Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#276      
I don't think Tomi was cleared as eligible until Oct 31 last year, so I wouldn't rile everyone up just yet
Seriously man. Almost all of the international players that have committed to various colleges around the country, and there are a ton of them this year, haven’t been cleared in any way, shape or form. And it’ll likely take even longer this year for various reasons that I’m sure you’re aware of.
 
#277      
Rodgers: NOT a PG. Davis: NOT a PG. Lee: A true FRESHMAN Guard, not a Point Guard.
Thank you. It's laughable that the OP would mention Davis. He's not remotely close to a PG. Lee also isn't a PG. And while Rogers was called a PG the previous season, he really didn't play much there. A month into the season, the experiment ended with pretty lackluster evidence.

Crazy to think so, but the best option behind Boswell might be Andrej. And that wouldn't be good. Let's hope there are no hiccups with Petrovic.
 
#278      
Well Boswell would be the PG

Rodgers played a good amount of PG on an Elite 8 team, surely he could spell Boswell

I don’t know why we’re worried about this now anyhow (other than it’s just what we do here lol)
Yes, Boswell would be the starting PG. But Illinois preferred Boswell to be the starting Combo Guard or Shooting Guard this coming season. That's why the Illini recruited Mihailo Petrovic to be its high usage starting PG instead of Boswell. Rodgers was nominally called the PG on that Elite 8 team... but he was not really the PG for that squad. In fact, he rarely brought the ball up court and initiated the offense with even less frequency. Also, if Boswell moves to PG, what backup would become the starting SG? We don't have much quality depth at the SG position. I know... move Stojakovic to SG? But then, who's the starting SF on this team? Or the backup SG?

The only reason NOT to worry is that there's still plenty of time to get Petrovic eligible. But, in the interim, he's missing valuable time this summer with the team, working out with the other players, building team chemistry. And of course, maybe there's some slight chance that Petrovic might take MUCH longer to become eligible (SEE Big Z at Kentucky), or even be ruled as ineligible by the NCAA. Like the Boy Scouts, I'm just saying: Be Prepared!
 
#279      
And while Rogers was called a PG the previous season, he really didn't play much there. A month into the season, the experiment ended with pretty lackluster evidence.

A month into the season we were 7-1 with a win over #11 Florida Atlantic, with Domask giving us about 9 ppg on 30% fg shooting at that point. Ty redshirted specifically to work on being a PG. I am willing to bet he'd be absolutely fine to give us 6-8 mins per game behind Boswell.

The only reason NOT to worry is that there's still plenty of time to get Petrovic eligible. But, in the interim, he's missing valuable time this summer with the team, working out with the other players, building team chemistry. And of course, maybe there's some slight chance that Petrovic might take MUCH longer to become eligible (SEE Big Z at Kentucky), or even be ruled as ineligible by the NCAA. Like the Boy Scouts, I'm just saying: Be Prepared!

Yes, there is plenty of time. We have 4 1/2 months. People freaking out about this now is just classic Illinois Loyalty (which we all love, just admit it 😁 ).
 
#280      
Too late in the process for a backup plan with just about everyone committed.
Ali Dibba, 6'5", a 205-pound Guard from SIU Carbondale is still available via the transfer portal. Dibba played in 33 games (33 starts) this past season for the Salukis, averaging 34.0 minutes/game. Dibba averaged 17.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. He shot 49.0% on FGS, including 33.7% on 3-pointers, and 66.0% on FTs. This kid has some talent, and he's experienced. I'm not saying he would be a star for the Illini, but he would certainly provide quality depth this coming season. Dibba would be very important if Petrovic has eligibility problems, but even more so if Boswell and/or Petrovic have major injuries during the 24-25 season.
 
#281      
A month into the season we were 7-1 with a win over #11 Florida Atlantic, with Domask giving us about 9 ppg on 30% fg shooting at that point. Ty redshirted specifically to work on being a PG. I am willing to bet he'd be absolutely fine to give us 6-8 mins per game behind Boswell.



