Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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201154JC
- Rockford, IL
Chance #2. I posted we should try and land him when he left Xavier.
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I can see both sides to this. There's certainly value in keeping the core, but if all those guys demand market $ to stay, there may be even more value to be found elsewhere. Hopefully our success brings more NIL $ so we can have it all, but on a limited budget (relative to the top ~5), continually having the #1 group of ex-players might just be a byproduct of successfully finding value and/or coaching guys up.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The way college basketball is supposed to work is that players step up into larger roles as they progress from freshman to senior. And so those players costing more organically reflects that, in theory.
For better or for worse, BU's Illinois has not worked that way. We've had players play better after returning (TSJ), or play very different (Ben), but in terms of a player going from a small role to a big one over an offseason, that's been a rarity. Jake Davis sort of, CoHawk way back when, it hasn't been many.
Which is why I bring up Stojakovic. It's not just money, to come back he will want to be a much more focal part of the offense. And that's what I am now bought into that I wasn't a month ago. You could argue it's already happened, and it has made us better.
Having the #1 group of ex-players means those guys were worth the money they wanted to stay here.
We've undergone a transition in our philosophy and style of play and it has gone fantastically well, so no criticism is due to our coaching staff. We are in the dang Final Four (have you guys heard that?)
But what it does mean is that certain posters who shall remain nameless were right when they said those players were good and had bright college futures back when it was cool to disrespect them amid delusions of grandeur about NIL riches and Denzel gifs.
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Interesting way to look at it.
I think you just have to expect that players will leave. It's pretty rare these days for a program to retain a very high % of their production.
100%. People saying retention doesn't matter aren't paying close enough attention. Retention is why this year's team is so good. I'm 100% convinced that returning vets have helped new arrivals like Keaton and Mirk thrive.
Andrej Stojakovic with four shooters is a nightmare: you must either abandon assignment on the perimeter or force a defender into a precarious one-on-one matchup which is nearly an automatic bucket. If he could raise the 3% to just the low 30s where he was at Stanford/Cal and improve the awareness a bit when doubled, he would be a nuclear offensive weapon (and I do not think those improvements are anywhere near out of his reach).
Practically I think this is right. Probably from both a cost & minute availability
Ben, BAM, Wagler, Redd are all gone, with 4 coming in...so we are at a 15 man roster, pretty easy to imagine we lose a couple end of the bench pieces that isn't getting playing time; so until someone else leaves I think this is most likely to be 2 guards to replace Wagler/BAM. If not you are counting on Lee, Petro, Rogers, or a freshman at the 1/2.
Looking from the other direction, if we return the eligible current rotation players (Andre, Tomi, Z, Davis, David) and add the current 4 incoming freshman + midyear Balkan (I can't imagine leaving at this point)- puts you at 10 - So what happens to the 5 on the bench is going to determine how many openings, but without an opening of someone in the current rotation can we really attract & pay someone to come in with the expected minutes allotted to the current rotation (we really just have Ben's minutes to offer up assuming we bring in 2 guards for most of Wagler/BAM minutes & this could be less if someone of the other 10 roster spots steps into Ben's minutes ( Bilic, Rogers, a freshman or maybe Jakstys, although I think he seems likely stuck behind the Ivisic brothers)
Long story, but I just don't see us having much of a sell if we don't lose someone from the rotation to the portal & probably any NIL needs to come from someone who leaves for the portal as well. (NIL probably also takes a hit with Keaton's replacement likely much more expensive)
Get 4-shooters around Dre and spend all off season teaching him how to kick out when a double comes and that is elite offense. He is already an awesome finisher, he just sometimes dribbles himself into 3 guys and does not pass out. He has been much better at not doing that lately.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Peja's kid, part of the Balkan Five, transfer from multiple previous schools, it's easy to forget that ANOTHER thing Andrej is is Illinois' first McDonald's All American since Jereme Richmond. Super talented player, this story ought to end in the NBA next year.
I was off the Andrej bus a while ago because he seemed to be a guy that could excel in specific situations and struggled when the conditions weren't right to succeed. However, everything about his game has elevated in the tournament. I'm on board bringing this version of him back and if he can shoot 35% from 3, he will be dominant. I think being on a winning team, playing in games of consequence, make him want to be better.
