Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[Tevo]

Question (or two) for anyone who knows these things:

How much specialized development, on a player-by-player basis, is done during the normal course of summer time or in-season practice at Illinois? As in, if a certain guy is clearly deficient (or could simply become MUCH more effective) in a single skill, how much time can be reasonably devoted to that skill with a coach? If, for example, a big man has a good handle on 80% of his needed skillsets and conditioning, etc. but his FT's are horrendous, how much time can he reasonably spend one-on-one with a coach to refine his form, work on mental aspects, etc? Do the coaches have the time/bandwidth to spend an hour a day with one player on one skill?

If Morez walked in, for example, with excellent skills in the "old school" forward categories of position, footwork, boxing out, defensive rotation, etc. but developing a consistent 12-15' shot would make him deadly, would he be able to focus significant practice time, with a coach, to improve that skill? Or is it something like "There's 15 minutes of skill development per practice, and some guys go to the "shooting coach" and some go to the "ball handling coach", etc."

And how much does this answer depend on the program? Are some programs much more focused on individual skill development, and others on teamwork/scrimmages, etc? How much does that sort of thing play into recruiting pitches?

 

[hooraybeer]

it became apparent during St. Rita's past season that Morez, and not JB, was the alpha there and he hasn't looked back since. Showing the 5* talent that was evident at the time he committed

 

[Bacon Butkus Swanson]

But can he play point?

I know you're typing this in jest. That being said, I'd put Bret's Beach House and a bunch of money on Morez not coming here if BU doesn't get a bonified PG lined up before he gets here. Why would MJ Jr come into a situation that may affect his draft stock negatively?

Hoping for better PG signing days ahead!! (or DGL grows up fast) (or the Ty PG experiment works out.....)

 

[Navy_illini]

it became apparent during St. Rita's past season that Morez, and not JB, was the alpha there and he hasn't looked back since. Showing the 5* talent that was evident at the time he committed

How did St Rita’s not do better last year with three players getting legit D1 attention?

I am interested to see how Brock Harding does at Iowa

 

[FrankNitty30]

I know you're typing this in jest. That being said, I'd put Bret's Beach House and a bunch of money on Morez not coming here if BU doesn't get a bonified PG lined up before he gets here. Why would MJ Jr come into a situation that may affect his draft stock negatively?

Hoping for better PG signing days ahead!! (or DGL grows up fast) (or the Ty PG experiment works out.....)

View attachment 27081

 

[antwix]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1676668343682584582

That opening of the game with the alley-op slam, my goodness!

 

[ChiTown]

it became apparent during St. Rita's past season that Morez, and not JB, was the alpha there and he hasn't looked back since. Showing the 5* talent that was evident at the time he committed

Lack of quality point guard and coaching.

 

[Indy Illini Fan]

How did St Rita’s not do better last year with three players getting legit D1 attention?

Egos … Coaching … PG play …

Hmmmm … Almost sounds familiar …

 

[FrankNitty30]

Brad straight up pissed in Indy’s cheerios at some point.

 

[tenaciousD]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1676685248715714560

 

[Mojoman]

How did St Rita’s not do better last year with three players getting legit D1 attention?

I am interested to see how Brock Harding does at Iowa

Watched Harding a few times this year.
Nice skill set.
Iowa is nice fit for him.

 

[PNWIllini]

The Seattle Times didn’t even list Illinois as one of the schools going after Mulcahey

“…Mulcahy, a Bayonne, New Jersey, native, reportedly received interest from Kentucky, Gonzaga, Michigan and Kansas before visiting Xavier, Notre Dame and UW over the last few weeks, according to reports.”

Make of that what you will

 

[fulton steamer]

I don't feel like spending the hour to go back looking for it, so I will paraphrase.

When Ty committed, many people, including at least 1, if not more "in the know" felt he would.be the PG of the future and it would give is a big height advantage. Nobody should be surprised by this.

Oh, oh. I have absolutely zero recollection of this.

 

[PasadenaIllini]

The Seattle Times didn’t even list Illinois as one of the schools going after Mulcahey

“…Mulcahy, a Bayonne, New Jersey, native, reportedly received interest from Kentucky, Gonzaga, Michigan and Kansas before visiting Xavier, Notre Dame and UW over the last few weeks, according to reports.”

Make of that what you will

There are plenty here who are high on practice reports saying that DGL is ready to make the all B1G freshman team and that Ty will be the next Bardo. Me? I think Brad has completely lost the plot. I would love to be wrong, but last year's numbers and general history don't predict a great future for this team.

 

[IllinoisIntegrity]

There are plenty here who are high on practice reports saying that DGL is ready to make the all B1G freshman team and that Ty will be the next Bardo. Me? I think Brad has completely lost the plot. I would love to be wrong, but last year's numbers and general history don't predict a great future for this team.

