Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

#676      
wncillini
Mirk is solid bringing the ball up. However we really struggled hanging into the ball the one game he HAD to be the one bringing it up.

And yes most teams would struggle if one off their 2 main guards went down. However the teams competing for a championship because they have a loaded roster struggle much less.
 
#677      
PepeSilvia
Altuve27 said:
I just don’t buy the waiting until the summer thing. I will die on the hill screaming they need another guard. Badly.

Bring an experienced guy to solidify that spot. We are trying to win a national championship. In my opinion, you need experienced guards to do that.

Look, there is ZERO doubt that @LvilleILL1 and many, many others know more about this team and its players than I do. Ethan Brown may be all that and a bag of chips, but I personally would prefer to not be in a position where we are depending on him. We are 1 freak injury in the backcourt from possibly being in that spot. I don’t like that.

Get a guy with some experience in here to bolster things. Keaton Wagler was 1 of 1. That likely will never happen again.

For a team with serious title aspirations, I want to count on as few freshmen as possible. No problem with Coleman and Morillo playing a lot. After that I want as many veterans as possible.

JMHO.
Click to expand...
I couldn't agree more.

The goal is to win a national championship and be better than the previous year. They lost an All-American and veteran starter in Boswell.

Love the retention and have no issue with Coleman or Morillo playing a ton but if you had the money for Blackwell and he backed away then go use that money on a different guy. Don't put yourself in a situation where you're relying on freshman because the other teams are going to be loaded(UConn already looks very good).

Go get a veteran guard that is capable of being a starter on a good team and then if Coleman, Morillo, or even Brown start beating him for minutes that becomes a great problem to have.

Michigan just won a national championship where they lost LJ Cason in February. It didn't matter because they still had Cadeau, Mckenney, Burnett, and Gayle. Trey Mckenney was ranked 21st as a prospect(higher than Coleman) and was a huge piece for them coming off the bench and playing 20+ minutes a game.

If Vaaks went down with an injury you would have a team with national championship aspirations relying on Quentin Coleman, Lucas Morillo, and Ethan Brown to be their primary guards. All of them may work out but I don't think a team with serious championship aspirations should be that reliant on freshman to pan out when they supposedly had the money to add Blackwell to the current group.
 
#678      
mysterio2525
EmeraldCityIllini said:
I see this as a point in favor of the depth though?

With Morillo and Davis in the mix off the bench, that seems pretty solid to me.

@Altuve27 pointed out we’re one freak injury away from trouble at guard. Which I guess I’d argue, isn’t everyone?

I’m all for another guard btw. I’m just skeptical a veteran guard is coming here to be the 5-minute a game guy who can also be a good starter.
Click to expand...
not everyone is running hot like Illinois is. not everyone is coming off final four run. not everyone is about to turn a 3 star into a top 6 pick. not everyone has donors finally getting that taste of the absolute top of college basketball after starving for 20 years and adding money to the pot. the time to over extend is now!
 
#680      
NarrowJ
PepeSilvia said:
I couldn't agree more.

The goal is to win a national championship and be better than the previous year. They lost an All-American and veteran starter in Boswell.

Love the retention and have no issue with Coleman or Morillo playing a ton but if you had the money for Blackwell and he backed away then go use that money on a different guy. Don't put yourself in a situation where you're relying on freshman because the other teams are going to be loaded(UConn already looks very good).

Go get a veteran guard that is capable of being a starter on a good team and then if Coleman, Morillo, or even Brown start beating him for minutes that becomes a great problem to have.

Michigan just won a national championship where they lost LJ Cason in February. It didn't matter because they still had Cadeau, Mckenney, Burnett, and Gayle. Trey Mckenney was ranked 21st as a prospect(higher than Coleman) and was a huge piece for them coming off the bench and playing 20+ minutes a game.

If Vaaks went down with an injury you would have a team with national championship aspirations relying on Quentin Coleman, Lucas Morillo, and Ethan Brown to be their primary guards. All of them may work out but I don't think a team with serious championship aspirations should be that reliant on freshman to pan out when they supposedly had the money to add Blackwell to the current group.
Click to expand...

UConn has the guards but literally nothing up front... be interesting to see what they end up with

With Reibe, Furphy, Stewart, Elezaj all portaling they have to fill out an entire frontcourt via portal or late HS addition
 
#681      
Fly Illini Fly!
EmeraldCityIllini said:
Sure. But Harmon and DGL were 2 of the top 3 reserve guards. And honestly once Domask blew up, Luke who was “the top guard” off the bench was as really mostly playing the 3. And Harmon minutes by end of year were significantly cut

Davis and Morillo are already the top two guards.
Click to expand...
Davis is a SF. He's not a ball handler. (same with Goode)

Morillo maybe...
 
