Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[NarrowJ]

USC has a better roster than Illinois and likely the best roster in the big ten. Doesn’t mean they’ll finish ahead of us, but fair to point it out.

Illinois returned a huge chunk of a F4 team and added a 5 star freshman, the best offensive player in the portal, and another top 50 freshman.
USC returns 3 guys from a team that didn't make postseason play at 18-14.

They're ranked a good tier below us in every preseason list thus far.

Cox may be their most important player next season. The thought he'll rack up DNPs and only play garbage time minutes is completely preposterous.

I mean that still doesn’t solve the argument because we’re saying one of Adonis Ratliff / Darius Ratliff / Christian Collins is the #9thMan. All 5 stars.

Highly unlikely they have 5 post players in the main rotation, 3 possibly 4 (if 4, then one of them is getting spot minutes).

You are correct that it doesn't solve the argument, because that wasn't the argument. He said Cox would be the 9th man, not one of the freshmen.

The argument that Cox is their #9thman is equivalent to arguing Vaaks will be Illinois' #9thman.

 

[PasadenaIllini]

Illinois returned a huge chunk of a F4 team and added a 5 star freshman, the best offensive player in the portal, and another top 50 freshman.
USC returns 3 guys from a team that didn't make postseason play at 18-14.

They're ranked a good tier below us in every preseason list thus far.

Cox may be their most important player next season. The thought he'll rack up DNPs and only play garbage time minutes is completely preposterous.



Highly unlikely they have 5 post players in the main rotation, 3 possibly 4 (if 4, then one of them is getting spot minutes).

You are correct that it doesn't solve the argument, because that wasn't the argument. He said Cox would be the 9th man, not one of the freshmen.

The argument that Cox is their #9thman is equivalent to arguing Vaaks will be Illinois' #9thman.

You must have guzzled at least 2 gallons of orange koolaid this morning to help you type these words. Vaaks is a great offensive player. He's not better than Haggerty or Blackwell, and definitely isn't anywhere near as proven.

 

[blackdog]

USC has a better roster than Illinois and likely the best roster in the big ten. Doesn’t mean they’ll finish ahead of us, but fair to point it out.

Based on what exactly?

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

The Keaton Wagler Syndrome (KWS) will forever be the argument/commentary for every three star, under recruited player to walk through the doors for us. Whenever there's a kid who has huge HS numbers, but doesn't have a decent offer list, many of our fans with KWS will bring up the wildest recruiting coo in NCAA Basketball history and will use it as a "what if".

Wagler was the one, singular, exception to recruiting rationality and was a unicorn to basketball recruiting.

Guys ranked outside of the top 100 are FAR FAR FAR more likely to get a meaningful college degree than get invited to a combine or play professionally ANYWHERE.

KWS will erode over the next decade.

My post had legitimately nothing to do with Wagler.

Was just highlighting that it’s a rare feat to become a maxpreps AA while ranked outside the top 100.

 

[EmeraldCityIllini]

USC has a better roster than Illinois and likely the best roster in the big ten. Doesn’t mean they’ll finish ahead of us, but fair to point it out.

 

[Oranges]

USC has a better roster than Illinois and likely the best roster in the big ten. Doesn’t mean they’ll finish ahead of us, but fair to point it out.

 

[phats22]

Based on what exactly?

the 9th man....

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

Highly unlikely they have 5 post players in the main rotation, 3 possibly 4 (if 4, then one of them is getting spot minutes).

You are correct that it doesn't solve the argument, because that wasn't the argument. He said Cox would be the 9th man, not one of the freshmen.

The argument that Cox is their #9thman is equivalent to arguing Vaaks will be Illinois' #9thman.

Welp, I figured it was along the lines of “USC’s 9th man is very good.”

But regardless, Vaaks is our primary ball handler. For USC, that’s likely going to be Rodney Rice; not Cox.

There’s about a 95% chance Vaaks is a starter for Illinois next season; compared to like 30% for Cox (and that might be on the higher end).

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2063321782682112498

 

[blife]

9th man= assistant backup to the backup. We will be fine.

 

[Iamgroot]

You must have guzzled at least 2 gallons of orange koolaid this morning to help you type these words. Vaaks is a great offensive player. He's not better than Haggerty or Blackwell, and definitely isn't anywhere near as proven.

Did you see Brad's interview the other day was his exact words vaaks put up great numbers on a team that had about as much talent as a mac team.his numbers are going to be so much better this season with the talent hes surrounded with he had to take so many bad shots because of the talent gap and still shot 35% from 3 last season.he may not be the very best player from the portal but at least top 3 or 4 its also about fit and he fits this offense like a glove I dont think its crazy to say hes the best player out of the portal as far as fit,talent and abilities its not always the player putting up 20 a game that makes the biggest impact to team if he puts up numbers lets say 15-3-3 along with what we already have and leads us to another final 4 I'd say that would be hard argue with

 

[Iamgroot]

Welp, I figured it was along the lines of “USC’s 9th man is very good.”

But regardless, Vaaks is our primary ball handler. For USC, that’s likely going to be Rodney Rice; not Cox.

