Morillo is a PG, just want people to know that. He is also 6'7".
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Nice to see another piece about Vaaks, but the question remains whether he has actually signed with the Beloved or not?
This kid's offensive profile is phenomenal. You can see how much attention he was getting from defenses at providence. Constant help being run at him when he had the ball. He is going to find so much more space in our offense.
LOL. I'm sure Scottie Pippen also considered himself a PG to a large degree. Didn't mean he didn't find himself guarding Karl Malone sometimes...
Morillo can be our Swiss army knife, which he should embrace because its going to mean more minutes. I don't think they will try to turn him into a 4, by any means, but minutes are going to be hard earned. Take them where you can get them.
Ideally, a guy like Zens or L.Davis can give us something there. (Landon is going to need a nickname, stat...We already have a DAVIS)
Once practice starts, that 4th star won't mean much if the other freshmen are giving him buckets.
Hopefully, he's making plans to get here in June too. I wouldn't let those 3 star guys get much of a head start.
Brad doesn't care about stars.
Such a funny scene
The question with Morillo isn't whether he is a traditional 4/PF. He isn't, but that is also completely irrelevant. BH wasn't either btw.
Thw question is whether he can competently guard the opponent's 4 or equivalent from time to time to spell Mirk without putting us at a huge disadvantage. I would guess the answer is not an absolute in either direction but is going to be matchup and situation dependent.
Mirk is going to play a lot of minutes. The backup minutes at that position will be under 10 mpg (maybe half that) and I imagine a portion of those will be double Ivisic lineups. When people say Morillo might get time at the 4, they're not talking about a lot of time.
Thw question is whether he can competently guard the opponent's 4 or equivalent from time to time to spell Mirk without putting us at a huge disadvantage. I would guess the answer is not an absolute in either direction but is going to be matchup and situation dependent.
Mirk is going to play a lot of minutes. The backup minutes at that position will be under 10 mpg (maybe half that) and I imagine a portion of those will be double Ivisic lineups. When people say Morillo might get time at the 4, they're not talking about a lot of time.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
I doubt Morillo will cover opposing team 4s much if at all.
Could see a 4/5 rotation of 3 bigs. Minute splits like:
33 Mirk
27 Tomi
20 Z
I cannot comprehend the Duke love. They have lots of 5 stars but I was not impressed with anyone other than Boozer, who is now gone. I think they are overrated.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
There will be a fourth "big", whether or not they are in fact big. Maybe that's Morillo maybe it's Andrej maybe it's Jakstys but the role will exist.
The possibility of more Double Ivisic lineups (which I believe in, but there are questions) and our penchant for not fouling minimize that role, but don't eliminate it, even ignoring the likelihood of some sort of injury period we have to contend with.
Limping along a non-big defending bigs is very common in basketball. It just wasn't something we ever had to worry about last year because of how much Ben improved defensively.
When Ty was injured again prior to this past season, I knew ILL was DOOMED for lack of depth and having to rely on that bum Ben again! This staff didn't know what it was doing!! How right I was!!!
This coming season, with Ty leaving this DOOMED program, it’s obvious the staff is again dropping the ball by not providing sufficient depth in the cloned form of that SuperSub Ben!!!! /s
This coming season, with Ty leaving this DOOMED program, it’s obvious the staff is again dropping the ball by not providing sufficient depth in the cloned form of that SuperSub Ben!!!! /s
Yeah, odds are a few games (or chunks of minutes) will be missed among those three guys for injury/illness/foul trouble/bad matchups/whatever.
Not trying to stir up arguments about whether some quasi-star player would be willing to come here to fight for minutes to give us depth. Just a reality, and the higher the floor we can set for those minutes the better.
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Are we? How many guys played meaningful minutes on a game to game basis?
We went 8 deep most games. 2 of the 3 bench guys are back, and you are adding the 247 composite ranked number 50 and 118 freshman (neither of which Humrichous was) to replace Ben.
Face value, I could see rebounding and 3 pt% being a concern, but Morillo averaged 9 rebounds a game (Ben averaged 4 at the D1 level) and shot 40% from 3 his senior year. Will those drop, yeah it’s likely but let’s not romanticize the depth we had last year.
And we have never seen a PG guard 1-4 so it makes sense that folks are still obsessing over his position and role.
