He’s so versatile. Seems like the type of player you can pretty much plug in 1-4
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
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He's in the Justin Harmon role for next year's team. Needs to be solid if he plays 15-18 minutes.
But just like the Burger King ads years ago " Where's The Bigs " for 27 - 28 ?
He's the natural point guard for the Illini-- Tall, great distributor, gets to the basket, can shoot from the outside, gets the ball up-court quickly, plays defense,,, CAN'T WAIT!!
hes not a point guard. at least at the big ten level.
He definitely needs to look for it more. I think there are a few explanations for it.
Mirk is such a good facilitator that I think it cut into his opportunities a bit, as he was the primary option on the block.
We were also very Keaton-centric from an attack standpoint. They didn't want to clog up the lanes looking for post up position. He seemed to have better synergy with KJ in pick and roll situations...
Tomi just never looked right physically until the end of the year last year. I think that knee injury in November nagged him for a long time, which could have also contributed to his being less assertive down low, also explains his decrease in rebounding. (Along with Mirk being a beast)
One thing i recall about Hummel doing or commenting on our team last season. He was alway questioning or calling on BU to feed T with his crazy success he had in the post. I tend to agree until they double him. He was really good and over 70% is insane.
He's not a good outside shooter - at least at this point in his development. That said, he will likely get some playing time behind Vaaks at PG. He's versatile enough to "help out" anywhere from 1-4, though it's unclear what his best spot would be. Best guess is they use him wherever he's needed.
I highly doubt Morillo will ever play PG for us. Nor do i forsee him ever in that role. When its not Vaaks, we will flow through our vets like Mirk, Tomi and then maybe Coleman. I would bet there will be a lot of Vaaks and Mirk running thunga chasing miss matches.
I respectfully disagree, while it depends on the definition of PG, I think it’s his most natural position in this offense. He’s a natural distributor, gets to the lane using his size, great vision on the pick and roll. While he needs more consistency in his outside shot, he is a good shooter and that will come.
I agree this year he’s likely not going to be called upon to initiate the offense a whole lot with Vaaks, Mirk and even Coleman doing that but I think he will be our primary PG at some point before he leaves
Probably not worth arguing the definition of a PG but Morillo is a ball dominant guard/forward.
I think if he's getting minutes it's pretty likely he will get his fair share of time with the ball in his hands.
A little bit like Ty with less explosiveness and more craftiness offensively.
Needs to get his outside shot to at least 30% though.
Ha, so a lot bit like Ty
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
ONE NUGGIE NOT HARDLY ENUF. NEED MOAR!!!
I don't he's anywhere near the rebounder that Ty was. Probably a better shooter, but that's not saying much.
He's a bit like Ty in that he doesn't appear to have a an obvious position. Which is why I think the staff will use him where needed, which could be anywhere from 1-4.
QC is an obvious SG, Andrej SF/SG, Mirk PF, and so on.
Maybe. Ty was a prolific rebounder so it's a high standard. But in their respective FIBA U18 tournaments, Ty averaged 6 rebounds and Morillo averaged 9.
There's an obvious romanticizing of former players (it makes sense, just pointing it out)
This Ty / Morillo discussion reminds me a bit of reading yesterday that maybe Morillo could fill the vaunted 'Justin Harmon role' as if there was a poster-child for the best ever 18 minute per game guard at Illinois and Just Harmon is him. Like... Morillo is a top 50 player, I am fairly certain he can give us at least something similar as a dude who was 3 inches shorter and a zero star recruit who spent 4 years between Juco and the WAC.
(btw, this Ty / Morillo discussion is clearly more grounded than that comment was so not necessarily trying to draw a 1:1 here)
This Ty / Morillo discussion reminds me a bit of reading yesterday that maybe Morillo could fill the vaunted 'Justin Harmon role' as if there was a poster-child for the best ever 18 minute per game guard at Illinois and Just Harmon is him. Like... Morillo is a top 50 player, I am fairly certain he can give us at least something similar as a dude who was 3 inches shorter and a zero star recruit who spent 4 years between Juco and the WAC.
(btw, this Ty / Morillo discussion is clearly more grounded than that comment was so not necessarily trying to draw a 1:1 here)
blackdog
- Champaign
Morillo actually has a functional shooting form and is already good from mid-range so there is definitely a lot more potential than Ty in that area.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
On the one hand that's what everybody said about Ty at the time too.
On the other hand, these things are probabilistic, and Ty's evolution as a jump shooter was just a 10th percentile outcome, you'd feel good about your chances rolling those same dice again.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Ty was reluctant to shoot 3s even in high school. Morillo had 186 attempts across his junior and senior year and made 37% of them (40% his senior year on 98 attempts). So he’s a willing shooter, unlike Ty. But he has struggled at times too, most notably during EYBL where he shot just 20% from 3 (on a limited sample size, 24 attempts).
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