The nepotism isn’t helping his cause imo

 

[LvilleILL]

There are plenty here who are high on practice reports saying that DGL is ready to make the all B1G freshman team and that Ty will be the next Bardo. Me? I think Brad has completely lost the plot. I would love to be wrong, but last year's numbers and general history don't predict a great future for this team.

 

[Joel Goodson]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1676723822429437953

 

[LoveLovie]

There are plenty here who are high on practice reports saying that DGL is ready to make the all B1G freshman team and that Ty will be the next Bardo. Me? I think Brad has completely lost the plot. I would love to be wrong, but last year's numbers and general history don't predict a great future for this team.

Practice reports/exaggeration aside, Brad is still a good D1 coach. I don't understand how we can come to the conclusion that he's "lost the plot" even if we are disappointed with ncaa tournament results. Have we forgotten that we easily should've had TWO big ten championships within his tenure?

 

[Mojoman]

I don't feel like spending the hour to go back looking for it, so I will paraphrase.

When Ty committed, many people, including at least 1, if not more "in the know" felt he would.be the PG of the future and it would give is a big height advantage. Nobody should be surprised by this.

Huh?

 

[Illini2010-11]

The Seattle Times didn’t even list Illinois as one of the schools going after Mulcahey

“…Mulcahy, a Bayonne, New Jersey, native, reportedly received interest from Kentucky, Gonzaga, Michigan and Kansas before visiting Xavier, Notre Dame and UW over the last few weeks, according to reports.”

Make of that what you will

You are correct: "Interest" is the key word. The other schools likely didn't have as much NIL to give him or guaranteed minutes to play. Otherwise, I can't see why he would choose to play in Seattle over Spokane, Lawrence, Lexington, etc. If he really wanted a chance to win.

We knew from our insiders that he had no interest coming here.

 

[illiniguy24]

There are plenty here who are high on practice reports saying that DGL is ready to make the all B1G freshman team and that Ty will be the next Bardo. Me? I think Brad has completely lost the plot. I would love to be wrong, but last year's numbers and general history don't predict a great future for this team.

My opinions that nobody asked for are this:

1. Anyone who thinks Brad should be fired or is a bad coach is crazy, he brought us back from ROCK bottom to winning conf champs

2. It’s ok to be frustrated by the lack of post season success and to have expected more with the talent we had over the last 3-4 years

3. You can be excited and optimistic for this upcoming season and its potential but also realize that there is a very real chance this PG situation doesn’t work at all and/or we underachieve massively

4. If we succeed big with this roster and Ty or somehow DGL as the lead guard it should be a massive kudos to the staff on multiple levels that should go a long away

 

[destindog]

How tied is Morez with BU? As in if everything goes wrong with BU, do we need to be on life alert with Morez watch?
I had a nightmare about this.

I am not so worried about the ties between BU and Morez as I am about other school coming with a a boatload of money and/or better surrounding players and Morez decommitting.

 

[PasadenaIllini]

My opinions that nobody asked for are this:

1. Anyone who thinks Brad should be fired or is a bad coach is crazy, he brought us back from ROCK bottom to winning conf champs
Very few are saying "Fire Brad." I'm not one of them. I think his seat should be warm. He's got the 7th highest salary in college basketball right now. The results and the overall team management currently don't match what we are paying him. The number of good players who have not stayed (Zacharie Perrin comes to mind) and the roster management for this upcoming season are not good signs. The fact that we're hearing that he's alienating boosters is also not a good sign. This coming season Brad was gifted Shannon and Hawkins's returns. These are great players. The track record of teams that have good wing play and forward play and no point guard play isn't a good one. There are legit concerns heading into this season as a result. If we struggle once again, given the tension I'm hearing between Brad and our AD, I wouldn't be surprised to see a change, particularly if Sean Miller is still available.

2. It’s ok to be frustrated by the lack of post season success and to have expected more with the talent we had over the last 3-4 years
You said it yourself. And it isn't just losing. It's how we've lost. We looked poorly coached and poorly prepared against Loyola when we earned a 1 seed. Our other post-season performances have been fairly similar.

3. You can be excited and optimistic for this upcoming season and its potential but also realize that there is a very real chance this PG situation doesn’t work at all and/or we underachieve massively
Why exactly should I be excited? With Hawkins and Shannon back we should be contending for a title if the team were properly managed. Instead we're headed into the season hoping and praying that the pg position will successfully be filled by a power forward who's ball handling and shooting skills last season were, putting it as nicely and possible, questionable, and a less-than-heralded freshman. Can you name a B1G team who's won the championship without a legit pg? How about a B1G runner up?

4. If we succeed big with this roster and Ty or somehow DGL as the lead guard it should be a massive kudos to the staff on multiple levels that should go a long away

Sure. But that's one of the biggest "if"'s in the sporting world right there.
Reply is in line. See above.

 

[Illini in Italy]

The nepotism isn’t helping his cause imo

Username checks out

 

[oldman]

The nepotism isn’t helping his cause imo

As the real, original Mayor Daley said - “If I can’t help my sons (the critics) can kiss my a**.