Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#952      
Ga65
SweetLuh said:
I trust Brad and Cam emphatically. But, who on this team guards a 3rd or 4th year, quick PG? That is literally my only concern.
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Coleman has the athletic ability to make a PG feel very uncomfortable. The rest is mindset and coaching. The best PGs will get around their man no matter who he is. The defensive players/system must protect the rim and we have those hopefully.
 
#953      
BoiseBaller
LvilleILL1 said:
This is a good question. Illinois has already spent around 15 million this offseason, which is easily top 10 in the country. If you saw what type of numbers teams were willing to pay Mirkovic, Tomi, and Drej, you would be floored. Illinois can afford Blackwell, but they are also confident in the incoming freshman/Vaaks (they spent a ton of Vaaks, Coleman, and Morillo) to fit in really well with your three to five. There's also very high optimism that Ethan Brown will make a impact right away.

Certain people in Blackwells camp did not want him to take the risk of going to Illinois, when Vaaks/Coleman/Drej are all potential breakout pieces and he would have been a secondary option (if those guys breakout).
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I mean, I guess this is possible. But I don’t know why a potential pre-season AA would worry about losing minutes to incoming freshman.

Blackwell seemed like the piece that could make us serious title contenders. Not saying that we still can’t be that or that it won’t happen but that path seemed a lot more clear and probable. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
#954      
RichardKeene’sHair
Fly Illini Fly! said:
As of today, would not bet that.

Wagler was one of the best players in program history.

Boswell, especially pre injury, had a major impact on this team. On BOTH ends.
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Wagler had one of the best “stretches” in program history. There were certainly ups and downs. He was a great player, but people are going to over value his production based on his draft status.

I love him, and he is a great ambassador for the progrum, but my guy Boz in all reality wasn’t a tremendous fit for the Underwood’s offense. Vaaks and Coleman are both better fits.

Pound for pound I’d take Vaaks/Coleman. Vaaks is an NBA prospect off of 16ppg as a Freshman. Let’s not forget that part.
 
#955      
illiniguy24
LvilleILL1 said:
He would play a ton at Illinois, that's not the issue. The issue is there are only so many mouths to feed. Illinois already has several high usage players.

Look at Louisville, Shelstad kind of is what he is at this point. Flory is great but he's not high usage offensively. UCLA has some high floor guys, but he will get more overall touches there. With Vaaks, there's a pretty clear path to a major jump. Coleman has a chance to be really good quickly. Andrej year two, not to mention Mirkovic will have the ball a ton.

Illinois is still interested in adding at some point, but it just got clearer the last few days that the role and usage may not be what he wanted. Which stinks because he said he wants to win a title.
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I would hate to see him at UCLA. And I can’t imagine his camp looks at Louisville as a place to win a title under Pat Kelsey.

It’s a huge bummer knowing we would fork up the money to pay him. We need more quickness at guard as others have alluded to imo, even if it’s a backup guard
 
#957      
pruman91
logjam said:
What do we do the rest of the summer...?
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#958      
fatboyslim
wncillini said:
What I am saying is that we were lacking a piece last year to jump into that top tier. We were in the next year down from the top teams.

For next year we have lost our best player. So to lose our top piece and replace with someone not as good, but then expect us to jump into the top tier this year anyway is......let's say optimistic. Im hopeful some players can make some positive strides. Expecting everyone to do so isnt realistic. Odds are some players due to injury and other circumstances will take steps back as well.

We have a once in a lifetime chance right now for this upcoming season, and barring another top 5 pick freshman and accross the board sizeable improvements, I feel like we are still short.

Ill cheer. Ill hope. However without another major piece my expectations will be a top 10 team at the end of the year, not a championship contender.

Hope I'm wrong.
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And what I'm saying is those teams you mentioned are losing a more than we are. In some cases a lot more and have to fill those missing pieces. Every season is different, just because a team loses it's best player one year doesn't mean they won't be as good the next season. Like many have said in here is that players grown and get better with more experience and chemistry. This team has a chance to do both.
 