Last edited:
#682      
NarrowJ
EmeraldCityIllini said:
I see this as a point in favor of the depth though?

With Morillo and Davis in the mix off the bench, that seems pretty solid to me.

@Altuve27 pointed out we’re one freak injury away from trouble at guard. Which I guess I’d argue, isn’t everyone?

I’m all for another guard btw. I’m just skeptical a veteran guard is coming here to be the 5-minute a game guy who can also be a good starter.
Click to expand...

I think we happen to be in a better spot than most because we have some versatile players that can play 1-3 even 4 positions in some cases.

But, I don't think this team is going to look much different than any other successful high major: 8 man rotation and in the case of injury you shorten to 7 if its a short-term thing, if a guy is out for the season then obviously you have to work another guy in (Brown) for a small role while a couple other guys eat up 5-10 minutes each.

I was just looking at UConn's roster (and a few other big time programs) thinking how lucky we are to not be sitting here with half of a basketball team, frantically filling spots with kids from the Mountain West or A10.
 
#683      
PepeSilvia
NarrowJ said:
UConn has the guards but literally nothing up front... be interesting to see what they end up with

With Reibe, Furphy, Stewart, Elezaj all portaling they have to fill out an entire frontcourt via portal or late HS addition
Click to expand...
Hines is going to be a dude. They don't make them much bigger and more physical at the college level.
 
#684      
My2Cents
BREAKING NEWS: 2026/2027 men's basketball team just posted the teams roster.

T.Ivisic G
Z.Ivisic G
J.Davis G
D.Mirkovic G
A.Stojakovic G
Q.Coleman G
S. Vaaks G
L.Morillo G
E.Brown G

No need to worry about how many Guards we have. We are loaded. Now we can get excited about next years team, instead of saying we might be lucky to be top four in our league. That lineup is capable of top four in the NCAA.
 
#685      
Aillini32
Altuve27 said:
I just don’t buy the waiting until the summer thing. I will die on the hill screaming they need another guard. Badly.

Bring an experienced guy to solidify that spot. We are trying to win a national championship. In my opinion, you need experienced guards to do that.

Look, there is ZERO doubt that @LvilleILL1 and many, many others know more about this team and its players than I do. Ethan Brown may be all that and a bag of chips, but I personally would prefer to not be in a position where we are depending on him. We are 1 freak injury in the backcourt from possibly being in that spot. I don’t like that.

Get a guy with some experience in here to bolster things. Keaton Wagler was 1 of 1. That likely will never happen again.

For a team with serious title aspirations, I want to count on as few freshmen as possible. No problem with Coleman and Morillo playing a lot. After that I want as many veterans as possible.

JMHO.
Click to expand...
100%. Should be able to offer a veteran guard 15 minutes a night at the very least, could be more if the freshman struggle or someone gets hurt. Should be a fairly attractive role on a title contender
 
#686      
PepeSilvia
NarrowJ said:
I think we happen to be in a better spot than most because we have some versatile players that can play 1-3 even 4 positions in some cases.

But, I don't think this team is going to look much different than any other successful high major: 8 man rotation and in the case of injury you shorten to 7 if its a short-term thing, if a guy is out for the season then obviously you have to work another guy in (Brown) for a small role while a couple other guys eat up 5-10 minutes each.

I was just looking at UConn's roster (and a few other big time programs) thinking how lucky we are to not be sitting here with half of a basketball team, frantically filling spots with kids from the Mountain West or A10.
Click to expand...
UConn has legitimate starting 5 that is arguably every bit as talented as ours.

Solomon Ball will be back. (2x All Big East)
Silas Demary - All Big East(regular and defensive), was injured in March.
Braylon Mullins - likely would have been a late first round pick, I thought he got better as the season progressed
Nik Khamenia - will play the Karaban role, 5-star that played 20 minutes per game for Duke.
Najai Hines - physical force, will dunk, defend, and rebound at a high level.

Then they will bring back Jayden Ross(6'7 wing that played basically 20 minutes a game off the bench) and add Colben Landrew(22nd ranked recruit) and Junior County(36th).

