Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#101      
Combo
BalloonsTheElephant said:
I'm fine without adding Blackwell. That would have been a massive get, but I feel like our roster is good enough without adding someone that could potentially cause more selfish styles of play. I would like to add a veteran guard and a change of pace big that can just be a large man under the basket for matchup reasons. These would be our depth 9/10 guys off the bench for break glass injury/foul trouble scenarios.

Again we have assembled a talented roster with a lot of guys that have a wide range of abilities. I've learned to just trust Brad and he will get the guys and will make it work.
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Agree completely w/ the bolded. Andrej is going to want to score a lot and Vaaks will have the ball in his hands a lot. Adding another guy that expects to score 15-20 PPG (like Blackwell) might be disruptive. But adding another big that can rebound and defend and a guard that can handle and defend quick guards makes a lot of sense.

I've seen the tape of Brown and to my relatively untrained eye, I can't see him being ready his first year. Down the road, he may very well be.
 
#102      
the juiceman cometh
mhuml32 said:
Agree with a lot of this. The five position designations haven't been replaced because there isn't a straight-forward way of explaining fit when most 2-4 players have multi-positional fits. For example, Petro fell out of the rotation from poor play but his fate was fully sealed once the staff was comfortable with Wagler taking on ball handling responsibilities.

I usually prefer to write out how many minutes-per-game each player will play to think about lineups and roles.
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Now I'm going to say something that's probably a little out there, but I've been thinking about a lot and have kinda convinced myself of:

Andrej Stojakovic, Lead Guard.

OK, hear me out.

Once we settle into the half court, lead guard in our system is all about running the pick and roll. Stoj didn't really do that much this past season, we used him in a lot of ISOs instead. He's great at finding space and getting to the bucket, which is the primary skill in an ISO, but also helpful as a pick and roll initiator. The primary goal of the pick and roll is actually to get the initiator to the basket. This is the most efficient outcome in pick and rolls. I think #2 is typically initiator shooting from perimeter off the dribble, and #3 is pass out for 3. So if Stoj can work on reading defenses and hitting open shooters, I think he could be a third option to play that lead guard role (not taking the ball up the court so much as switching into the lead guard role at the top of the key in the half court).

He also has every incentive to work on this. I think this is the thing that could unlock his potential as an NBA prospect. I don't know, it's probably just me being crazy, but I've convinced myself at this point that there's something there. Maybe one of you can explain to me why I'm completely off base.
 
#103      
Mobi
This is going to be the 24 offseason all over again, isn't it.
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We were very very lucky last year. What happened if Keaton didn't happen? Maybe sweet 16, maybe not. We need depth in PG in case players don't turn out well (e.g., Petrovic) and injuries (e.g.，Kylan). Seems like the staff is working on it.
 
#105      
Det_Illini_fan
TLDR for today

To the pessimists fighting:
Drake And Josh GIF


To the optimists fighting:
Drake And Josh GIF
 
#106      
BackThatPassUp
I have no concerns about offense. Who's going to help Dre on defense. I think our ability to have lateral defenders is being undermined. True we have size but in tight games you have to have two or three guys that can lock down similar to having two or three that can just get a bucket down the stretch.
 
#107      
Emerson Bigguns
uiba99 said:
I've got a weird practical question about scholarships that probably bothers me more than anyone else cuz I just like to know how stuff works.

Let's say a guy (okay, Ty) enters the portal intending to transfer. Let's say he then decides to come back (not unheard of).

At what point does any scholarship once promised for any future academic years go away? In other words, at what point during the portal/commitment process does the contractual relationship, so to speak, no longer exist? Is it at the moment they declare to transfer, or is it when they sign at another school? Just curious about the logistics of all of this.

Please note I am not in any way implying that he or Brandon would return, but...how does it all work?
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Once they hit the portal, they are essentially a free agent... though the scholarship continues through the end of the academic year. (until July 1st)

Contrary to popular belief, most athletic scholarships are not guaranteed beyond one year. Until very recently, almost none of them were. As of 2024, multi-year guarantees in the revenue sports have been mandated to some degree, but can always be cancelled by poor academic progress or misconduct.

Once you declare for the portal, you have no recourse to compel the University to honor your scholarship past the current academic year, even if you change your mind. If a guy returns, like say Peyton Sandfort at Nebraska, a new, mutual agreement must be reached.
 
#108      
Combo
Piotyr said:
Quick recap of the offseason so far:

Staff: "It's going to be so great when we build the team around Mirkovic and bring back as many contributors as possible."

Staff: *brings back everyone, adds 2 top 30 freshmen and a top 10 transfer guard*

Board: "What's the plan for backup PG? Who is going to be the guy? How can we trust in freshmen to contribute a season after our top 2 contributors were freshmen?"

