Quentin Coleman

And he's really good.

I really hope that he doesn't get hurt with the way that he throws his body around and with how hard he plays and he's throwing himself at the glass and, you know um trying to try to do contested finishes and finishing at a high rate but you got to watch out for the injuries and i think foul trouble will be one thing to keep an eye on as he plays really aggressive defense but i agree with you there you know quentin coleman's going to be really really good it's going to be tough to to say hey like by january like we're going to definitely be hearing his name in nba mock drafts and national analysts kind of like how we saw with keaton um going off of that do you think he has potential to be a a one guard basically what Keaton was kind of running the offense doing a lot of things being the head of the action especially with Markovich out

yeah that's a good question you know we haven't for how good he's playing the exhibitions we really haven't seen him as like a true point guard I don't know if that's the best option for him as a player like for Keaton it was obvious that just get him the ball let him go and pick and rolls and he can figure out the rest he made good decisions he passes at a high level he's obviously a great three-point shooter I think Q is a little bit more of like a slasher off the ball, you know, athletic type guard.

He's definitely a combo guard.

I think that's really good for a true freshman, you know, who's getting used to his new role and all of that.

Going into the theme of guards, I think Illinois has one of the best backcourts in the country.

And, you know, we talked about Stefan Vox, but it's not about Stefan Vox and Quentin Coleman anymore.

It's fellow freshman Ethan Brown.

Ethan Brown was next up with 12 points.

Then he had 10 each from Quentin Coleman, Stefan Vox, Xavier Zenz, and Lucas Murillo.

Let's hit on those two guys because I think those two guys are fantastic.

questionable of whether they'll make the rotation kyle but those were the two best games we have seen from zenz and mario mario had 10 points eight rebounds and four assists zenz hit two of four from three also three assists zero turnovers as we like to joke about kind of a jake davis type game 10 points three assists i think jake had exactly the same 10 points uh he had three rebounds and one assist uh but that's what you want to see what did you notice from those guys zenz and mario

We saw a little bit of that, but we also just saw, you know, a guy that made an impact in a lot of different areas.

And so it was good to see after two kind of quiet games.

exhibition games to start knowing made two threes against Baylor but his impact wasn't super loud in those two games I thought it was very loud in this game in his 21 minutes so to see him take advantage of that and then yeah Xavier's ends I think you can see why it seems like this staff has some trust in him I mean he started the second half when Lincoln Williams was out and throughout exhibition play he's been one of those first freshmen beyond Quentin Coleman and And Ethan Brown that has checked into games.

And yeah, you know, I wrote it in my takeaways and we've talked about it and the staff has made comparisons to it.

Andrei Stolyakovich, Jake Davis, David Murkovich, Zvonimir Ivasich, and Tommy Ivasich.

And they also bring in Providence transfer Stefan Vox and a talented freshman in Quentin Coleman.

Brad Underwood has built Bo Ryan, Matt Painter-type consistency in Champaign.

As long as he is the head coach of Illinois, you've got to factor the Illini in for a top 16 seed in the NCAA tournament and a chance to go deep into the final round.

Um, the passes were fantastic.

Whether it was Quentin Coleman or whether it was Stefan box or, uh, Ethan Brown.

I mean, all those guys, everybody had, you know, just some dynamic plays.

There was just, it's fun to watch a team that shares the ball like that.

Yeah, so that's coming up on Monday.

Be sure to watch for that.

Meanwhile, several players on the watch list around the country, Quentin Coleman, Andrei Stoyakovich, David Merkovich, Tomislav Ivasich, Barry Wallace.

I believe we're going to see Ciara Parchment as well on these watch lists, these national watch lists.

So, give us your courtside opinion, Cooper O'Kelly from the Champagne Room.

What did you see and what did you like last night? In particular, let's start with Quentin Coleman.

Oh, man.

Coleman's

Every guy that they would bring out there was contributing in a different way.

And I genuinely think that Ethan Brown's probably going to start until Merck comes back.

Quentin Coleman is going to be a star player.

Lincoln Williams is going to play rotational minutes.

Ethan Brown, obviously, is going to be in.

So is Quentin Coleman and then our regular guys.

Six of those.

Right.

Bad thing is the injuries and kind of waiting to see what Andre and Zee and fellow sitting behind

me from St. Joe and his kids.

We were talking about how Quentin Coleman is looking good, but there was one time that he fell down and I said, don't get hurt.

Every time there was any kind of thing, I was like, don't

For my winner, I'm also going to say Illinois.

You bring back the nucleus of Stojakovic, Mirkovic, the Ivasich brothers, Jake Davis, and you add a dynamic combo guard in Stefan Vox, who averaged 15.8 at Providence last year, as well as a trio of high-impact freshmen to me with obviously the five-star Quentin Coleman, Lucas Murillo, didn't really do much in the Cincinnati exhibition, but he was a top 60 guy, as well as Ethan Brown, maybe the Keaton Wagler type under-recruited three-star who can come in and make an impact.

For my sleeper, I have two.

So I wrote my sleeper.