Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#752      
Watkins is not the #1 guy that I am looking for to enter (he would be #2). When #1 enters (assuming he does), I will let everyone know. The staff is VERY confident they will land this kid if he enters, and it would be a massive addition.
Swedish Chef Cooking GIF
 
#753      
Both were great for sure. I was young but I still remember Shidler at UK bombing away from 25 feet out. Marty was superb, a great player. Dan Cross, Steve and Craig Bardo, Mike Duff, Chico Vaughn, Lucas O’Rear, Darius Miles, Doug Collins, Jerry Sloan, Nate Hawthorne. Who am I missing?
Brent Browning, Norm Cook, Andy Kaufmann, Jeff Clements.........just to add a few.
 
#754      
I definitely think Illinois is going to start them both. Not many teams are going to have 2 guys that tall that can shoot 3s. It will be up to the staff to figure out how to exploit their matchups on offense and hide them on defense.

If they switch them in and out at the 5, then it would have to be.

Ivisic (stretch 5)
Ty (at the 4, dunker spot)
SF- who we don’t have
SG- who we don’t have
PG- Boswell
 
#757      
Watkins is not the #1 guy that I am looking for to enter (he would be #2). When #1 enters (assuming he does), I will let everyone know. The staff is VERY confident they will land this kid if he enters, and it would be a massive addition.
Let it be so.
 
#760      
Not the guy we are waiting on entering, should be in the coming days though.
Watkins of FSU? If so, I hope we have the money to win a bidding war for him. But if we don't get a Watkins transfer, and Sarr ends up not committing to us, I've been banging the drum for SIU-C Sophomore F/G Kennard Davis Jr. (No, I'm not related to him! LOL) He's 6'6" tall, weighs 215 pounds, and he has two years of eligibility remaining. Davis averaged 16.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists for the Salukis this past season, while shooting 45.5% on FGs, including 37.6% on 3-pointers, and 76.3% on FTs. I've read that Purdue, Iowa State, and other high major teams are recruiting Davis. He's a St. Louis kid, and I think it would be good for future Illini recruiting in that metro area to have a St. Louisan on the team. Have any of you seen Kennard Davis play live and in person? Have any of you seem him play in a televised game? Have any of you watched videos of him? If yes to any of those questions, please let me know your opinion of him. Is he good enough to play for the Illini? Would he be good enough to start if no Watkins or Sarr? Rodgers seems like good on D, shaky on O. Jake Davis seems like solid on O, but struggles on D. Kennard Davis seems like he's very good on O and solid on D.
 
#761      
Would love to have Oweh on Illinois... but why would he leave Kentucky? Are there rumors of him being unhappy?
 
#762      
I turn 50 this year. I’ve seen the Packers win two Suoer Bowls and the Cardinals win three World Series. I just want a basketball national title to die happy from a favorite teams’ perspective.
I’m with you (except for the Packers part). I don’t even need a football national title… just get be the basketball one, please! I had hoped to see Illinois win a Rose Bowl game in my life, but that’s becoming less and less likely.
 
#763      
A vet PG that can shoot: I agree. But will it have to be a player willing to be a backup PG behind Boswell? Would Malachi Smith of Dayton be willing to take that job if compensated properly? Is Smith a good enough player for Illinois? Have the Illini been recruiting him?
 
#764      
they need a high flyer PF that can shoot and rebound like QG..

Id guess you use Mirkovic as a booty ball 4 and have T/Z stand around the 3...

him and tomi seem to be a pretty slow frontcourt though, no clue how that works defensively but with hamer running the D it wont be good regardless.
How about 6'8" 235-pound PF Duncan Powell, a Junior, of Georgia Tech? He's in the portal. Not sure if Illinois is interested?
 
#766      
He certainly helps and is the right profile to compliment them, but you can't hide two guys from coverage against speedy little guards in a defensive scheme with drop coverage and the like.

Z is the better rim protector, he'll be in the "center" role. That's going to put Tomi in challenging situations against quicker players we were able to protect him from this year.
I think you might be looking at Big Z and T in too broad a sense. They have very different styles of game and in my opinion their usage is likely going to be very matchup dependent. First, and this may sound like I'm chugging the kool-aid, but I think people are underestimating Big Z from a natural athleticism, quickness, and defensive capability with good coaching standpoint and I believe that he was incredibly underutilized by Cal and didn't get the strength and conditioning he needs. Yes, it sounds ridiculous questioning a coach with Cal's experience, but every time I watched Z lace it up, it just seemed they really weren't using him or developing him correctly.

In my opinion the two of them can definitely play together so long as the opponent has a more traditional lineup (C-PF-3G) and has a traditional big. Big Z is fast enough to cover the 4 and all he'll be asked to do is funnel his guy inside to the waiting Tomi who should have good defensive position. The 4 can either take the contested shot against Tomi or pass to the 5 Tomi is guarding (if he passes out to a guard, it's inconsequential). If he passes to the 5, the following Z should have the speed and athleticism from a recovery position to now switch and affect/block the 5.

Okay but what if the opponent plays 5 out with a euro center? That's where Big Z is extremely valuable as he can cover that, and then you have someone like Ty fill the void he leaves and crash the glass. Have a team with 4 faster and athletic guys and a traditional big? Utilize Tomi in a similar manner as you did this year, pulling the big out and then have Ty and the PF obliterate the opponents on the boards.

The point I'm making is there doesn't have to be one blanket way to use the Ivisii. And between Big Z, Tomi, and Ty, there's enough experience there that with a good defensive coach they should be able to seamlessly adjust to the opponent and hard counter them.
 
#767      
6'6" 200-pound Sophomore Guard Sam Lewis (Toledo) has transferred to Virginia. He averaged 16.2/4.4/1.2 last season for Toledo and shot 44.4% on 3-pointers. He's from Chicago. Played high school ball for Simeon. I don't know if he even got a sniff from the Illini. Will be interesting to see if he plays very well for UVA. And I hope the Illini don't need a solid backup shooting guard this coming season, especially when injuries or illness occur.
 
#770      
Both were great for sure. I was young but I still remember Shidler at UK bombing away from 25 feet out. Marty was superb, a great player. Dan Cross, Steve and Craig Bardo, Mike Duff, Chico Vaughn, Lucas O’Rear, Darius Miles, Doug Collins, Jerry Sloan, Nate Hawthorne. Who am I missing?
Couple of my Illini favorite from when I was a kid. Freddie Miller and Randy Crews.
 
#771      
I sure like this. I see Z is not left handed like his brother. Will be interesting to see how BU mixes and matches the two twin towers. It's obvious both are a threat to score from deep. If we get Riley back I won't worry about a thing. I expect Jake to have an expanded role and team leadership. But it's obvious Boswell will be the alpha dog.
 
#772      
I still can't understand why he left Illinois. He was a major factor for the Illini. All I can think is the $$$$.
 
#774      
It’s sort of anticlimactic.
And
After watching the two Final Four games, it’s hard to envision how two tall skinny guys would fare against any of those four teams
 
#775      
Brad needs to pay zone to cover up his coaching staff and scheming deficiencies. Not his players inabilities. So I'll agree with you but for all the wrong reasons.
 
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