• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

Illinois' Trent Meacham has Surgery

Hopefully this will fix the issues that Trent played through all season. I think he'll still be a big part of the Illinois rotation next season, even with Legion and Smith joining the fray.
 
Now you sound like an Illinois fan! ;)

Meacham is a very solid player, and I'm not surprised that he's underrated by posters on this board - a lot of Illinois fans also don't give Meacham the credit he's due.

He shot 40% from downtown and had a 1.6-to-1 assist to turnover ratio against the 5th toughest defensive schedule in the nation (according to Pomeroy ratings). Consider the fact that he was the ONLY consistent outside threat on the team and that makes his numbers look that much better.

His defense has improved substantially - he's not exceptionally quick, but he's worked hard enough on the fundamentals that he's not a liability defensively.

I do expect that his minutes will be reduced when compared to this year. He's an excellent player to have as your sharpshooter off the bench for 15-20 minutes per game. With defenses unable to focus on him, I think his 3-point shooting percentage goes even higher. The simple fact that he and Frazier will be allowed to settle into roles that better suit them makes me feel a lot better about Illinois basketball next season.
 
By the way (and this really surprised me), Meacham finished with a higher Offensive Rating than anyone on Bradley. Add the fact that he did it against a tougher defensive schedule (5th vs 60th) and it becomes clear that Meacham isn't a bad player to have on your team, especially when he can be your 4th or 5th option (as he will be next season).

Illinois is very fortunate that Meacham decided to give up a scholarship to come home. This season would have been even uglier without him.
 
I don't care what the numbers say. I know what I see, and I see a kid that wouldn't even start for half the teams in the MVC. If he's a vital cog for the Illini, it's going to be another bottom-feeding season.
 
Ahh, the infamous eyeballs argument. Well, the numbers say your eyeballs are wrong in this case. Obviously you have your mind made up, so I won't try any harder to convince you.
 
mportsch said:
Ahh, the infamous eyeballs argument. Well, the numbers say your eyeballs are wrong in this case. Obviously you have your mind made up, so I won't try any harder to convince you.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to argue here, but numbers don't always tell the story. Let's use Derrick Rose and Dan Ruffin for an example. Dan Ruffin might average more assists and shoot better from 3, but I know by watching them both play that Derrick Rose is a much, much better basketball player. Meachem had OK numbers on a terrible team. He was part of the reason they were awful - He isn't very good.
 
The difference here is that the numbers I'm using are tempo-free, not per-game averages (which I agree are very flawed). I'm considering the competition level as well, which is why I listed the rating of the defensive schedule. Considering tempo and competition keeps everything in context.

I'm definitely not trying to argue that Meacham is better than everybody on Bradley (I think Ruffin, Crouch, Wilson, and Warren all had better seasons than Meacham, due to higher usage rates, rebounding, and/or defense). I'm simply saying that Meacham has enough offensive abilities to make him a contributor to an NCAA tourney team. Not as a go-to scorer or maybe not even as a starter, but as a part of the rotation. It's become a pet peeve of mine to see people writing off Meacham without looking at the facts.

By the way, your argument doesn't work here anyway - Ruffin's offensive rating is 108.0, while Rose's is 111.7, with a higher usage rate.
 
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.
 
BradleyBrave said:
I don't care what the numbers say. I know what I see, and I see a kid that wouldn't even start for half the teams in the MVC. If he's a vital cog for the Illini, it's going to be another bottom-feeding season.
Click to expand...

What games did you see him play in? He wasn't the best player on the team, but he'll be an important player last year, and he did make a difference this year for Illinois. I think you are judging him because he wears an Orange and Blue jersey. I'm not saying he's going to be the leading scorer, but he'll be pretty important off the bench. How can you possibly think Illinois will be bad next year? Come on, Jamar, Legion, McCamey in the back court? That's pretty solid. Plus, I think the bigs will improve, as guys like Mike Tisdale showed some progress this year.
 
IlliBraves said:
What games did you see him play in? He wasn't the best player on the team, but he'll be an important player last year, and he did make a difference this year for Illinois. I think you are judging him because he wears an Orange and Blue jersey. I'm not saying he's going to be the leading scorer, but he'll be pretty important off the bench. How can you possibly think Illinois will be bad next year? Come on, Jamar, Legion, McCamey in the back court? That's pretty solid. Plus, I think the bigs will improve, as guys like Mike Tisdale showed some progress this year.
Click to expand...

BradleyBrave is not a "hater" of UIUC like me.

He is very objective in his analysis.

So let me throw this out there.... can Meacham be considered similar to someone like Emmeneker this year?

Very valuable but not a "world-beater" of a player?
 
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.
 
mportsch said:
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.
Click to expand...

That's all good and all I want to add is.... perception is not always reality.
 
Da Coach said:
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.
Click to expand...


Somebody has to be the second leading scorer on a really bad team.
 
Post reply

Post reply

mportsch said:
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.
Click to expand...

Mr. Meacham, how did you get on this board?
 
Here's my take on Trent Meacham...

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.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top