Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#276      
Those teams didn't have that many players more athletic than Ty. Ty can't shoot but in terms of pure physical abilities he is definitely up there.
Part of athleticism is hand eye coordination which is a big part of dribbling and shooting. So is if being ambidextrous or close to it. Quickness, reflexes and things Steph Curry can do at a high level even if steph or some other great non high fliers cant jump out if the gym. However, they can excel at other but they are certainly elite when it comes to possessing hand eye coordination aa athletic trait that many high fliers lack that important for PGs or basketball players.
I have known and seen a lot of guys that could jump and most would say are elite athletes that weren't because they do much more than jump and certainly couldn't shoot or dribble since they lack coordination. Ty is a good athlete and can dribble. There is just more to that than jumping high. Curry isn't a high leaper but is very athletic in ways many may not equate to athleticism.
 
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#277      
Interesting one, Indy. Was a huge fan of his at Texas and is a nice player - dude can really defend.

With Merkovich, Ty, and the Z's am I making a mistake in thinking Merkovich is pretty much only locked into the 4 spot? Seems like that would be a pretty crowded frontcourt if we're aggressively pursuing Mitchell. Certainly would strengthen the athleticism options upfront though.
 
#279      
Jeez, excuuuuuuuse some of us "dumb dumbs" for wanting to get more athletic. We lost arguably one of the better athletes we had (MJ) and added 3 players that are not super athletic (Ty, Z, and Mirkovic). Good players/prospect and I'm glad to have them all. But is everyone satisfied with the athleticism of this past year's team? Would it have competed with Auburn, Duke (we already know), Houston, or FL? We haven't significantly improved that. Yes, it is super early, but other teams have added athletic transfers. I thought this was a board to express opinions. I guess it has to the the "right" opinion or one from an insider.
There’s a difference between an opinion and an uninformed, ridiculous statement. Sorry, but there is a lot of “athletes” out there, but an athlete that can’t shoot does not see the floor for long.
 
#280      
Obviously not anywhere near the most important basis for evaluating a player, but I think there would be posters on this site that would actually go into cardiac arrest while posting in game threads if we had a player shooting FTs at a sub-40% clip.
 
#281      
Obviously not anywhere near the most important basis for evaluating a player, but I think there would be posters on this site that would actually go into cardiac arrest while posting in game threads if we had a player shooting FTs at a sub-40% clip.
He also takes 1 3 per game to go with his 39% free throw shooting? That's a potential Morez Johnson stat sheet for next season.
 
#283      
Obviously not anywhere near the most important basis for evaluating a player, but I think there would be posters on this site that would actually go into cardiac arrest while posting in game threads if we had a player shooting FTs at a sub-40% clip.
It's time for my guy to man up and embrace his inner Jackie Moon...
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#284      
Obviously not anywhere near the most important basis for evaluating a player, but I think there would be posters on this site that would actually go into cardiac arrest while posting in game threads if we had a player shooting FTs at a sub-40% clip.
It's mind-blowing that guys who have been playing ball for 10+ years can't make at least half their free throws.
 
#285      
Not 100% recruiting related, but diehard chatroom-commenting fans tend to have a somewhat acute perspective on their team's performance as a comparison to years past. As a performance barometer, I wanted to look at last year's performance compared to the past 29 years of KenPom data to see if last year was truly a mid-to-down year.

Since 1997, our most comparable season to last season was the season prior. Here's how this roster stood up compared to the field of 29 Illini teams, along with a few other notable years I pulled:

2025 was our 10th best Field Rank, 3rd best offensive rank, 25th best defensive rank, and 6th best net rating (ORtg - DRtg).
2024
was our 7th best Field Rank, best offensive rank, 26th best defensive rank, and 5th best net rating.
2021 was our 2nd best Field Rank, 4th best offensive rank, 6th best defensive rank, and 2nd best net rating.
2005
was our best Field rank, 2nd best offensive rank, 8th best defensive rank, and best net rating.

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#286      
I think Malik Moore is a good offensive player but his defensive rating of 114.3 is a bit concerning, especially considering the Big Sky isn't that great. There aren't too many 2's that can shoot efficiently and play around average defense in the portal currently. Just a bit worried about our defense besides Boswell and Ty who are great athletes.

