Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Kostas
- Naperville, IL
Yes, we buy tickets to watch the players.
But... We want to watch the players because we have some tie to the University. Often, we want to watch them because we once had a player that was in one of our classes or that we saw at Kam's, CO's, The Library, or R&Rs. People that in some way, real or perceived, we could relate to.
It was a shared experience.
And as Frankie Williams once told me, "thanks for paying tuition so I can go to the NBA and make millions of dollars", let's not pretend that these athletes received nothing in return.
A place to showcase talents for future opportunity...Check.
Access to advanced education... Check.
Alumni connections that they can leverage for jobs... Check.
All of this for free when others are now paying $35k a year and more... Check.
We went from one extreme to the other, to a certain degree, to the detriment of the whole. Realistically, most students cannot transfer 4x in 4 years and maintain academic progress for standard graduation.
Tldr: need some guardrails if we're going to continue with the student-athlete illusion.
The illusion is dead. Especially at this level. In the list of reasons the guys on this team chose U of I next year, alum connections , and education are way down the list. The guys we are targeting are thinking NBA or Europe at a minimum. They are majoring in basketball.
It’s another layer of pro sports, just much more regionally specific.
The sad irony is that things haven’t changed all that much in that front. You might have had a few Luke Goode type exceptions, but …
YOU want to watch the players because YOU have some tie to the university. Just because that's your point of view doesn't mean that's everyone else's. Yeah, I watch the Illini because I grew up in central Illinois and went to games routinely when I was a kid, and I feel ties to the team like you said. I also watch plenty of other college basketball games when I have absolutely no dog in the fight because I like watching good, competitive, fun-to-watch basketball. I imagine there are plenty of others in that boat in this forum. I also imagine that they tune into these college basketball games mostly because of the players competing on the floor.
These players put in a heck of a lot of work to get their bodies and their games ready to exhibit the product that we all enjoy out there. The players deserve to be compensated in accordance with the ample demand for that product. A scholarship, as valuable as that might be, isn't anywhere close to sufficient compensation to account for the value that these players bring to the college basketball equation.
Does it make these players any less of a student athlete because they are being fairly compensated for the value that they worked hard to bring to their college basketball teams and to every arena and every tournament that their teams visit during the season? I don't think so. Yeah, some of the players who earn this cash probably aren't going to wind up with a degree...which isn't any different than things were prior to recent changes. Plenty of students who aren't athletes don't wind up with degrees either. At the end of the day, many fairly paid athletes will represent their universities well on the court and will get it done in the classroom as well.
These players put in a heck of a lot of work to get their bodies and their games ready to exhibit the product that we all enjoy out there. The players deserve to be compensated in accordance with the ample demand for that product. A scholarship, as valuable as that might be, isn't anywhere close to sufficient compensation to account for the value that these players bring to the college basketball equation.
Does it make these players any less of a student athlete because they are being fairly compensated for the value that they worked hard to bring to their college basketball teams and to every arena and every tournament that their teams visit during the season? I don't think so. Yeah, some of the players who earn this cash probably aren't going to wind up with a degree...which isn't any different than things were prior to recent changes. Plenty of students who aren't athletes don't wind up with degrees either. At the end of the day, many fairly paid athletes will represent their universities well on the court and will get it done in the classroom as well.
Kinda want the door to be closed on that. If we are indeed gonna only have 12 guys and leave 1 open, and if Egor comes he'll be #11 (scholarship), think we can rather use that last spot on somebody better.
What about the billions of $ the ncaa has made off there likeness. Obviously they deserve something it's there blood sweat and tears that people are tuning into see.Im not saying things aren't out of hand or are going to be with nil but they truly deserve more then a scholarship in my opinion
If the current system leads to a lack of interest from fans and causes the revenue to dry up, then sure. But the one-and-done schools haven't lacked fan interest in the past, so it isn't clear that yearly transfers will affect things that much.
And the previous system involved state school presidents (and presidents of private schools that receive lots of government funding in various ways) colluding to severely restrict student athletes from getting paid in any way by anyone for their sport. In my opinion, that's a very improper thing for government officials to do.
Not saying there isn't a better solution to the problem, but the "good ole days" look pretty corrupt under the surface to me.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Keep reading about Ivisic playing "Pros".
Are there any concerns about his eligibility?
Are there any concerns about his eligibility?
They most certainly do 
That's how I imagined the person posting that bullshiete would look at something. Coleman being dead to "this fan" if he goes to another school outside of the B18G
That's how I imagined the person posting that bullshiete would look at something. Coleman being dead to "this fan" if he goes to another school outside of the B18G
Maybe I am old. I remember when St John’s was a problem….. EVERY year.
The one and done schools have been very good, all these schools won't be. That's the big what if.
The biggest pain from him is that he went to a rival B1G team. A substantial rival at that. You can't claim to be Illini for life and then go to the Loosiers. It's okay though...I hope he enjoys his "final" year of even more mediocrity with IU. What good does 40% long range shooting do for your team when you're the instant disadvantage on defense...every time? What if you can't adjust your shot? I guess that your only prayer would be to be a goode "stand in one spot" shooter.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Here’s the way I look at it:
In 1946 the highest earning NBA basketball player made $16,500 (just shy of $250k inflation adjusted) and he was also the team’s business manager and publicity director. Even in the 70s, the average salary was $90k/yr for NBA players.
