Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

#276      

HensonHall71

H
HensonHall71
OrangeKrush1981 said:
Sleepers Media guys take on our team's talent level as of today:

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The Sleepers guys are entertaining and they certainly pump out the Illinois content, but I think they missed the mark on the whole question on this one

Yes, you need to define what "talent" means, but just using recruiting rankings as a proxy for talent, would tell the story that we have 8 top 60 recruits (including Ivisic in this, which I don't think is a stretch if he was ranked as a freshman this year, even at 21 years old) - that's insane and we've never had that in the Underwood era, we'd have to go back to the 80's to find that kind of roster

I think they are also massively sleeping on KJ - they quoted the On3 ranking for him at 59 for his class, they also have Fears as the 55th best player in his class which tells you all you need to know about On3, but KJ is absolutely a pro - he would be drafted next year if he doesn't even play this year - he has a pro built game. I also don't think there is much debate about Ivisic getting drafted - 7'1 250 pound centers that are mobile and can shoot the 3 as well as he appears to be able to are built for the NBA in today's game.

I don't think any of this means this will be one of the best teams in the Underwood era - certainly not - we'll be starting three freshman, that is not a recipe for immediate success, but it will be fun to watch and if the core stays together next year - look out!
 
#277      

Brosky

B
Brosky
Joel Goodson said:
he hit ~42% of his 3s too!
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Sounds like he's got an NBA future.
HensonHall71 said:
The Sleepers guys are entertaining and they certainly pump out the Illinois content, but I think they missed the mark on the whole question on this one

Yes, you need to define what "talent" means, but just using recruiting rankings as a proxy for talent, would tell the story that we have 8 top 60 recruits (including Ivisic in this, which I don't think is a stretch if he was ranked as a freshman this year, even at 21 years old) - that's insane and we've never had that in the Underwood era, we'd have to go back to the 80's to find that kind of roster

I think they are also massively sleeping on KJ - they quoted the On3 ranking for him at 59 for his class, they also have Fears as the 55th best player in his class which tells you all you need to know about On3, but KJ is absolutely a pro - he would be drafted next year if he doesn't even play this year - he has a pro built game. I also don't think there is much debate about Ivisic getting drafted - 7'1 250 pound centers that are mobile and can shoot the 3 as well as he appears to be able to are built for the NBA in today's game.

I don't think any of this means this will be one of the best teams in the Underwood era - certainly not - we'll be starting three freshman, that is not a recipe for immediate success, but it will be fun to watch and if the core stays together next year - look out!
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I'm assuming the three are Riley, Ivisic and KJ. I'm not convinced about Riley yet, but who knows? In any case, my starting five would include Boswell, White, and Ben. I'm on board with KJ and Ivisic, but I want the PG, one wing and the 4 with guys who are veterans of the U.S. college game and are battle tested. But God only knows what will happen. It's going to be fascinating to watch it all play out. This team will never bore us.
 
#278      

rtbritt

rtbritt
rtbritt
HensonHall71 said:
The Sleepers guys are entertaining and they certainly pump out the Illinois content, but I think they missed the mark on the whole question on this one

Yes, you need to define what "talent" means, but just using recruiting rankings as a proxy for talent, would tell the story that we have 8 top 60 recruits (including Ivisic in this, which I don't think is a stretch if he was ranked as a freshman this year, even at 21 years old) - that's insane and we've never had that in the Underwood era, we'd have to go back to the 80's to find that kind of roster

I think they are also massively sleeping on KJ - they quoted the On3 ranking for him at 59 for his class, they also have Fears as the 55th best player in his class which tells you all you need to know about On3, but KJ is absolutely a pro - he would be drafted next year if he doesn't even play this year - he has a pro built game. I also don't think there is much debate about Ivisic getting drafted - 7'1 250 pound centers that are mobile and can shoot the 3 as well as he appears to be able to are built for the NBA in today's game.

I don't think any of this means this will be one of the best teams in the Underwood era - certainly not - we'll be starting three freshman, that is not a recipe for immediate success, but it will be fun to watch and if the core stays together next year - look out!
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Agreed. I don’t think you have to squint too much to say KJ, Morez, Riley, Ivisic are pros. Squint and you can add Rodgers, Tre, and Bos
 
#280      

HensonHall71

H
HensonHall71
Brosky said:
Sounds like he's got an NBA future.