Malik Thomas of San Fran - high defense rating 97.4, shoots lower % on high volume, high FT rate, not great assist/TO, but almost 40% from 3. - Higher competition in West Coast Conf
Malik Moore - low defense rating, good shooting 45.6/40.9/82.2, better assist/TO ratio - Lower competition in Big Sky Conf

I also like Wesley Yates if he had more than 1 year of experience, his numbers are great. Rodney Rice looks good too if he wasn't being recruited to Tenn with Gillespie. Melvin Council plays great defense, great assist/TO ratio but has poor shooting % besides FT.

Hopefully some bigger fish 2's enter the portal like the insiders said. Thanks for all the info and discussion, have a great day everyone!
Moore would just be used in spurts-15 min a game guy if he comes.
 
#288      
Athletic MBB Illini - speed, jumping ability, quickness (for their position), strength. Freak athletes that could play multiple sports.

all time greats - Derek Harper, Kenny Battle, Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Roger Powell, James Augustine, Brian Randle, Rennie Clemons, Ken Norman, Nick Weatherspoon

2021 Trent, Ayo Kofi, Adam
2022 Trent Andre, RJ, Kofi
2023 TSJ, Sencire, RJ, Ty
2024 TSJ, Justin, Quincy, Coleman, Ty
2025 DGL, Tre, Morez

2026 Ty, Sarr?
 
#290      
Jeez, excuuuuuuuse some of us "dumb dumbs" for wanting to get more athletic. We lost arguably one of the better athletes we had (MJ) and added 3 players that are not super athletic (Ty, Z, and Mirkovic). Good players/prospect and I'm glad to have them all. But is everyone satisfied with the athleticism of this past year's team? Would it have competed with Auburn, Duke (we already know), Houston, or FL? We haven't significantly improved that. Yes, it is super early, but other teams have added athletic transfers. I thought this was a board to express opinions. I guess it has to the the "right" opinion or one from an insider.

the dumb dumbs are clearly staff here
 
#297      
Athletic MBB Illini - speed, jumping ability, quickness (for their position), strength. Freak athletes that could play multiple sports.

all time greats - Derek Harper, Kenny Battle, Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Roger Powell, James Augustine, Brian Randle, Rennie Clemons, Ken Norman, Nick Weatherspoon

2021 Trent, Ayo Kofi, Adam
2022 Trent Andre, RJ, Kofi
2023 TSJ, Sencire, RJ, Ty
2024 TSJ, Justin, Quincy, Coleman, Ty
2025 DGL, Tre, Morez

2026 Ty, Sarr?
No Efrem or Meyers on your list? One reason Meyers was a lottery pick. Few jumped higher or were stronger than those two at the 5. Often not mentioned coordination is of massive importance when playing any sport that involves a ball. The lack of good hand eye coordination is why some struggle at some skills in basketball. I looked this up and agree.

"To measure athleticism, assess physical traits like strength, speed, agility, endurance, so id locoordination, and flexibility, along with mental attributes like mental fortitude and motor skills."

You certainly list a few but there are others that great athletes that may not be high fliers. Frank Wiiliams had insane hand eye coordination, reflexes that helped him dribble like few could. My all time favorite is Harper and he wasn't a leader but man he could do everything else well.
 
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#299      
Mirkovic weighed in at 255 apparently
Also, Sarr's standing reach! (and apparently he's 6'7" now?)

Edit: oops didn't see that @New Creation beat me to it!
We could potentially have a very tall starting lineup with 7-1 TI 6-8 DM 6-8 WR or 6-8 IJ or 6-7.5 DS. and 6-2 KB with excellent positional size coming off the bench. I think it’s critical we recruit another athletic big to replace MJ and an athletic wing and a athletic combo guarrd that can provide depth at both the point and shooting guard spots. We need more athleticism to finish this roster off.
 
#300      
We all know athletic vs less athletic teams when we see them. Hell, we had one of the more athletic teams and went to the Elite 8. We were less so than many of our better opponents this past season. Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland, Michigan St, Duke, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Xavier; all arguably (some clearly) with more "athleticism" than us and we went 3-8 against them. Not necessarily terrible, they are all really good teams and we were young.

It's amazing what people argue about here sometimes. Don't we all want to do what Florida did last night? Do you need superior athletes than your opponents or do you load up with less athletic bigs who can shoot threes and hope you can always outscore whoever you play? I guess that is what the staff is figuring out. It would be nice to get back to a team that can impose its will and dictate tempo on both ends rather than just hope we are hitting from three at a better-than-30% rate to win. Call that uninformed and ridiculous if you want.
 
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