Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

#501      
NarrowJ
hangdog said:
Now who is being naive? Professional/NCAA sports are sold/marketed/hyped to us fans as entertainment and exist as is purely for $$$.
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Not all sports are played in front of even a single fan, I think was his point

I just played 5-on-5 with my teenage son and his buddies (yikes, I'm old) and there were no fans or reporters or tv crews present


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#502      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
bavanga3 said:
Musselman has twice as many 2nd weekend appearances in less years, a better winning percentage, never had any of his seasons vacated, and at his 3rd school has started out better in his first two years at a football school than Underwood did at a basketball school. Don't get me wrong, I'll take Underwood as my coach, but Underwood is not objectively better. That's your opinion and maybe your as guilty of being prisoner of the moment as the people who insist on being critical.
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Says the same guy who thinks Vaaks isn't our PG.
 
#503      
RabidDawgClassic
NarrowJ said:
Not all sports are played in front of even a single fan, I think was his point

I just played 5-on-5 with my teenage son and his buddies (yikes, I'm old) and there were no fans or reporters or tv crews present


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Gotta say… I’ve never been so uninterested in ongoing discussions on this site as I have been with these two. So in order to get things on a better track, here’s a picture of a pizza I made at home. #homemadepizza

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#507      
bavanga3
lstewart53x3 said:
Who else thinks it will be Coleman?
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Here is my issue. The same people that say Vaaks will our point guard are the same people that can't explain what a point guard is and say basketball is position less.

Fact of the matter is we all thought it would be Petrovic last year and were wrong.

We have 4 playmakers in our starting lineup. Vaaks and Coleman are both combo/shooting guards to me. The primary ball handling duty will be sorted out throughout the year just like last year. Somebody will have to earn it and go take it. Coleman has that assertiveness to do that. Whether he does or not, time will tell. Anybody that thinks anything is guaranteed at this point is fooling themselves.
 
#508      
Combo
bavanga3 said:
Here is my issue. The same people that say Vaaks will our point guard are the same people that can't explain what a point guard is and say basketball is position less.

Fact of the matter is we all thought it would be Petrovic last year and were wrong.

We have 4 playmakers in our starting lineup. Vaaks and Coleman are both combo/shooting guards to me. The primary ball handling duty will be sorted out throughout the year just like last year. Somebody will have to earn it and go take it. Coleman has that assertiveness to do that. Whether he does or not, time will tell. Anybody that thinks anything is guaranteed at this point is fooling themselves.
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Vaaks is assertive AF - watch his videos. Of course nothing's guaranteed. That said I predict Vaaks will be our primary PG.
 
#509      
lstewart53x3
bavanga3 said:
Here is my issue. The same people that say Vaaks will our point guard are the same people that can't explain what a point guard is and say basketball is position less.

Fact of the matter is we all thought it would be Petrovic last year and were wrong.

We have 4 playmakers in our starting lineup. Vaaks and Coleman are both combo/shooting guards to me. The primary ball handling duty will be sorted out throughout the year just like last year. Somebody will have to earn it and go take it. Coleman has that assertiveness to do that. Whether he does or not, time will tell. Anybody that thinks anything is guaranteed at this point is fooling themselves.
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Got it, so it’s just you then.

Here’s what we can say with absolute certainty:

Vaaks was brought in by the staff to be the lead guard. This has been reported by Jeremy Werner with direct intel from the staff.

You think the staff is wrong and that’s fine.
 
#510      
ChiefGritty
The thing is, we were deeply ballhandling challenged last year. We mostly got away with it and had enormous success anyway, but we're flying even a little bit closer to the sun this time.

Growing confidence in Coleman helps, but only so much.
 
#511      
NarrowJ
ChiefGritty said:
The thing is, we were deeply ballhandling challenged last year. We mostly got away with it and had enormous success anyway, but we're flying even a little bit closer to the sun this time.

Growing confidence in Coleman helps, but only so much.
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Whoa, really? Illinois was 5th nationally (365 teams) in turnovers per game. Kylan, Keaton seemed very adept with the ball. Mirkovic, as a post player, bringing the ball up the floor or initiating on offense.

Not full out arguing yet, because you typically have compelling explanations for statements like this, so interested the hear the 'why' here.
 
#512      
ChiefGritty
NarrowJ said:
Whoa, really? Illinois was 5th nationally (365 teams) in turnovers per game. Kylan, Keaton seemed very adept with the ball. Mirkovic, as a post player, bringing the ball up the floor or initiating on offense.

Not full out arguing yet, because you typically have compelling explanations for statements like this, so interested the hear the 'why' here.
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Mirk bringing the ball up was some of the most knife-edge high wire stuff I've ever seen, it was madness.

Wagler and Boswell were both solid, but that was literally all we had on the roster because of the unwillingness to play Petro and Lee. Any moment where injury or foul trouble cost us one or both of those guys we were on the ropes again.

Our offense doesn't ask for a lot of 1 on 1 dribble penetration, it's not going to reveal itself in turnovers, it's in the ability to be timely and operate our sets with the right tempo, Wagler's superpower.

Vaaks is bigger and stiffer than Wagler (hey now), and Coleman is a freshman where Boswell was a grizzled seen-it-all senior. And we still have zilch elsewhere, perhaps Stojakovic can improve his handle to provide a bit of support.

We're an unusual team, you don't get "tallest team in America" without that making you a bit of an oddball. We lacked the virtues of the pugnacious little zippy player last year, and will do so even more so next year.

We're going to destroy a lot of defenses with the things we do well, I have no fear of that. But I would just feel this team was a lot more matchup-proof if it had a floor general classic PG, and I think that would wind up our 6th or 7th man (or even our 5th) rather than 9th on many occasions.
 
#513      
GrayGhost77
NarrowJ said:
Whoa, really? Illinois was 5th nationally (365 teams) in turnovers per game. Kylan, Keaton seemed very adept with the ball. Mirkovic, as a post player, bringing the ball up the floor or initiating on offense.

Not full out arguing yet, because you typically have compelling explanations for statements like this, so interested the hear the 'why' here.
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Agree. "Deeply ball handling challenged" is I think WAY overstating it. We literally had 3 guys most fans could feel comfortable bringing the ball up and dribbling through space, plus three plus passing big men.
 
#514      
jamarvelous31
ChiefGritty said:
The thing is, we were deeply ballhandling challenged last year. We mostly got away with it and had enormous success anyway, but we're flying even a little bit closer to the sun this time.

Growing confidence in Coleman helps, but only so much.
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This is silly. "Mostly got away with it"....Illinois was 10th in the nation in turnover %.
 
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