#960      
Juju
He would play a ton at Illinois, that's not the issue. The issue is there are only so many mouths to feed. Illinois already has several high usage players.

Look at Louisville, Shelstad kind of is what he is at this point. Flory is great but he's not high usage offensively. UCLA has some high floor guys, but he will get more overall touches there. With Vaaks, there's a pretty clear path to a major jump. Coleman has a chance to be really good quickly. Andrej year two, not to mention Mirkovic/Tomislav will have the ball a ton. Morillo has a chance to be better than people think too.

Illinois is still interested in adding at some point, but it just got clearer the last few days that the role and usage may not be what he wanted. Andrej coming back may not happen if Blackwell is in the fold. Which stinks because he said he wants to win a title.
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I keep reading so many different things on Blackwell and am VERY confused and don't have time right now to go back through the pages on the board to find out what exactly is going on. So are you basically saying we're unofficially officially NOT getting Blackwell now?
 
#961      
RichardKeene’sHair
STLini25 said:
Not even close. Boz/Wagler WAY better
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You do realize Vaaks is an NBA prospect off of 16ppg as a freshman correct? And Coleman is a 4/5 star top 20?

Boz was a liability at the 3pt line. He got a lot of gritty points, Coleman will be a better offensive college player by March.

Boz best attribute was his leadership. They will miss that more than anything.
 
#962      
fatboyslim
Not even close. Boz/Wagler WAY better
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As far as we know right now but no one saw Wagler doing what he did. Let's see what happens first before we start making declarations for sure.
 
#963      
strobes77
He would play a ton at Illinois, that's not the issue. The issue is there are only so many mouths to feed. Illinois already has several high usage players.

Look at Louisville, Shelstad kind of is what he is at this point. Flory is great but he's not high usage offensively. UCLA has some high floor guys, but he will get more overall touches there. With Vaaks, there's a pretty clear path to a major jump. Coleman has a chance to be really good quickly. Andrej year two, not to mention Mirkovic/Tomislav will have the ball a ton. Morillo has a chance to be better than people think too.

Illinois is still interested in adding at some point, but it just got clearer the last few days that the role and usage may not be what he wanted. Andrej coming back may not happen if Blackwell is in the fold. Which stinks because he said he wants to win a title.
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Has the decision been “made” or is it still being “decided”.
 
#964      
ILLfan94
This has already been an A- or A offseason so far. Add a veteran guard to bolster their backcourt depth in the next few months and this is an A+ offseason.
 
#965      
TheodoreRex
There's so many things that are wrong here, not sure where to start.

1) Look around the country. There are not going to be five teams with a better roster than Illinois. There are blue bloods with three to five players total on their roster as we stand with not much runway to add.

2) A lot of people in here said the team before the season started last year was not going to be very good or was super flawed. Illinois just returned 3 guys would would have been TOP FIVE portal players. They also just added a five star level freshman and maybe the best possible (top 15 transfer) portal guard fit for their system.

Quentin Coleman does not need to be as good or better than Wagler to have a better team than last year. Tomi (knock on wood) will be healthier. Mirk DID NOT EVEN GET AN OFFSEASON last year. Imagine what he is going to look like with another seven months working with Fletch. Andrej is likely to make a leap in year two.

Also, Lucas Morillo is getting massively overlooked here. They think Ethan Brown can contribute as well as a depth add. Depending on if Lee sticks around or they add a veteran guard to replace him, that's more depth than you had there this past season.

QC, Vaaks, Drej, Mirkovic, Tomislav, Jake, Big Z, Morillo, Lee (add if he goes), Brown.

That is one of the best rosters in the country next season and can win a title.
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I think the confusion is the unbelievable positivity that we would get Blackwell, even with the addition of Andrej.. Then Andrej confirms he's coming back and all of a sudden Blackwell is not coming here... At the very least, do explain what changed...
 
#967      
STLini25
If the staff doesn’t add a veteran guard, they are taking a huge risk. Talking about a national championship but having a freshman point guard. Literally has only happened once in modern basketball (and that player was a top 5 one and done stud). Add to that the other guard is a sophomore unproven at this level.

