Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[Dan]

U of I this weekend!!!

http://twitter.com/JMamba5 (JaQuan Lyle)

[Larken24]

Now we need everyone to be rooting for Lyle just like we did when Nunn was here on his visit

[IlliniFreak7]

This is a huge recruit for us. Getting Lyle would accelerate our program quite a bit to how we want our offense to run. Hopefully groce will go all out for him and get it done!

[-josh-]

The trick with these top kids will be convincing them that they dont have to go to the blue bloods to have success in college. The sad thing is even with our updated facitilies were still behind the Kentucky's and the North Caolina's in terms of what we can offer for athletic creature comforts.

[mdonsbach]

Originally Posted by Larken24

Now we need everyone to be rooting for Lyle just like we did when Nunn was here on his visit

I think most of use are recruit hype burnt out. I don't know about anyone else but I'm just ready for the games to start!

[PGHillini11]

Originally Posted by mdonsbach

I think most of use are recruit hype burnt out. I don't know about anyone else but I'm just ready for the games to start!

I'm with you on that one

[Juice]

Originally Posted by mdonsbach

I think most of use are recruit hype burnt out. I don't know about anyone else but I'm just ready for the games to start!

This.

[Kramer116]

Jaquan Lyle is not deciding for a long time anyways, no reason to get overly excited but very good news we got him to visit.

[Dan]

2013 F Austin Colbert tells @SNYtv he may take an official to Villanova. Had been down to Miami, Illinois and SHU.

http://twitter.com/AdamZagoria

[-josh-]

That's interesting. Villanova hasn't been recruiting him up until this point. But it's a school just down the highway from him, i guess he's not as much of a lean/lock to Miami as everyone thought.

[Foo G]

I think it's going to be hard to overtake UK and IU for Lyle.
Louisville is also going to be a major player.

[justsomedude]

I thought I heard groce mention (on springfield radio) they had a recruit on campus this weekend who had recently visited Michigan, not sure who, but he said thi recruit raved about the fact the Michigan locker room had ipads.

Also said while one recruit isn't big into twitter, almost all are. He said one recruit is tracking followers and mentions from Illinois fans vs another school.

Obviously he couldn't say who.

[BlockI]

Originally Posted by justsomedude

I thought I heard groce mention (on springfield radio) they had a recruit on campus this weekend who had recently visited Michigan, not sure who, but he said thi recruit raved about the fact the Michigan locker room had ipads.

Also said while one recruit isn't big into twitter, almost all are. He said one recruit is tracking followers and mentions from Illinois fans vs another school.

Obviously he couldn't say who.

KBD has visited scUM recently I think.

[U of I 89-05-10]

Originally Posted by justsomedude

... Also said while one recruit isn't big into twitter, almost all are. He said one recruit is tracking followers and mentions from Illinois fans vs another school.

Obviously he couldn't say who.

This is why I've always hated it when people acted like we were this "creepy" fan base for showing recruits love on Twitter ... I mean, these are kids; they love the attention, and it makes it clear that we have a very rabid fan base. No one would argue that winning brings Illini fans out in droves larger than most in the Big Ten, if not the country.

[jhayton]

Originally Posted by U of I 89-05-10

This is why I've always hated it when people acted like we were this "creepy" fan base for showing recruits love on Twitter ... I mean, these are kids; they love the attention, and it makes it clear that we have a very rabid fan base. No one would argue that winning brings Illini fans out in droves larger than most in the Big Ten, if not the country.

I didn't think it was creepy until I saw the crap posted about XRM committing to FSU. That was embarrassing. I will follow kids we are recruiting, but I doubt I will ever mention them again.

I am a little confused about the iPad's in the scUM locker rooms. Wouldn't that constitute a gift or is it just for film study. I guess that is the reason, but I bet those go "missing" all the time.

[PeoriaIllini1]

Originally Posted by Redbirds33333

Third Simeon Player commits...Kendall Pollard to Dayton. What an awesome High School Basketball Team, not to mention, a nice class Dayton is putting together.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/high...mits-to-dayton

yeah but i till think the best team was in 1990- 7'4'' thomas hamilton sr to Illini that never happened. 7'1'' Rashard Griffith to Wisconsin, Jonny Selvie to New Mexico, First team high school AA Jamie Brandon to LSU, and big east player Ahmad Shreef

neat article here: http://blogs.suntimes.com/lockerroom...est_of_al.html


.i hope we can get these elite type of players from Chicago again soon...