I'm assuming the three are Riley, Ivisic and KJ. I'm not convinced about Riley yet, but who knows? In any case, my starting five would include Boswell, White, and Ben. I'm on board with KJ and Ivisic, but I want the PG, one wing and the 4 with guys who are veterans of the U.S. college game and are battle tested. But God only knows what will happen. It's going to be fascinating to watch it all play out. This team will never bore us.
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The three starting freshman I was alluding to are Riley, KJ and our center - whether that is Ivisic or Morez, we'll have a starting freshman C. Ty or White may start the year at the SG spot, but I could see KJ moving into that role as the year progresses. I think Riley starts day 1, just because of offensive talent and what we'll need on offense
 
#282      

Bigtex

Bigtex
DFW
Bigtex
lets pump the brakes on Ivisic heading to the NBA. I do think he will be a good fit on 24-25 Illinois basketball. Reportedly his twin brother is the better basketball player and got a latter start last year after migrating through admissions. But his game and stats are not screaming NBA

Career Stats​

See All
STATS
2023-24

GPMINFG%3P%FT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTS
1511.757.737.577.33.30.61.30.31.51.05.5
 
#283      

The Ghost

T
The Ghost
PasadenaIllini said:
Rogers is not a future pro. That doesn't make him a bad player or a bad Illini. Kenny Battle was an all-time Illini great. Never got a sniff at the pros. One of many examples.
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Kenny was a first round pick and played 3 full seasons and part of a 4th. Granted, he never achieved results like he did in college, but definitely got more then a sniff.
 
#284      

CoalCity

C
St Paul, MN
CoalCity
Bigtex said:
lets pump the brakes on Ivisic heading to the NBA. I do think he will be a good fit on 24-25 Illinois basketball. Reportedly his twin brother is the better basketball player and got a latter start last year after migrating through admissions. But his game and stats are not screaming NBA

Career Stats​

See All
STATS
2023-24

GPMINFG%3P%FT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTS
1511.757.737.577.33.30.61.30.31.51.05.5
Click to expand...
Those numbers are on less than 12 minutes a game playing against grown men professionals. Should translate pretty well against 18 and 19 year olds.
 
#285      

NarrowJ

NarrowJ
NarrowJ
Yes, right now Ivisic is projected as anywhere from 2nd round pick to undrafted.

I do think he will be a very good college player right off the bat, though. He's been playing against grown men already overseas who were extremely good college players here, but maybe just not good enough to cut it in the NBA long-term. Many guys he's played against have already had a few years in the NBA and headed overseas. Trey Thompkins, Joel Bolomboy, McKinley Wright, Yogi Ferrell, James Nunally, PJ Dozier, Bruno Caboclo, Frank Kaminsky are just some names I grabbed out of the last 3 box scores of his games with his international team.
 
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#286      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
NarrowJ said:
Yes, right now Ivisic is projected as anywhere from 2nd round pick to undrafted.

I do think he will be a very good college player right off the bat, though. He's been playing against grown men already overseas who were extremely good college players here, but maybe just not good enough to cut it in the NBA long-term. Many guys he's played against have already had a few years in the NBA and headed overseas. Trey Thompkins, Joel Bolomboy, McKinley Wright, Yogi Ferrell, James Nunally, PJ Dozier, Bruno Caboclo, Frank Kaminsky are just some names I grabbed out of the last 3 box scores of his games with his international team.
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Frank The Tank in Belgrade needs to be a reality show.
 
#288      

lstewart53x3

lstewart53x3
Scottsdale, Arizona
lstewart53x3
CoalCity said:
Those numbers are on less than 12 minutes a game playing against grown men professionals. Should translate pretty well against 18 and 19 year olds.
Click to expand...
Those are his brother’s stats on Kentucky. I agree though that I think he’ll play decently well this year.
 
#289      

NarrowJ

NarrowJ
NarrowJ
NBA Draft Room has Ivisic going 16th overall (1st rd) to the Pacers
NBA Draft Net has Ivisic going 45th overall (2nd rd) to the Heat
ESPN's mock drafts are behind a paywall, not sure about that one
 
#292      

More3s

M
More3s
Bigtex said:
lets pump the brakes on Ivisic heading to the NBA. I do think he will be a good fit on 24-25 Illinois basketball. Reportedly his twin brother is the better basketball player and got a latter start last year after migrating through admissions. But his game and stats are not screaming NBA

Career Stats​

See All
STATS
2023-24

GPMINFG%3P%FT%REBASTBLKSTLPFTOPTS
1511.757.737.577.33.30.61.30.31.51.05.5
Click to expand...
Zvonimir is more athletic and a more interesting NBA prospect. But I think there’s a very real possibility that Tomislav ends up being a better COLLEGE player, as on paper it would seem his game and build is better suited to the NCAA rules than it is to the NBA.

And if it turns out that Illinois actually benefits from having a solid to excellent college player that doesn’t leave early for the NBA due to being in the shadow of his twin and the differences in their games, that could be pretty amazing. He’s going to be a 21 year old freshman with experience in a pro league. Could be the steal of the offseason.
 
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#293      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
Let's be real candid here. If the NBA comes calling the NBA comes calling. The question is can we keep anybody away from other college programs in the portal.

There hasn't been ZERO success in that regard (see TSJ and Hawkins being brought back last year) but re-recruiting our own players has been one of BU's few weaknesses that has been a consistent bugaboo of his tenure.

We have had at least one out-of-nowhere unthinkable departure of a major asset every offseason he's been here.

One is a low number in the direction the game has turned, but we want to stop being among the national leaders in losing talent to the portal.

Everyone is a superstar now, but then everyone is actually bad and we're better off without them a season later. It's time to get off that carousel to the extent we can.
 
