Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
movin' on up:
by no means is he done yet. Top 50 kid
by no means is he done yet. Top 50 kid
With his athleticism I doubt that is the case.
When I watched Zens in the Wisky State Championship, he looked very lively with pretty good athleticism...not a freak by any means, but definitely a higher level of athleticism than Ben and Jake, both of whom were integral contributors to our final four season. Maybe you were watching a different Zavier Zens?
Last edited:
Kid is an absolute stud. Will be a 1 and done.
6-6 guard headed to Illinois is climbing the rankings, eh?
Might be the "Wagler effect."
The A Team... ILL
INI...Why not a #1 preseason ranking? Because our name isn't Duke, I suppose. The guy we seem to be sleeping on is Morillo. Watching his film, I see a guy who has played the point, and seems to be comfortable. He seems to be strong with the ball and a clever passer as well as a dangerous 3 pt. shooter I'd like three 6-7 guards. That's the kind of length who would be a nightmare to guard.
The A Team... ILL
The issue with Morillo is teams will be inclined to sag off. His 3pt attempt rate will be quite low, and if percentages don’t follow suit, path to playing time will be a little more difficult.
The more I think about it, the more I feel Vaaks is the biggest X factor for this team.
Any chance someone recruits this guy?
www.instagram.com
His name is Ghanos, and he’s 8ft tall? Plays at the MPAC Basketball Academy.
Ghanos on Instagram: "How is this MOVE!?"
207K likes, 1,726 comments - realghanos on May 13, 2026: "How is this MOVE!?".
www.instagram.com
His name is Ghanos, and he’s 8ft tall? Plays at the MPAC Basketball Academy.
I think Bens athleticism is very underated. He showed it at times with surpising tip dunks and ability to move for a man his size. Ben was strong and is quite an athlete. Now those traits may not be super explosive but still. His endurace, stamina was awesome and he is pretty fast. He set a team record in the mile at 4 min 18 seconds i recall and if you can do that you are certainly showing some at nlwtic traits in doing so.
He's not a particularly good 3 pt shooter. That said I like him. He seems like a good fit off the bench for us because he can play all over the court.
Who knows if the pieces will work out or not but dude Dukes roster is legitimately insane.
No chance Ben ran a 4:18 mile. Maybe 5:18 which is still impressive.
4:18 is elite runner status
I think that Duke and Florida are going to be strong favorites this year. That Florida frontcourt is crazy. I feel like Iowa woke up a sleeping giant in the tournament. That's going to be one PO'd group of Gators.
The team I can't figure out why their getting all the love is Michigan. They lost three 1st rounders from a frontcourt (including the conference POY) that was everything to them....and they get slotted in the top 5? Talk about question marks in being able to put the pieces back together.
Duke's roster has been legitimately insane most years for the last 30+ years.
They are either going to have a couple returning guards that don't play, or else incoming top 15 kids that don't play. I foresee an unhappy locker room.
Who are the odd men out of this guard rotation? --> Boozer, Foster, Blackwell, Rippey, Howard
That's 5 guys for 2 positions... Boozer very underwhelming last year so I can see him potentially fighting for some backup mins. Sarr will play 30+ at the 3 so maybe one of them can get 10 minutes there?
Frontcourt is Ngongba and 3 (very good, but not Cam Boozer level) freshmen
These 'super teams' are usually great on paper, but I'm looking forward to watching it underperform this year for sure
Yeah, was just referring to the OPs post about us not being 1 because we arent named Duke. Duke will be ranked ahead of us because they have more talent, as they have more talent than everybody.