Lucas Johnson was also a beloved Illini player and they have very comparable contributions statistically. I would argue that any disappointment with Ty is more a result of higher expectations and injury than with contributions. I will be rooting hard for him.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
Keep forgetting about the "new" Pac-12 hoops conference. Should be pretty competitive and a great opportunity for Ty
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Every time I look at it I get angry again about the brain-dead discredited thinking about media markets and related nonsense that led them to invite Texas State.
The whole thing is a farce, but you're right, it ought to be a pretty strong basketball league and a big step up for Gonzaga.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
should get lots of tick, good for him
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
Brad is killing it in the portal and HS recruiting
Portal - no losses in core, adding possible all B10 CG in Vaaks
HS - 5 star SG Coleman and 4 star CG Morillo
Best of luck to Brandon moving forward. I'm not sure why it didn't work out for him here, but I sure hope it does at JMU
Yup, it still seems like lots of playing time might get him over the hump. It wouldn't be a shock to see him have options after a big Junior year at JMU.
Illinois is recruiting Liv Johnson, daughter of Lucas. She just finished her freshman year. Know nothing of her game, but she has the right genes: https://www.maxpreps.com/il/mundele...asketball/girls/stats/?careerid=8teas23t0vg00
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
He was highly rated but struggled on offense. Did not appear to have good 3 point shot. Defense was OK but not able to stop elite like Braden Smith, Jeremy Fears, Blackwell.
Dropping a level to get more playing time while working on his game seems like an intelligent move. James Madison was 18-15 middle of pack sun belt conference.
I don't get how this hurts the NCAA, it's lawmakers saving them from the mess they created.
I also don't understand what benefit the players' get that would make them want to collectively bargain.
The classic "unions are bad for employees" trope that has literally no basis in fact. Statistical analysis after statistical analysis shows that unions have increased employee pay, benefits, and safety in every single industry and country in which they've been introduced, and conversely that when labor participation rates have suffered, so has employee compensation.
Contracts are negotiated documents, as are CBAs. You give up something to get something. Likely the price for allowing players to be locked into longer-term deals is a bigger share of revenue pie. NCAA basketball and football are the only two high-revenue sports leagues I am aware of where coaches make more than star players.
I have no idea how you come to this conclusion. Just look at player vs coach compensation in the NBA vs in college. Ayo, a fringe starter/6th man (very good one, but still) is about to get a long term deal making more annually than the highest paid coach in the entire league. If Wagler is picked #5 to the Atlanta Hawks, which is where a bunch of projections have him, he will make more than his head coach as a rookie.
At the same time, AJ Dybantsa is rumored to be the highest paid NCAA basketball player ever at $4.4 million in NIL, which is one half Bill Self's annual salary.
The union has helped players grab a way bigger slice of the NBA revenue pie than NCAA players could even dream of.
My issue has nothing to do with stats nor expectations for that matter. Big Lucas Johnson and DFW fan as well.
Judging by his landing spot, I'd wager it's pretty clear what he was looking for... Playing time. His role here may not have been a lot different than it was last year, perhaps a few more minutes, but barring injury unlikely to be a major contributor.
I imagine he will earn a starting role at JMU. I'd have likely done the same thing in that position. It's hard to get someone to pay you big bucks in NIL when you don't have much on tape at this level.
Tear it up, Brandon!
Agreed - mostly though I was wondering why the staff did not think he fit in terms of getting more playing time. One thing that I'm wondering about is whether he's actually 6'4. He seems shorter than that
James Madison is an interesting choice. Good luck Brandon. For basketball, I'm surprised that he went as far down as the ASUN. I expected him to go to something akin to a Pac12/Atlantic10/Missouri Valley school. For academics, James Madison is a great choice.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
To be clear, I do not think unions are bad for employees. Very much the opposite.
College sports is just a weirdo edge case that doesn't even really analogize to other big time sports because of the artificial limitation on career length, let alone more "normal" industries.
In NIL World people posit a union purely as a mechanism to constrain the choices and earning power of labor. Well, why would the labor accept that?
How much would the Knicks pay Victor Wembanyama if they could? 10yr/$1BN, without breaking a sweat. It would be way more than Ohtani.
Now, of course, the NBA Player's Association has hundreds of members, many of whom would be worse off without a CBA (not even the bottom roster filler so much as the middle class veteran whose salaries are inflated by the caps on deals for the elite).
But in an open competition, the NBA players in total would get more than the 51% of basketball-related income their current CBA brings them (with that number drip, drip, dripping down each negotiation cycle). I feel reasonably confident of that.
I don't think that's as true for the other sports where talent is somewhat more expendable, and of course there are conditions-of-work issues that are understandably significant in the NFL beyond just the monetary stuff.
And the stuff you mention about coaches is apples-and-oranges. Even in NIL World where the spread between coach and player salaries is shrinking rapidly year after year, a great coach is MUCH more valuable to a college team than an NBA team.
In a 5-for-5 world especially, dropping down a level if you aren't immediately in line for big playing time is probably the career earnings maximizing move.
Maybe catch him at JMU for a game. Back in the day he would be a solid contributor in year 2.
Wasn’t Marcus Liberty number one at some point?