They probably need an backup center but that roster is very talented and they probably have the best coach in college basketball in Hurley though hopefully losing Murray will hurt their offense.
 
#687      
wncillini
PepeSilvia said:
Don't put yourself in a situation where you're relying on freshman because the other teams are going to be loaded(UConn already looks very good).
Click to expand...
We looked bad in 3 games last year, 2 of them were to UConn. We got back every player we needed. We roll in with the roster we have now to play UConn does anyone think we did enough with our essentially finalized roster to be comfortably favored in that game given our retention (let's say -4.5).

If the line went out now we would be dogs. While there's a reason we play the games, that to me shows even with as good of retention we could have hoped for, we failed to capitalize. Maybe our top 30 freshman will prove to be better than our competitions higher rated freshman. I sure wouldn't want to rely on it.
 
#688      
IlliniHardwood
LvilleILL1 said:
I'm trying to not to put too much pressure on the kid, but Brown has the potential to shock a lot of people in here next year. All I will say for now.
Click to expand...
I totally agree, but watching his video gives me Wagler vibes. A repeat Wagler would be catching lightning in a bottle. I would be extremely happy with serviceable contribution and ecstatic if he was a poor man's Keaton Wagler.
 
#689      
Noblesville Illini
GrayGhost77 said:
I'd imagine his NIL ask is pretty reasonable. Some decent kibble, a supply of treats, and a few tennis balls and should be able to lock him down.
Click to expand...
He’s demanding Farmer’s Dog! Good agent!
Dog Aww GIF
 
#690      
wncillini
PepeSilvia said:
UConn has legitimate starting 5 that is arguably every bit as talented as ours.

Solomon Ball will be back. (2x All Big East)
Silas Demary - All Big East(regular and defensive), was injured in March.
Braylon Mullins - likely would have been a late first round pick, I thought he got better as the season progressed
Nik Khamenia - will play the Karaban role, 5-star that played 20 minutes per game for Duke.
Najai Hines - physical force, will dunk, defend, and rebound at a high level.

Then they will bring back Jayden Ross(6'7 wing that played basically 20 minutes a game off the bench) and add Colben Landrew(22nd ranked recruit) and Junior County(36th).

They probably need an backup center but that roster is very talented and they probably have the best coach in college basketball in Hurley though hopefully losing Murray will hurt their offense.
Click to expand...
It appears to be a better starting 5 than ours. We will see when the game is played.
 
#692      
iLL 89ers
My2Cents said:
BREAKING NEWS: 2026/2027 men's basketball team just posted the teams roster.

T.Ivisic G
Z.Ivisic G
J.Davis G
D.Mirkovic G
A.Stojakovic G
Q.Coleman G
S. Vaaks G
L.Morillo G
E.Brown G

No need to worry about how many Guards we have. We are loaded. Now we can get excited about next years team, instead of saying we might be lucky to be top four in our league. That lineup is capable of top four in the NCAA.
Click to expand...
EXACTLY!..... I love it ! ;)
 
#694      
EmeraldCityIllini
mysterio2525 said:
not everyone is running hot like Illinois is. not everyone is coming off final four run. not everyone is about to turn a 3 star into a top 6 pick. not everyone has donors finally getting that taste of the absolute top of college basketball after starving for 20 years and adding money to the pot. the time to over extend is now!
Click to expand...

that’s what I’d sell too!

But, we got Michigan assistant coaches on record right now saying how they can’t get traction with recruits.

You gotta actually convince the starting caliber veteran guard to sign up for that role. As I’ve said, I’m all for that idea. Just skeptical.

I actually like the idea more of a big wing reserve than backup guard.
 
#697      
rtbritt
You can argue all you want about needing a true "guard" behind Vaaks and Coleman, and a true 4 behind Mirk, but its hard to find someone talented enough to warrant playing over the other dudes in our rotation. In the same way that Lee wasn't able to take minutes away from the guard rotation behind Bam and Wagler.

When you have Tomi, Mirk, and Z, it's hard to find minutes at the 4/5 spot. When you have Jake, Andrej, Q, Vaaks...then you can throw Morillo and maybe Brown in there, its hard to find minutes or a role for a player likely to be 10th/11th/12th in the pecking order, regardless of position.

With Mirk able to relieve some of the ball handling pressures, it also alleviates some of that need for backup guard minutes.

Someone earlier questioned if Ty has any chance to come back, and I agree, if he would come back, his versatility to play guard and forward and defend would help a ton too, albeit in a minor role most likely.
 
Back