Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[PleaseMakeABowlGame]

But that is a WAAAAAAYYYYYY better comp, even it falls short and let’s say he averages 12 mins and 3.8 points, for our 9th man….. than comparing his production to Keaton Wagler.

I heavily doubt he averages 12 minutes as that means firmly in the rotation.

I never compared his production to Wagler. What I said was it's not a formidable recipe to count on sub-100 freshman to play minutes on a championship hopeful - Wagler being the exception.

Even as depth - you never know when an injury happens and you'll need to use that depth. In that event, you'll either be forced to rely on someone who's not ready OR play a super thin rotation with not enough bodies.

 

[Big Jack]

lol

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

I am not closing the door on one more piece (who would play) being added

#9thMan.

 

[RabidDawgClassic]

A Wink Martindale gif is not something I thought I would see. Respect!

I’m a fan of obscure, less obvious GIFs

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

The Ethan Brown excitement is a hangover following the Wagler experience, IMO. Would be shocked if he cracks the rotation.

There's just a huge dropoff from the 8th guy to the 9th guy, which is the downside of this roster. We're in serious trouble if any of the top 8 get injured.

Stooooppp.....give it a rest.

You couldn't sit, without a roster in front of you, and tell me who the 8th and 9th man are on ANY roster in the country.

In the national championship game, Michigan's # 8 was Will Tschetter and nobody else played. UCONN'S 8th and 9th men just transferred. Arizona's #9 played exactly 1 minute in the Final Four.

If ANY team loses a starter and has to dig down to #9..... it'll be an issue. I don't care what program you want to talk about.

 

[ILFaninFL]

If they do the fifth-year thing, they would have to open the portal to those guys.

 

[ChiefGritty]

There's going to be someone in a complementary ballhandling role next year.

2% chance it's Ethan Brown, 2% chance it's Kylan Boswell, 96% chance it's one of the literally hundreds of guards currently in the portal (or maybe Europe!)

 

[DB11Headband]

#9thMan.

Higher up the totem pole than that.

And no, not Kylan

 

[Emerson Bigguns]

Stooooppp.....give it a rest.

You couldn't sit, without a roster in front of you, and tell me who the 8th and 9th man are on ANY roster in the country.

In the national championship game, Michigan's # 8 was Will Tschetter and nobody else played. UCONN'S 8th and 9th men just transferred. Arizona's #9 played exactly 1 minute in the Final Four.

If ANY team loses a starter and has to dig down to #9..... it'll be an issue. I don't care what program you want to talk about.

This... and anyone pretending they know more about how "ready" Ethan Brown is to contribute than Brad may have a little too elevated opinion of their scouting ability.

Brad's track record for finding good players outside of the top 100 has been pretty great, especially with guys he has been watching for awhile. (Trent, Alan Griffin, Coleman H., DGL, Wagler...all these guys contributed as freshmen and became VG/Great college players)

This kid has been committed for 9 months. I'm sure Brad has seen all the tape. If he thinks he's good enough, then I'm not betting against him.

 

[CleverHandle1]

Higher up the totem pole than that.

And no, not Kylan.

 

[FrankNitty30]

To add….. we have 87 mins a game that left that will be picked up by a combination of extra minutes for the “retention squad” and the 3 headed monster of Coleman, Morillo and Vaaks.

Our 9th man was Petro at 5.9 mins a game. Our 10th man, until he got hurt, was Jakstys at 5.2 mins a game.

Even with ALL the injuries last year, our 9th and 10th players in minutes had 11 between them. To get into the weeds of our 9th and 10th men is a fools errand in my book.

However, I have always low key been a fan of Jakstys. He is NEVER going to be an All Big 10 performer. But his per 40 numbers are 12 pts, 23 Rebs and 3 blocks.

Stop…… I am not saying just give him starter minutes and look what he will do. I get that he does this against other bench scrubs. However, what this does show is that as a Soph he was VERY active while in the game. Some of that will translate.

But……. If it doesn’t, and if Brown or Zens are not good enough to play….. they will be our 9th, 10th and 11th best players.

 

[Mr. Roberts]

Higher up the totem pole than that.

And no, not Kylan

 

[illiniguy24]

Higher up the totem pole than that.

And no, not Kylan

https://twitter.com/x/status/2047355195357536360

 

[NarrowJ]

I think this is very unlikely.

Justin Harmon was a good player. His end to the season was rough, but he had many great moments. Game log:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/gamelog/_/id/4896970/justin-harmon

His January stretch was very good and give the team a much valuable scoring option.

Averaged 5.6 points on the season.

At best, Brown is a fringe rotation guy who manages to crack the rotation. He cannot be counted on for minutes anywhere close to a Justin Harmon -- who averaged 19mpg.

I’m not sure why Harmon was the player given as an example, DGL was the 9th man on that E8 team averaging 7 minutes per game.

Could also look to a 3 star freshman Hawkins averaging 7 minutes as the 9th man on the Covid team that finished the year ranked 2nd in the country.

Also as someone else said, injuries happen and no program can “injury-proof” their roster through having guys who could start on another high major team and earn a million dollars in NIL come here to play 7 minutes and earn 150k (or whatever the 9th man makes).

 

[FrankNitty30]

I’m not sure why Harmon was the player given as an example, DGL was the 9th man on that E8 team averaging 7 minutes per game.

Could also look to a 3 star freshman Hawkins averaging 7 minutes as the 9th man on the Covid team that finished the year ranked 2nd in the country.

Also as someone else said, injuries happen and no program can “injury-proof” their roster through having guys who could start on another high major team and earn a million dollars in NIL come here to play 7 minutes and earn 150k (or whatever the 9th man makes).

Thank you! You made my point even better.

 

[ChiefGritty]

I’m not sure why Harmon was the player given as an example

Because he was a portal addition as a one-and-done role player.

 

[Scoregasm]

Higher up the totem pole than that.

And no, not Kylan

 

[NarrowJ]

Because he was a portal addition as a one-and-done role player.

Right and he averaged like 20 minutes per game

I’m not sure we have that to offer to someone like Justin Harmon on this team

Editing to add recent insider tea leaves suggest we may be adding a guard so this convo may be moot soon

 

[JJE]

Higher up the totem pole than that.

And no, not Kylan

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

I’m not sure why Harmon was the player given as an example, DGL was the 9th man on that E8 team averaging 7 minutes per game.

Could also look to a 3 star freshman Hawkins averaging 7 minutes as the 9th man on the Covid team that finished the year ranked 2nd in the country.

Also as someone else said, injuries happen and no program can “injury-proof” their roster through having guys who could start on another high major team and earn a million dollars in NIL come here to play 7 minutes and earn 150k (or whatever the 9th man makes).

If Brown is 2024 DGL (who was better than 2026 Lee or 2026 Petro) I'd have no problems with the guy.

 

[BryceHopkins]

 

[My2Cents]

Higher up the totem pole than that.

And no, not Kylan

Thanks for the info, do you know if the Coach has been following along here, so he knows the right player(s) to sign/pursue ?

 

[Rebounding Dog]

There's going to be someone in a complementary ballhandling role next year.

2% chance it's Ethan Brown, 2% chance it's Kylan Boswell, 96% chance it's one of the literally hundreds of guards currently in the portal (or maybe Europe!)

My best guess an addition aint gonna be a guard!

 

[fuggles]

db upsetting the cart again. lol

 

[Altuve27]

Higher up the totem pole than that.

And no, not Kylan