#294      

Ga65

G
Ga65
PepeSilvia said:
I think it's simply top end talent vs depth. I don't think a single player on this year's team will be as good as Terrence, Ayo, Kofi, or even Domask but from 1 to 10 it's a deeper and more versatile roster.

For example if you were to compare them to last year's team. Sure nobody is going to be as good as the top end guys but there might be 8 guys on this year's roster that would have been the 3rd or 4th best player on last year's team.
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This is the way I see it as TJ, Domask, and Hawk don’t seem to have equivalents on this years team. However not many saw how good Domask or Hawk were going to perform. And Last years TJ was significantly better than the 22-23 version (ability to go right was huge). The same thing could be true next year in terms of improvement of next years players. Could Hummer be a Domask type scorer? Could Tre offer TJ type defense? Etc. etc. Much of it will depend on developing a system and chemistry for their talents. However I do see two important pieces on the next team missing from last year and that is at PG and Center which were both missing last year and we have two possibilities at each position. Next year just has more depth. Remains to be seen if that will make up for three stars.
 
#295      

RockfordIllini

R
RockfordIllini
ChiefGritty said:
Let's be real candid here. If the NBA comes calling the NBA comes calling. The question is can we keep anybody away from other college programs in the portal.

There hasn't been ZERO success in that regard (see TSJ and Hawkins being brought back last year) but re-recruiting our own players has been one of BU's few weaknesses that has been a consistent bugaboo of his tenure.

We have had at least one out-of-nowhere unthinkable departure of a major asset every offseason he's been here.

One is a low number in the direction the game has turned, but we want to stop being among the national leaders in losing talent to the portal.

Everyone is a superstar now, but then everyone is actually bad and we're better off without them a season later. It's time to get off that carousel to the extent we can.
Click to expand...
Totally get your point about key offseason departures. But in fairness, with the exception of Podz, no one has really left Illinois and set the world on fire.

TBD of course with the latest batch, and no disrespect to any of the departures as I liked them all and will root for them at their new schools, but on paper at least I think we upgraded the talent at each roster spot.

Coleman is a tough loss but I think he wanted to stay in the draft if he could and I think staff made the right call in not waiting and tying up likely 7 figures in NIL and instead deployed those resources to get 2-3 multi year players.

Love Luke to death but he’s one dimensional offensively (catch and shoot 3s). Humrichous likely has more offensive game and is a better and more versatile (can shoot off movement) 3 pt shooter to boot.

Love Sencire but had a long way to go offensively. DGL is showing signs of being a defensive stopper and has much more offensive game.

Amani may be the one we regret losing the most, but Booth probably has a higher ceiling and probably complements Morez better. Amani may wind up a better player though.

Dain is a super fun post player but not really a fit with how we want to play.

Again, love all those guys but if we are chasing championships and with the $$ at stake, you upgrade talent whenever you can. I love how our roster came together.
 
#297      

AZILL

AZILL
AZILL
ChiefGritty said:
Let's be real candid here. If the NBA comes calling the NBA comes calling. The question is can we keep anybody away from other college programs in the portal.

There hasn't been ZERO success in that regard (see TSJ and Hawkins being brought back last year) but re-recruiting our own players has been one of BU's few weaknesses that has been a consistent bugaboo of his tenure.

We have had at least one out-of-nowhere unthinkable departure of a major asset every offseason he's been here.
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Unthinkable? Major asset? Perhaps in the time they played for the Illini they were considered that. Clark, Epps, and Curbelo all were known to be having problems with the team and/or staff. Adams was a surprise but didn't fare better. Brandin Podz wasn't a Major asset at the time he left and I don't think anyone else leaving had better numbers. Everyone but Podz that has left saw a downturn in effectiveness for their new team(s).
 
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#298      

Emerson Bigguns

Emerson Bigguns
Emerson Bigguns
Calvin said:
I think in this era, talent needs to be thought of as 1 year potential, not college career. In that sense, I'm not sure this team is as talented as last year. If you look at the ceiling of the top players, and more than 1 year, then I think the answer is yes. Really depends, and who knows how good this team will be. I think the Sleepers guys were tracking to the same idea.
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Talent, by definition, is a static thing. You are born with a certain amount of talent. The degree to which you are meeting the potential of that talent changes from year to year. No one becomes more talented. They develop physically, and their level of skill is refined to better reflect it.
This team may not be a collection of better basketball players at this point in time, due to the experience and maturity of the guys we had on a couple of BU's previous teams. I do not, however, believe we've had this much talent since perhaps the 2005 squad.
 
#299      

IlliniFan42

IlliniFan42
IlliniFan42
AZILL said:
Unthinkable? Major asset? Perhaps in the time they played for the Illini they were considered that. Clark, Epps, and Curbelo all were known to be having problems with the team and/or staff. Adams was a surprise but didn't fare better. Brandin Podz wasn't a Major asset at the time he left and I don't think anyone else leaving had better numbers. Everyone but Podz that has left saw a downturn in effectiveness for their new team(s).
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Yeah every time I've seen a player enter the transfer portal in the Underwood era I've been glad to see it.