Mike Cagley, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

June 3, 2023

There were several Illini recruiting targets playing at the EYBL tournament last weekend in Memphis. Here are my thoughts on a few of them.

Morez Johnson Jr courtesy Mike Cagley, IlliniGuys

Morez Johnson, Jr 6’9” PF 2024 – Illini Commit

Morez is Morez. His signature move is his motor. He plays in 5^th gear most of the time and he occasionally plays in 4^th gear, like everyone else. The best illustration of this would’ve been to take a picture of him diving to the floor out fighting an opponent for the ball and making a pass to a teammate as another opponent tried to tie him up. I wasn’t adept enough to capture that image. Morez isn’t a 6-foot-tall player trying get minutes based on his hustle, Morez is a 6’9” force in the lane who is willing to get on the floor even if he’s guaranteed the playing time anyway.

An excellent example of his work ethic on the floor, was putting the ball on the deck, being cut off on the right block, throwing an excellent pass to an open man in the left corner, and then blocking out resulting in getting an offensive rebound when his teammate missed the open three. One other skill that Morez is learning is that as his teammates drive, instead of running to spot on the floor, where the play is supposed to take him, Morez looks to fill an open space on the floor. This means he’s open for drivers to pass to when they beat their defender and Morez’s man must help. He gets his fair share of dunks based on his ability to find the open space and his teammates being able to look for and get the ball to him in traffic.

Morez is gaining confidence in his mid-range game, but he isn’t shooting many threes. He’s only 1 for 3 this spring from the three. With his diligence in crashing the boards, he doesn’t need the three at this level. His free throw shooting is at 60% and he’s looking more comfortable from the line, he’s building his consistency.

Johnson is averaging 13.1 points, 9.8 rebounds (leading the EYBL) in 23.8 minutes per game this spring.

Jeremiah Fears, So 6’1” G 2025

Jeremiah Fears courtesy Mike Cagley, IlliniGuys

Fears continues to play well as he plays up with the 17U Bradley Beal Elite team. His handles are tight as he’s able to advance the ball up the floor against man-to-man pressure and keep his shoulders facing forward.

Fears is only shooting 37.1% from the field and 28.9% from the three-point line. That is lower than what one would like to see, but he’s also attracting a lot of attention from defenders. He will need to keep shooting when he gets open looks and maintain his self-confidence. At this point, he’s doing just that. One thing Fears has is self-confidence. He is willing to handle the ball and take the open shot in the later stages of close games despite playing up.

His older brother Jeremy has shown that with focus and attention a jump shot can be improved. Jeremiah has a better shot for the same time in high school. As he keeps practicing, he should be able to boast one of the better shooting strokes in the country.

Fears is averaging 9.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 21.2 minutes per game this spring.

Mikey Lewis, Jr 6’3” G 2024

Mikey Lewis courtesy Mike Cagley, IlliniGuys

Lewis is a shot creator and a shot taker. He has no issues using either his quickness with the dribble or his accuracy from deep to take the shots that a defense gives him. He represents a unique challenge for any defender as his speed and ball handling allow him to do so much with the ball.

Lewis has a game that is like Drayven Gibbs-Lawhorn’s game. Both players are very quick with the ball from side-to-side and both are very fast in a straight line. Both are excellent shooters from the outside. They have similar games, though Lewis may have a slight advantage on his shooting and Gibbs-Lawhorn is even more athletic.

Will the staff be able to sell Lewis on playing on a team with such a similar player? We will see. With them both on the same team, there’d be no reason to see either player get tired as one could substitute in for the other easily enough.

With Lewis, he brings an impressive offensive skill set and he’d be tough in a press break situation as well. Speed like this is a weapon. With he and Drayven on the court together the offense could spread out and be hard to cover. One wonders how well they’d play together defensively, as neither is a big-framed guard.

Lewis is averaging 18.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 27.2 minutes per game this spring. He’s shooting 42.7% from the field, 37.8% from the 3, and 86.1% from the free throw line.

Jared Harris, Jr 6’4” G 2024

Jared Harris courtesy Mike Cagley, IlliniGuys

Jared Harris is a smooth shooting and long armed guard playing for the LivOn basketball team. He has excellent speed in the open court, a beautiful jump shot and solid handles for a combo guard.

Jared is at his best when the game speeds up. In the open court, he has the size and speed to really control a break or force the defense to hustle down court to keep up with him if he’s the release man. He plays well in transition and is very instinctive when he is attacking the basket.

On the offensive end, he has a reliable three-point shot. He can hit it from the wing or from the baseline. At times, he tends to camp at one spot on the floor, usually in the corner. As his career progresses, his ability to move away from the ball will become more necessary to utilize. When he chooses to, he can drive to the hoop and as he matures, he’ll be able to play through contact better.

The biggest opportunity area for Jared Harris is on defense. When LivOn plays in a zone, the players tend to forget that in a zone, one of the most important keys is to always pressure the ball. Too often LivOn players settled for putting a hand up in lieu of really pressuring the ball. This allowed opponents to use skip passes and entry passes to the post with little thread of resistance.

As LivOn players get better at the zone, they’ll see opposing turnovers rise and points scored go down. Right now, without that pressure on the player with the ball, LivOn is too easily scored upon. Passes are easier to throw and with the space allowed and dribble drive attacks that crack open the zone defense are also a weakness that has helped put LivOn near the bottom of the defensive rankings.

Harris is averaging 9.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 24.1 minutes per game this spring. He’s shooting 44.4% from the field, 40.4% from the 3, and 77.3% from the free throw line.