Now who is being naive? Professional/NCAA sports are sold/marketed/hyped to us fans as entertainment and exist as is purely for $$$.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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"Best roster" and preseason ranking are two completely different things.
Preseason ranking has a huge point of emphasis on your LAST SEASON success. Illinois absolutely had a better season in 2025, which gives them a leg up in the preseason.
Best roster is simply how much talent you have on the team. In that case, USC has the edge over every other b10 team.
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
Says the same guy who thinks Vaaks isn't our PG.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
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
Old man strength power post moves!
Nobody thought Keaton would be our point guard, and he was. Nobody on here is Nostrodomous. I'm not the only one assuming it will be Coleman. Time will tell.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Who else thinks it will be Coleman?
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.
Vaaks is assertive AF - watch his videos. Of course nothing's guaranteed. That said I predict Vaaks will be our primary PG.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
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.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
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.
Growing confidence in Coleman helps, but only so much.
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.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
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.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
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.
This is silly. "Mostly got away with it"....Illinois was 10th in the nation in turnover %.
I just went to look at the NCAA leaders in lowest turnover percentage expecting to find Keaton Wagler somewhere in there if I changed the filters such that it would only include high usage players. But, before applying the filter I was met with this:
Forgot all about that... (unrelated to current discussion on ballhandling, but pretty cool nonetheless)
Forgot all about that... (unrelated to current discussion on ballhandling, but pretty cool nonetheless)
"Deeply" is exaggeration. We didn't have a lot behind Wagler and Kylan, but those two usually played a lot of minutes, so didn't usually matter. Andrej's handles were pretty typical for a SF. Mirk had good handles for a PF (though I agree that you don't want him getting too fancy). Ben and Jake were smart in that they didn't really try to handle more than necessary.
I'd agree that it would be nice to have another adept, quick, ball-handling guard, but we're not in bad shape there. We're far from the worst ball-handling team.
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Sure. "They" enhance and monetize the intrinsic entertainment value. To an extent, it's done with recreational sports too.
I'm a pretty high stress individual myself, but I can't imagine being so stressed out by this. "Knife-edge?" "High-wire?"
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
If you didn't have your heart in your throat when Mirk was barreling down the floor at the Breslin Center I don't know what to tell you.
This feels like a continuation of the 9th man convo in that people are bored and are talking themselves into doubting how fun this years team could be.. Last year, Vaaks had a 26% usg rate and a 11% turnover rate in conference.
That's the ~same usage and a lower turnover rate than Braden Smith, Jeremy Fears Jr., or Keaton Wagler. The only PG that would've been better was Bennet Stirtz.
I don't remember needing a heart monitor while watching him dish out 6 assists with 0 turnovers at Breslin:
But yeah, I get it... dude be crazy (no more underhand, full court softball pitches, please)
Different topic but with Dre, Coleman, and Williams we have some excellent speed and athleticism. Curios to see if Williams is good enough to see minutes and if that would create a more fast break offense. Bringing in Z and Williams off the bench could create a spark with the offense speeding up. I expect changes from last year but not sure what they will be. Some pressure defense possible and would love to see different defenses throughout the game. Flying Illini ala BU.
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