It's like last year, but speedrun since the staff brought everything together so quickly.
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Who are these two top 30 FR? Coleman is ranked about #30. Next highest is Morillo at around #60.

Typical inflate-ranking on this forum.
 
#109      
ThePortalMadeMeDoIt
the juiceman cometh said:
Now I'm going to say something that's probably a little out there, but I've been thinking about a lot and have kinda convinced myself of:

Andrej Stojakovic, Lead Guard.

OK, hear me out.

Once we settle into the half court, lead guard in our system is all about running the pick and roll. Stoj didn't really do that much this past season, we used him in a lot of ISOs instead. He's great at finding space and getting to the bucket, which is the primary skill in an ISO, but also helpful as a pick and roll initiator. The primary goal of the pick and roll is actually to get the initiator to the basket. This is the most efficient outcome in pick and rolls. I think #2 is typically initiator shooting from perimeter off the dribble, and #3 is pass out for 3. So if Stoj can work on reading defenses and hitting open shooters, I think he could be a third option to play that lead guard role (not taking the ball up the court so much as switching into the lead guard role at the top of the key in the half court).

He also has every incentive to work on this. I think this is the thing that could unlock his potential as an NBA prospect. I don't know, it's probably just me being crazy, but I've convinced myself at this point that there's something there. Maybe one of you can explain to me why I'm completely off base.
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His potential and the main thing he need to work on is developing his 3-point shot. Secondary, is not having tunnel vision on his drives.
 
#114      
NarrowJ
the juiceman cometh said:
Now I'm going to say something that's probably a little out there, but I've been thinking about a lot and have kinda convinced myself of:

Andrej Stojakovic, Lead Guard.

OK, hear me out.

Once we settle into the half court, lead guard in our system is all about running the pick and roll. Stoj didn't really do that much this past season, we used him in a lot of ISOs instead. He's great at finding space and getting to the bucket, which is the primary skill in an ISO, but also helpful as a pick and roll initiator. The primary goal of the pick and roll is actually to get the initiator to the basket. This is the most efficient outcome in pick and rolls. I think #2 is typically initiator shooting from perimeter off the dribble, and #3 is pass out for 3. So if Stoj can work on reading defenses and hitting open shooters, I think he could be a third option to play that lead guard role (not taking the ball up the court so much as switching into the lead guard role at the top of the key in the half court).

He also has every incentive to work on this. I think this is the thing that could unlock his potential as an NBA prospect. I don't know, it's probably just me being crazy, but I've convinced myself at this point that there's something there. Maybe one of you can explain to me why I'm completely off base.
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I think this is legitimate too. I'm sure the #1 negative feedback item from NBA evals is going to be his tendency to keep the ball a second too long when trapped/doubled or driving into a crowd. He needs to add more playmaking ability to his game that isn't just him knifing through for a close range shot.

Illinois should have even more ballhandlers than last season, imo.

All of the negativity has to do with the Blackwell rug pull, but I'm not convinced he was ever a real option anyway unless Andrej was to leave or Coleman decommitted. For all of the hype about Blackwell, 95% of what he adds to a team is scoring (which we will not have any issues doing anyway). He's not a plus defender, he's not a plus passer, he just takes field goal attempts away from other players. He shot 43% overall last season, so its not as if he's uber-efficient in doing it either.

With his about-face from 'wanting to win' to 'wanting usage' I'm gonna have to go ahead and coin the nickname "John Blackhole"
 
#115      
Fly Illini Fly!
the juiceman cometh said:
Now I'm going to say something that's probably a little out there, but I've been thinking about a lot and have kinda convinced myself of:

Andrej Stojakovic, Lead Guard.

OK, hear me out.

Once we settle into the half court, lead guard in our system is all about running the pick and roll. Stoj didn't really do that much this past season, we used him in a lot of ISOs instead. He's great at finding space and getting to the bucket, which is the primary skill in an ISO, but also helpful as a pick and roll initiator. The primary goal of the pick and roll is actually to get the initiator to the basket. This is the most efficient outcome in pick and rolls. I think #2 is typically initiator shooting from perimeter off the dribble, and #3 is pass out for 3. So if Stoj can work on reading defenses and hitting open shooters, I think he could be a third option to play that lead guard role (not taking the ball up the court so much as switching into the lead guard role at the top of the key in the half court).

He also has every incentive to work on this. I think this is the thing that could unlock his potential as an NBA prospect. I don't know, it's probably just me being crazy, but I've convinced myself at this point that there's something there. Maybe one of you can explain to me why I'm completely off base.
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His career assist to turnover is 0.8

The tools are there… but he’s probably got to improve as a decision maker.

In terms of getting to the basket … there’s very few guys more effective in that department (if any). So using the PnR for a downhill drive would obviously make sense.
 
