Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Where does he slot in? Do you think ANYONE on our roster signed up to buy buried in a depth chart? Coleman is the second best recruit that we've EVER had. Yes, like....EVER. Better than Ayo, better than Kofi....all of them, but Riley. How are you going to assure that kid major, game changing PT if you add a guy who demands the ball? How do you know that Anderson and Drej can share the ball. Drej didn't come back to be a second option. This isn't a flipping video game, where locker rooms and cohesion don't matter. They do.
Mark me down for the 5 star that could be here for multiple years. Heck, he could be a 1 and done and off to the NBA.
We have a LOT of highly paid players, with two of the preps amongst them, Coleman being the biggest nut.
Last year, we thought Petrovic was the PG that was the go to.....until he got here. Then, a pretty good freshman showed up. We can't fill the roster with 100% transfers. It's an awful move. We need guys who can step up in 2027, when we will lose a TOOON.
Edit: Ultimately, as we know, whoever plays defense and rebounds the ball at a high rate will get the minutes. Therefore.....let it play out.
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If you eliminate inefficiencies throughout th season it definitely improve your record and seed. However teams wins championships by imposing their will on the other team. When we played Michigan last year, Duke the year before, and UConn the year before that it was like a big brother toying with his little brother. Whenever they decided they wanted to do something there wasn't anything we could do to stop it. We want to do that we are going to have be just effective on defense as we are offense. We haven't shown we can do that yet.
My problem will never be not going after Anderson. However, we do have enough to convince a proven mid major guard for a 15mpg role on a title contender.
I really like tapioca pudding. Cottage cheese looks kind of like tapioca pudding. Cottage cheese tastes nothing like tapioca pudding. Fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me, you can't get fooled again.
If you can get him you get him. Bury whoever you want. He would be the best offensive player we have. Maybe 2nd best all around behind mirk. If you want to win a championship you will have bench players who can start at nearly all other schools.
Duke is absolutely loaded and if they keep everyone they could have 2 top 10 teams but they are still pursuing because its what is required for a championship.
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People keep mentioning Jake Davis as a guard. He barely dribbles. He either catches and shoots or passes directly back to the guy who passed to him. He isn't a facilitator or a guy who can get his own shot. He is what they meant when they coined the term, 3 and D. If he brings the ball up the court this season, it will be his first time.
I love Jake, but he is what he is.
I love Jake, but he is what he is.
Which is PERFECTLY fine. Jake Davis is the prototype for what we'll call the dream role player once he departs. Shoots 40% from 3, one of the lowest TO rates in the nation, plays hard, etc etc.
But he isn't a guard or anything close to a ball handler. That'd be a wrong label.
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From the tape I've seen of Eathan Brown and Coleman. IMO, if they can figure out the D side of the ball, they will be fine on Offense. And Eathan Brown gave me Keaton vibes watching him, very calm and collected, didn't appear to ever get sped up.
At 57, soon to be 58, I will admit my lack of knowledge/experience on so much of the analytics part of the game keeps me from even looking at them sometimes. Not in any way saying they are not important, I'm just saying I go more by what I see and how the players act around one another and play together. What i wonder when I see the stats like Fly Illini Fly posts, and some other knowledgeable analytics people post, is what they would have thought back before the shot clock and four corners was common for some teams. Good lord I look back on those days and wonder how the he** I ever stayed engaged. Would be interesting to see how the stats changed as the shot clock was implemented and even that time has changed. I do appreciate being able to learn more about the analytics side here.
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I agree 100% Definitely don't want to sleep on him!!
Feel like dealing with that classification might be his biggest obstacle in coming here
Where does he slot in on Florida? On Duke? Why are programs like Michigan, Kentucky, UNC, Louisville able to build Avenger level teams of collegiate all-stars while we grandstand “doing more with less?”
We’ve got the money. We’ve got the returning roster. When are we supposed to be trying to win a championship? If it’s the year after next year when Drej, Davis, the Ivisicii, Mirk, and Coleman all leave for the NBA or eligibility, then fine. Save the money.
But if it’s next year when we have a golden opportunity with one of the best front courts (plus depth), and one of the best pair of forwards then why would we not double down to grab a star proven Guard instead of convincing ourselves that a couple freshman who haven’t played a Div 1 game are better than Blackwell, Anderson, or Harris.
I just scratch my head at why we’re convincing ourselves we can’t add a huge guard to a stacked team, when Florida will just go do that very thing. 2-4 teams will do it this year while we accept that fate. Why them but not us?
Let's say you are a starter at a mid-major, College of Charleston for example. You are going into your senior year and have no chance of playing in the NBA in the future. Your agent tells you that you can double your NIL $ at Illinois, but instead of starting you'd be playing 12-15 minutes a game off the bench. What would you do? To me it's a no brainer that you go to Illinois, but maybe I'm crazy.
In other words, assuming I'm right about the $, maybe it wouldn't be so difficult to find a solid backup PG in the portal
I totally agree.
It’s Ethan.
If this is the case, you have literally nothing to worry about.
Solid handle. Better passer. Very good court vision. Has a calm, patient court presence. Played the point for Rolla, did well against good competition.
I find this (new) take interesting...and increasingly widespread. We suddenly act like we don't have room for a top player, but it was not so secret that we were originally targeting Dre and Blackwell. But now, we just don't have room?
What changed? Did Coleman say he wouldn't sign if we got another major piece? So in a year that we have legitimate championship aspirations we are going with the unproven freshman over Blackwell or Christian Anderson?? I call BS on that. It doesn't make sense honestly. 5 star or not means nothing when stacking up to guys that have already dominated at the high major level. If its money that's fine, but we have been told money isn't an issue. So all this clamoring about being "too stacked" seems like nothing more than trying to console ourselves for losing out on some top guys. We have an incredible team for next year, but it isn't a team that couldn't be upgraded with a top transfer. Now if these guys are more concerned about getting their shots than winning then they can take it somewhere else...and that is a legitimate reason to pass on players. But we lost Wagler, Bam, Ben, and some deeper bench pieces. And we've added Vaaks and freshmen. Maybe those freshmen will pan out, but it is taking a pretty big risk in a year that we don't need to be taking that risk.
Still would love to have them try for Anderson. Understand if he already has a list of teams though.
I'd be willing to bet ALL of them don't leave.
Just a different world. You can make a ton of $$ coming back to college.
This is a good case for going all out on Blackwell.
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