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I don't know about that, Murph. He seems to fit Bradley's style of guard play pretty well. He was Illinois 2nd leading scorer and will be their leading returning scorer. Pretty good for a former walkon they weren't interested in out of high school. I think he'd do OK at Bradley.
Somebody has to be the second leading scorer on a really bad team.
I'll agree with that categorization. Meacham is a valuable player but shouldn't be expected to be a star. As a guy that comes off the bench simply to catch and shoot (while taking care of the ball and playing decent defense), he can be a valuable part of a solid team. That's the role I expect him to fill next season.
I also agree that Meacham would fit Bradley's system very well - I don't understand the claims that he wouldn't be good enough to play at Bradley. The guy averaged double digit scoring against one of the tougher schedules in the country. I know he did that on a lackluster team, but Meacham isn't the type of player whose numbers benefit from playing on a bad team (i.e. he's not a guy that normally creates his own shot). If anything, I'd expect his per minute numbers to be way better when he's on a team with more scoring options, as he should be next year.
He came to Illinois as a walk-on...and it goes without saying that as a walk-on he figured himself to get very little playing time at the Big Ten level,
but still committed to work as hard and put in just as much effort at practice and games as everyone else.
In time, after sitting out the year required by transfer, he was available to play as a sophomore, but Ilinois was pretty well stocked, and Trent didn't
play much, waiting his turn. Regardless, he worked extra hard in the classroom and was Academic All-Big Ten.
He didn't play much but still averaged 5 ppg, 1.7 apg, and shot 41% on 3-pointers (10th best in Big Ten).
Then as a junior, Illinois suffers a lot of unexpected player losses (Jamar, Carlwell, plus injuries to others) and yet he steps right in, is asked to play
point guard, plays 30 mpg, and averages 10 ppg & 2.5 apg, as well as being Illinois' only real 3-pt
threat, averaging 40% (11th best in the league), and a team best 75% on FT...all the while turning the ball over fewer times than any player who averaged more than 13 mpg.
Now, after giving the Illini everything they could have asked from the kid, most are projecting him to lose his starting spot and play less next year as
Legion and Jamar play, and I'll bet Trent will do just as he's done, give the team whatever they ask without complaining, even if he loses a lot of playing time as a senior.
Personally, I'd take the kid any day, and the Illini should be thankful they have him.
He has been instrumental in at least 10 of their wins over the past couple years, but he is also a team leader by default.
Remember how Weber ripped the seniors for their lack of leadership?
I think Weber was really more upset over situations such as Shaun Pruitt, not that he even played that well over the past year, ripping on his own teammates.
Well said, tornado. I wish some of my fellow Illini fans were able to recognize Meacham's accomplishments as well as you have.
Let's not forget that Meacham is a walk-on by choice - he had a scholarship at Dayton and played pretty well as a freshman (6.4 ppg, 2.7 apg, 46% 3-pt shooting). He transferred as a walk-on because he wanted to play at his hometown school and there were no scholarships available. He will likely be on scholarship for his senior year.
We actually had a discussion earlier this year on one of the Illinois boards about whether Meacham might now regret his decision to transfer - this would have been his senior year at Dayton, and you never know if his shooting and ballhandling might have pushed them into the NCAA tournament. Their backup PG, London Warren, had an awful season, mostly because of a ridiculous number of turnovers. Playing Meacham in that slot probably gets them another win or two, and that may have meant an at-large bid. That's clearly a team that could have benefited from having Meacham in their rotation.
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