Illini Basketball 2026-2027

[OB positive]

Vaaks will be the primary initiator, and has the skills to do so well, but he's bigger, longer, stiffer and lower AST% than all the guys you mention.

Not by a lot, but he's just a further step down the path of where we've already been in terms of not having a PG in the classical sense.

I like point guards and positional basketball and I've been the boy who cried wolf on this stuff for years. I am not going to doubt BU's team construction abilities, and it's precisely because these guys don't fit neatly in positional molds that we're built to keep on trucking without a particular one of them. Again, knock on wood.

I think we have a good chance of being very similar to last year in the backcourt with Vaaks being our primary ball handler and initiator of the offense with Coleman as the 2. On the defensive side of it Coleman on the ball and Vaaks on the 2 much like how Brad used Wagler and Boswell.

 

[Combo]

Well put. Latulip also called it out on the field of 68 after dark grades podcast on the main page.

If Vaaks were 6'2 everyone would be fine. Which is...dumb.

I don't care if he's 6'0 or 6'7. He looks like he sees the court extremely well, handles well, and shoots well. That's what you need from your primary PG. Defense is a concern but I think our staff will get him to be at least adequate there.

 

[Ga65]

Our flexibility last year covered 2-5 with our eight man rotation with Z for the 4-5, Ben 3-4, and Jake at the 2-3. We had only KB and KW for the 1-2. With KB hurt we had no replacement for KW at the 1. Brandon Lee was not a 1 and Petrovic did not fit our system. Think our weakness this year is at the 4-5 if Mirk, Tomi or Z go down as no Ben and not sure how well JJ can cover. However covering that position probably not as critical as lead guard. Morillo has played that position as well as Brown so not without positional coverage but suspect it would be significant drop off. Foul problems could probably be covered but lengthy absences?. BU did however do a great job at covering our star when TSJ was out.

 

[Det_Illini_fan]

I love this notion that being 6’7” is too tall to play point guard, when perhaps one of the best PGs in the history of the Big Ten, and close to the history of the sport itself, was a 6’9” Magic Johnson.

Not saying Vaaks is the next Magic Johnson obviously, but maybe, just maybe, cookie cutter molds aren’t an adequate means of determining whether or not a player can be good at a position.

Hell, a similar 6’9” Ben Wallace was one of the most effective defensive Centers, stuffing Shaq in the Playoffs.

Let’s let the coaching staff determine the best way to use our guys, and not let height or build pigeonhole them.

 

[Illinirog1970]

I don't care if he's 6'0 or 6'7. He looks like he sees the court extremely well, handles well, and shoots well. That's what you need from your primary PG. Defense is a concern but I think our staff will get him to be at least adequate there.

No defense.... No play... We don't have anyone in the line up to cover for him. We will live or die with his defense. His last year's team died with him.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2078170269387006363

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

54:20 — 9 guys have played 30 games only one time in Brad’s time here.

 

[PepeSilvia]

I'm measuring depth by the players who are actually projected to play. Big Z and Jake might be the 2 best backups in the entire country, and they are on the same team. Z is certainly the best backup center (can anyone name someone better? would be difficult). Jake isn't a dynamic scorer or lock down defender but I think he was 1st nationally in ORtg at 149.0 (beat Cluff by 0.6) because of his shooting and lack of turnovers, and he's serviceable on defense.

That's depth. Having elite backups at multiple positions. Not this notion 'we have a guy at the end of our bench that plays 4 minutes in 18 games but was a top 20 recruit'. That isn't depth.

If y'all want to measure depth by who has the highest rated guy that doesn't even play... then, cool, I guess? Like others said: nobody cares.

And I realize I'm reiterating against a point you're not really making. I think everyone pretty much agrees that our top 7-8 is much better than their top 7-8.

I like Jake a lot but claiming he might be the best backup in the country(or one of them) is an insane homer take.

Duke will be bringing one of Boozer or Foster off the bench and Davis would be lucky to even see the court on that roster. MSU is potentially bringing Jervis off the bench. Michigan might be bringing McCoy off the bench. USC is likely bringing Jalen Cox off the bench. And so on.

I'll give you that Z would likely start on a lot of teams and is a huge luxury, but top bench guys look like Michigan bringing Mckenney off the bench last year(along with Gayle and Cason).