We've lost literally a tournament team worth of talent, but here we are, still winning. Brad will find guys, which is why I don't even worry about what our roster looks like until August. Getting a new team to mesh every year is the real challenge. We've had some misses but way more hits. Brad has navigated the new recruiting and portal landscape extremely well.
He has got to work on tightening up his handles too in the offseason...
Blackwell from Wisky jumped into the portal. He would be a great get. If Dre enters the portal which I hope he doesn’t, Blackwell would be a great reload as the 3. With a solid PG, this team will be top 5 next year. Reload and win.
Busy day so far!
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B1G Roster Updates:
- Added Quentin Coleman to Illinois roster
- Added Jaidyn Coon to Iowa roster
- Added Seven Spurlock to Oregon roster
- Added Jamyn Sondrup to Purdue roster
- Added Joe Philon to UCLA roster
- Removed JJ Mandaquit from Washington roster
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B1G Roster Updates:
- Added Quentin Coleman to Illinois roster
- Added Jaidyn Coon to Iowa roster
- Added Seven Spurlock to Oregon roster
- Added Jamyn Sondrup to Purdue roster
- Added Joe Philon to UCLA roster
- Removed JJ Mandaquit from Washington roster
B1G Roster Tracker
Not a guarantee he goes pro … Not sure he’s a lock for the first round …
Swain for my money would be the best player in the portal of all the guys ive heard rumored.
He would be an absolute superstar in this system. Heck, hes a superstar as is probably.
He would be an absolute superstar in this system. Heck, hes a superstar as is probably.
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
love this get. that said, easy on projecting him as a 1&D. I'm sure that's his plan, but for every kid who is a 1&D, there are heaps who aren't
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vibes are at a all time high, might be the first time we can be excited about the transfer portal
Like I said, I can see both sides to this. I agree that a returning player who goes on to play according to expectations probably provides us more value than he would to any other school. And after such a successful year, there are extra reasons to retain this core (and hopefully extra NIL $ to do that).
But the top ~5 schools are generally happy to get exactly the value they're paying for (or even overpay a bit) across their whole roster. Their concerns are just around roster construction and not having too many major busts. Until our NIL $ changes, we generally have to get more value than we pay for in order to compete with the top ~5. I don't know exactly what our budget is, and I'm not saying we can't have any guys who are expensive and provide "just" the value we're paying for.
I think that's what I'm getting at. Many of our returning players were unheralded (not Andrej) but won't be this offseason. I would expect them to command much more. Hopefully we can keep them and build around them with an even bigger budget, but if not, there will be tough decisions ahead.
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I would love it if he's good enough his FR year to be one and done. But guys at his ranking (about #35) aren't usually one and dones. It's usually guys like Boozer or Dybantsa rated top 5 or so.
Of course Keaton wasn't even top 300 and he's a one and done. But he is a once a century type phenomenon.
RichardKeenesCousin
Richard Keene's Cousin
I thought Sky Clark was an All-American?
I'm with wc here. Somehow, you have to picture the returning core without a second team All American. How do you not only replace the production, but also the cool, calm, swagger that he brings? That doesn't even take into account the constant double teams and blitzes that come at it from the open tip off. Our entire starting backcourt will be gone. Who does that negatively/positively effect most? That's the analysis that has to be done.
There is a lot going on this off-season. Is Drej(Peja) put off at all about coming off the bench? Like most have said, 6 weeks ago, I think we thought a divorce was inevitable. Now.....? The guarantees(money aside) is going to be requested. He's going to want to be "the man". These are kids that want to go to the NBA. He'll want to be prioritized and I don't blame him one bit. He took one for the good of the team this year. I can't imagine that being the case next year.
We're not going to turn the backcourt over to freshmen. Keaton is a unicorn. We won't see anything like it again. A second team All American getting paid 3rd guy off the bench money.....like Mike Latulip said, it'll be the best bargain in portal history.
The fans have fallen in love with this team and rightfully so. Brad can't do that. It's extremely tough. Lots of conversations have to be had.
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