Looking ahead to 2021-2022

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#501      
illinitiger
DB11Headband said:
Yeah, that ain’t happening. Most kids nowadays think they’re one and done.
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Ref.."Most kids nowadays.."

Including Ayo his Freshmen yr.

Aim high and work hard....that is what Ayo did and expect Podz and others to do same....results may vary.

Podz has height and confidence and says he loves defense...all traits to his advantage as a young guard.

I expect Podz to be a featured star player for us at some point.
 
#502      
Govoner Vaugn Fan
Anyone know the scoop on Padilo? As I understand it he is ore than the typical walk-on. Played on the PR 'national' team etc etc and is walking on here. Probably could be getting a scholarship and good minutes at some other program..... but walks on here??
 
#503      
Joel Goodson
illinitiger said:
Ref.."Most kids nowadays.."

Including Ayo his Freshmen yr.

Aim high and work hard....that is what Ayo did and expect Podz and others to do same....results may vary.

Podz has height and confidence and says he loves defense...all traits to his advantage as a young guard.

I expect Podz to be a featured star player for us at some point.
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Have high hopes for all of our incoming kids. I agree, Podz could be special. I certainly don't expect that out of the box though.
 
#505      
CoalCity
Govoner Vaugn Fan said:
Anyone know the scoop on Padilo? As I understand it he is ore than the typical walk-on. Played on the PR 'national' team etc etc and is walking on here. Probably could be getting a scholarship and good minutes at some other program..... but walks on here??
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OA and Padilla's dad are bros from way back.
 
#509      
Doctoresdelbasket
Govoner Vaugn Fan said:
Anyone know the scoop on Padilo? As I understand it he is ore than the typical walk-on. Played on the PR 'national' team etc etc and is walking on here. Probably could be getting a scholarship and good minutes at some other program..... but walks on here??
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He was a fringe player on the pr u16 team, more of a shooter than a true point guard, his dad edgar padilla umass (final four 1996 on camby and calipari team ) is andre curbelos mentor and the one who brought him over to luhi , good relationship with antigua had good grades in good pr school, and probably they told him, come on over if free scholarship its yours if not walk on, but he tryly is like a division 2 or 3 player at most low division 1
 
#510      
Doctoresdelbasket
I believe ramses melendez will play for PR in this summer u19 world cup team, they could have a reaaally good team with rafael pinzon from st johns, and julian strawther, played this year in gonzaga and phillip wheeler who plays professionally in argentina, july 3-11, i believe ramses will come to campus on the 10 th of june then leave late june for that, maybe padilla gets a spot as the 10-12 th man
 
#511      
Govoner Vaugn Fan
Doctoresdelbasket said:
He was a fringe player on the pr u16 team, more of a shooter than a true point guard, his dad edgar padilla umass (final four 1996 on camby and calipari team ) is andre curbelos mentor and the one who brought him over to luhi , good relationship with antigua had good grades in good pr school, and probably they told him, come on over if free scholarship its yours if not walk on, but he tryly is like a division 2 or 3 player at most low division 1
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Thanks! Always wondered about him.!
 
#512      
Joel Goodson
Doctoresdelbasket said:
I believe ramses melendez will play for PR in this summer u19 world cup team, they could have a reaaally good team with rafael pinzon from st johns, and julian strawther, played this year in gonzaga and phillip wheeler who plays professionally in argentina, july 3-11, i believe ramses will come to campus on the 10 th of june then leave late june for that, maybe padilla gets a spot as the 10-12 th man
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Hola! Welcome to the board. Thanks for the info and keep on posting.
 
#513      
illiniguy
Doctoresdelbasket said:
I believe ramses melendez will play for PR in this summer u19 world cup team, they could have a reaaally good team with rafael pinzon from st johns, and julian strawther, played this year in gonzaga and phillip wheeler who plays professionally in argentina, july 3-11, i believe ramses will come to campus on the 10 th of june then leave late june for that, maybe padilla gets a spot as the 10-12 th man
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Except for the fact that Padilla turned 19 in March. 🤷‍♂️
 
#517      
Doctoresdelbasket
Curbelo played on the 2019 team, with julian strawther from gonzaga who averaged 20 ppg snd is in for breakout year next year, although the guards were solid, they played above their age group, and puerto rico as usual and that year specifically had no big mem, pf and center were 6”6, still, got 6th place, this years team is more complete and has more big men, pinzon, melendez strawther and wheeler are key though
 
#519      
illiniguy
FollowMeDontFollowMe said:
He’s going to put up a 40 point triple double on less than 20 shots his first game as an Illini then withdraw from classes to focus “on the next step of his journey”
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Too bad, Hutch would easily have been national player of the year if he stuck it out....But some guys are just too good for college ball.

I heard in practice he could dunk taking off from half court.
 
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#520      
Calvin
lstewart53x3 said:
The secret to building a strong program is stacking great seasons on top of one another. We’ll be much better next year with Trent & Damonte, than we would without them. Beyond that, sitting proven seniors to play unproven freshman for the hope that we’ll be better in the future is a losing proposition. Especially today. As there’s no guarantee the current income class of freshman will be around past their first year, even with starter minutes (like Adam Miller).

Torvik’s site has a pretty cool sausage maker feature, where you can add & subtract players & see your projected ranking heading into next year, given the current class of freshman you have arriving on campus. It’s certainly not perfect. But it’s a data point.

Our projected ranking next year, as our roster stands now:

Without Trent & Damonte: 74
With Trent but no Damonte: 46
With Trent & Damonte: 35
With Trent, Damonte, & Kofi: 10
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If Kofi comes back, a top 10 ranking seems reasonable. He's an elite defender and rebounder, and not many teams can match up with him on the offensive end. And with Curbelo, it's not like we're talking about the Groce days where the guards would struggle to get the ball into the paint to feed the bigs.

I don't know anything about his future, but my guess is he moves on. Sill, it's fun to think about another season high up the rankings.
 
#521      
GrayGhost77
illiniguy said:
Too bad, Hutch would easily have been national player of the year if he stuck it out....But some guys are just too good for college ball.

I heard in practice he could dunk taking off from half court.
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Actual video footage of Hutch dunking.
Nba Jam Basket GIF
 
#522      
sharpshot16
Calvin said:
If Kofi comes back, a top 10 ranking seems reasonable. He's an elite defender and rebounder, and not many teams can match up with him on the offensive end. And with Curbelo, it's not like we're talking about the Groce days where the guards would struggle to get the ball into the paint to feed the bigs.

I don't know anything about his future, but my guess is he moves on. Sill, it's fun to think about another season high up the rankings.
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If you use Torvik to add kofi back and Tre Mitchell, we are ranked 3. From late 30s to #3...that's the impact those two could bring.
 
#523      
skyIdub
NB2D said:
With Trent, DaMonte and Kofi returning, we will be better than last season.
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Sorry, you can change this to "we can be better than last season"....but you aren't starting off better than last season when you lose an NBA first round draft pick, one of the greatest players in Illini history, and arguably the single greatest "game on the line" finisher in Illini basketball history.

Next years team has real work to do. I agree they have the potential to be better.
 
#525      
RockfordIllini
Ga65 said:
Now I know how he hurt his back. The landing is a !!!!!.
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All jokes aside, part of me wonders if Hutch is more of a reason to transfer than Belo. Believe he had a tweet early in the summer about how good Hutch was. Maybe saw the writing on the wall he may have been second in line for the lead guard “Ayo” role next year. Sure hope so!
 
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