part of our program for three years and I’m glad to see him fulfill his dream but to think he wouldn’t have been as successful at Illinois is crazy

 

[the juiceman cometh]

If you want to compare him to Gordon, I can see that.

Pearl's actions were evil. No comparison.

I'm not aware of Gordon ever negative recruiting against us, and not aware of Pearl doing so publicly in many years. Morez is an NBA player using his platform to publicly trash our coaching and program to prospective recruits.

I feel like the anti-BU crowd loves Morez because they can't criticize him for not making the second weekend anymore so they need Morez leaving to be his fault. It's all that's left.

 

[Illinirog1970]

He lost minutes at Illinois because he was playing behind Humrichous, who coach hoped would get out of his slump. Underwood is a fantastic coach, but this was a misstep -- Morez was already one of the better players in the B1G.

He was totally prepared to come back to the Illini... until Michigan "recruited " him with big bucks to go there. Any other explanation is make-believe codswallop and rewriting history.

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

I'm not aware of Gordon ever negative recruiting against us, and not aware of Pearl doing so publicly in many years. Morez is an NBA player using his platform to publicly trash our coaching and program to prospective recruits.

I feel like the anti-BU crowd loves Morez because they can't criticize him for not making the second weekend anymore so they need Morez leaving to be his fault. It's all that's left.

Morez Johnson's comments won't have 0.1% of the negative impact that Pearl had on our program and won't have 0.01% of a negative impact on any individual as compared to what Pearl did to Deon.

As I understand you, some BU detractors take Morez's side so now in a twisted way Morez is worse than the man who did more to set back our program than anyone in history.

Get help.

 

[Grandpa]

I'm not aware of Gordon ever negative recruiting against us, and not aware of Pearl doing so publicly in many years. Morez is an NBA player using his platform to publicly trash our coaching and program to prospective recruits.

I feel like the anti-BU crowd loves Morez because they can't criticize him for not making the second weekend anymore so they need Morez leaving to be his fault. It's all that's left.

May be the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen on here. Think about what those guys did.

The Morez interviewer asked why he left. He said that he thought he would be able to develop better elsewhere. They asked why, he answered. He hasn't developed the political skill of answering a different question than the one that was asked and then leaving. He didn't write a press release criticizing the Illini.


If a big can't shoot from distance when he gets here and is good under the basket, Underwood doesn't exactly encourage them to develop those skills. They need the skills to go to the NBA. If I thought that I could shoot and Underwood took me out of the game when I did, I would leave. Morez did and it was the smart move.

 

[jamarvelous31]

Moving the goal posts now.

It wasn’t a 100% guarantee if Rez stayed. There were insiders that said it wasn’t going to happen. I think Rez was jealous of T’s usage and the staff didn’t know how he’d respond to that.

"Moving the goal posts" by asking a question that you acknowledged wasn't to you and mocking you for just googling the commitment announcement? Got it.

Rez was so jealous of Ts usage that he signed a contract to stay and then moved on from a starting role to a team that was significantly worse offensively and the next year used him the same way. Cool.

Its ok to say he wanted an extra million dollars. We all do.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]