I agree with your statement. But we were pretty lucky on the injury front usually we lose at least one guy for the season.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
What seems loud and clear to me both reading about Morillo and watching what's out there on Youtube is that his position is "basketball player"
I'm stoked, I always like guys like that
One year ago today, Andrej Stojakovic committed to U of I...
Here was one insider's projection of our rotation that afternoon:
Petro
Bam
Andrej
Z
Tomi
Bench:
Ty
Mirk
Ben
Davis
Wagler
Lee
Jakstys
Redd
A few other takes:
"If the roster stays as it is right now, I think we're fine with Boswell and Petrovic filling 99% of the PG role between them. Rodgers and Stojakovic (oh and maybe Lee too) could probably cover that last 1% in a pinch."
"I really don't like Bench HumBrickHouse. Am I the only one who is concerned that he will play 20 min per game and shoot like 33% 3pt?"
" On the other side, Wagler will need at LEAST a year before he's ready"
Assuming ~200 mpg to go around, will Ty/Ben be happy with this?
Andrej Stojakovic 31 mpg
Kylan Boswell 30 mpg
Tomislav Ivisic 25 mpg
Mihailo Petrovic 23 mpg
Ty Rodgers 23 mpg
Zvonimir Ivisic 21 mpg
David Mirkovic 17 mpg
Ben H 15 mpg
Jake Davis 10 mpg
Keaton Wagler 3 mpg
Brandon Lee 3 mpg
Insider response:
Think one of Wagler / Lee could redshirt …
Lower Davis minutes …
We don't know anything, right now.
Except, maybe Brosky, who said this...
I could see a starting lineup of:
Petrovic
Mirkovic
Stoyakovic
Boswell
Tomi Ivisic
Plenty of minutes off the bench for Z, Ben, and Davis. I think BU will mix and match with the twins. I expect he'll play both of them together at times but not as a steady diet. I still have high hopes for Jake; Rodgers not likely to get a lot of minutes; there's just too much talent and depth. Too many guys who are dangerous on offense.
Other than the Wagler/Petrovic things, none of us saw coming, he was way ahead of the curve.
Here was one insider's projection of our rotation that afternoon:
Petro
Bam
Andrej
Z
Tomi
Bench:
Ty
Mirk
Ben
Davis
Wagler
Lee
Jakstys
Redd
A few other takes:
"If the roster stays as it is right now, I think we're fine with Boswell and Petrovic filling 99% of the PG role between them. Rodgers and Stojakovic (oh and maybe Lee too) could probably cover that last 1% in a pinch."
"I really don't like Bench HumBrickHouse. Am I the only one who is concerned that he will play 20 min per game and shoot like 33% 3pt?"
" On the other side, Wagler will need at LEAST a year before he's ready"
Assuming ~200 mpg to go around, will Ty/Ben be happy with this?
Andrej Stojakovic 31 mpg
Kylan Boswell 30 mpg
Tomislav Ivisic 25 mpg
Mihailo Petrovic 23 mpg
Ty Rodgers 23 mpg
Zvonimir Ivisic 21 mpg
David Mirkovic 17 mpg
Ben H 15 mpg
Jake Davis 10 mpg
Keaton Wagler 3 mpg
Brandon Lee 3 mpg
Insider response:
Think one of Wagler / Lee could redshirt …
Lower Davis minutes …
We don't know anything, right now.
Except, maybe Brosky, who said this...
I could see a starting lineup of:
Petrovic
Mirkovic
Stoyakovic
Boswell
Tomi Ivisic
Plenty of minutes off the bench for Z, Ben, and Davis. I think BU will mix and match with the twins. I expect he'll play both of them together at times but not as a steady diet. I still have high hopes for Jake; Rodgers not likely to get a lot of minutes; there's just too much talent and depth. Too many guys who are dangerous on offense.
Other than the Wagler/Petrovic things, none of us saw coming, he was way ahead of the curve.
Let’s start by spelling his name right. Morillo.
Wagler 6, Boswell 52, and Andrej 54 in the latest ESPN mock draft
Those around in '89 did. Bardo was capable of guarding all 5 positions. While he frequently hounded the opposing PG, he also guarded opposing bigs.
That's a big reason he was so valuable on a team with a very short frontline.
If only that seemed to matter to recruits. They still seem to get whomever they want...
hooraybeer
- Peoria, IL
how many years of underachieving does JS get there before people start wondering if he can actually coach?
Why do some fans always act like we are Doomed
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