With the news that Max Bielfeldt won an appeal allowing him to transfer within the conference, might he make sense to fill Illinois' open scholarship for 2015-16?
Bielfeldt has come a long way in his time in Ann Arbor, and he was quite good last season. In conference play, his offensive rating was 106.8 on a surprisingly heavy usage rate of 24%. Bielfeldt was also an absolute monster on the glass. It's unclear if Bielfeldt could put up similar numbers with heavier playing time, but it's not like he was doing this against scrubs. He ended up starting Michigan's final three games and playing really well (including the blowout of Illinois in the BTT).
I know we've been focused on landing somebody that can play PG, but that ship may have sailed (pending Lovett's eligibility/decision). Looking at next year's roster, it might make sense to add another proven PF/C type.
As of today, I'd expect the rotation to look like this:
PG Abrams
SG Nunn
SF Hill
PF Black
C Thorne
SG JCL
PF Paul
C Morgan
PG Tate
PF Finke
SG Jordan
SF Williams
In my opinion, there's a big dropoff in production after the seventh guy (Paul). If Illinois were to add Bielfeldt, he'd become the second big off the bench, and it would mean less minutes for Morgan and Finke (barring a surprise from one of those guys, which would obviously be a good thing). It's not exactly an area of need, but it would shore up a potentially weak spot in the regular rotation, leaving only backup PG as an area of concern.
I'd much rather have Lovett for the long-term health of the program, so I'd hope Groce would hold the spot open for him if there's a realistic chance of getting Lovett. If that isn't in the cards, Bielfeldt would help next season's team much more than an empty seat.
Bielfeldt has come a long way in his time in Ann Arbor, and he was quite good last season. In conference play, his offensive rating was 106.8 on a surprisingly heavy usage rate of 24%. Bielfeldt was also an absolute monster on the glass. It's unclear if Bielfeldt could put up similar numbers with heavier playing time, but it's not like he was doing this against scrubs. He ended up starting Michigan's final three games and playing really well (including the blowout of Illinois in the BTT).
I know we've been focused on landing somebody that can play PG, but that ship may have sailed (pending Lovett's eligibility/decision). Looking at next year's roster, it might make sense to add another proven PF/C type.
As of today, I'd expect the rotation to look like this:
PG Abrams
SG Nunn
SF Hill
PF Black
C Thorne
SG JCL
PF Paul
C Morgan
PG Tate
PF Finke
SG Jordan
SF Williams
In my opinion, there's a big dropoff in production after the seventh guy (Paul). If Illinois were to add Bielfeldt, he'd become the second big off the bench, and it would mean less minutes for Morgan and Finke (barring a surprise from one of those guys, which would obviously be a good thing). It's not exactly an area of need, but it would shore up a potentially weak spot in the regular rotation, leaving only backup PG as an area of concern.
I'd much rather have Lovett for the long-term health of the program, so I'd hope Groce would hold the spot open for him if there's a realistic chance of getting Lovett. If that isn't in the cards, Bielfeldt would help next season's team much more than an empty seat.