Yes, there is plenty of time. We have 4 1/2 months. People freaking out about this now is just classic Illinois Loyalty (which we all love, just admit it 😁 ).
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#282      
A month into the season we were 7-1 with a win over #11 Florida Atlantic, with Domask giving us about 9 ppg on 30% fg shooting at that point. Ty redshirted specifically to work on being a PG. I am willing to bet he'd be absolutely fine to give us 6-8 mins per game behind Boswell.



Yes, there is plenty of time. We have 4 1/2 months. People freaking out about this now is just classic Illinois Loyalty (which we all love, just admit it 😁 ).
I wouldn't expect Boswell, if he was moved to starting PG, could/should play 32-34 minutes per game, especially when he's assigned to also guard the opponent's best Guard (or SF) every game. So, 6-8 minutes per game at PG by Rodgers (even IF he can play the position) would not be enough for this team, in my opinion. And that doesn't even take into consideration what happens if Boswell is injured and misses a significant period of time.

I don't believe that I'm freaking out in any way. I personally have been pushing for the Illini to add another Guard to the roster, even while assuming that Petrovic would be fully eligible for the upcoming season. I just see the lack of quality depth at the Guard position to be a weakness for this Illini squad.
 
#283      
Ali Dibba, 6'5", a 205-pound Guard from SIU Carbondale is still available via the transfer portal. Dibba played in 33 games (33 starts) this past season for the Salukis, averaging 34.0 minutes/game. Dibba averaged 17.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. He shot 49.0% on FGS, including 33.7% on 3-pointers, and 66.0% on FTs. This kid has some talent, and he's experienced. I'm not saying he would be a star for the Illini, but he would certainly provide quality depth this coming season. Dibba would be very important if Petrovic has eligibility problems, but even more so if Boswell and/or Petrovic have major injuries during the 24-25 season.
I think we're done in the portal my friend.
 
#284      
A month into the season we were 7-1 with a win over #11 Florida Atlantic, with Domask giving us about 9 ppg on 30% fg shooting at that point. Ty redshirted specifically to work on being a PG. I am willing to bet he'd be absolutely fine to give us 6-8 mins per game behind Boswell.
You are correct the Domask started pretty slow as he found his role and the offense turned into him being the primary ballhandler/initiator(shot very poorly to open the season too).

However, acting like the 7-1 start with a win over FAU was with Domask playing poorly is a bit disingenuous. Domask was incredible against FAU putting up 33, 6, and 3 on 15-21 shooting. He was also good in the win against Rutgers putting up 15, 7, and 2.

The other 5 wins in that period were all mid majors(EIU, WIU, Valpo, Oakland, and Southern).

Can Ty handle the ball and bring it up the court? Sure. Can Ty function as the primary initiator on offense for a significant length of time? That remains to be seen. Not going to count Ty out but I'd trust Stojakovic far more at this point and I don't really think Boswell is a great point either. It might be a bit of a rehash of the Mayer team with no pg unless Boswell/Rodgers have made massive improvements or Stojakovic can make a Domask like transition and function as the point guard(or Lee is a stud from the get go and can play it but I wouldn't necessarily want to count on that).

Either way, Petrovic was an MVP candidate in a professional league and the roster is far worse without him. I thought the roster was already a missing piece away from being true contenders with him so they would definitely be missing a piece without him.
 
#285      
Either way, Petrovic was an MVP candidate in a professional league and the roster is far worse without him. I thought the roster was already a missing piece away from being true contenders with him so they would definitely be missing a piece without him.
I think we're a piece short in terms of being a true national contender. I don't think we're a piece short in terms of being one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the big ten. That is if everything goes according to plan with Petrovic.
 
#286      
Ali Dibba, 6'5", a 205-pound Guard from SIU Carbondale is still available via the transfer portal. Dibba played in 33 games (33 starts) this past season for the Salukis, averaging 34.0 minutes/game. Dibba averaged 17.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. He shot 49.0% on FGS, including 33.7% on 3-pointers, and 66.0% on FTs. This kid has some talent, and he's experienced. I'm not saying he would be a star for the Illini, but he would certainly provide quality depth this coming season. Dibba would be very important if Petrovic has eligibility problems, but even more so if Boswell and/or Petrovic have major injuries during the 24-25 season.
The word on the Saluki fan forum is that Dibba is out of eligibility. He is still listed on portal lists, though, near the top in fact.
 
