I agree, Brad isn't necessarily going to out coach guys but why not assemble teams that just physically bullies opponents?
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Completely different situations.
Shannon was attacking downhill off the dribble with multiple guys all the time.
Dix played at Iowa where Fran has always created a ton of open opportunities at the rim simply with cuts.
Can’t argue. Seeing TJ run the court at full speed in person was awe inspiring. One of my favorite players ever. Unfortunately, guys like that are tough to find. They don’t usually stick around in college for long.
I’d love to add an x and o guy this offseason for defense and offense & I want Brad to pick a style and stick to it instead trying to be last years hottest thing. I want to be unpredictable for opponents, I want to be adaptable game to game even mid game with defense. Have the athletes to show different looks. We can’t ever be that young, soft, and unathletic again
Yeah this is the stuff I don't understand. We have a guy that was a starter, averaged double digit points, who was 3rd on the team in WS/40 and BPM, is heading into his Senior year, and people want to show him the door in the hope that a mystery box we get will be better. Doesn't make sense. Bring back quality players, recruit your own house before you go chasing around.
There was 1 returning player from a program that made the elite 8 and returned its head coach. Two senior assistant coaches also left, one to a lessor program, the other to nowhere. Program stability and longer term player development are factually not strong areas for Brad right now. The only positive way to spin last summer is Brad made the sort of big, difficult changes his predecessors were unwilling to make to take the program to the next level, and this season was a rebuilding year.
Don't forget we got pretty lucky to get TSJ to begin with, as Michigan was his first choice but admissions department nonsense brought him to Illinois. You CANNOT count on pulling someone like that from the portal repeatedly.
Dix is a better shooter
I remember being scolded last Spring for using that word, "rebuilding." We're RELOADING, I was informed! Only we ended up with a good team that quite predictably turned out to be nowhere close to a great team.
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Honestly another year of officials seeing him Mozgov, and building a reputation is going to save him about 25 fouls over the course of the season… or give him more minutes to pick up the same number of fouls.
Out of curiosity, how has Ty done in practice throughout the year? Has he shown actual progress in his skill development?
When Tre was signed last Spring, I said I was "unimpressed." I didn't want a kid from two loser programs (USC, Louisville).
After this year, watching his (exasperating) ups and downs, thinking it over and learning that he wants to come back -- if the price is right, and it should be, we need to bring back a kid that can accept the hard-nosed coaching our head coach doles out. I now think Tre is, today, exactly what we need during desparate times on the court. And there will be desparate times when pursuing a National Championship. I hope we get him back.
I don’t disagree with you but I think a lot of folks are forgetting he was a starter on an Elite 8 team. Say what you want but the guy can hoop.
Yes it would be nice to see us moving and screening more on offense with simple pin downs and the like to get open shots. There were several times this year we came down the floor 5,6 times in a row without being able to get a decent shot off. Sometimes it was the defense but more often than not it was our inability to run any sort of organized offense.
I agree, I like Tre, but if he decides to go elsewhere, he's easily replaced, IMO
And I prefer less drama or whatever the heck that was in the middle of a season.
Dix was in one of the most friendly offensive schemes in the league... If he were going to be a top 10 player in the conference because of his offensive potential- it would've likely already happened. He's extremely talented shooting 3's and has a little wiggle offensively to get his shot off the dribble and in the midrange. But he is extremely limited at attacking the hoop and we routinely attacked him on defense. Again- he's not very strong and has never shown to be a dog.
Retention would be great but this team also needs some upgrades.
Ideally would probably want to bring back the 4-5 guys aforementioned... as well as bringing in Sarr, a solid backup big (best case probably Tomi's brother), and 2 other trustworthy scoring options (one of which who can also provide ball-handling support).
Ideally would probably want to bring back the 4-5 guys aforementioned... as well as bringing in Sarr, a solid backup big (best case probably Tomi's brother), and 2 other trustworthy scoring options (one of which who can also provide ball-handling support).
Yep. Tre White was one of our most valuable players by the end of the season. Of course we should want him back!
Yes, and yes.
Retention is critcal. Upgrades are essential.
We've been short-sighted about retentions lately, so that is the bigger concern of the two categories you (in my view, rightly) identify.
Govoner Vaugn Fan
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700 players have entered the portal today (first day to enter). 247Sports lists their top ten players in the portal so far. Dix is #2
He would not be able to defend in the Big Ten. Too slow to keep in front of guards/wings and too small to matchup with bigs. Pierce seems like he has followed the Domask path of being an undersized 4 in a lower conference that might be able to move a guard in a P5.
I expect there will be a lot more movement of of Div I teams moving (back) to Div II and Div III. (I posted this prediction ~April of last year.) Having conferences of teams that would never be competitive, yet leech NCAA Div I money, used to be profitable. With the new rules, it will be a huge financial loss.
He was, but with all due respect to Zach Edey, he was in the starting lineup with the best player in college ball, especially late in the year. TSJ was at a whole different level. Add Domask, who was also an elite bucket getter and we have Hawkins, who was a three level scorer. There was a TON of offense that was part of that starting group and there's only one ball to go around. He was perfect because he did the dirty work and didn't care if he scored.
We don't have that now. If he were to start, he'd have to provide reliable offense and I'm not sure that's in his bag.
He can definitely hoop, but we wouldn't be being honest if we didn't just admit that he's challenged offensively. That puts him in the role player bucket.
That's JMO
You're leaving out whatever the heck happened in the middle of the season with Tre.
He's a good player but let's not pretend he's a superstar or something.
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