Will be an interesting insight into the level of loyalty this staff feels to the Rev.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
pins and needles over this one:
Forgive me for maybe not knowing, but he’s already committed right? Wouldn’t this only be a good thing?
I think it’s sarcasm
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
yeah, twas a joke
If Brady's commitment revolves around taking JT then its a very easy yes. There are 15 roster spots and I would take JT over several guys currently on the roster right now without even getting Brady.
He needs to become a more efficient scorer but he is listed at 6'8 and he put up 12/7/2 as a true freshman and was a third team Alll-MVC selection and all-mvc freshman team selection(2nd in freshman of the year voting behind Roman Domon).
He got progressively better as the year went on and averaged 16.5/8.5/2.9 while shooting 45% from the field and 38.5% from 3 over their final 10 games. Also, a quality free throw shooter suggests that he can develop as a shooter.
Plus, Valpo was fairly competitive in the MVC so it's not like he was putting up empty stats on a dumpster fire.
Lmao okay yeah my bad
HUH?
His big brother was:
- 3rd team All MVC AS A FRESHMAN
- MVC All Freshman Team
- MVC Freshman of the Year runner-up
- 4 time MVC Freshman of the Week
That's a ton of potential to grow into being a rotation player.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
Joel was just kitting.
HUH
He's a mediocre Valley player. We are better than that. I said if he develops and if his brother wants him around, pretty logical.
He was 3rd team All Conference and runner up for Freshman of the Year.
That doesn’t sound like a “mediocre valley player” (rather a pretty good one).
I think the thought was he's probably overall a higher quality of player than, lets say, Jason Jakstys or Landon Davis (and perhaps Ethan Brown, but they're saying he is eventually going to be very good, so not sure about that one). The post I saw did say "I would take JT over several guys currently on the roster" which to me is a stretch. Several? I'm not swapping him for Morillo or Jake Davis or Big Z, just for example. JT put up 12 & 6 but did it on a bad team that finished barely above .500 in the MVC and lost by nearly double digits to the #341 KP team. His eFG% was barely above 40%.
Some of the players that get hyped up here from other teams boggles my mind... Jaland Lowe was a sub-40% eFG guy on a 17-15 Pitt team and was getting talked up here like he'd have led Kentucky to a F4 if not for his injury. If we had a guy like that coming in to Illinois there would be endless naysayers.
All that said, if it locks in little bro you do it in a heartbeat.
These were some of his statistical accomplishments from last season:
15th in the league in scoring average.
3rd in rebounds per game
15th in rebounds per game nationally amongst freshman
2nd in offensive rebounds per game
14th in FT percentage
9th in steals per game in conf. only games
2nd in the league in double doubles
His 139 made free throws was the most by a Valpo player in the last 9 years
His 223 rebounds on the season was the second most by a Valpo player ever
Keep in mind he was just a freshman. I don’t think he’s mediocre for a Valley player.
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We spent a lot of time this summer fretting over who the backup PF will be - our starting PF goes down with an injury. If we have the opportunity to bring in one of the top rebounders from the MVC, who's the brother of our highest priority recruit and we're actually debating if we would want him?
JT would be a great addition - for multiple reasons
JT would be a great addition - for multiple reasons
Eh, would rather Morillo or Big Z eat those minutes. JT and Morillo are about the same size anyway. If you just want a guy to come in for 3-5 minutes and rebound, I'm not sure that's a role JT wants (he played 28mpg last year).
People forget that guys like Ben and Jake came from very similar backgrounds (lower level, solid production) and worked themselves into quality pieces for us.
Can Brad find 2 of him?
Ben and Jake are shooters who fit our system, an undersized 4 (215lbs) who shoots 28% from three seems more than a bit out of place here. I doubt the rebounding would translate to Big Ten. Ben and Jake both immediately came in and played (Jake 10 mpg, Ben 25 mpg). Do we have a meaningful role available for a guy who is a slightly taller but less athletic Ty Rodgers that also isn't a ballhandler? I don't know where you put him / what you have him do. If he's just a filler for while Mirk is out, I doubt he sees that as worthwhile.
I think its hard to argue he's a great fit piece like Jake and Ben, but if we want to state the obvious (that he'd be coming here because of his brother) then it makes more sense.
Just skeptical of either (1) we have a role available for a player like him or let alone (2) he'd accept that role knowing it would be a small one.
Hopefully we all agree though that you take him in a heartbeat if it closes the deal with Brady.
I was the one that said several and yes several is generally a figure of speech but for sake of putting it out there.
I would without any doubt take him over Fagbemi, Landon Davis, and Jakstys. Probably taking him over Brown and then Zens more of a toss up. I really like Zens but still would probably take JT because he's proven he can be an impact player at the D1 level.
So 5 guys Id take him over(plus 1 open roster spot so maybe 6 if you count that over the flexibility of having that spot).
I did note that his efficiency needs to improve(which it did as the season went on) but if he does improve on that then he's going to get a lot of power conference interest next year. If he's ok with coming off the bench behind Mirk then he's a pretty great fit which lends credence to your point that he might not be interested in that role though I do think he plays enough on the perimeter that you could potentially play him next to Mirk too sometimes and be a 6th or 7th man(Physically he kind of reminds me of Malik Hall).
Averaged 12.5 pts, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.8 asts as a true freshman on .385/.282/.743. Though like I mentioned was significantly more efficient down the stretch and shot the 3 at a much better clip.
Is it reasonable that he could put up something along the lines of 15.1/5.2/3.9 on .436/.352/.824 as a sophomore?
I used those numbers because that was the junior season of everyones favorite Valley transfer Marcus Domask. The rebound numbers are probably lower than what JT can put up and the assists are probably higher but I think him putting up a similar stat line this year is well within the realm of outcomes for him.
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