Would that make him a worse player?
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
Sure. But QC was the 34th ranked prospect on 247 when he committed. KJ was unranked and eventually 36th.
Folks were still excited based on video, staff feedback and perceived fit.
KJ was international. Those generally aren't reputable.
Yes folks were excited about QC when he was 34th, but I guarantee you his stock is even higher now.
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Coleman would be ranked even higher if the ranking services held their final update until after the TEAM USA event. He'd undoubtedly be top 10, since he was the best player in that event.
Just going back to the original point, if this staff is taking a top 20 reclass then we shouldn't care if some recruiting service drops them to 40.
Staff has earned the benefit of the doubt.
Given the fact that he was basically relegated to walk on minutes, I don't see what experience he gained? He never played. Same goes for facilitation skills. What did ANY of us see in any NCAA game to show his potential? He's going to have a breakout year? I don't see how any reasonable reporter can come to this conclusion.
Brad has proven that he has an eye for talent, he has an eye for fit and anyone who goes balls to the wall defensively is going to get some minutes. What did Brad not see that this reporter is seeing?
I'll go back to the Wisconsin game. We were down to playing only 6 guys. It didn't matter how tired they were. Free throws were short, we were getting beaten to loose balls....we were gassed. It didn't matter. MP never got the warm-ups off. Why is that? Can that reporter explain it? Can anyone explain it?
Now, MP didn't fit the roster profile at all. He looked, physically, like a grade schooler next to the rest of the roster. I wouldn't think that would matter when it comes to not getting into the game up 25 with 3 minutes to go? Or not getting into a game when we can hardly get 5 guys on the floor?
You're right, we don't know where we got his info. The only thing we do know is what we saw here and that was no playing time, whatsoever, and him being pretty ticked and saying something during a timeout. Those are things we know for fact.
I'm thinking that Gonzaga is trying to make chicken salad out of chicken s*** when it comes to recruiting options, but who knows. Few is a really, really good coach, but so is Brad.
To be fair, we have several examples of guys leaving out program who didn’t play a ton and then had breakout years to varying degrees…
Podz, DGL, Dainja, Epps, Goode. It would not shock me at all. Guys who come to Illinois improve their game, improve their body, and learn how to put in the work. That doesn’t mean they should have been playing more when they were here.
Huh. Thats not a half bad freshmen year at all.
Don’t sweat it my man. At some point last season, this board ran with “unplayable”, which isn’t in line with the definition.
Just a couple of days ago, in another thread, someone said a past player was unplayable offensively. I guess that doesn’t mean the kid was actually a playable bc he played well defensively and…he actually played.
@Indy Illini Fan Any chance that Jaylan Mitchel is this years Lincoln Williams
tape reminds me of Leron Black's HS highlights.
He hardly played so it's really hard to say and he clearly doesn't fit what Brad currently wants in a guard.
However, even in snippets of play I think he's pretty clearly capable of playing at the power conference level. Looks like a pretty traditional point guard that can handle the ball, pass, and feed bigs in the pick and roll.
Also, I just clearly disagree with the fact that he looked like a grade schooler next to the team. He simply looks like a 6'2 college guard that's not build like a bulldog aka Boswell.
I don't think this is a good characterization. Dainja was our starter for a whole year and Epps and Goode played 20+ minutes per game. Nowhere near the MP scenario. Probably the only accurate one is Podz, who had to go to the WCC. Him and MP have two completely different builds and Podz was a young 19 yr old. MP has has plenty of time to develop. He just has no shot and no defense.
Listen to Podz, not his detractors. He didn't have to go to the WCC. He WANTED to go where he would play and be seen. He wasn't interested in going where he would play 18 minutes.
OTOH, why is he acting like a fool at WNBA games? Don't like that.
Again, I think it comes down to playing time. When I watched the early games in which he played decent minutes, at first, he looked lost on defense, but each game he got better. In one of the latter games, he kept in front of his man most of the time. And, he could have gotten better. AS was not considered to be decent at defense (right?), but eventually got much better. As far as shooting, he certainly could shoot in the Euro League he was in, with an average of 12 points a game. Don’t you think that would translate to the Big Ten eventually? Then he came here and played in a different atmosphere, and it just takes time to acclimate. Time he wouldn’t get because Wagler turned out to be so good. He would have been Illinois’ PG if it weren't for Wagler. That’s not a criticism or anything, just the way it worked out. Remember how many times KB missed some bunnies in his first year here? He got better. MP would have gotten better, too. Many posters here have pointed out that he could have been really good, but for the injury, the late arrival, and I think there were some other unfortunate factors that I can’t recall offhand.
He will be as good as he is, no matter the number next to his recruiting profile...
Maybe, but probably not after watching him in U18 FIBA, assuming he still got that opportunity w/o a top 20 ranking...
He showed me so much during those games, in how he plays every possession, goes after every loose ball, and doesn't worry about hunting shots. He is appropriately aggressive when the situation presents itself, and looks to make the right play. He was one of the few guys on that team who appeared to be playing for the name on the front of his jersey, rather than the one one the back.
The recruiting number helps with the off-season narrative, but that's really where it ends. Ultimately you have to perform.
What we have learned about this coaching staff, is that your ranking truly doesn't matter here. They will use practice to evaluate. The best combination of 5 (not necessarily the best 5) will play together the most.
He is not a great shooter, but his stats from MEGA suggest can shoot. (nearly 50% FG & 33% 3's)
He only took 33 shots at Illinois from anywhere..., and rarely had the opportunity to get into the flow of a game.
What he really does well is get into the lane and distribute. We just had no need that skill set last season.
He is not a good defender, which is ultimately why he didn't play. Our offense was able to generate good shots, no matter which of our regulars were out there. MP was a liability on defense, so there was just no upside in his playing a lot.
As far as why didn't he play against Wisconsin when we were down to 6 players? I think this answers that question... We scored 90 points in that game... It was really back and forth the first half (we were down by 8 at one point), until we separated a bit late in the first. We needed our best players out there to stay in it... The game always seemed like we were in control, but never out of reach for WI. The Illini lead fluctuated between 5-12 points through most of the second half. By the time Wisconsin tied it, there was about 30 seconds left.
It was an extremely well-played game, and there was no point where it would have made a lot of sense to insert a guy into the game who hadn't played more than 6 minutes in 2 months...
We just couldn't get a stop when we needed one. MP wasn't going to fix that.