1m4tr
Cliffmas
Someone give Izzo the house elf a sock so he can run off to retirement.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
Someone give Izzo the house elf a sock so he can run off to retirement.
But that's kind of the point. He is 6"7, but that's a disadvantage because he isn't a traditional PG with superb quickness TO STAY IN FRONT OF OPPOSING TEAM'S quick guards.
Offensively we'll be fine, since we have so many creator options (and of course Vaaks).
Defensively, we don't have someone who can matchup with the quick PGs on other teams.
Fair enough.
But to that I'd argue "staying in front" has nothing to do with being 6"1 instead of 6"7. It's about being a good defender.
We had Petro last year who was 6"1, but was unplayable defensively. Keaton, who was 6"6, was a lot better.
Why would Vaaks get the assignment of that particular archetype? Andrej/Coleman are far better suited for that.
The fact is that no team has a defensive player who can stay in front of really quick PGs with a handle. But you can keep them from running a layup drill with good team defense and making them do what they are least effective doing. After watching "Kooleymon", he likely will be as effective as Boswell...some day... though not likely today. However, as coachable and determined as he seems to be, it will be sooner rather than later. The real challenge will be teaching Vaaks exactly what is expected. My greatest hope, and I am sure also BU's, is that he is determined to do is best on both ends. The two starting guards will be the newcomers, and Jake will add some experience if not foot speed when he is in. What he lacks in foot speed he will make up with leadership, confidence, and knowledge...I am hoping.
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
pure coincidence!
It is true, you just don't agree with it lol Brad trusted him to run the offense and trusted his ability to score. Also, nobody ever said PG is based on height, at least I didn't. I view it as the ability to run the offense and get your team involved.
Well then there's no reason for you to say "Keaton wasn't known to be a ball handler coming into last season at all."
He always had "ball handler" ability coming out of HS. It was whether or not he could get on the court and earn the staff's trust.
and a certain point forward.....
Yep, Rich McBride couldn't move well because of foot injuries but still became a very good defender for us by his final season.
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
2027
Height 6’5 SG 4
️Ig:saih_santos_15 6A All State Team, All Region & MVP 4.0 GPAHouston, TX
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Actually looks 6’8” in this week’s pic! Just sayin’
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Williams fits the bill nicely
Him and Cole need to be locked down for 2028. Wonder if Brady reclasses.
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Well, then he must be a power forward. /s
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I don't believe anyone questioned our point guard play or the quality of it.
The uncertainty is regarding how we GUARD OPPOSING TEAM's PG with superb quickness (like a Jeremy Fears), since we lack that quickness at our PG spot.
It's not a point guard question; it's a defense question.
To that the answer would be Stojakovic, and then two freshman in whichever order (Coleman and Williams).
Williams will play because, besides Andrej, we have zero other SLAP prototype players (size, length, athleticism, physicality) on the roster. His role is super simple: be a great athlete and be great on defense. If he does it, he'll see the court.
Brown likely isn't ready. I think Zens might be ready, but he doesn't provide us what we lack.
And if JJ plays a significant role, something's gone horribly wrong.
You are correct in that quick point guards have given us trouble the last couple of years even with Boswell on the roster. I think the disconnect with a lot of fans is our philosophy on defense is not predicated on having a super quick on ball defender
The staff has been pretty clear we’re going for positional size and we’re going to force quick guards to shoot over us on the perimeter and if they get in the lane just don’t give up anything at the rim and make them shoot mid range jumpers. On the other end the short quick guards are a liability for the other team on the pick and rolls and we’re willing to take that tradeoff
A quick guard who can shoot threes will be tough to handle again this year - guys like Boyd. But we won’t face too many of those. Guys like Fears we just have to avoid fouling - let him shoot all the threes he wants. I do think we’ll see more matchup zones this year from us.
If we can be top 20 in defensive efficiency through not fouling, defensive rebounding and not giving up shots at the rim, that is all we need with this offense
Really good post, agree with you that the archetype described is a pain for any team to defend.
I firmly believe the whole 'unable to stop quick guards' thing is just this:
Those guys are hard to stop, even for equally quick defenders. We have chosen to build our team around length / positional size which gives us our own set of advantages on offense against smaller players (why you see us attacking them every possession).
Jeremy Fears:
- 19 & 7 on 8/10 shooting vs UNC (Elite defender Trimble couldn't shut him down)
- Averaged 19 & 12 vs UCLA (Dent, small quick defender, didn't shut him down)
- Averaged 26 & 8 vs Michigan (Michigan with smaller guards, Cadeau/Cason, didn't shut him down)
- Some of his worst games were against Eastern Carolina, Oakland University, North Dakota and Penn St so maybe we should have taken on some of their guards as transfers?
Nick Boyd:
- Averaged 18 & 6 with 3 stl in 2 games vs Michigan
- 29 pts 4 ast vs Michigan St
- 20/8/5 line vs UCLA
- His 5 lowest scoring outputs were vs Ball St, Central Michigan, Minnesota, Penn St and Oregon so maybe we should emulate what those programs did last year?
And I hate using Donovan Dent as an example, because he honestly had a subpar season, but he dropped 23/6/12 on Michigan St and Jeremy Fears himself, so maybe these guys are just really good basketball players and hard for any team to stop.
To be #1, I think we'll need to be better than #20 on defense (we were #20 last year at KenPom and Torvik). We especially need to play better defense against good teams than we did last year.
To be #1, you need to be top 10 in both offense and defense. Heck maybe even top 5 in both.
However, I'd question how realistic those views are about being #1. We don't have the defensive profile of a Michigan / AZ from last year. Yes you can claim our size will bother teams, but fact is those top 5 defenses just look... different. Athletically and physically.
If you're the top offense (which Torvik projects for Illinois) and a top 20 defense...it very likely implies you're a top 5 team, in the elite 8 or the F4. I really don't see anything wrong with that. It's NEVER championship or bust.