Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#1,001      
All true (hard to believe Penny survived, but he is a beloved figure at that program), but they'll also write him a huge check, and that's a big time program that will need him to feast on lesser talent in conference as he is undeniably adept at doing.
Didn’t Penny write a big check to the school before he got the job?
 
#1,010      
Hopefully the staff learned from the Matthew Mayer experience. To see him chuckling about playing video games and drinking red bulls into caffeine poisoning was embarrassing. I get the everyday guy mantra. To me though Brad and staff can be like we want you but you are going to have to compete for playing time and rotational minutes. If an everyday culture guy isn't down with that they should leave. Playing time is not guaranteed based on seniority it is based on production.
feel like that's a half truth. Danja produced but sat a ton. Harmon didn't and he got plenty of opportunity to miss the corner 3. Feel like it's more like BU knows which mouths he has to feed, who is more willing to go hungry and who he has to blow smoke at for back up plan reasons. Lieb/BV leaving and not having a true 5 left Danja is back up roll because of CH and him playing at the same time, getting into foul trouble, only having Hansberry as the last big. Not playing a true 5 limited CH as we all know and hope he stays and land a true 5. even 4 bigs with Morez gives the high/low sharp passing CH and Low post move extraordinare Danja freedom and potency.Plus a ton of opportunities for drive and dish and drive and kick.

you can buy the sales pitch or see the forest through the trees and see how it is all connected.
 
#1,011      
Buck wants to play,he will wait to see what guards are brought in and make a decision.Sure he would stay in the right situation.ceiling very low offensively though.
How do people know his ceiling is very low offensively? Who has personally been to practices and can give an accurate assessment of his offensive development over the past season?
 
#1,012      
How do people know his ceiling is very low offensively? Who has personally been to practices and can give an accurate assessment of his offensive development over the past season?
illini0440
I don't like this. I think we were lucky this year with the mix of returning players improving and the new players contributing, the team chemistry being the positive that it was. This is NOT a reliable method of team building to rely on year after year. Last year's team didn't gel as hoped. Bringing in 10 new players will always be a crapshoot. I sincerely hope it works. But possibly 9-10 NEW PLAYERS???? Wow, that's asking and expecting a lot. I have some reservations about such a severe turnover of personnel and I truly hope that we have more than 3 returnees. Continuity is a thing...
Click to expand...
It’s not like we’re kicking kicking anyone out and you can’t force a kid to stay. Moretti role will never be more than what it was this year. He can go down a level and play. Just don’t see it with Buck on the offensive end, and it’s still not a forgone conclusion Luke is leaving.

🙋🏻‍♂️
 
#1,013      
I thought two years ago during that off season that it would be BUs most challenging to date. It wasn’t a great season, but I think he showed he can do some pretty great recruiting in the portal. I expect similar results this year.

Storr, Maddox, and Hill to go along with a starting PG and C would be the best haul you can ask for.

I haven’t felt this high on the program in a while, even after the Kofi years. I trust this staff more than any since Self was here. Such a refreshing mindset to have.
 
#1,014      
From a fan perspective, I feel more invested in a player like Coleman who stays for 4 years, vs 1 and dones like Guerrier or Harmon, who may be great people but I never got to know much about them. Part of the fun as a fan is watching guys grow and develop from skinny freshman to dead-eye veteran, and all the ups and downs along the way. At the end of the day I want to win, but changing out all your stalwarts for hired guns every season weakens that fan/player bond.
I'm sure the same opinion is shared by every coach, staff and fanbase. Alas, 4 year commits are sadly becoming a thing of the past with portal roulette and the NIL Wild West. Unless the ncaa reigns it in, this is the new normal. While I hate it, I also admit the transfer season is wildly entertaining compared to the glacially slow moving recruitments of the past.
 
#1,015      
illini0440

It’s not like we’re kicking kicking anyone out and you can’t force a kid to stay. Moretti role will never be more than what it was this year. He can go down a level and play. Just don’t see it with Buck on the offensive end, and it’s still not a forgone conclusion Luke is leaving.

🙋🏻‍♂️
Part of the problem is that it's basically impossible to have Rodgers and Harris on the floor at the same time with both being total non-shooters.

Rodgers seems to be the priority, which is justifiable given the variety of other things he provides. So as much as I might want to carve out a big role for Harris, who I really like as a player (and who I haven't given up on as a shooter), we just kinda can't.
 
