Vaaks looks like a floor general to me. Similarities to KJ and Keaton (not saying he'll be as good).
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
- Status
I agree that Ty is a bit of a question mark after two years without game action...but
I'd be pretty surprised if Jake doesn't have a significant role. He does pretty much everything right, and provides the spacing needed for our offense to function properly. He is only going to get stronger and smarter, and we know the dude is a legit sniper and competes his tail off for rebounds.
I know we all have high hopes for these talented freshmen, but PT is earned through sweat, practice, and gaining the trust of the coaching staff.
Guess which guys have a HUGE head start...
At this point, are they filming a run it back video together?
I agree, or at least the potential. Which is a bit of what I want to see honestly, so long as it doesn’t come at the cost of his catch and shoot jumper from anywhere on the court. Seeing some of his assist highlights, I think his vision, height, athleticism and a summer of practice and bonding could give him a really big leap!
Could also work well with Blackwell’s (
) play style
If you look at David's in-conference stats, and compare them to Yaxel (B1G POY). They are very close.That's a very fair point, and I don't at all mean to denigrate Blackwell, who will be totally worthy of preseason all-conference consideration wherever he may end up.
But I do think Mirkovic is a better player, with a stronger projection bounce next year as a younger guy going frosh to soph, and beyond analytics he has a star quality that preseason accolades will gravitate to.
It was triggering to read that post just completely ignoring our Literal Final Four Team in order to make googly eyes at Current Denzel Guy. I think that's a weakness of the analysis around here, always have.
It was also a vintage trigger to have "Weber was an amazing basketball coach who was too honest and upstanding of a person and just DESERVED to have the players and success that others got" discourse back on the board, for some unimaginable reason.
The common thread there is my hackles getting raised when people insufficiently honor the importance of actual, real life, on the scoreboard WINNING. That's what I'm here for.
Blackwell is probably approaching his ceiling. His defense can probably improve a bit, and I bet it will.
Mirk's contributions won't be in the shadows of Keaton anymore. (rightfully so) I'm betting we see a leaner, meaner version of him after this summer. I'm planting my flag in MIrk as not just 1st team All-B1G, but All-American. The dude can do everything on a basketball court. (below the rim, anyway...)
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- Batavia
Given Blackwell is currently on a visit to UCLA, I don't think he would announce a commitment to another school today - tomorrow is likely the earliest we would hear anything and it's likely it would be after that. I think we can give the F5 key a break for at least today
Does Jokic have a summer camp he can attend?
Baby Jokić in the making! The potential (at the college level) is off the charts.
I can't wait to see a run it back video, I just can't wait.
Mirk
Andrej
Tomi
BIG Z
our freshmen are going to be really really good too. Morillo and Coleman, studs.
Add in Blackwell and an already committed Vaaks and this is a preseason #1 team.
Mirk
Andrej
Tomi
BIG Z
our freshmen are going to be really really good too. Morillo and Coleman, studs.
Add in Blackwell and an already committed Vaaks and this is a preseason #1 team.
I don't know when, but I would expect some fantastic news on several guys in the next day or two.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Well, I was one who triggered you yesterday (perhaps among others). I don't believe BW was amazing. He was deeply flawed; I simply noted that reliable insiders here over the years have claimed that he refused to do certain things that previous staff had done, and that fettered him regarding talent acquisition. Self was a much better coach. Lon was a much better coach. And Brad is a much better coach, no question. If BW had gotten the talent he desired perhaps he might have coached it suboptimally if not badly.
I found BW generally honorable, until he threw his players under the bus at the end (IIRC it was the Purdue game in February 2012 when he did this, which was the final straw as far as I was concerned.) He's an awkward guy, and as many have noted over the years, he also pursued certain players (e.g., Richmond) that didn't fit his system or coaching vibe. Accordingly, he didn't do his job well in that respect. And his teams gradually became painful to watch. 38-33, say no more.
No one "deserves" recruits or success. I was certainly not claiming anything of the sort. It's a brutally competitive business that sorts the wheat from the chaff effectively and swiftly. He did a solid job at K-State for a long while and he's a keen student of the game. Glad to have him in the studio and no longer on our bench.
My comment yesterday was simply that I have compassion for the guy, and that with an NIL bag to disburse our program might well have looked much better under his leadership. Am also willing to admit that more street-savvy coaches using similar NIL resources might have curb-stomped him.
I'll just put it out there one more time, group photo, orange jumpsuits.
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
Lol....sorry for the unnecessary butt stuff.
In all fairness, Blackwell was a winning player at Wisconsin, with the two losses our FF team took to Wisconsin testifying to that fact. He’s not a stats only guy. It was basically two high-level players pulling that team to a top 5 finish in the best conference. He played well in big games (even their loss in the tourney) and it wouldn’t be unexpected to see him bring those same traits and excel on a better, deeper Illinois squad. As good as Mirk is and can be, I still think most non-Illinois fans would see Blackwell as the better player (certainly currently) and someone that will benefit from having the ball in his hands and lots of open looks on this team.That's a very fair point, and I don't at all mean to denigrate Blackwell, who will be totally worthy of preseason all-conference consideration wherever he may end up.
But I do think Mirkovic is a better player, with a stronger projection bounce next year as a younger guy going frosh to soph, and beyond analytics he has a star quality that preseason accolades will gravitate to.
It was triggering to read that post just completely ignoring our Literal Final Four Team in order to make googly eyes at Current Denzel Guy. I think that's a weakness of the analysis around here, always have.
It was also a vintage trigger to have "Weber was an amazing basketball coach who was too honest and upstanding of a person and just DESERVED to have the players and success that others got" discourse back on the board, for some unimaginable reason.
The common thread there is my hackles getting raised when people insufficiently honor the importance of actual, real life, on the scoreboard WINNING. That's what I'm here for.
You like Styx? Brad to Blackwell yesterday: “Come sail away. Come sail away. Come sail away with me.”Crystal ball
There's so many things I need to know
Crystal ball
There's so many things I've gotta know
Crystal ball
Won't you tell me, please, before I go?
Crystal ball
Stolen from Styx
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The thing that really drops the curtain for me though is that once Jerrance Howard restarted the talent pipeline, which he was able to do under Weber's leadership, it's not like Bruce's honor and scruples stopped Snacks, the results stayed bad because Bruce's inability to build strong relationships with those players went beyond their commitment date.
He got fired going 6-12 in the Big Ten with top 100 recruits up and down the lineup and three guys who would play in the NBA including a lottery pick that year.
Then it took a mere 12 games after he was gone for those leftovers to reenter the top 10 for the first time since Self's players were here, under John Groce, a coach not even really cut out for this level.
The 2005 season, and really the whole 66-4 run from Jan 31, 2004 to Jan 5, 2006, was a magical alchemy of a coaching philosophy and an inherited team that were dissimilar to each other and a bit initially mismatched just sparking something greater in one another, much more than the sum of its parts.
Bruce Weber isn't a bad basketball coach (neither is John Groce), but you look over the full sweep of his basketball life, and the full 799 games he coached in Division 1, and his mix of strengths and weaknesses are clear, and it's just the sad reality that those weaknesses could only have ever meant failure at the Illinois job which he was a uniquely poor fit for and were a precision-guided missile aimed at the catastrophic total destruction of the near-perfect circumstances the above-mentioned magical alchemy created.
He had an important part to play in creating the magic of 2005, but destroying that magic was a one man show, he really just totally, utterly blew it.
And while us old timers (I guess I can call myself that now) lived out the chaos of that drama in the moment, in retrospect it's crystal clear what the ending was always going to be, he never could have succeeded here.
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