Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#126      
BTM33
To me, any concerns should be placed on the defense and the back court.

1. How good is Quentin Coleman?
2. Is Vaaks the de facto point guard?
3. Can we defend at a high enough level as a team?
4. Again, how do we handle quick, faster guards who can get in the lane?

We assume Vaaks and Coleman get the majority of the time in the backcourt. Strictly on defense, thats a Freshman who we have no idea how well he defends in a full season in the Big10, a 6'7 slow footed guard who most said "abysmal" was putting it generous in regards to his defense in Vaaks.

I have ZERO reservations on offense. I think we'll set records offensively and score a bazillion points, and be fun doing it.

I am concerned on defense, and it'll be up to coaching and schemes to get that done. I think they can, that's why I'm stoked for the season.
 
#128      
jamie13197
I really think this is who we need to round out the team
www.espn.com

Justyn Fernandez Career Stats - NCAAM - ESPN

Complete career NCAAM stats for the Delaware Blue Hens Guard Justyn Fernandez on ESPN. Includes points, rebounds, and assists.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

Elite athlete, long arms, 40% three point shooter on over 5pg, 88% FT, good rebounder with 4.6pg good court vision, chance to be elite defender with athleticism and positional size at 6-5 at SG

The last two years our top 2 players have been freshman, which partly contributed to our tourny exists playing more experienced teams. It would be great to have a starting lineup without any freshman and bring two talented freshman off the bench. Justyn could be that senior 3 and D guy to be the missing piece
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Brandon LEE, people!
 
#130      
wncillini
RockfordIllini said:
I’m actually fine with rolling what we have. There is a lot of inefficiency we will cut out of Vaak’s game and I’m confident he will be borderline all BIG with the open shots he’s going to get and the mismatches we will have him hunting. Plus I think we can give Coleman a simplified role of spot up shooting and back cutting. And Morillo I think will be a Ty junk yard dog type but with more offensive skill. Think we’ve got a great 8 without Blackwell.

Just a couple of questions on the Blackwell front, which are mostly rhetorical: why would usage/role be a sticking point? Counting stats don’t matter much to the nba, particularly for a role a player like Blackwell is likely to fill in the league. Did his people not just watch Yaxel greatly improve his draft stock (at like 24 which never happens!) on a championship team, winning BIG POY? And what were his counting stats like? And it sounds like we have plenty of money to pay him.

If he wants to chase a slightly bigger bag more power to him, but the reasons given for backing of Illinois just don’t make a lot of sense to me. His people must not be paying attention to what the NBA is looking for. Averaging 20+ a game isn’t going to elevate his draft stock. But like I said, I think we are natty good without him, so good luck.
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Correct. I would argue Brad agrees with you, hence the big push with the giant pile of cash despite how full the roster is.
 
#131      
hoopsfan47
RockfordIllini said:
I’m actually fine with rolling what we have. There is a lot of inefficiency we will cut out of Vaak’s game and I’m confident he will be borderline all BIG with the open shots he’s going to get and the mismatches we will have him hunting. Plus I think we can give Coleman a simplified role of spot up shooting and back cutting. And Morillo I think will be a Ty junk yard dog type but with more offensive skill. Think we’ve got a great 8 without Blackwell.

Just a couple of questions on the Blackwell front, which are mostly rhetorical: why would usage/role be a sticking point? Counting stats don’t matter much to the nba, particularly for a role a player like Blackwell is likely to fill in the league. Did his people not just watch Yaxel greatly improve his draft stock (at like 24 which never happens!) on a championship team, winning BIG POY? And what were his counting stats like? And it sounds like we have plenty of money to pay him.

If he wants to chase a slightly bigger bag more power to him, but the reasons given for backing of Illinois just don’t make a lot of sense to me. His people must not be paying attention to what the NBA is looking for. Averaging 20+ a game isn’t going to elevate his draft stock. But like I said, I think we are natty good without him, so good luck.
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Solid post. But, from what I gather, the main reason for his pivot away from the Illini are:
1. His agent's alma mater is UCLA and his agent wants him there.
2. Louisville is selling him on their dream to pull off another Michigan and win it all with first year mercenaries earning stupid bags of cash.

If he sees either of these as attractive, he is likely not a fit for the Illini and culture is the thing neither of the above teams can offer. Duke, I believe, was interested and may still be, but he is even more at risk there of getting less "usage".