#1,017      
Haven't heard that pun for almost 50 years - thought it was Milt Famey though.
You are correct. It was Famey. But it was Mel, not Milt. One of the funniest plays on words of all time. Runner-up: I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy - Tom Waits, I think.
 
#1,018      
Can someone help me share the excitement? I'm not saying the coaches don't know what they're doing, or that this isn't going to work. I'm just not sure what others are seeing...

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Illinois was elite on offense this past year due to being pretty good at all three of: TS% (50th in the nation), ORB (21st) and low turnovers (35th). So our 57%TS was good, but not great on its own.

Looking at the "year prior to transfer" stats of this past season's key players, you can see how they promised value in one/more of those categories, except maybe Harmon (we could hope he'd be more efficient with less usage, but that didn't pan out). TSJ and Domask had about the same TS% in their first year with us as they did prior to transferring. Guerrier improved from 53%->56%. TSJ improved from 58%->62% in his 2nd year with us.

For the rumored incoming transfers, I'm struggling with the low TS% of Boswell, Storr, and Hill. Maddox and Davis have great TS%, but Davis doesn't seem like a high-volume guy. FWIW, the Sports-Reference defensive metrics for this group (except maybe Boswell) are also worse than our previous transfers. Our returning players don't look any better at TS%, though Rodgers and Hansberry were good rebounders, so it looks like we're really counting on some transfers for scoring.

So is the excitement that:
- Maddox already is a high-efficiency higher-volume scorer
- Hopefully at least one of Storr/Hill improve significantly with less usage
- Boswell had a 58%TS prior to this year and still had a good 3P% this year, so hopefully he just took some dumb 2pt shots that we can eliminate. Plus he can at least be a good ball handler and capable defender regardless of his efficiency
- Davis can hit some 3s (and hopefully be ok on defense)
- Hopefully DGL/Hansberry will improve and/or are already much better than their stats

If so, there are a lot of "hopefullys", so I don't think I will be excited until I see the results. I get that college players can improve significantly, but looking at our recent transfers (and those of Alabama, since someone mentioned them), that's far from guaranteed.
 
#1,021      
Coleman will only come back if we find a solid center in the portal. CH does NOT want to play center anymore. His potential in the NBA as he sees it is as a forward. Playing center takes him out of games with foul trouble besides effecting his mind set.
 
#1,023      
Can someone help me share the excitement? I'm not saying the coaches don't know what they're doing, or that this isn't going to work. I'm just not sure what others are seeing...

View attachment 33135

Illinois was elite on offense this past year due to being pretty good at all three of: TS% (50th in the nation), ORB (21st) and low turnovers (35th). So our 57%TS was good, but not great on its own.

Looking at the "year prior to transfer" stats of this past season's key players, you can see how they promised value in one/more of those categories, except maybe Harmon (we could hope he'd be more efficient with less usage, but that didn't pan out). TSJ and Domask had about the same TS% in their first year with us as they did prior to transferring. Guerrier improved from 53%->56%. TSJ improved from 58%->62% in his 2nd year with us.

For the rumored incoming transfers, I'm struggling with the low TS% of Boswell, Storr, and Hill. Maddox and Davis have great TS%, but Davis doesn't seem like a high-volume guy. FWIW, the Sports-Reference defensive metrics for this group (except maybe Boswell) are also worse than our previous transfers. Our returning players don't look any better at TS%, though Rodgers and Hansberry were good rebounders, so it looks like we're really counting on some transfers for scoring.

So is the excitement that:
- Maddox already is a high-efficiency higher-volume scorer
- Hopefully at least one of Storr/Hill improve significantly with less usage
- Boswell had a 58%TS prior to this year and still had a good 3P% this year, so hopefully he just took some dumb 2pt shots that we can eliminate. Plus he can at least be a good ball handler and capable defender regardless of his efficiency
- Davis can hit some 3s (and hopefully be ok on defense)
- Hopefully DGL/Hansberry will improve and/or are already much better than their stats

If so, there are a lot of "hopefullys", so I don't think I will be excited until I see the results. I get that college players can improve significantly, but looking at our recent transfers (and those of Alabama, since someone mentioned them), that's far from guaranteed.
This is a terrific post that is asking the right questions and I'm glad to see the data so favorable toward Maddox.

The one thing I'd note is that comparing Storr and Boswell as second year players in major conferences to Domask as a senior at a mid-major isn't exactly apples to apples.
 
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