Makes sense. Wants to get max value for his final year of college ball without surrendering a very valuable degree from Princeton. And since Princeton doesn't offer athletic scholarships anyway that part is not an issue.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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I’m sure when they know you will be the first one to find out
Perimeter defense is a major question mark without Ty.
I get it man, I really do. Being an Illini fan has been really tough at times.
But we are fine. Take a deep breath. In through your nose, out through your mouth. As my 8-year-old likes to say "smell the flowers, blow out the candles." Everything is going to be ok.
Was Ty a good perimeter defender?
I think enrollment should be lower on our totem pole of things to freak out about. Brad and Co will without a doubt put their foot down until we've officially rostered all of our players
Definition of being an ILLINI!!! ILL
I thought he was at least solid 2 years ago and he has all the traits to be a very good one(size, strength, quickness). Even if he's only solid he's a versatile peace of a defense and one of the few guys on the roster capable of guarding multiple positions and switching.
More importantly looking at the current roster construction. Ty and Stojakovic are the only two guys with size and any ability to guard wings on the perimeter. Stojakovic should be the focal point offensively and primary scorer so I don't know if you necessarily want him chasing the opposing teams best perimeter wing all game.
Boswell is only 6'2, Petrovic is listed at 6'3 but doesn't look that big and defense is a question mark though he does look fairly quick, neither Davis or Humrichous have the foot speed necessary.
I don't think it would be a stretch to say Ty is the best and most versatile defender on the roster. He is a huge loss and there doesn't really seem to be a guy with the traits to replace him. I don't want to be overly negative but without Ty this years team looks more like an Iowa team than an actual contender imo.
I just plain don't see how this team's ceiling without Rodgers is any higher than last year's, which I set to Sweet 16. At this point if anything I'd say it's lower.
If you're in the camp of people hoping for an OK team I guess that makes sense. If you're looking for excellence, not so much.
For me being "Ok" is not consolation.
if there's a chance to nab a very solid rotational-level piece, don't really get not trying to go after them. depth, size, athleticism is a lot more vulnerable right now (than prior).
i think a lot depended on Rodgers to provide certain aspects we don't really have without him.
i think a lot depended on Rodgers to provide certain aspects we don't really have without him.
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Can’t be any worse at the #1 or #4. #2 spot will be the same. Seeing improvement in the #3 and #5 spots.
I think Ty has the ability to be a solid defender but he is not close to the defender Kylan is.
I like Ty but I just don't see the type of player that can't be replaced. I would've preferred White and had we not lost him Ty would've been gone. Our fan base loves Ty the person as do I. I am glad he is on the team and I hope he surprises me with an expanded game one day. I am not so sure he was going to be ahead of Ben or David this year.
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Are you OK? Because that's very clearly not what I'm saying.
The one Brad Underwood Illini team that can be described as just "OK" which I'm interpreting as synonymous with "meh" or "average" was still a tournament team. Don't get me wrong the 2022-23 season was very disappointing, but if we're talking about that as our floor, then that's not a bad place to be. And does anybody really think that this team as currently constructed, even without Ty playing a single minute this season, will be that bad? I personally do not. This team has plenty of talent. This team has a lot of returning players.
So don't worry, it's going to be OK.*
* By which I do not mean "it's going to be average" but instead mean things will be ok, this team appears to be in a good spot, and to freak out about roster construction at this point is counter-productive to your emotional and mental well-being.
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
Last years team was sloppy KJ 4 TO's per game. Too many TO's on perimeter that turned into dunks for other team.
VS KY in 2nd round we had 14 turnovers that resulted in 26 points for opposition. KJ had 6, KB had 3, WR had 3. That was the game.
Our defense also did not generate steals (4.4 per game). Florida 8 per game. Duke 7 per game.
Ty would have compensated for losing Morez on rebounding and helped our defense. Now somebody else will have to be our banger.
If we have improved defense (see new DC), better 3 point shooting (KB returns to normal, BH improves, and less turnovers I can see us having very high ceiling. I am intrigued by possible twin towers lineup and new PG.
VS KY in 2nd round we had 14 turnovers that resulted in 26 points for opposition. KJ had 6, KB had 3, WR had 3. That was the game.
Our defense also did not generate steals (4.4 per game). Florida 8 per game. Duke 7 per game.
Ty would have compensated for losing Morez on rebounding and helped our defense. Now somebody else will have to be our banger.
If we have improved defense (see new DC), better 3 point shooting (KB returns to normal, BH improves, and less turnovers I can see us having very high ceiling. I am intrigued by possible twin towers lineup and new PG.
The metrics don't agree with your statement of Ty not being close to the defender that Kylan is(I don't think the eye test does either). Bart torvik gave Ty a better defensive for his sophomore year(13.9 vs 11.4) than Kylan this year and Kylan was significantly better this year than at Arizona.
