I would imagine their NIL is close to nil; (on the basketball side mostly) which sucks greasy, grimy, golden gofer guts for NM.
Maybe one of the insiders can weigh in…?
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Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Maybe one of the insiders can weigh in…?
We are good with who we have coming back at this moment. I now trust staff to plug holes and get the right character fits on roster. So much good talent in portal.
Priority #1 is Andrej …
iLL 89ers
- Dallas,TX.......Born and raised in Alton,Illinois
Facts there captain!
I dont care. If he wants to come in and shoot 15 times a game, not this team. Would ruin it. Super talented and massive improvement since he hit college. I'm not blowing up lockeroom for 1 player.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
If you have to spend all the money on #TheRetention, spend all the money on #TheRetention.
And Vaaks will not have come cheap. He's arguably a more valuable asset than Blackwell given the extra years of eligibility.
I like the idea of giving Lee the surplus guard job. It's that fourth big that's a bit of a head-scratcher. Humrichous was really critical for us in terms of making lineups work.
Narrator: “the staff is in fact not”
Sure. But that's like saying I would've preferred two dozen other players over Wagler at the beginning of this year.
No one knew Clark would be a flop, who knows if Podz would've been the same player without a 26% usage rate he had at Santa Clara or if he would've been able to maximize his potential under Brad.
It's not like the dude ended up at Duke or even Wisconsin/Marquette, the majority of high major basketball passed on the guy...so the gotcha-ism that pops up with folks saying ButwhataboutPodz when we won a b10 title the year he was here and then went to an e8 and a f4 since is confounding
To be fair the difference between 6' and 5'11" is 6'.
Does Andrej influence what happens with Blackwell? Or Blackwell influencing what happens with Andrej?
Or neither and they are totally independent of each other?
I don't think he entered the portal and Rick may be offering him a bigger role but Ruben Prey would be about the perfect type of big to backup Mirk imo.
Big, physical, and moves surprisingly well. The jump shot looks solid too. He didn't a fantastic job guarding Boozer in the sweet 16.
Now I don't know if Prey will enter but ideally you go get someone like him or you go the other way and get a small ball wing/forward type of 4 that is athletic enough to guard 1-4 and provides a change of pace from the more traditional big in Mirk.
You're probably bargain hunting for this piece since it's a smaller role and youre hopefully paying Blackwell and Stojakovic but I think you want the depth of a 4th big(foul trouble or guys getting banged up) that's not Jakstys(unless he's become that Ruben Prey type) for a team that should have national championship aspirations.
Big, physical, and moves surprisingly well. The jump shot looks solid too. He didn't a fantastic job guarding Boozer in the sweet 16.
Now I don't know if Prey will enter but ideally you go get someone like him or you go the other way and get a small ball wing/forward type of 4 that is athletic enough to guard 1-4 and provides a change of pace from the more traditional big in Mirk.
You're probably bargain hunting for this piece since it's a smaller role and youre hopefully paying Blackwell and Stojakovic but I think you want the depth of a 4th big(foul trouble or guys getting banged up) that's not Jakstys(unless he's become that Ruben Prey type) for a team that should have national championship aspirations.
We need Z on the court more. The best way to do that -- with Tomi on the roster -- is to give him the minutes to back up Mirk. I have no issues with it.
Thrilled to hear this. Do WHATEVER you have to do outside of robbing a bank to get this done. Period.
As I said above, Blackwell is really good, BUT there are a bunch of high quality guards who would be really good here.
I have made it very clear that Paul McNeil would be a great fit here. There are many others.
They just rolling with the 3 of them for 4/5 spots? Minutes wise it would be fine, just foul trouble I worry about. I imagine its a tough sell to get anyone decent. "Hey do you wanna come back up the focal point of the offense?"
I’m surprised we have no interest in a true backup for Mirk.
I can appreciate/want more Z/Tomi lineups but Ben played 22 a game. And I know the staff loves Davis and we’ve got Jakstys, but man that feels like a decent chunk of pressure on either some small ball lineups or very unproven and seemingly under-talented guys.
InDaAZ
- Eugene, Oregon
Mirk backups:
Along with the small(er)ball option, I expect to see more Twin Tower minutes than we saw this year. Especially if Cam puts them in the defenders lab.
Ben wasn't a role player and neither was Andre or Z, even though they came off the bench. Brad is the ultimate chess players when it comes prepping for the opposition. The 8 man rotation was designed to force multiple match ups and switches.
Vaak will likely jump to NBA next year. As for the Ben replacement, personally I'd like to leave the minutes to Morillo and Coleman if we get Blackwell and Andrej comes back. If my math correct, we already have 9 very talented players if it turns out this way.
I will always believe the Podz story turns out differently if he had been promised playing time at Illinois...
That perceived rejection may well have been the fuel he needed to push himself to become what he is today. Every hero has an origin story, right?
Saying he couldn't have possibly gotten that much better in an off-season doesn't make much sense. It's literally ignoring decades of evidence to the contrary.
Always reminds me of the old Al Maguire quote: "The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores."
There is also something very freeing to being the #1 option on a team, and not having to look at the bench every time you mess up... Some guys need to be pushed hard, and some guys need to be insulated. If you are the 2nd type, Illinois may not be the place for you.
Promising playing time isn't something Brad is going to do, nor should he.
Some people are simply a bad match for each other, even if they are both great individually.
Certainly at least as important as anyone else. They will all have a path to impact the success of the team. AS will play a major role, but in my book, every one of them is a star and sorely needed. I expect every one of them to step up, frosh too. It does not take an IQ of 170 to understand that this coming season is a very special one.
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