There’s about a 95% chance Vaaks is a starter for Illinois next season; compared to like 30% for Cox (and that might be on the higher end).

Id say if vaaks isn't the starter then something bad happened he was the biggest off-season addition outside of bringing mirk back.i just dont see a world he dont start unless hes injured

 

[lstewart53x3]

USC has a better roster than Illinois and likely the best roster in the big ten. Doesn’t mean they’ll finish ahead of us, but fair to point it out.

ESPN —

Illinois: 4
USC: 12

FOX —

Illinois: 2
USC: 12

Sports Illustrated —

Illinois: 4
USC: 22

CBS —

Illinois: 2
USC: 14

The Athletic —

Illinois: 1
USC: Unranked

Torvik —

Illinois: 4
USC: 31

—

The whole world disagrees with you.

 

[NarrowJ]

Welp, I figured it was along the lines of “USC’s 9th man is very good.”

Figured wrong, I guess?

But regardless, Vaaks is our primary ball handler. For USC, that’s likely going to be Rodney Rice; not Cox.

Vaaks is certainly our primary ball handler, Rice & Cox will likely share that role for USC.

There’s about a 95% chance Vaaks is a starter for Illinois next season; compared to like 30% for Cox (and that might be on the higher end).

I don't know how you came up with these completely arbitrary percentages, but Cox is certainly not 9th in their pecking order (which was the whole point) unless they plan to roll out a post player at point guard.

You must have guzzled at least 2 gallons of orange koolaid this morning to help you type these words. Vaaks is a great offensive player. He's not better than Haggerty or Blackwell, and definitely isn't anywhere near as proven.

I can walk that back but he's very very good, as is Cox... that's the point I was making (but your semantic nitpick stands)

Dunno why it is the mission of the message board to tear down the team they root for and hoot and howl over the rest of the league... USC with the best roster in the B1G made me chuckle for sure.

 

[wc_illini]

I wouldn't go so far as to label them dysfunctional. They lost their best player and 20ppg scorer six games into the season. They have proven they'll compile talent.

USC doesn't have a clear top 7/8 and the bottom two guys are pretty weak (Jones & Bruns) so there is playing time to be earned... obviously a vastly different situation than Illinois returning most of it's players from a F4 team.

Dysfunctional was probably too harsh. But the team/staff hasn't demonstrated anywhere close to the success we have.

I can see both sides of whether their accumulation of talent is relevant to our situation at all. It's definitely a high-reward opportunity since they have more starting minutes up for grabs. But they have 9 guys who think they're good enough to start, and that doesn't even include Hughes, Jones, and Bruns (all productive starters at lower levels). So 3-4 of them will get buried, and one or two others will be disappointed in their playing time.

I guess I think if that situation was enticing enough for all those guys, wouldn't it be interesting for someone comparable to the #5-10 guys on USC's roster (not actually any of their guys, but Brad's choice of someone comparable) to come fight for 5th-8th on a pre-season top-5 program with great coaching/player development/team chemistry? Apparently it wasn't, though none of us can know for sure whether we tried to get anyone like that.

 

[wc_illini]

Tovik has USC's roster at #5 for talent. They are ranked lower due to program/coach history (experience and returning minutes were much less significant since plenty of other top ranked teams had similar returning minutes/experience)

 

[NarrowJ]

Dysfunctional was probably too harsh. But the team/staff hasn't demonstrated anywhere close to the success we have.

I can see both sides of whether their accumulation of talent is relevant to our situation at all. It's definitely a high-reward opportunity since they have more starting minutes up for grabs. But they have 9 guys who think they're good enough to start, and that doesn't even include Hughes, Jones, and Bruns (all productive starters at lower levels). So 3-4 of them will get buried, and one or two others will be disappointed in their playing time.

I guess I think if that situation was enticing enough for all those guys, wouldn't it be interesting for someone comparable to the #5-10 guys on USC's roster (not actually any of their guys, but Brad's choice of someone comparable) to come fight for 5th-8th on a pre-season top-5 program with great coaching/player development/team chemistry? Apparently it wasn't, though none of us can know for sure whether we tried to get anyone like that.

What will be funny though is when we add another quality player to the roster and #9thman was all a waste of time

Narrator: “it was a waste of time anyhow”

 

[jamarvelous31]

Look at USC's roster... Jalen Cox is probably their 9th man.

You need a less annoying hobby

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

My post had legitimately nothing to do with Wagler.

Was just highlighting that it’s a rare feat to become a maxpreps AA while ranked outside the top 100.

Apologies, it wasn't necessarily directed at you, specifically, rather the idea passed around the just because freshmen are ranked outside of the top 100.....it doesn't mean anything. You are correct, it would be more than out of the ordinary for a kid outside of the top 100 to be a Maxpreps AA.....or an AA as ranked by any service.

All of these discussions are 100000% born out of the biography and made for TV movie that Keaton will make millions on getting produced.

He's going to be the comp for every kid that walks through our door that isn't in the top 100. Infinitely more times than not, the scouts, coaches and services get things right.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

Look at USC's roster... Jalen Cox is probably their 9th man.

And I'd take ours over there's 100 times out of 100.