[DG1985]

Originally Posted by jhayton

I didn't think it was creepy until I saw the crap posted about XRM committing to FSU. That was embarrassing. I will follow kids we are recruiting, but I doubt I will ever mention them again.

I am a little confused about the iPad's in the scUM locker rooms. Wouldn't that constitute a gift or is it just for film study. I guess that is the reason, but I bet those go "missing" all the time.

I think they made laptops mandatory for UI Law some years ago. It seems that you could make an ipad something like a text book and then purchase them for athletes.

[Noday]

Originally Posted by BlockI

KBD has visited scUM recently I think.

Charles Matthews was asking fan bases to represent. UK fans were all over him with UK avatars on their profiles. UI fans were representing but our avatars are not Fighting Illini heavy so it looked as though there were far more UK fans. The UK fans were gloating and telling him that there were way more UK fans following him. Charles then asked for UI, Depaul and other fan bases to step it up to compete with UK.

The Illinois kids want to be followed and they keep note of who follows them. He wanted to break 1000 follows but he is at about 660. I think we should atleast follow our targets and if possible use an Illini avatar.

[Dan]

Villanova associate HC Billy Lange will watch 6-9 PF Austin Colbert today at Gill St. Bernard's. Colbert may take an official there.

http://twitter.com/AdamZagoria

[timmytao]

Originally Posted by justsomedude

I thought I heard groce mention (on springfield radio) they had a recruit on campus this weekend who had recently visited Michigan, not sure who, but he said thi recruit raved about the fact the Michigan locker room had ipads.

Also said while one recruit isn't big into twitter, almost all are. He said one recruit is tracking followers and mentions from Illinois fans vs another school.

Obviously he couldn't say who.

yea i was at the ARC lifting and i saw the crowd come through, wondered who the recruit was.....

[Hugh Jorgen]

Originally Posted by FaninCa

I dunno about Morgan. He struggles to rebound and plays below-the-rim.

So did Josh Harrelson until he arrived at Kentucky...they he was trained to use that body that he had the right way. I see alot of similarities between Morgan and Harrelson physically, but Mav is MUCH more skilled at the same point in their careers. He's going to surprise some folks.

[Illini70math]

Originally Posted by Hugh Jorgen

So did Josh Harrelson until he arrived at Kentucky...they he was trained to use that body that he had the right way. I see alot of similarities between Morgan and Harrelson physically, but Mav is MUCH more skilled at the same point in their careers. He's going to surprise some folks.

Agreed. I think Harrelson could be a good comparison, and I agree that Mav is clearly ahead of Josh at this stage. You don't have to be a skywalker to be very good in college basketball if you have the size (it sounds like Mav could easily get to 260 or so if the coaches felt that would help). Check one Sullinger, Jared!



P.S. And no, I am not saying Mav is as good as Jared.

[cjcastan]

And it’s a search without an end in sight. The in-state pipeline doesn’t show an elite candidate until 2015. Illinois also will be involved with Hyron Edwards, a 2015 lead guard from neighboring East Chicago. So the Illinois staff could go one of two directions to solve this dilemma — make due with combo guards who can handle the ball or continue to recruit nationally in search of the playmaker it desperately wants.

Klee Article

Hmm interesting read about how the staff may be tweaking their strategy / system based on available talents.

I'd still prefer the staff go national / international and really get their man, but if they feel they can be successful this way or don't have great chances with the pure PG talents in 2014, gotta keep on keeping on.


PS re: Hyron Edwards. Now come on, East Chicago can't be a IU / PU / ND stronghold right? I don't know too much about Indiana Prep Hoops but I mean this kid has to be a realistic target out of Indiana right? I mean East Chicago is just over the border. It's named East Freaking Chicago. That part of the state can't be dyed in crimson and cream or solid boiler up or golden domers right?

Would still hate to wait until 2015 and beyond to see the full implementation / true visualization of the Groce offensive system.

[BrooksTaylorFan]

Originally Posted by Hugh Jorgen

So did Josh Harrelson until he arrived at Kentucky...they he was trained to use that body that he had the right way. I see alot of similarities between Morgan and Harrelson physically, but Mav is MUCH more skilled at the same point in their careers. He's going to surprise some folks.

Shaun Pruitt struggled with rebounding and played below the rim, yet had a good college career. I would definitely put Morgan ahead of Pruitt physically.

[rock215215]

Originally Posted by mdonsbach

I think most of use are recruit hype burnt out. I don't know about anyone else but I'm just ready for the games to start!

Amen to that, I'll wait til we ACTUALLY get a legit commit before getting excited. Meanwhile let's get the games started for this year...