There is no telling what points made by recruiters looking for any thought that might stick in the mind of a 20 yo kid will become the sticking point. It is SMH time over the original point of wanting to play for a natty, but the spin of imagined paramount considerations gets crazy about now and kids are hardly ready to handle it as they get away from advice from their parents and coach and start listening to all the influencers who are only selling their personal interest.
 
#132      
Chase321
ciillini said:
I'm mostly a lurker on here, but I've gotta say some of you try awfully hard to find the negative in most any situation. Why not sit back and imagine the great possibilities of this roster?
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I don’t think that debating whether or not there is a need for another more experienced guard is looking for the negative. It’s a reasonable talking point.

In my limited number of posts on this board I have always been a defender of the positive side. And I still am. I just don’t think it’s negative to say it’s disappointing if we don’t get Blackwell or some other guard to avoid a overreliance on freshmen. Is that greedy? Of course it is.
 
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#134      
Mtcillini
Longtime lurker, avid reader, and lifetime fan. My thoughts just to get started on the board:
1. Blackwell hasn’t signed elsewhere and I trust our roster builders to know weakness and missing pieces.
2. I believe we are not done and we definitely are not limited to transfer portal if we are in need.
3. The biggest - our coaches now know the inside-outs of retention players who have played together for a full year now. They will be working on fixing their weaknesses through the offseason instead of in-season patching and adjustments.

It’s just beginning my fellow brothers and sisters - let’s go!
 
#136      
Lysol623
We weren’t a tier below UConn. We just picked a bad day to have a bad day.
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I'm sorry but UCONN blew us out earlier in the year (different team dynamics), but followed that up by handling us in the Final Four. We also haven't forgotten 30-0. They were a tier above for sure as we just don't match up well with them.
 
#137      
Yes33
BTM33 said:
To me, any concerns should be placed on the defense and the back court.

1. How good is Quentin Coleman?
2. Is Vaaks the de facto point guard?
3. Can we defend at a high enough level as a team?
4. Again, how do we handle quick, faster guards who can get in the lane?

We assume Vaaks and Coleman get the majority of the time in the backcourt. Strictly on defense, thats a Freshman who we have no idea how well he defends in a full season in the Big10, a 6'7 slow footed guard who most said "abysmal" was putting it generous in regards to his defense in Vaaks.

I have ZERO reservations on offense. I think we'll set records offensively and score a bazillion points, and be fun doing it.

I am concerned on defense, and it'll be up to coaching and schemes to get that done. I think they can, that's why I'm stoked for the season.
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After looking at highlights it appears Vaaks is a mixture of Keaton and Kasper with a quicker / stronger wiggle. I think he’s going to be really good. Three things I think that would really strengthen our run next year:
-4 th guard - Feliz type - for toughness and insurance if any of the other three stall out or get injured.
-Big Back up for Mirk / Tomi with wide body that can rebound and defend in the paint. If one of those two get hurt we’re in trouble. Remember when tall 6’10” Coleman Hawkins got abused by the wider / stronger bigs when he was forced to guard them?
-The biggest hope - Andrej dials his jump shot in - if so, he has 1st team All-American potential.

Kudos to Brad for taking the next step, but think we also need another offense for when teams trap the pick and roll and over play as Connecticut did and Michigan did earlier in the year. Looking forward to next year.
 
#138      
LvilleILL1
Coleman and Vaaks will be signing in the next few days.

Once the portal closes, still expect one more addition at some point. Who that is, I am not sure yet.

They have eight guys they feel really confident in. Brown or Lee (if he sticks around) can take that 9th spot. If they make one more addition, they will be in the mix for that as well.
 
#139      
Big Jack
Gotta make my yearly drop-ins and run again lol
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You are a very smart man

Someday the lack of brains and people not actually reading the complete thread is maddening
 
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#140      
sdiver68
BTM33 said:
To me, any concerns should be placed on the defense and the back court.

1. How good is Quentin Coleman?
2. Is Vaaks the de facto point guard?
3. Can we defend at a high enough level as a team?
4. Again, how do we handle quick, faster guards who can get in the lane?

We assume Vaaks and Coleman get the majority of the time in the backcourt. Strictly on defense, thats a Freshman who we have no idea how well he defends in a full season in the Big10, a 6'7 slow footed guard who most said "abysmal" was putting it generous in regards to his defense in Vaaks.

I have ZERO reservations on offense. I think we'll set records offensively and score a bazillion points, and be fun doing it.

