How about freshman Georgie B. 11 PPGI can't wait to see what we get with Ivisic. Will he be a freshman Nick Smith?, or the upperclassman Meyers L. we regrettably never got to see? Probably somewhere in between but where on that development line?
How about freshman Georgie B. 11 PPGI can't wait to see what we get with Ivisic. Will he be a freshman Nick Smith?, or the upperclassman Meyers L. we regrettably never got to see? Probably somewhere in between but where on that development line?
Must have been a typo... Or maybe we are going to play completely positionless basketball, so position doesn't really mean anything.....LOLThe 3!?!
It doesn't have to be either extreme though. I personally think the most reasonable thing to "expect" for the next year is that each player has a small chance of regressing (depending on past sample size and how much their role will change), some chance of staying about the same, a decent chance of a modest improvement, and a small chance of taking a great leap.
So for a batch of transfers, we might get one who takes a big leap, probably a couple with modest improvements, probably a couple who do fine but never live up to the hype, and maybe one who doesn't play well at all (and/or don't see the floor much). It could of course be much better or worse. It's all anyone's guess, and I pretty much disagree with all hot takes in either direction.
Regarding Boswell, he's far from proven to this point. He's demonstrated a good 3pt%, but really regressed his sophomore year in 2pt% and has never shown an ability to get to the line (and missed 2pt shots are the most likely misses to go the other way for a fast break). Nor was he the clear assist leader on his team (they were essentially split among him, Larsson, and Love), and he lost some playing time near the end of the season. But I'm not discounting the scouting either- there's clearly some potential there; we just don't know yet if we're going to get it (much less this year). And I personally do not care much about NBA projections. Plenty of future NBA stars did very little to help their college teams win for a variety of reasons.
Miles Kelly looks good, seem like there is several options at that 6-4 and up and 35%+. I'll be surprised if we can't land one of these players either soon or around the NBA draft dropout deadline. We have an outstanding program and top-notch recruiters, believe we still have a good range on NIL to spend as well.No worries. Just curious. Just wondering (not worrying!) about who, if anyone, Illinois will add as a starting shooting guard to the roster. This is a Recruiting Thread...right? So, I just assumed that it's still okay to discuss Illinois Basketball recruiting...even while we "trust BU to figure it all out."
3. SG Chaz Lanier. TN and KY his final two.
5. SG Cam Christie. Not interested in IL.
6. SG Wooga Poplar. IL not in his final four.
14. SG Miles Kelly. Shot 37% from the field, 32% on 3s, and 73% from the line. But Illinois "might" have a chance to add him?
Maybe? More like definitely. White is a 3 (who can play some 4) and Humrichous is likely our starting 4.Well if we don't get any more alphas in the portal and just add depth, this would be my projected starting lineup.
Boswell 6'2
White 6'7
Humrichous 6'9
Booth 6'10
Ivisic. 7'1
This would probably be one of the tallest lineups that ever started for Illinois. I am ok with that though maybe not enough ball handling.
The 3!?!
I agree that's probably our best lineup with the players we already have on board. That group can score! But I wonder how well they would defend a team with 2 or 3 quick-twitch athletes playing. Although there are some shot blockers in that Illini lineup!Well if we don't get any more alphas in the portal and just add depth, this would be my projected starting lineup.
Boswell 6'2
White 6'7
Humrichous 6'9
Booth 6'10
Ivisic. 7'1
This would probably be one of the tallest lineups that ever started for Illinois. I am ok with that though maybe not enough ball handling.
I just saw that his jumper was nice from 15-18'.How about 15 feet in? His mid-range shot may be more important. Domask kept showing us that's still part of the game.
Really glad he graduated. I've made peace with this. Hawk will go down as one of my favorite players ever. I absolutely can't wait to see what he does next. I hope it's in the league, but even if it's at another school, I'm gonna cheer like heck for him. Unless he plays us.
"33 signing out" - Doesn't sound like he'll be back by any means...
Has anyone made it seem like he's coming back?
"33 signing out" - Doesn't sound like he'll be back by any means...
No. Just sad to see him go. There's a difference between a great player and a legacy player. Coleman will forever be a legacy player.Has anyone made it seem like he's coming back?
AgreedNo. Just sad to see him go. There's a difference between a great player and a legacy player. Coleman will forever be a legacy player.
I KNOW I'm wrong but I can't get it out of one brain cell that he's doing the world's biggest troll on us. I wouldn't say that if it was anyone else.
"33 signing out" - Doesn't sound like he'll be back by any means...
Listen, I’m not dogging anyone’s info and all signs point to him being gone. That being said, this type of buildup to then turn to an Illini return would be a masterclass in trolling which we all know CH loves.Has anyone made it seem like he's coming back?
This post is logical, well reasoned and well written.This time of year I'm an observer here with nothing useful to add on the recruiting front regarding player talent. However, I take the long view on the current portal stich and what it will yield for us. One thing BU has shown is an ability to learn and adapt quickly. We're extremely fortunate, IMO, to have such a coach. After he arrived and his schemes weren't working he completely tore them apart after hiring someone from the NBA to consult on the topic. I have no doubt that he learned a great deal from the '22-'23 Skyy-MM-Epps debacle and will manage the newcomers during the offseason aggressively to avoid a repeat. Will he avoid a repeat? We don't know.
I'd certainly like to see player continuity between seasons. However, everyone who left did so because the staff was seeking to upgrade talent at those positions. I have no idea whether that will actually work better this coming season than the status quo. It's an active strategy to reload and maintain competitiveness. Is it superior to coaching up those who departed? We'll see. BU and his staff do this for a living so I generally shy away from criticizing their approach as I have neither the skin in the game nor the expertise to do so. It's barely mid-May and we won't know the roster composition until the end of the month. We'll see what late November and December look like. Actually, we'll see what late January looks like. That's when we'll know.
I, too, miss the days when we had outstanding frosh talent that we watched develop over 3-4 seasons. They had to be patient and we did, too. That's gone, probably forever. I'll live with it and cheer the guys wearing the O&B. I can accept the disappointment of this new world because I'm much more pleased that these young men are finally monetizing their talent while they can, and the NCAA, BT, universities aren't the ones skimming the rents at the expense of the labor producing it. Markets work well generally and redress artificially-created power imbalances that restraint-of-trade creates.
It will be interesting to see what equilibrium results in college sports. Will be several more seasons until that occurs, probably. It seems good for us on the basketball front and much less so on the football front currently. If we cultivate more to sell on Saturdays in Memorial Stadium it could be good for us there, too. We lost merely ten years in basketball. We lost 30 in football, 55 if you view the early '80s and '88-91 as a mirage and unsustainable.
Yeah, I know: TLDR. Think of it as ~25 one-sentence posts over the past two weeks.
Onward. The clock doesn't run backward.
This though crossed my ever hopeful mind too.I KNOW I'm wrong but I can't get it out of one brain cell that he's doing the world's biggest troll on us. I wouldn't say that if it was anyone else.