I’ll put it here first, if we rely on unproven players to be a top team and those players don’t perform highly then it’s on the coaching staff. It is an unnecessary and foreseeable risk. (This is coming from someone who has seen QC play in person 5 times in the last 3 months).

Might work out. Might not. Not worth the risk when we have this vetaran talent.
 
#969      
IlliDan
For those wondering how Miznoz are getting Crowe Jr. hiring dad as Ast. coach sure helps!
 
#970      
Fly Illini Fly!
LvilleILL1 said:
Illinois is still interested in adding at some point, but it just got clearer the last few days that the role and usage may not be what he wanted.
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I guess that answers a lot of questions, if indeed what it came down to (at least from an Illinois standpoint).
LvilleILL1 said:
Andrej coming back may not happen if Blackwell is in the fold.
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And ZERO issues with Andrej being priority #1. Wouldn’t be surprised one bit if he’s our leading scorer / best player (along with Mirkovic). Stud potential.
 
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#971      
AssemblyHallForever
Illiniforlife said:
Team will be good but definitely not final four good with out Blackwell
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I disagree, we will be better and deeper this coming season than this year. We can throw multiple players against teams. Andrej, I believe, will be a better distance shooter than he was this year. Blackwell would want the ball more than we would want him to have it. We have multiple scorers from every place on the floor. I love our back court with size and athleticism. If he wants to be here, Blackwell will need to understand his role.
 
#972      
Emerson Bigguns
I lost Kofi's blue binder said:
While I agree that this is a national title contender without any more additions, that is contingent on multiple players taking jumps. That wasn’t necessarily the case if one more high-level add were to happen. If your checklist of advantages gets smaller, so does your margin for error. That’s why the Blackwell thing was so exciting—adding a first-team all B1G level player to a roster already somewhere around #4 or #5? Wow.

Immediately pivoting to “ah, but the freshmen are going to be so good” is spin. It’s somewhat compelling spin (and could end up correct!). But it is spin nonetheless, and I’d rather be counting on a fully-developed sure thing to take this team over the top.

Still an absolutely excellent roster and an A-grade offseason. But for a moment there, we were dreaming even bigger.
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Bringing in Blackwell could very well have led to one or more of those freshmen bolting too.
I doubt anyone is over the moon that we likely didn’t land him, but if it’s not going to happen, Brand and Co. need to lock down these young guys.

We don’t need a savior. We will be as good as anyone, and this gives our young guys a chance to get valuable game reps. This team will certainly look wildly different a year from now. We will need guys who will be ready to carry the torch.

A lot of what I’m so optimistic about with this group is the level of buy in. We don’t want to compromise that in any way.

I know we used to laugh about,” if he doesn’t want to be here, we don’t want him…” I’m not sure that was ever true, but this situation might be as close as it gets.
 
#975      
bbpeoria
LvilleILL1 said:
He would play a ton at Illinois, that's not the issue. The issue is there are only so many mouths to feed. Illinois already has several high usage players.

Look at Louisville, Shelstad kind of is what he is at this point. Flory is great but he's not high usage offensively. UCLA has some high floor guys, but he will get more overall touches there. With Vaaks, there's a pretty clear path to a major jump. Coleman has a chance to be really good quickly. Andrej year two, not to mention Mirkovic/Tomislav will have the ball a ton. Morillo has a chance to be better than people think too.

Illinois is still interested in adding at some point, but it just got clearer the last few days that the role and usage may not be what he wanted. Andrej coming back may not happen if Blackwell is in the fold. Which stinks because he said he wants to win a title.
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Anybody saying Blackwell wouldn’t or couldn’t play on this team has sour grapes. I think he could have had a huge role and been the perfect final piece to a potential championship puzzle. If he goes elsewhere I’m sure he will do well but from a professional standpoint I think he and his team are very short sighted. He could have been possibly the top scorer and one of the faces of a team that would get a ton of publicity
 
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