I am concerned on defense, and it'll be up to coaching and schemes to get that done. I think they can, that's why I'm stoked for the season.
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I agree..offense is set. Defense is the worry.

2- Not too worried about the PG position on offense when we have Mirk as a point forward also.

4-- Honestly I thought we handled them OK IF they werent constantly bailed out by the refs. The problem of course is when they are bailed out.

The NCAA needs to get back to the concept of who initiated contact. The game becomes a farce when all you have to do is penetrate and throw your body at the nearest defender.
 
#142      
Lysol623
Couldn’t agree less. Any team that wins the BIG regular season and/or makes the final 4 is absolutely good enough to win it all
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We made the Final Four, we were good enough to.win it all this season? UCONN, Arizona, and Michigan would have controlled the game start to finish against us. Winning a title is just a different animal, and technically you are close if you make a Final Four, but there is context.
 
#143      
illini0440
BTM33 said:
To me, any concerns should be placed on the defense and the back court.

1. How good is Quentin Coleman?
2. Is Vaaks the de facto point guard?
3. Can we defend at a high enough level as a team?
4. Again, how do we handle quick, faster guards who can get in the lane?

We assume Vaaks and Coleman get the majority of the time in the backcourt. Strictly on defense, thats a Freshman who we have no idea how well he defends in a full season in the Big10, a 6'7 slow footed guard who most said "abysmal" was putting it generous in regards to his defense in Vaaks.

I have ZERO reservations on offense. I think we'll set records offensively and score a bazillion points, and be fun doing it.

I am concerned on defense, and it'll be up to coaching and schemes to get that done. I think they can, that's why I'm stoked for the season.
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Vaaks played the Wagler role for Providence….and he’s actually fairly quick laterally
 
#144      
Rap47
You make an outstanding point, but you have to dig in a little deeper to uncover where we can and are attacked. We have size, but it's limited to being tall. Outside of Mirk, there's not a ton of physicality there and his hurdle is athleticism. I loved when he said that one of his major goals is to adding dunking to his game. He recognizes the hole and I'm sure he got that feedback immediately from those at the pro ranks. He's got to be more explosive, which is where Fletch comes in.

With regards to the twins, they really want no part of the paint. Tomi, in the NCAA Tournament, finally showed that he can play in the paint offensively with that nice little jump hook. It's almost impossible to stop. Z really didn't have much of an offensive game unless it was being on the receiving end of a lob of hitting the three, where he really struggled towards the end of the year.

Defensively, we really didn't handle quick guards or physical, athletic bigs that carve out the lane and thrive on working the boards. We struggled in many games getting critical boards on the defensive side. Morez, Reed Jr(the physicality that UCONN brought)., MSU's whole roster.....they really focused their attack there. Being physical, enjoying contact, playing through it is a frame of mind. There's a fight to it....there's a "that's my ball or you're getting an elbow in the chest" component to it. That's what keeping the twins out of the NBA right now. They have all of the other tools. There's Z and T over 7 feet, then there's Mara. That dude was an A-Hole but was nasty. The twins can be that, but it's between the ears

Then, we go back to quickness, which those in the media, coaches and analysts comment on. It's EXTREMELY difficult for 6'7" to stay in front of a shift 6'2" that can play on the wing, shoot it or take you off the bounce. Asking Tomi to cover the three point line, then stop penetration is too much, which is why drive and kicks hurt us. Those who yelled "why are we letting up wide open threes!!!???"....that was the issue 99% of the time. Drive, where someone has to collapse by leaving a shooter, then the ball getting kicked out....it's really tough to recover.

Fears, Dent, Philon, the moron from Wisconsin(twice) caused a ton of problems. We got a break when the kid from VCU injured himself in the first few minutes of the game. We still win, but he would have been a headache.

This was WAY too long. Apologies. However, that's why you can't just throw size out there. Eddie Johnson had a pretty critical system after the Vaaks announcement. He wasn't wrong. I still think that needs to be addressed, even if it's just with a bench player who can come in and change the momentum for us defensively.
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You really don't know what the twins are capable of on the inside. They were 20 feet from the hoop most of the time last year. No one on last year's team had any thoughts, much less skills, to pass off when penetrating.
 
#146      
RabidDawgClassic
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#149      
jumpingjack
We are going to be an absolute monster on offense and the boards this year. I want one more bruiser of a guard but we are stacked regardless.
 
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