@Illinois Forum Thread

Cook for sure! not Towns IMO. He’s playing poor competition and not playing THAT well. Good upside, but no impact guy right now.

He really hurts this offense and it’s sad to see because he’s a great kid. Misses FAR too many open guys and his head is down far too often to be a good pg in the big ten. It’s frustrating to see his decline as I don’t see why it has happened.

In retrospect the 2 guys that were most attainable in 14 or 15 that could’ve helped the team were PJ Dozier and Donte Grantham. Grantham would’ve basically been DJ Wilson without 2 years of waiting, so the last 2 years would’ve been better. Dozier would’ve made a HUGE impact this year

No doubt about dozier, great player. I love the kids game and he seems to always take in coaching very well and it shows on the court. He’d be our best player right now without much debate IMO.

I thought we went hard after Dozier and it was just a good old fashioned lost fight due to his family there. Was he really that attainable?

Yeah, not saying we didn’t push hard, just that he was more realistic because a fight vs SC certainly has better odds than a fight vs Duke

I think we talked about this on mgoblog but there’s really nobody who Beilein is currently looking at for 2017 who could be an instant impact PnR type guy?

I think after the failure of the 2015 and 2016 cycles, he has given up on prioritizing top 50 players… So yeah.

Not that I see no. I think an off season for Simpson is going to help him a lot. Is anyone concerned that he turns 20 soon and is still struggling this much?

After talking with him tonight, going after a Tim FInke type would change this program for sure. Kid can absolutely play and think of a Stauskas 2.0

Wow. I’m pretty shocked at that evaluation. Watched him st UM camp and while he’s a pretty good athlete, has nowhere near the skill of Stauskas in HS.

At this point, no. It’s Bamba or bust until Bamba finally tells us no. I wish he’d just get it over with already.

Again, in the end I think losing out on Jamal will hurt. Hopefully we can land someone comparable to close out this class.

I am not saying from day 1 but this kid has gotten so much better. I can watch him all the time since I live in the city he plays. He isn’t a lock to go to Illinois like his dad and brother like so many people think. I’d LOVE to see that kid in maze n blue. His pick n roll skills have improved greatly. Not a plus passer yet but the kid can really score.

All I know is, If Illinois lands Mark Smith and Tim, we won’t be beating them for a few years and they’ll be ranked for years to come.

Can definitely shoot based on what I saw at UM camp, but his ball handling skills have a long way to go in my view.

Come down to Champaign some time and go with me to a game. The kid has definitely done his work to get better and runs a lot of pg for centennial now.

I just watched his EYBL highlights and it didn’t show a single drive to the basket that resulted in a layup or any plus ball handling. Obviously he could have improved since then though.

Exactly what I saw at UM camp. I know people have taken issue with me for my critique of JB over the years, but I really do take pride in my evaluations. I watch the games/prospects with great detail. I’m not always right, and have been wrong plenty. But not for lack of effort and overall I’m pretty confident in my evaluation skills

Physically he has some tools. If he can get his handle right there’s definitely some potential there

Not gonna lie, Finke’s game gave off a Jordan Pooleish vibe to me, but with not quite the passing vision. If John is right about his PnR game being good I’ll stand corrected on the comparison since I think that is something Poole has yet to conquer.