You?

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

You are correct, it would be more than out of the ordinary for a kid outside of the top 100 to be a Maxpreps AA.....or an AA as ranked by any service.

All of these discussions are 100000% born out of the biography and made for TV movie that Keaton will make millions on getting produced.

Except its not a "would be" hypothetical. He actually made the top 15 for max preps but is outside the topp 100 for rankings. This has nothing to do with Wagler. Its an outlier and it's certainly reasonable to wonder why and who is "right".

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

Except its not a "would be" hypothetical. He actually made the top 15 for max preps but is outside the topp 100 for rankings. This has nothing to do with Wagler. Its an outlier and it's certainly reasonable to wonder why and who is "right".

I promise I would've made the exact comment if Keaton Wagler never happened lol.

It's just a very rare, notable attribute.

How much should it impact Zens' college projection? Should he have been ranked higher? Is he good enough to be the #9thMan?

TBD for the folks here to debate.

My only root question was HOW the two scoutings could be on such opposite ends. (considering every other player was a 5 star)

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

I promise I would've made the exact comment if Keaton Wagler never happened lol.

It's just a very rare, notable attribute.

How much should it impact Zens' college projection? Should he have been ranked higher? Is he good enough to be the #9thMan?

TBD for the folks here to debate.

My only root question was HOW the two scoutings could be on such opposite ends. (considering every other player was a 5 star)

Again, here were the teams:

2026:

1st team:

— Quentin Coleman
— Colben Landrew
— Miles Sadler
— Jordan Smith Jr (player of the year)
— Tyran Stokes

2nd team:

— Abdou Toure
— Cam Williams
— Brandon McCoy
— Caleb Holt
— Jason Crowe Jr

3rd team:

— Luke Ertal
— Cayden Daughtery
— Christian Collins
— Caleb Gaskins
— Zavier Zens

2025:

1st team:

— Nate Ament
— Brayden Burries
— Cam Boozer (player of the year)
— Darryn Peterson
— Koa Peat

2nd team:

— AJ Dybantsa
— Malachi Moreno
— Braylon Mullins
— Caleb Wilson
— Tounde Yessoufou

3rd team:

— Mikel Brown Jr
— Kingston Flemings
— Nik Khamenia
— Jordan Smith Jr
— Tyran Stokes

Here's the listed description/stats for QC:

"6-3 | Senior | Guard | Illinois

Averaged 23.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.7 steals per contest to lead the Panthers to the No. 4 spot in the final MaxPreps Top 25. Coleman scorched the nets for a career-high 50 points in a lopsided state title game victory."

Zens:

"6-7 | Senior | Wing | Uncommitted

MaxPreps Wisconsin Player of the Year averaged 23.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per contest to power the Vikings (30-0) to their third straight state championship."

 

[WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?]

Illinois returned a huge chunk of a F4 team and added a 5 star freshman, the best offensive player in the portal, and another top 50 freshman.
USC returns 3 guys from a team that didn't make postseason play at 18-14.

They're ranked a good tier below us in every preseason list thus far.

Cox may be their most important player next season. The thought he'll rack up DNPs and only play garbage time minutes is completely preposterous.



Highly unlikely they have 5 post players in the main rotation, 3 possibly 4 (if 4, then one of them is getting spot minutes).

You are correct that it doesn't solve the argument, because that wasn't the argument. He said Cox would be the 9th man, not one of the freshmen.

The argument that Cox is their #9thman is equivalent to arguing Vaaks will be Illinois' #9thman.

Putting Cox in the same realm as Vaaks is absurdly undermining to how important Vaaks is for our team next year.

Cox will be the floor general guard with the second unit, provide good defense. Think Malachi Smith at UConn. Those guys (very likely) aren't starters sans injury.

The point is that USC's 9th man is one of Cox OR three top 25 recruits. That's significantly more DEPTH than what Illinois got.

A guy like Morillo would be the 10th man on their team, but is the 8th here.

 

[NarrowJ]

Putting Cox in the same realm as Vaaks is absurdly undermining to how important Vaaks is for our team next year.

Cox will be the floor general guard with the second unit, provide good defense. Think Malachi Smith at UConn. Those guys (very likely) aren't starters.

The point is that USC's 9th man is one of Cox OR three top 25 recruits. That's significantly more DEPTH than what Illinois got.

USC's 9th man could also be one of the mid major xfers. This acting like you know exactly how their season is going to play out is quite rich, considering our recent go-round with Keaton Wagler (261st ranked recruit) and Mihailo Petrovic (Euro league MVP candidate).

I hate to be so harsh on this subject, but the distrust you all have for this staff to put together a quality roster on the heels of a F4 appearance where we had a 3 star recruit get picked in the top 10 in the draft really grinds my gears.

The point wasn't that USC's 9th man is one of Cox OR three top 25 recruits. It was outright stated with absolute certainty that Cox was their 9th man. To question or push back on that is not controversial by any means.

Could one of the top 25 kids be 9th man for USC? Absolutely. It is absolutely possible one of them plays about 5 minutes per game in 20-25 appearances and scores like 1.5 ppg (which is what a typical 9th man does).