In those yrs, a scholarship for college athletes made sense as payment for their services.
Once college sport revenues started getting into the millions, that system no longer made sense and it was only a matter of time before it came crumbling down.
so how does making the fans pay the players make things right?
That to me is the big thing here. The complaint has always been that the schools and NCAA are making millions on the backs of free labor. Well they're still making millions on the backs of free labor, to them. They just have other people foot the bill.
I still wonder if mid-majors will start shutting down the programs? Really what's the point when 100% of the time you get a good player they leave, which will absolutely be the case. If you do find a coach that can somehow string together some winning seasons, he's gone too. As the Big Ten and SEC continue to consolidate money and power, how long before they separate from the NCAA? How do the non-football schools survive?
We could see a situation in 5-10 years where thousands of kids now get nothing instead of having to settle for free tuition and fees, room and board, tutors, trainers, coaching, etc because the new world doesn't include 360 D1 basketball teams. Granted the chances of that are low, but certainly not 0.
Someone coming in halfway through the semester is pretty crazy. wouldn't that likely be another euroballer?I think we very well could up end with 13 for the spring semester …
Wait a minute…I think we very well could up end with 13 for the spring semester …
Spring Semester… Spring Semester…
Spring is a season….
Season… season…
Baseball is played in seasons
Baseball…. baseball…
Field of Dreams is a baseball movie.
Dreams…. Dreams…
I had a dream last night I was drinking a White Russian with a hawk and Nico Moretti!
Eureka! We’re rounding out our roster with Egor Demin, and the return of Nico Moretti and Coleman Hawkins!
People are beating the "the NCAA and schools made a fortune drum." I'd like to know where the money went. UIUC sports is in deep debt. Their earnings will never pay it off.
The NCAA earns ~1B/yr and pays out ~900M/year in scholarships, tournament rewards, travel expenses, etc.. The remaining 100M goes to admin (and likely lost suits). Yeah, some of this 100M could probably come back. There are ~500k NCAA Div I athletes (web search). So that is ~$200/each.
Most universities LOSE money at sports, even after donations. Sports are a loss leader to get enrollment and non-sports donations. UIUC sports makes a minimal profit most years, after donations, and after cooking books. (It loses money the other years). Without cooking the books (hiding facility upgrade costs in university backed loans), UIUC loses money. UIUC had 315M in sports debt as of 2020. I don't have newer numbers.
If football (and to a much lesser extent basketball), stopped redistributing money to gymnastics, swimming, etc., then they might be close to break even on their actual costs (e.g. stadium maintenance and upgrades). (Smaller DIV I schools can't get close to break even.) UIUC runs the debt, despite the athletics being "self supporting", by pushing the losses into infrastructure loans (e.g. stadium/assembly hall costs), that are backed by the university. Note: The profits that get re-distributed to other sports really are not that large at UIUC. 10M? I think I posted a graphic of it a year or two ago on this board.
The few places that make a profit do it by having enormous stadiums that sell out every game at silly ticket prices. For example, the MI stadium seats 107k, and the cheap seats are ~$100 for most games. That is 11M gate/game if all of the seats were at the cheap seat price. $15-18M is probably more accurate. Compare that to UI. ... Whelp, I couldn't find UIUC football gate numbers online. ... A SWAG would be 40k tickets sold at an average of $40. for 1.6M gate/game. (Student season tickets are ~$100/yr, so ~$15/game. Horseshoe tickets are often $30-35. The stadium seems over 1/2 empty.) Feel free to update this SWAG if you have better numbers. $15M-1.6M * 7 home games -> ~94M/yr more revenue for MI football. (At $100/ticket and selling out, MI would still outearn us 2:1 due to stadium size differences and MI having yet higher prices.)
Are all players equal? No. Was the university already taking a net loss, yes. So who is getting cheated? Free tuition, board, and training toward my pro career seems pretty good. If I'm not good enough to go pro, does my NIL really have any value?
Could we start seeing kids enrolling early and redshirting? Like Fears for example. Would give them a chance to get in the weight room and practice at the college level for close to a year before playing as a freshman.I think we very well could up end with 13 for the spring semester …
Obviously, this has been a football thing for a while since they don't have to redshirt but most of these kids are playing at academies so it's not like they're missing out on a high school state championship or anything since they're basically just playing glorified AAU.
Think it would make sense for a lot of the higher ranked recruits that would never redshirt unless it was medical. We basically just saw Moretti do this though he's obviously an international recruit and wasn't highly touted recruit.
I just got out of bed. Anything new on the Egor front? I want him bad. If we do land him, the lineups will come after Underwood's mixing and matching in the early going. Who knows what permutations will come? I could see a very young and inexperienced starting lineup when the dust settles with Tomislav, Egor and Morez out there. I wouldn't worry about it at all. These guys are that good. But that leaves four good players sitting--Ben, Ty, Davis and DGL. How do you get a 9 man rotation working without pissing off players. I don't think you can.
I think we very well could up end with 13 for the spring semester …
Fears coming early???
MDchicago
- Lake Norman NC
Luke Goode being the exception to your exception...
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