Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
#951      
ColSLU69
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD… DANILO DOZIC ALREADY PLEASE.
Click to expand...
Danilo Dozic. Pepperdine Waves. Center/Power Forward. Sophomore. 6'10", 225 pounds. Born in Belgrade, Serbia. Averaged 11.3/2.7/1.5 while shooting 43.1/36.3/77.0 this past season. Agent is Misko Raznatovic.
 
#952      
SCDerby
Fly Illini Fly! said:
A Vic!

https://twitter.com/x/status/2058254133648556151

(idk just looked interestingj
Click to expand...
Funny thing is that David and him are buddies. They used to train together before but Maksim went to Lithuania and soon became team captain, he is more of a perimeter based forward who had strong tournament few days ago and is already of NCAA radars. Not sure if he could be talked into commitment but i think his game could translate nicely over to college.
 
#953      
HailtotheChief
Emerson Bigguns said:
It's true, but again, Z didn't come back to play 17 mpg again... Mirk will play 30. (29.5 last year) The twins will split the other 50 low post minutes.

Tomi had the highest foul rate per 40 minutes of the 3 bigs at 3.2 last season. They just don't foul much...

Could we use another big body? Sure. Again, it's just a tough sell right now because there is no clear path to significant/if any minutes.

No one is going to expect Zens to play major minutes at the 4. Could he, if the game situation calls for it? (opponent goes small) Maybe... JJ is likely the "break glass in case of emergency" big guy.

"Plan A" will be some combo of the IC's on the court for the whole 40 minutes.
Click to expand...
I think we are fine with big Mirk n the Twins if everything goes perfect and they all play 25 minutes plus a game of the 80 at the 4/5 in close games. I actually think with all our offensive fire power if Jason Jakyts is healthy and the 4th option that he can hold is own on the glass for spot minutes. He actually has in very, very limited time. He hasnt shown me anything to think he cant rebound and play a lil D For 5 minutes here and there if needed. I do think outside our top 3 guys he is the best option to do that at the 4/5 spot. I would hope he add a guy for that but if not i expect vs true bigs its him. He may just be better than people think at rebounding and defense anything more is just gravy.
 
#954      
Combo
Fly Illini Fly! said:
Zens is listed as a power forward.
Click to expand...
Yup. I've seen him listed at both PF and SF. Watch his tape - he could help in both places and maybe even some 2. He's a pretty strong kid.

But hopefully we don't need him too much this season (i.e. all the guys ahead of him stay healthy and avoid foul trouble).
 
#955      
ColSLU69
Agree he would be a good 4th big- but the insiders have been pretty clear we're not going after another transfer that it will be someone from Europe

It's also a touch sell to get a starter at Pepperdine to take a 10mpg role here - you can sell him on starting the year after and getting the development and Fletched up to make it to the league, but he would likely want a bigger role next year wherever he goes
Click to expand...
Dozic IS a European! LOL

You make a good point about the tough sell for a starter somewhere else to take a much-reduced bench role at Illinois. You also suggest an interesting sell regarding a starting role for Dozic in 27-28, and development via Fletch and the coaching staff in 26-27. I would add that Illinois could possibly offer to pay more NIL money to Dozic than he was paid by Pepperdine in 25-26. But you're right; he would likely still want a bigger role next year wherever he decides to transfer.
 
#956      
joeybcrazy13
Waiting Patiently GIF by General Hospital

Nfl Time GIF by FanDuel
 
#957      
blackdog
HailtotheChief said:
Not when i google him. 247, ESPN, and others have him as a Small Forward at 6'7" 215lbs. Illinois just says Forward. I dont think he was brought here to play power forward here either. Who ever that is that comes in after Mirk will have a lot more length and size than than that and be built more like Mirk at 6'9" 255lb. We had enough of Hawkins and even Ben being pushed around by true 4s. . Its foolish to think Zens can defend the power 4 in the B10.
Click to expand...

Now Google the other B1G rosters and look at how many players 6'9 255 actually got playing time on each time. You will see that most teams are lucky to have 3 guys that size who are playable for regular minutes.
 
#958      
Joel Goodson
Combo said:
Yup. I've seen him listed at both PF and SF. Watch his tape - he could help in both places and maybe even some 2. He's a pretty strong kid.

But hopefully we don't need him too much this season (i.e. all the guys ahead of him stay healthy and avoid foul trouble).
Click to expand...

