It is kind of funny to see the losses of the season blamed on the Midwest Valley transfer and not the five-star volume shooter that managed to not get more than 3 threes in a game at all in 2025 and went 0fer six times in the final two months.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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That's a BU problem and not a Ben problem. How they used him is 100 percent on the staff.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
This is the part I really think is crazy.
Cadeau is an erratic and limited player. Great passer, fun to watch, but doesn't guard, turns it over a lot, undersized, a lot of sizzle for not a lot of steak.
Boswell is so complete, he's the kind of guy that makes a team better.
Not even close between the two IMO.
Tomi is a lot better than Mara.
We all saw and believed Morez was going to take a big step next year that would put him above Z (who has physical limitations that make that next step more dubious for him) but it's still a bit speculative.
Yaxel could be so much better than Mirkovic that he swallows the whole exercise, but especially on a team that's going to use him in a slightly different way let's not hand him B1G POY just yet.
Illinois 98-89 Florida Atlantic (Dec 5, 2023) Final Score - ESPN
Game summary of the Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Florida Atlantic Owls NCAAM game, final score 98-89, from December 5, 2023 on ESPN.
Illinois 93-73 Michigan (Mar 2, 2025) Final Score - ESPN
Game summary of the Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Michigan Wolverines NCAAM game, final score 93-73, from March 2, 2025 on ESPN.
Any update on Miller? I know it was mentioned in here yesterday Illini we’re going to give him a kinda take it or leave it offer within the next 24 hours. Have we officially moved on?
Yaxel is mid-to-late 1R in about every mock draft I've seen, so there's also that
Facts prove Ben was not a bad shooter, but I will concede he shot us out of a few games and did not prove to be an everyday dependable elite shooter as some statements led us to believe. However, the mechanics exist, along with his height and step up in effort lend to there being a likelihood that he will step up his level of contribution if he can gain confidence. That being said, even if he makes that jump to being dependable, a solid bench role is his likely ceiling...unless circumstances make another role necessary.
But isn’t Monsanto a different position than Ben as well? Wouldn’t Ace and Monsanto be a more comparable player? And I agree with you that Monsanto is a great option and a better choice than Miller.
I just don’t see how a player that was going to be given the keys to the team, decided to leave, became a journeymen, and then is going to come back to the team that told him he could have it all and be okay taking a backseat and having to earn everything he is given now. I just don’t buy it.
Plus, Ben is not keeping us from getting anyone else….we seem to be having trouble locking down players that he wouldn’t compete with for minutes.
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So Boswell played well at the end of the year, but he was definitely erratic throughout the season.This is the part I really think is crazy.
Cadeau is an erratic and limited player. Great passer, fun to watch, but doesn't guard, turns it over a lot, undersized, a lot of sizzle for not a lot of steak.
Boswell is so complete, he's the kind of guy that makes a team better.
Not even close between the two IMO.
Tomi is a lot better than Mara.
We all saw and believed Morez was going to take a big step next year that would put him above Z (who has physical limitations that make that next step more dubious for him) but it's still a bit speculative.
Yaxel could be so much better than Mirkovic that he swallows the whole exercise, but especially on a team that's going to use him in a slightly different way let's not hand him B1G POY just yet.
Illinois 98-89 Florida Atlantic (Dec 5, 2023) Final Score - ESPN
Game summary of the Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Florida Atlantic Owls NCAAM game, final score 98-89, from December 5, 2023 on ESPN.www.espn.com
Illinois 93-73 Michigan (Mar 2, 2025) Final Score - ESPN
Game summary of the Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Michigan Wolverines NCAAM game, final score 93-73, from March 2, 2025 on ESPN.
He is better than cadeua in D tho, I'll give you that. My take is mostly just production based. And on that account they are pretty even.
chiefini
- Rockford, Illinois
Where’s the dislike button?
FightinIllini30
Future insider
Been wondering why we aren’t kicking the tires on Rodney more.
If we lived in a world where we could guarantee multiple years from players, I would take Ian Jackson. But in terms of finding the best fit and making our team the best we can for next year… give me Rice
It’s important to note that they both were productive on teams that had less-than-awesome head coaches, especially Ian
USAFILLINI
- Florida
Very Fair Take. TSJ was without a doubt one of the best pulls for the BU era, along with Ayo. Ill step back from the ledge, but will keep my Illini cup firmly in place.
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
Is our booster group more top heavy then others (i.e. are we begging to 3-4 large donors running this like their personal sports team or is it more a 20-25 person group)?
Genuinely curious as to how many donors are making a big difference to open up the check book, particularly when these are 6-7 figure increase asks each time.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
This is exactly the sort of question the Win Shares stat is meant to help with.
Cadeau - 2.3
Boswell - 3.6
Tomislav - 4.0
Mara - 2.4
Zvonimir - 2.4
Morez - 2.7
Yaxel - 7.1
Mirkovic - ???
So that's 14.5 for Michigan, 10.0 plus Mirkovic for Illinois.
Is Matt Painter and the boilers #1 in the Big next year ?
Only if you believe those 5 shiny stars next to his name haven’t tarnished in the past year.
At least the the podz regurgitation is on hold.
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Since I’m not paying, I couldn’t disagree more.
1m4tr
Cliffmas
Illinois fans will lose their collective minds next year if Ian Jackson doesn’t improve his defense and effort next year. He was unplayable at times. He’s talented on the other side of the ball for sure. But his +\- will be close to zero or negative unless you have a very strong set of defenders around him.
What are we trying to build here?
What are we trying to build here?
I mean, he already did... and that says everything...
Well, 14.5 plus Trey McKenney for Michigan. Because he is as much a part of their offseason as Mirk is ours.
It might be a real low point, but it was a fun exercise nonetheless, especially considering the other talking points this board has at the moment.
aka, you think Dusty is a better coach than Brad?
you think the defense will ever be good with hamer?
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