Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#126      
BretMyBeachHouse
mhuml32 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1918017582172455295


Interesting zag for Duke going away from recruiters to player development folks. They might have the benefit of doing this because their brand is so strong that the recruitment process is different compared to 99% of other programs, so their sell is more about professional readiness than "should I go here?".
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We have multiple non recruiters on our staff.
 
#127      
illinifan1987
Only 5 pages?
You Got This Season 6 GIF by The Roku Channel
 
#128      
Combo
McGuppin said:
JW and the NIL donor base has done their job and provided the resources to bring in the talent that could/should make a deep, deep tourney run. Indy, you've said it before and I think you're right: the pressure is on Team Underwood to deliver in 25/26. No excuses next season.
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Deliver what? We’ll likely be ranked between 20-30 preseason, which accurately reflects our talent. You’re way overestimating what we have if you think we should make the Elite Eight. While it could happen, a reasonable expectation for next year is lose in the 2nd or 3rd Round.
 
#129      
IllinoisIntegrity
Combo said:
Deliver what? We’ll likely be ranked between 20-30 preseason, which accurately reflects our talent. You’re way overestimating what we have if you think we should make the Elite Eight. While it could happen, a reasonable expectation for next year is lose in the 2nd or 3rd Round.
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ESPN has us ranked early preseason #21. Do you know who they ranked preseason #21 last year? Florida.
 
#132      
hoopsfan47
Combo said:
Deliver what? We’ll likely be ranked between 20-30 preseason, which accurately reflects our talent. You’re way overestimating what we have if you think we should make the Elite Eight. While it could happen, a reasonable expectation for next year is lose in the 2nd or 3rd Round.
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Interesting take that may be spot on. But I disagree. The ceiling for this team is around 8-10 but the floor is around 40. All depends on how Brad puts the puzzle together along with how motivated all those Balkans are to do whatever it takes to win. We have no idea what burns in their belly...and guys like Boz and Ty can help set it on fire....and BU and staff will sure try.

If he can turn Z, Tomi, and DM into bullies with attitude and more strength who knows what they can do? That, IMHO, is the real key to this team's season success. Not worried about KB, Ty, or Petro as those guys will likely have a chip on their shoulders. Ben can also be a big key.

But if the Balkans do not embrace a more violent and defensive game, it will be just another year like last year. Pretty sure the two new ones have never seen what playing against a defense bent on stopping you from scoring or even moving...ever!!!
 
#133      
FreshlySqueezed
Combo said:
Deliver what? We’ll likely be ranked between 20-30 preseason, which accurately reflects our talent. You’re way overestimating what we have if you think we should make the Elite Eight. While it could happen, a reasonable expectation for next year is lose in the 2nd or 3rd Round.
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Torvik currently has us at #14 and that doesn't include Petrovic or Mirkovic.
 
#134      
GoodePodzMelendez
BWA said:
Last year everyone was talking about how deep the team was too. Doesn’t mean it’s true.
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Huge difference between last year and this year. Our 9th and 10th guy this year will be Davis and Lee instead of Booth and DGL. But I get your point. Brad should have used that lone scholarship on another 5th year C. Having only 2 centers, both never playing college ball ended up being a problem as injuries and illness hurt that spot. We are more experienced this coming year with more guys already been in the system. I believe we will use that depth for much of the non conference
 
#135      
GoodePodzMelendez
PepeSilvia said:
I'm not saying I disagree but to play devils advocate a bit we also said the same thing last year about being the deepest Illini.

Then Carey Booth never really played, Ben wasn't great shooting and is not a good defender, White was MIA for weeks mid season, Morez broke his wrist, Tomi got mono, Boswell was bad for like 20+ games and shooting under 20% from 3 at one point, DGL would rarely get tick, and Kasparis got worse as the year went on and defenses focused on him. Oh and Ty redshirted at the last minute

Just saying that a lot of things can between now and October.

Personally I still think they are missing a piece mainly being a versatile perimeter defender with some size. One big splash away from being a national contender on paper.
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I am worried that we only have two centers not counting JJ. What id JJ can give us something this year? Just a few minutes a game if we need it? I am not saying give him double digit minutes but get him some tick in the non conference. We just ran out of money to get another big.
 
#138      
Appleknockersaluki
GoodePodzMelendez said:
I am worried that we only have two centers not counting JJ. What id JJ can give us something this year? Just a few minutes a game if we need it? I am not saying give him double digit minutes but get him some tick in the non conference. We just ran out of money to get another big.
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Which is why we shouldn't play the Ivisics together too much as we can't have both of them getting in foul trouble. At least one of them needs to be on the floor at all times. Mirkovic will be our third center, which is better than this year when it was Ben, who I suppose will be our fourth center ahead of JJ.
 
#140      
ptgrd23
GoodePodzMelendez said:
I am worried that we only have two centers not counting JJ. What id JJ can give us something this year? Just a few minutes a game if we need it? I am not saying give him double digit minutes but get him some tick in the non conference. We just ran out of money to get another big.
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We have 3 who can play center plus Jacksys Ben H for emergency.
Tomas - 7'1" 255
Big Z 7'2 245 lb
Mircovic 6'9" 250 lb. Held his own at Nike Hoop Summit vs McDAA's
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Jacksys 6'10 210 lb
Ben H 6'9 220 lb (filled in when Morez was out, tried hard, has height)

Last year we had 2 - Tomas and Morez
 
#141      
ptgrd23
LvilleILL1 said:
There are very high expectations next year. This is a top 10-15 team talent/depth wise.
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We are older. We have experienced McDAA in Andrej at SF. We have two starting quality 7' centers. We have veteran pg in KB. I think Ty will give us 80% of Morez without the fouls. I am expecting be in top 3 for B10, get a #3 or #4 NCAA seed and get to 2nd weekend with some luck make the elite 8 again. No excuses.

If we get Sarr or Riley in June I expect no less then FF
 
#142      
Combo
ptgrd23 said:
We have 3 who can play center plus Jacksys Ben H for emergency.
Tomas - 7'1" 255
Big Z 7'2 245 lb
Mircovic 6'9" 250 lb. Held his own at Nike Hoop Summit vs McDAA's
-----
Jacksys 6'10 210 lb
Ben H 6'9 220 lb (filled in when Morez was out, tried hard, has height)

Last year we had 2 - Tomas and Morez
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Yeah, depth at Center is the least of our concerns.
 
#143      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
petrovic is said to be one of the best players in that Adriatic league - pushing for MVP - why does he only average 14&7? As the best player in the league and MVP candidate, it's a league with multiple pros and - we saw what ivisic did - he only averaged 7.
 
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#146      
Fly Illini Fly!
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
petrovic is said to be one of the best players in that Adriatic league - pushing for MVP - why does he only average 14&7? As the best player in the league and MVP candidate, it's a league with multiple pros and - we saw what ivisic did - he only averaged 7.
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14&7 is no joke. He's 2nd in the league assists per game, 8th in PPG.

Luka Bargovac is 5th in the league in scoring. Mirkovic 5th in rebounds.

This site houses all stats of the league (scroll down to "league leaders" for individual stats):

aws.basketball-reference.com

AdmiralBet ABA League - 2024-25 Standings and Stats | Basketball-Reference.com

AdmiralBet ABA League - 2024-25 Standings and Stats
aws.basketball-reference.com aws.basketball-reference.com
 
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#147      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
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