#116      
Rebounding Dog
Scholarship vs. Walk-on isn't too much of a thing to track anymore. Every team has 15 roster spots to fill regardless of that distinction.

By my count our roster sits at 12.

FR (4):
Morillo, Brown, Coleman, Davis

SO (4):
Jakstys, Mirkovic, Fagbemi, Vaaks

SR (4):
T. Ivisic, Z. Ivisic, Davis, Stojakovic

3 open roster spots as we sit today.
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Add Zens (2026 class yes?) 2 spots open.
 
#117      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
ChiefGritty said:
There's a missing piece here. Pretty lame to be relentlessly shamed and propagandized for stating the obvious.
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Yup.

And it’s not totally a 4 million dollar stud scorer like Blackwell. Don’t get me wrong, he would've been FANTASTIC. But that was always the home run shot.

At the moment, it’s not what we absolutely need.

It’s depth at the guard spot.
 
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#118      
ChiefGritty
Fly Illini Fly! said:
His career assist to turnover is 0.8

The tools are there… but he’s probably got to improve as a decision maker.

In terms of getting to the basket … there’s very few guys more effective in that department (if any). So using the PnR for a downhill drive would obviously make sense.
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Vaaks seems like a player who could exploit his skillset in a way that turns up the facilitation and turns down the shot hunting.

Stojakovic does not seem like that. Bucket-getting is the core of what's good about him as a player and the core of what he brings this team as constructed.
 
#119      
Illinisnake
My starting 5
Vaaks
Coleman
Andrej
Mirk
Tomi

Bench
BigZ
Jake
Ethan Brown
Morrilo
Jason J
Landon Davis
Zens
 
#120      
wncillini
With no more additions this team reminds me more and I will have expectations closer to the 05-06 Illini then the 04-05 Illini. A good team with a good record who brought back starters but not THE starter and great Illini team, but not great all of basketball standards like 88-89 and 04-05 who still get brought up as best teams to not win it all.

Its definitely strange how two camps looks at the same team and 1 camp perceives a gaping guard hole and the other camp says this is the championship team as is and nobody even pretends the other is close to accurate.
 
#121      
the juiceman cometh
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:
I think the difference is we usually have guards capable of providing a spark off the bench:

2021 - Ayo, Curbelo, Miller, Trent
2022 - Curbelo, Trent, Plummer
2023 - Skyy, Harris, Epps
2024 - DGL, Harmon
(just listing all the guards - somebody played off the bench and provided a spark on each team)

Past year it was no one. And coming year it’ll likely be no one as well.

The Wisconsin game was brutal. Keaton the only ball handler; only played 6 guys. This year will be the same thing in a similar scenario.

It’s just not ideal to have guard depth as a weakness for two seasons in a row. Especially when it’s easily avoidable.
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So now we're at the point where we are griping about the season that just ended with us getting to a Final Four?

Your main bone to pick has been that we do not have reliable, veteran guards to rely on and would have to rely on unproven freshmen like Morillo and Brown to provide a spark of the bench, right?

In 2024, DGL was a freshman. He also wasn't very good. He played 7 mpg, shot 34% from the field and 22% from 3. Not much spark there.

In 2023, Skyy, Harris, and Epps were all freshmen.

In 2022, Curbelo had a notoriously disappointing sophomore seasons.

In 2021, Curbelo and Miller were freshmen (and Miller started).

So it was ok to rely on Freshmen in prior years, but not ok now?

Plus a lot of the people you listed were starters, which I get that you're just trying to show the "depth" but kinda misleading with all this talk of a "bench spark." If you take all the freshmen out, and all the starters out, here is what your list looks like:

2024: Harmon
2022: Curbelo

That's it. That's the whole list.
 
#123      
OB positive
annual reminder to not be disappointed when people say we will get every big name in the transfer portal and then we don't...IMO Blackwell made absolutely no sense if we were getting everyone back.
Mirk usage will go up from last season. Stoj will take plenty of shots. Vaaks will have the ball a ton, and Coleman/Ivisic will also get plenty of usage.
There is only one ball.
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Every big name, we very seldom get a big name and never get our top target. Brad doesn't want to pivot and we will most likely have a great year without another addition but in the past it has been the pivots that saved us after we missed out on our initial targets.
 
#124      
Det_Illini_fan
the juiceman cometh said:
So now we're at the point where we are griping about the season that just ended with us getting to a Final Four?
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FWIW, criticism does not equate disapproval. Any year’s outcome, even one that is ends with a big trophy, can receive some critiques, as nothing is perfect. And often the critiques are just intended for straightening out weaknesses, and incrementally getting better. Something Brad & Co. have been doing a great job of. Not having criticisms of last year I think would actually be irresponsible. That’s how we get better, but doesn’t mean it wasn’t profoundly admired.
 
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