Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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That new thread smell. Get a sniff
And for the "someone will get less minutes and leave" argument (since it's almost a certainty to be brought up) - I trust Brad enough to say he'll be able to work through it without any departures, BUT... in the case of someone possibly opting out, it is in every likelihood to be someone not in the starting rotation. Just how it's kinda always been - if you're starting, you're pretty much set. That player may be a good player, but it's a silly argument that it's keeping you from doing what you can to bring back a All BIG/possibly AA type of guy.
It's exactly what we saw with the Samon kid and Caleb Love last year. Would Zona have seriously been better off turning Love down?
Realistically if Will comes back, that means we probably have much more time with a small lineup. Mirkovic, Z, and Rodgers would probably take the PT hit.
Rodgers can’t redshirt. Z is still the backup 5. Mirkovic would be the only guy at risk of making a decision to go elsewhere or redshirt. He’s 19. I’d rather have Will.
Tre White, epps, miller are examples of players who left who were starting.
But to your point I'm not concerned about that. Good players are going to get 20+ minutes a game. Good coaches can get Good players to buy in to that.
LouHenson
- Naples Florida
It seems like to me that most feel this team as constructed has the potential to be very good, but don’t see it as “national champion” material as it stands now? I would say we are one “superstar, AA, stud, PTP’er whatever you want to call it from having a 1989, 2001, 2005 type of roster going into the season.
If Will Riley can get you there and you have a chance you sell it to both the players and the people that would have to pay for it. I have been a fan for over 60 years now, and we don’t have a lot of number 1 seed type teams, love for this year to be one of them.
If Will Riley can get you there and you have a chance you sell it to both the players and the people that would have to pay for it. I have been a fan for over 60 years now, and we don’t have a lot of number 1 seed type teams, love for this year to be one of them.
Was referring to potential possibilities on this current team if Will comes back. Obviously PT isn't the only reason players have transferred in the past.
Copycat buisness... that's now two from the Balkans headed to RU (I believe).
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Nothing is for certain in recruiting, but based upon their statements since they've left, it's all but certain that none of those players left because of a player Brad recruited.
I agree. I don't see the firepower to be a FF team. But as has been pointed out, Florida started last season at #21 in the polls. You never know how guys will develop and how they'll play together. Maybe Kylan will continue playing how he finished this past year. Maybe Ty comes back with a respectable jumper. And on and on.
Very fair. It should be another tourney team. Just a lack of athleticism, physicality that'll prevent them from competing with the elites IMO.
I actually think Andrej has a lot of Will Riley to him and will be fun to watch. He absolutely does fill a HUGE need as a guy that can get to the hoop. Fan of the Petrovic move (avoids needing to waste spot on backup point and allows Bos to play the combo guard spot where he's best suited and you can stagger their minutes)
There's just far too many duplicative players with same weaknesses on this roster for my liking. Its why I think Ty Rodgers absolutely has to start at the 4 and hopefully kill it
so the team can be at least competitive with the elite (Assuming no additional big additions)
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It's not a matter of having the fire power. We'll score enough to win a ton of games. We have a lot of skill. If there is one issue with the offense, it's probably that we don't have a group capable of getting "greasy" buckets. Dump it in the paint, get on the offensive glass, play volleyball against the backboard until we get a lay in or funk. We got a lot of offensive rebounds last year because we shot a ton of threes and we chased down long rebounds. That was just bad offense, but helped the efficiency numbers.
Where this team is going to struggle and where the losses will mount up will be on the defensive end. Where the perimeter skill and finesse is offensively tough to stop, the flip side is that we're going to be an awful team defensively. We're not going to have a ton of lateral quickness on the perimeter, we're going to struggle keeping guards out of the lane, which ultimately puts our bigs in a tough spot. Then, while we're tall, we're not physical or overly athletic. It's going to be a very similar situation to the struggles we had versus bouncy, physical, athletic front courts. Some feel like it's Hamer(people on this board) and some feel like it's the personnel(Werner, Piper, etc). I, personally, can poke a lot more holes in the personnel versus the scheme. This team would probably benefit from playing more of a matchup zone, but that's not something that you just implement in a practice here and there. That's a full off-season dedication of perfecting it if that's going to be what you roll with. Now, you can throw a token zone in here and there as a quick change, but ultimately, you go back to your base defense, which is where the full dedication and buy in is all summer and fall long.
Like last year, we're going to win a lot of games in fashions that are just a picture of beauty. Threes will be going down, the flow of the offense will be stellar and we'll win 101-75.
Then there will be games that the offensive flow is there, but we just can make stops on defense and lose or win 92-88.
Then, there will be games where we're 4-24(after we start 3 for 3) from three and we get mauled in the pain and lose by 15.
Defense travels and is always a constant. Offense does not and is not. The NCAA Tournament last year was the perfect example of who and what this team will be. We were breathtaking versus Xavier, who was athletically in our realm, then there was Kentucky and an average Kentucky at that. They just had superior athletes and had a lot more ways to win.
IMO.....forget the firepower of this team and focus on the defense. That will determine the ceiling of this team.. JMO
Very balanced, realistic take. I agree; our ceiling will be determined by the defense. Hopefully, by some unseen development as we sit here in May, it is good enough to keep us in the top 15 all year long. I worry better teams will be able to out quick us to the rim and on the perimeter; hopefully I am wrong.
Great post, and very well stated. This is where analytics can fall short - the blowout wins make our average performance look great, but at least the analytics I've seen don't take into account the variability of performance
If the development involves getting rid of Hamer for a defensive ace AC, then I could see coaching this team to top 15 defensive status. But bad coach and subpar athletes? Tough hill to climb.
Very fair, realistic assessment. In my humble opinion, a change in the defensive principles, coaching, etc… changes the calculus on this team quite a bit.
Right. I guess by firepower I meant athletic talent. We are quite unathletic, which will make defending a challenge. The only plus athletes I see are Ty and Z (I don't know about the 2 incoming FR).
Andrej is more athletic than people realize, but your point still stands. It will be an issue. Hopefully Ty’s offensive game has improved enough to where Brad has no reservations about having him on the floor in certain situations. They are going to need him.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
We used it all up in a little more than a month.
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