#288      
You are correct the Domask started pretty slow as he found his role and the offense turned into him being the primary ballhandler/initiator(shot very poorly to open the season too).

However, acting like the 7-1 start with a win over FAU was with Domask playing poorly is a bit disingenuous. Domask was incredible against FAU putting up 33, 6, and 3 on 15-21 shooting. He was also good in the win against Rutgers putting up 15, 7, and 2.

The other 5 wins in that period were all mid majors(EIU, WIU, Valpo, Oakland, and Southern).

Can Ty handle the ball and bring it up the court? Sure. Can Ty function as the primary initiator on offense for a significant length of time? That remains to be seen. Not going to count Ty out but I'd trust Stojakovic far more at this point and I don't really think Boswell is a great point either. It might be a bit of a rehash of the Mayer team with no pg unless Boswell/Rodgers have made massive improvements or Stojakovic can make a Domask like transition and function as the point guard(or Lee is a stud from the get go and can play it but I wouldn't necessarily want to count on that).

Either way, Petrovic was an MVP candidate in a professional league and the roster is far worse without him. I thought the roster was already a missing piece away from being true contenders with him so they would definitely be missing a piece without him.

Ty also played in the other 30 games (he started all 38 of them), as while he mostly moved out of Domask's way as far as initiating offense sometime in mid-December, he was still a ballhandler for us. If he can spell Domask at PG for a few minutes per game for an Elite 8 team 2 seasons ago, and he's done nothing but work on being a PG like he claimed, I really see no reason he couldn't spell Boswell this season as needed.

But, mainly I should point out that nobody has argued the roster is better without Petrovic, so we are in firm agreement there. I'm mainly just having a chuckle about our ability to freak out about it 5 months before the season starts, while most every other team has unsigned recruits too.
 
#290      
Ty also played in the other 30 games (he started all 38 of them), as while he mostly moved out of Domask's way as far as initiating offense sometime in mid-December, he was still a ballhandler for us. If he can spell Domask at PG for a few minutes per game for an Elite 8 team 2 seasons ago, and he's done nothing but work on being a PG like he claimed, I really see no reason he couldn't spell Boswell this season as needed.

But, mainly I should point out that nobody has argued the roster is better without Petrovic, so we are in firm agreement there. I'm mainly just having a chuckle about our ability to freak out about it 5 months before the season starts, while most every other team has unsigned recruits too.
This.

I think I started this argument by stating the guys on the roster who are the “backup plan” in the unlikely eventy petrovic is not around. I was saying we probably aren’t getting anyone else. I wasn’t saying we would be better off that way.
 
#291      
Well because he doesn’t deserve it. If you watched all games it was obvious this TO “stat” is pointless. When he did have the ball, if he was wide open, he immediately threw up a 3 that wildly missed on most occasions. If he was guarded, he would pass out with minimal dribbling.
The turnover stat reminded me of when US national soccer team fans would marvel at Michael Bradley’s completed passes percentage. Bradley’s percentage was always high because he always made short, backward passes. He hardly ever made a dangerous, forward pass.

The turnover stat is the same type of thing. When your game is supposed to be a catch and shoot corner 3 person, unless the ball constantly goes through your hands you won’t have many turnovers.
 
#293      
If we are at it with PGs... what about Jalen Cox from Colgate? 2 years of eligibility, solid depth guard, pretty imaginable Crocker could have an in with the recruitment.
I looked at the portal last night and there are still several PG’s that are available. I think we need an another PG regardless of what Petrovic does. Insurance against injury as we have seen over the past several years, we have bad luck with losing players for one reason or another.
 
#300      
Ali Dibba, 6'5", a 205-pound Guard from SIU Carbondale is still available via the transfer portal. Dibba played in 33 games (33 starts) this past season for the Salukis, averaging 34.0 minutes/game. Dibba averaged 17.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. He shot 49.0% on FGS, including 33.7% on 3-pointers, and 66.0% on FTs. This kid has some talent, and he's experienced. I'm not saying he would be a star for the Illini, but he would certainly provide quality depth this coming season. Dibba would be very important if Petrovic has eligibility problems, but even more so if Boswell and/or Petrovic have major injuries during the 24-25 season.
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