100%. nice frame, nice physique. a year with Fletch and look out.

can he play PF? sure, in a pinch. but he's much more of a wing. anywho, good problem to have
 
#959      
HailtotheChief
blackdog said:
Now Google the other B1G rosters and look at how many players 6'9 255 actually got playing time on each time. You will see that most teams are lucky to have 3 guys that size who are playable for regular minutes.
Click to expand...
We are not most teams if we want to compete with top tier teams. I dont buy the top teams dont have 3 or even just 4 guys over 6'7" 215. UConn 5, Duke had 7, Zona 6, MSU 7, Michigan 5, Alabama 7
, kentucky 7, and Florida 6. Those are the only ones i looked up. I didnt say anything about everyone playing significant minutes. Dont put words in my mouth. I said if one of those 3 go down we really only have 1 guy with size to play the power 4 or 5 spot in Jason. Clearly based on above most have a back ups or even multiple incase of injury whether they play or not is not the point. Last season we did too with 5 guys in T, Z, Mirk, Ben and Jason. And guess what? We needed Ben and Z both even with 5 when guys went down.
 
Last edited:
#965      
Brosky
I'm now confused. There's so much activity. I'd like to see a list on one page of all our incoming recruits and transfers. Someone please?
 
#968      
RockfordIllini
This probably isn’t the hottest of takes these days, and I’m not saying Coleman is going to be a consensus AA/Lottery pick, but we’ve found the next one. Skilled, shooter, processor, maybe not quite as big as Keaton but clearly better athlete, and most important/intriguing to me, clearly a competitor/gives a ****.

Would not shock me at all if he is our best player next year. And assuming Andrej is back and just a little more luck in the injury department, we could be even better than last year.

And remains to be seen obviously but next year looks to be more wide open/fewer super teams than years past.

I am as exited for next year as I’ve been since we got Ayo and Kofi back for their Junior and Sophomore years.
 
#969      
Emerson Bigguns
RockfordIllini said:
This probably isn’t the hottest of takes these days, and I’m not saying Coleman is going to be a consensus AA/Lottery pick, but we’ve found the next one. Skilled, shooter, processor, maybe not quite as big as Keaton but clearly better athlete, and most important/intriguing to me, clearly a competitor/gives a ****.

Would not shock me at all if he is our best player next year. And assuming Andrej is back and just a little more luck in the injury department, we could be even better than last year.

And remains to be seen obviously but next year looks to be more wide open/fewer super teams than years past.

I am as exited for next year as I’ve been since we got Ayo and Kofi back for their Junior and Sophomore years.
Click to expand...
I'm with you. It's hard to watch his highlights and not get excited. In the context of this team, he won't be forced to do much, but he will have opportunities to do a LOT if he buys in, listens to his coaches, learns from the veterans, and pays attention to detail. Great talent & great basketball situation hopefully leads to great results.
It's nice to see his quickness and anticipation on defense. It shows he is engaged on that end, though he may not get as much runway to gamble here.

He is perhaps the biggest big X-Factor between us being really good, or elite. If he's not the 5th best player on the team, we will be in the running for the B1G, but not likely the favorite. If he is the 5th best player on the team, we might be the favorite in the B1G. If he's anything above the 5th best player on the team... the entire country better watch out.
 
#971      
HailtotheChief
RockfordIllini said:
This probably isn’t the hottest of takes these days, and I’m not saying Coleman is going to be a consensus AA/Lottery pick, but we’ve found the next one. Skilled, shooter, processor, maybe not quite as big as Keaton but clearly better athlete, and most important/intriguing to me, clearly a competitor/gives a ****.

Would not shock me at all if he is our best player next year. And assuming Andrej is back and just a little more luck in the injury department, we could be even better than last year.

And remains to be seen obviously but next year looks to be more wide open/fewer super teams than years past.

I am as exited for next year as I’ve been since we got Ayo and Kofi back for their Junior and Sophomore years.
Click to expand...
I think its awesome to have so many quality players that we wouldnt be surprised if a number of them may be our best player or that its debatable because so many are likely to perform well. I expect Mirk to be a double double machine and thus our best player but it could also be T , Vaaks, Dre or even Coleman. Mirk and T are very valubale as scorers, rebounders and passers. It is really tough to predict our leading scorer on the season but many will have great games as individuals, and thats awesome. I wouldnt be shocked at all if Vaaks, Andre, and Mirk all avg over 13 a game and T and Coleman over 10. It would be cool if all 5 starters avg double digits and it wouldnt shock me at all. I have a gut feeling our top two scorers will end up being Vaaks and Dre but with this talented group it could end up being someone else.
 
Last edited:
#973      
ILFaninFL
If things don't work out today .... Milan Momcilovic?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back