Evanmiya favors Kylan a bit(1.09 dbpr vs .91). Now there is a lot of noise to those metrics but they suggest that Ty is a similarly capable defender to Kylan but also brings more size and versatility with his ability to guard multiple positions.
Now I'm not saying this is a negative against Kylan but this forum is vastly overrating his defensive ability. He's an above average defender that seems to take pride in his defense but I also watched him get absolutely cooked by Claude. Kylan isn't some all defensive team lockdown defender like say Jamal Shead was or even Trent Frazier.
I had another comment above but in a vacuum I don't think Ty is irreplaceable but looking at the current roster composition there is really nobody that can replace the things he can do defensively and the only other player that has both size and the foot speed to guard on the perimeter is Stojakovic.
Interesting choice of metric. This is the one that has AJ Redd and Carey Booth as better defenders than either Ty or Kylan right? Not sure I'd go with that one. On his defensive value metric, D-PRPG, Ty scored a 2.4 the last season he played and KB scored a 3.8 last season (and 3.4 his last season at Zona). On DBPM Ty had a 1.5 and Kylan a 2.6 (same at Zona).
Defensive metrics are not great anyway, but picking the one that gives you the result you want skews things even more.
+1 The BigTen all defensive team for example doesn't line up well with defensive ratings. There's some correlation, but it's not a good predictor at all.
For me, I don't really trust my eye enough to know how good a guy is on defense given how guys are expected to switch, communicate, disrupt/anticipate, stay within roles, etc. I can see a good on-ball defender easy enough, but a lot of defense is team defense that takes a while to get a feel for how well a guy is doing his job.
Instead of bickering about it we can safely say Kylan and Ty woulda been our best 2 defenders. Ky is very solid on ball D and Ty did everything well. The problem now is we’ve only got 1 solid defender as I’m hearing as well that Ty probably won’t play. Ugh.
I just picked the defensive metric I saw on Bart. I don't even see D-prpg on the player page but even with what you posted I wouldn't say Kylan is blowing Ty out of the water. I even mentioned the noise to those metrics in my comment.
Still my point was entirely about defensive versatility and being able to guard bigger wings on the perimeter. Who guards AJ Dybansta if we end up playing BYU? Or Boozer for Duke?
College is full of big guards and wings that handle the ball now and it's not going to be pretty if you're relying on Kylan to guard guys 5-6 inches taller than him(you're not setting Kylan up for success in that situation).
We are basically the recent Fran led Iowa teams but we won't run as pretty of an offense and will be better on the boards.
Maybe Mirkovic and Petrovic are way better defensively than I think but the Illini look like a team that can score a ton but will bullied by physical players on the interior and ran out of the gym by teams with size and athleticism on the perimeter(see 40 pt Duke loss).
Maybe a sweet 16 ceiling if you get the right matchups but I think that's a 6-8 seed that bows out in the first weekend.
Can't be worse than Kasparis at the #1? I know he's struggled in the summer league so far but he absolutely carried the team for a good chunk of the season.
There is some weird revisionist history going around that KJ wasn't good. The kid was third team all big-10 and on the all freshman team.
I like Stojakovic a lot but Riley was also playing very well down the stretch. You definitely get older at the 2 and 5 with Boswell and Tomi getting another year and then Zvonimir gives you an actual bench big. I assume another year older Ben and Mirkovic is better at the 4 but everyone else is getting better too.
Purdue is loaded. Michigan looks great on the interior and May impressed me at the end of the year. Oregon is bringing Shelstad and Bittle back. USC looks like a chaotic team and have a very talented backcourt. Buzz Williams is constantly playing ugly and competitive games and it now at Maryland. Iowa got the best player in the portal in Stirtz and we will see how McCollum does. Washington is flying under the radar but had a great portal and then you have Wisconsin, UCLA, and MSU who are always varying degrees at least competitively mediocre to very good.
more like $500,000 dreams
Well, BU put Kylan on Flagg and was guarding the best player every game at the 1 through 4. Kylan is much better and versatile than Trent was because he is stronger. That's insane bias. Ty never ever has been asked to do that, ever someone else always was. Ty was a rebounding role player at best. Teams took advantage of not guarding when we were on offense. Unless he improves drastically he is someone I hope comes off the bench one day. That's not hate that's just the truth. If you tell me you wouldn't prefer White in that role your dillusional. There was a reason White left for big bucks. Ty wasn't offered that. It sucks he got hurt and I wish him the best in recovery. Sliva you kill me bro. ILL!
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Boswell is one of, if not the best on-ball defenders in the nation. And that may even be underselling it. Either you're not paying attention or clueless if set on asserting otherwise.
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