Height does not determine point guard, here we go again lol.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
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Ben was much much better on that end but he was not a top 2 defender and he only played 22 minutes per game. There is an argument that Z was the most impactful defender on the roster.
Also, I think Kylan was honestly a bit overrated on that end(I thought Stojakovic at his best did a better job on the perimeter) and he struggled with quicker guards).
I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that Coleman actually handles quicker guards better than Boswell did.
Then for the rest of the roster:
Vaaks is every bit as athletic as Wagler but he's also taller and significantly stronger. I think it's very possible that Vaaks could end up being equal to Wagler on that end.
The rest of the returning roster(Stojakovic, Zvonimir, Tomi, Mirk, and Davis) will all now be a year older and spent another off-season with Fletch. It will also be year 2 in the defensive scheme where the will hopefully be better. Ideally, Stojakovic will also be healthier.
Then you have Lincoln Williams who might be a better athlete than anyone on the roster last year plus Morillo who looks like a pretty fluid 6'7 guard/wing.
For this year but they are pursuing both of Bowman and Pettigrew right now who arent huge.
Have you actually watched him? He most definitely can create off the dribble - he's not that different than our last 2 PGs in that regard. Breaking a press by himself is not his forte, but with the way our team passes, I think we'll be alright with that.
While there are tendencies with height vs position, it's not the defining factor. A 6'6 kid can play PF if he has the skills and a 6'7 kid can play PG if he has the skills.
The biggest concern by far with Vaaks is defense.
You clearly haven’t watched him, as he can do all those things.
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I bet I can guess which posters the Insiders are throwing poorly cooked steaks at.......
Neither are small. Both at least 6”3 and probably 6”4, just like Coleman.
An example of small guard would be Jaxson Davis.
I don’t think it’s crazy to think Coleman could be better than Keaton on defense - especially considering the energy burden put on Keaton offensively.
Boswell versus Vaaks sure - but Vaaks is bigger and that’s the style we want.
Mirk should take a jump defensively
Andrej did take a jump.
Wagler was a good defender. He was a net positive on that end.
Vaaks was the worst defender on the one of the worst defenses in P5.
…..
A lot has been made about Providence being “dysfunctional,” but they were actually the 32nd best offense and 2nd best offense in the Big East. That’s definitely good enough to make the tournament.
It’s defensively where they were bad (170th).
They also didn’t rebound well, 193rd in Opp. OREB%.
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It’s not Coleman and Keaton. It’s Coleman and Boswell.
It’s Vaaks and Keaton.
Vaaks is PG. Coleman is SG.
But regardless of positions, we’re judging the unit as a whole. This year’s backcourt tandem is definitely worse defensively.
But you listed both Petrovic and Lee as small guards that they are done recruiting.
Petrovic was listed at 6'3(though he was slender) and Brandon Lee was listed at 6'4.
I think from what we have seen from Brad in recent years. He wants like one 6'3ish guard surrounded by a ton of height.
Though if you look at rosters for this year it seems like a bunch of teams are trying to corner the positional size market, so maybe the pivot will be to get a couple talented smaller guards that end up being cheaper.
Providence was really talented on offense, the trio of Vaaks/Edwards/Sellers combined for 50 ppg on nearly 60 TS%
However, they were most certainly dysfunctional defensively and had no rim protection behind them having one player taller than 6-8
Finished 15-18 overall and 7-13 in a pretty blah conference
I know he was horrid defensively but I'm hoping some combination of Fletch, coaching and being more engaged on a better team will help (a lot like watching Andrej's film last offseason: he made some defensive plays in some clips that show me he has potential on that end)
Vaaks is 6'7" wing type player. He is not a traditional ballhandler in the way you'd expect, where they can create off the dribble and break pressure off the dribble. Expecting SF's to become your ballhandlers is a recipe for disaster. As of now, it's Coleman.
How I think things will unfold defensively, is there will be 1 or 2 games we lose where a team shoots out-of-their-minds from 3pt (examples include our homes loss to Nebraska; Michigan’s home loss to Wisconsin).
Everyone will proceed to call the team soft, no effort, etc.
But aside from those 1 or 2 games, we will look solid because the size gives us a very high floor. We were the tallest team in the country last year, and even taller this year. Scoring at the rim will not be easy.
There will be a handful of games where teams just aren’t able to handle that size, and the defense looks exceptional (Houston, Missouri, USC, etc).
Everyone will proceed to call the team soft, no effort, etc.
But aside from those 1 or 2 games, we will look solid because the size gives us a very high floor. We were the tallest team in the country last year, and even taller this year. Scoring at the rim will not be easy.
There will be a handful of games where teams just aren’t able to handle that size, and the defense looks exceptional (Houston, Missouri, USC, etc).
There’s not some rule they have to guard the other team’s Identical positions though - who cares what either one is labeled?
Let’s hold off on “definitely”. Illinois prefers keeping everything in front and making teams shoot over the top. I’m intrigued by the spots they put Vaaks in
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#9thMan problem solved??
Elite GIF.
That scene with the Bobby knight sweater is excellent
I bet I can guess which posters the Insiders are throwing poorly cooked steaks at.......
Good to see you back again 0440. We’ve missed you.
Out of ~20 recruits ranked outside the top 100, we had five with at least bench-level freshman stats (by avg of PRPG! and D-PRPG):
#117 Trent Frazier: 2.6
#139 David Mirkovic: 4.2
#261 Keaton Wagler: 5.4
#366 Giorgi Bezhanishvili: 2.6
N/R Andres Feliz: 2.1
Out of 11 recruits in the 30-75 range, three or four of them had statistically worse seasons than those above:
#33 Skyy Clark: 1.7
#59 Ty Rodgers: 1.4
#71 Amani Hansberry: 0.9
#74 Jayden Epps: 2.2
There's a better way to do this, but as a rough approximation you could say there's a 68% chance at least one of the four #100+ freshman is bench-level or better, and a 27-36% chance Morillo is not, or a combined ~20% chance one of the four is in the rotation and Morillo is not.
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