Coleman is legit!
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
- Status
Mirk 31 minutes
Tomi 27 minutes
Z 22 minutes
Why would that not work? Plus, Morillo can play a couple minutes at the 4. Plus, you can play 4 guards/wings a few minutes.
No quality 4 is going to come here for 5 minutes a game. And it wouldn’t be money well spent.
The kid wants to play, has nothing to do with fan support. Don't blame him one bit.
He was a great teammate and representative of our program. Nothing but the best wishes for him.
Agree. I’m not a fan of praising scUM in any way, but one of the things I thought Dusty May did well was managing minutes on an incredibly deep team.
Hoping Bradislav might do something similar with all the depth we’ll have. Keeps our guys:
1. more fresh
2. less injury prone…. and dare I say it…
3. more likely to hit end-of-game FT’s
Last edited:
To rank those three on a pie chart importance scale:
Andrej: 50%
Blackwell: 49.9%
ZZ: 0.1%
So, I only choose to lose sleep over the first two.
Morillo will play 4 according to one of the insiders
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
It's the age-old conundrum of college basketball that you don't want to play a rotation as deep as the number of sure thing rotation-quality players you need in order to be sure you have enough. You're wrong either way.
Morillo and Coleman are true freshmen, and Lee is inexperienced.
Feels like we need one more, which has like a 65% chance of pushing one of Lee or Morillo out of the rotation, while simultaneously knowing that there's a 65% chance we will be calling upon that guy at some point in the season to play a significant role.
If we don't get one more, there's a coin flip chance we wind up relying on Jakstys or another freshman to play more than they're capable of.
The athletic PF has become the basketball thread version of the football thread DT.
100%, i think the plan is to play Mirk 35 minutes, just outscore them, and pray no one gets hurt. If that happens go small ball or maybe Jason can get from 235 to 250 plus, be serviceable, play without turning it over or screw up much. I will say while he has played very little, he hasnt screwed up when he played. Thats one think about Jake and Ben, when they played they didnt screw up. Not that i expect that from Jason but he will still be a freshman after a redshirt n medical redshirt. He is inexpensive, knows the system and for someone very deep thats needed for insurance at the four.
I do think it's important to note that the 9th man usually isn't COMPLETELY out of the rotation. Petrovic this year was an exception.
Last year (2025), Jake Davis was what you'd call the 9th guy. He appeared in 32 games, averaged 3 points per game in 9.5 minutes.
DGL was the 9th guy on the 2024 team. He appeared in 28 games, averaged 2.4 points in 7.1 minutes.
I know this sounds like a weird post, as those are by no means gauty numbers.... but the 9th man usually is good enough to appear in games and make a contribution (albeit small).
So, if we get Blackwell, I still think Morillo (or whoever winds up 9th) will have a chance to get out there.
Last edited:
Are we sure JJ will even be cleared to play?
With out Blackwell I don’t see how this team is top 5. I would say maybe top 15. Just over a month ago we were hoping some of these guy would transfer. Then we beat a 14 seed, 11 seed, Houston (great win) a 8 seed and then we lose when we play another good team. We also lose our best player and then we lose our best leader in Kylan. Tomi was good in the tournament but during the season awful, Big Z hit maybe 2 or 3 3 points the last half of the season. Andrej was great in the tournament but before the tournament people wanted him to transfer. So again not sure how this team without Blackwell is a top 5 team.
it’s time for JJ to transfer down & play
he’s not gonna play much , if at all , for us
I appreciate Ty but do you really think that a guy whos over and under would likely be 3 or 4 minutes a game at best in our scheme will bite us in the !!!? If yoy think a guy 10th or deepee would play more in B1p play you drinking Kool Aid. I loved Ty but in this day and age if you have no jumper at all you dont scare me unless you Kofi or Shaq like. Kofi n Shaq had a better jumper too. I wish Ty had developed one and if he did Brad would know!
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
And like, Petro wasn't PLANNED to be the 9th man, he was supposed to be core with Wagler or Jake soaking up bench minutes. (Or even Lee ahead of Wagler)
Jake wasn't PLANNED to be the 9th man the year earlier, he wasn't going to play at all and Carey Booth was supposed to be in the rotation.
You need too many options in order to have enough options, it has always been a paradox of college basketball and is why there were transfers even before the portal.
It’s interesting how some on this board can’t make a positive statement for our players without being negative on others.
Houston bigs may not have done well against us bc of the situation they were out in and they type of game they had to play. Sampson wasn’t just paying lip service. Our type of offense is the weakness for the type of defense they play without blinking with the way they like to play the P&R. They had no offense all year to not compliment their D. Does that mean they’re ineffective against every other team or night-in and night-out?
It’s a personal thing for sure, but the out class and especially the tougher comments….don’t seem classy in themselves.
I think a top 60 overall or every position not just guards! Plus Coleman is if not the best shooter one of them. I know you know that. I feel our back court IN OUR SYSTEM with Vakks and AC is aleady on par with last season and better on offense if we add Andre to attack the rim
Disagree, at 6'10.5 and 250 likely by November and still a FReshman starting his 3td season with veey little NIL no way do i want that dude to leave now being 11th or 12th on the depth chart given our roster. Tell me when he played tjat he played poorly? You cant. He is more valuable than some given our roster if there is an injury unless we add a Georgi B with some mass. Jaktys a bargin...basically free. If you want someone to.leave its Blake or with this roster Lee if we add Blackwrll. We need a true 4 thats 250lb with length for insurance and we dont have that. Only one is Mirk and if he is hurt the good luck with Lee, jakw or Zans on D. If guy like Ben or Georgi then maybe ok.
Last edited:
Quite a few of our injuries the past 4 years have occurred in practice. I hope someone would switch things up. Please.Agree. I’m not a fan of praising scUM in any way, but one of the things I thought Dusty May did well was managing minutes on an incredibly deep team.
Hoping Bradislav might do something similar with all the depth we’ll have. Keeps our guys:
1. more fresh
2. less injury prone…. and dare I say it…
3. more likely to hit end-of-game FT’s
It’s been answered a few times already.
Morillo is 6’7 he will get minutes at the 4 as well
Last edited:
I'm almost certain he had his chest opened and a 13th rib attached to spine removed. Preventing future blood clots and death. Thats what thoracic outlet syndrome is. Son had it, took 18 months recovery and strength training to get back on field in college Station. It is painful and a major surgery. I hope he hangs, long road and he's a large human.
- Status