Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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I feel like every "big time" player we have previously brought in that had some kind of guarantee of having the ball, having a starting line up spot etc, ended up crashing out in spectacular fashion.
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Who do you guys think will be the X-Factor this year?
Loyalty: "OMG WHAT ABOUT THE Y-FACTOR???"
I agree. I have a love/hate relationship with our fans because of the never-ending hot takes. I had to take an extended break from Loyalty, because my hate rapidly outgrew the love part of the relationship!
We have 5 freshmen coming in. Are you saying that Ethan Brown, Zavier Zens (Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin, no less), and Landon Davis aren't even good enough for practice?
Frankly, those guys will need the practice reps... You can't develop your "developmental" guys by having them watch practice.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
The idea of it is great. Try selling two 3rd year college players that averaged double digit points on their respective teams last year to be the 8-9th players for us. Any players with 2+ years of experience already should not be moving to a program to get 15 min/game. No program would be paying them life altering money for that role and it would certainly hurt their ability to play after college.
This is why Brad is going after more high schoolers. Much easier to sell a kid on earning his minutes when if it doesn't work out they still have 3 more years of eligibility.
80'sIllini
- Arizona
No, I don't think he came here to play the 4 as his main position. My point is that he can for spot minutes if needed to do so. How many 4's would be happy to guard him on the perimeter since he can hit 3 point shots? I can't recall where but I saw him listed at 215 and he looks to weigh that amount.
Anyway, and perhaps unfair because the minutes were so limited, but I didn't see much to convince me that JJ can play at this level except for providing some resistance defensively at the rim only. Take his assigned man more than 5-7 feet from the basket and I don't see him as being a good defender and really don't see him having any contribution on offense except maybe cleaning up a few missed layups. Hope I am wrong or we get a legit decent big from mid major whose will to trade down in minutes played for being on a high profile national championship contender who can offer more NIL $ as well. Or, we get a euro player to fit that profile during the summer.
And also Anthony Davis from Chicago. Bruce Weber was the first one in on Davis and if the Illini had gotten him in 2011 who is to say how long Weber would have kept coaching at Illinois. But there was 100,000 reasons why Davis signed with Kentucky and led them to their last national championship on a stacked roster in 2011-2012.
Hoping for morillo. Seems like a glue guy and I think he will be surprisingly goodWho do you guys think will be the X-Factor this year?
If we had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, and we were told this is the roster, I think the reactions would generally be better (though I'm sure not without criticism). But the talk of preseason #1 and Blackwell only to miss on him and not pivot to another star transfer stoked the fire.
As for "cheaper" freshman: Michigan did well with a #18 recruit last year. Duke had 5 top 35 recruits (3 in the top 20)! Arizona had 3 in the top 30 (2 in the top 10). UConn had 2 in the top 30. Of these, the ones outside the top 20 didn't play a major role except Dame Sarr (and he really struggled on offense). That doesn't mean Coleman and Morillo can't be good, it just calibrates the probabilities in my mind.
So my perspective isn't that we need a guard to back up Vaaks and Coleman. It's that there's real risk that one of them doesn't pan out at all. I'd prefer that we get a star in the portal so we're only counting on one of those two to be great. If we can't get a star, then the goal I suppose is to get more options to throw at the wall and hope enough stick (maybe with a defensive-oriented guard as an option).
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
It is almost baffling to me how shortsighted some players/agents have become. It really is simple to me:
1) Illini have a big bag of money available
2) The staff has proven able to get players into the pros (with Wagler it will be 4 first round picks in the last 3 seasons)
3) Have the possibly to win a national championship with a solid core of returning players
If the above is not reason enough to jump on board, then it is best for a player to look elsewhere. It is just sad that Blackwell is finicky on potential usage here, especially considering the success that Illinois has had in recent past (as well as being a legacy).
Either way, this Illini squad will be in strong contention for the third weekend of the tourney again.
The rumor was that Illinois was retaining all the main guys and still had money for Blackwell. See the #retention and #theaddition stuff was going on and then when Stojakovic signed, it seemed like Blackwell cooled on an Illinois and now the roster is all set despite supposedly having the money to make an offer for Blackwell.
So, you basically have the same roster as last year but are swapping Vaaks for Wagler, Coleman for Boswell, and probably Morillo for Ben.
Now it's obviously a very good roster and should hopefully continue to improve but it still doesn't really address the issue with lack of athleticism on the perimeter. Wagler to Vaaks seems like a wash though Vaaks has a bigger frame. Boswell to Coleman seems like similar to a wash though Coleman might be a bit taller. Boswell was likely stronger though. Morillo should be a bit more athletic than Ben.
If the money was there for Blackwell then why not address that issue and add another guard? And there is no reason that it needs to be sold as a 15-20 minute role since you don't want to hand a freshman a starting gig. There is easily a 25 minute role in there even if it's simply backing up Vaaks and Coleman. Trey Mckenney just averaged 22 minutes off the bench as a top 20 recruit in the country(similar to Coleman).
Sure. And that all makes sense. But if the staff still wants Blackwell and can’t get him or don’t like his usage mandates why is it considered nuts by some people here to suggest the team go get a different guard?
I don't get why some people can't see that you don't bring in a freshman pg to play the 4 in the BIG. Its not about height, he would be physically abused.
Another thing that bothers me regarding Morillo is people saying he has no shot. Thats outdated. Dude shot 40% from 3 this year. He's just gotta be good enough to be respected so people can't sag off. People are acting like he's sophomore year Ty which couldn't be further from the truth. Im excited to see his improvement.
I’d never heard of Principia until this year. I looked into their schedule and am surprised they even play in the Missouri association playoffs. Place feels like a La Lumiere, which has two teams - one that plays a national schedule and one that operates as a typical high school team.
Principia won all of its playoff games, championship included, by 50 points. But they played a pretty decent schedule otherwise. They beat one of the best teams in Illinois (East St Louis) handily and played a bunch of other out of state powers. They have multiple players who are definitely not local kids, including a few from Ghana/Ivory Coast.
All this to say that Coleman is at least familiar with excellent comp and saw it in practice every day.
Might just be Duke for Blackwell....
Meanwhile Freshman Jamar Smith smoothly buries another 3 at a near 50% clip...
McBride also shot threes over 40% at Alfonso Plummer volume, and a young Shaun Pruitt and Randle were nothing to scoff at. Team had talent, they were just young outside Dee, Augie, and Rich. And they were a Top 20 offensive team in the nation that year.
Some of the takes in this thread are bizarre. What are we doing here? We could sign the 90s Bulls to the roster this year and people would be angry Dickey Simpkins was on the roster instead of going after Charles Barkley to back up Mirk for 10min
That's a weak class for Duke. They usually have 2-3 top 10 guys and another couple a bit lower.
Coleman would be their lowest ranked guy a lot of years.
Vaaks is the "star" in the portal. By most experts this kid is ranked as a Top 10 transfer.
So you want 2 stars in the portal on top of retaining Mirk, Drej, T, and Z. Priority was always to retain our guys and bet on them improving. I understand what you're saying but it's not realistic.
Money isn't the only issue. If it was we would have Blackwell or another star. You have to sell another ball dominant kid on taking less minutes/usage. Very, very few people will do that.
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