Recent content by I lost Kofi's blue binder

I’ll freely admit that I haven’t. My concerns aren’t based on any eye test but rather the history of highly talented young players from Europe tending to struggle adjusting to the college game. Some are immediately good, like Franz Wagner. Others struggle mightily, like UCLA’s entire roster last...

I think you’re misunderstanding me—I’ve said a few times that I wasn’t a fan of a young player from Europe being the “big fish.” And that the “we didn’t want him anyway” thing we’ve seen throughout this offseason was a way of coping with Illinois having less resources than many of us that.

I wasn’t necessarily crazy about the Kasparas thing anyway—there’s real risk in banking heavily on a player that young adjusting to the college game quickly—but this sounds extremely familiar.

The adds are by and large role players. Pretty good ones, to be clear! And some promise for a bit more than that in guys like Boswell and Hamburger. But I thought this program shot a bit higher than crossing our fingers and hoping guys make a leap… i.e. the difference between “let’s just get...

I think we’ve had some insiders express differing opinions on this one, but “we don’t want to overpay and would rather spend elsewhere” has been the common refrain following more failed pursuits this offseason than Storr alone.

Becoming increasingly clear that Illinois spectacularly whiffed by thinking they were budgetary savants passing on Storr, and now is trying to sell a 17-year-old playing in Europe (a question mark twice over) and/or the second-best player on a low major as anything other than a disappointment...

Totally get it. But another way of looking at it—and I think the fairer, less orange-colored glasses way to look at it, since a star wing was the biggest hole on the roster and the chief focus of the offseason—is that you’d be filling a star’s slot with your third-best transfer. Which isn’t great.

Lathon is solid, but man, it’s quite a fall from “proven high-major producer” to “second-best player on a low-major.” Everyone was excited when it appeared close to a sure thing Illinois would get the former as its star wing. Now the mere suggestion that the latter would be disappointing summons...

If he returns to college, fully expecting another “he was asking for too much” clunker.

I’ve been very critical of Illinois’ offseason so far, and this is a reeeaaaalllyy bad take.

Great! So was Aday Mara, and he was terrible last season. Hard to say how Ivisic will translate…hopefully well. Which is something of a theme with this roster full of complementary pieces. Lots of hope, not a ton of concrete success to draw on. It has been interesting to watch the takes change...

Putting aside the comparison, why shouldn't we expect to rinse and repeat the same thing that has happened every time Illinois zeroes in on a high-impact player? 1. Signs are positive 2. Signs are positive 3. Signs are positive 4. Other teams might be involved but Illinois is in a good spot 5...

Watkins, Kelly… decent players on absolutely awful teams. Extremely disappointing if that’s the best Illinois can do. But that’s what you get if you repeatedly refuse to pay top dollar for top talent. I still see a team chock full of third options. It’s fair to say “this price is unreasonable”...

Probably a "Demin or portal SG" situation, as opposed to both (resource limitations would be my guess). Whatever the reasoning, if "Demin or portal SG, not both" is the case and the staff has a high-impact SG ready to commit now, they need to pull the trigger. Absolutely cannot get left at the...

It’s tempting to believe that Demin will be on next year’s team, but having a hard time getting there after RayJ, Storr, and not even getting Jones into the portal. Hope this time can be different—can’t argue with the talent.