Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (January-February 2018)

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#2,026      

PlayAZ

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PlayAZ
mhuml32 said:
This has been something I've been thinking about with so many guards being recruited and people responding by believing Underwood will just play more guards, but how would this come to fruition? The current roster, with a very thin frontcourt that everyone has questioned the whole season, seems to suggest that you are already maxing out the available minutes for the backcourt. Black is playing great, but it seems like an easy argument that putting a four-guard lineup around him would be untenable from a rebounding perspective.

Right now, your minute breakdown is the following for your true guards:

2018 Minutes
Frazier: 26.1
Lucas: 20.9
Smith: 19.1

Ramey is going to have to eat into minutes from predominantly either Frazier or Lucas due to height concerns (can't forsee how you could play Frazier, Lucas, and Ramey all at the same time). Let's do a walk through for minutes in 2019. Seems easy to expect Frazier's minutes to go up next year, and we're all hoping that Smith will make a leap forward and demand more minutes, plus he can play a little at the 3 in the right lineups. This is ignoring the comments from a couple posters about Lucas and whether he's caused problems and/or not bought into the team culture, because it can't be substantiated.

2019 Predicted Minutes
Frazier: 32
Lucas: 21
Smith: 25

That would leave 42 minutes for the backcourt to be split among Williams, Ayo, Nichols (partially), and Jordan (partially). As of now, Williams, Nichols, and Jordan are already playing 55 minutes/game. Maybe the answer is whoever in this group takes the next step forward will be eat away at the minutes for the other. Also, for those that might clamor for Ayo (and possibly Ramey) to eat into Tejon's playing time, his stats have shown a leap forward (FG% went from 40% to 47%, FT% improvement, rebounding rate improvement, TO's and assists are roughly the same). If I'm Tejon and I'm expected to take a cut in playing time, I'm looking to transfer.

The only answer for me would be if Illinois was able to bring in a 5th year front court player that is a monster on the boards, Trice commits and is a revelation, or Spicy G takes another step forward (my pick) that eases the pressure of playing a larger player at the 3.



tl;dr: you only have so many minutes to play guards, plus you need to rebound the basketball to be competitive.
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Think you have a good analysis, however, I think you may be lumping the wrong players together...I believe you pull Smith minutes from guard pool and add him to Jordan and Williams, thus Ayo/Ramey slide into those minutes and then some if we get both of course.

Williams/Jordan/Smith are all rebounders/defensive with some offensive numbers albeit rather low as of now, they fill into a traditional 3/4 spot and Kipper goes into that or the 4/5 slot as well, with a smaller lineup with Black/Kipper/Ebo/Finke playing the 5th spot.:chief:
 
#2,035      

PlayAZ

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PlayAZ
I would say we should have a really good shot now, with Ayo encouraging him, and hopefully Trice joining?

Not a bad class overall at all, and one that fits needs, our 3/4 guys for most part other than Black whom I consider 4/5 are not shooters. Jones would help this, Trice could play with Black/Kipper/Finke or small with 4 guards. Ayo, well he will just play period!
 
#2,038      

aluma

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aluma
I'm just waiting for Kansas to offer Jones and then see him go there :(
 
#2,040      

aluma

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aluma
So if Arizona was our biggest competition for Jones, now that they are out of the picture, who becomes the biggest threat to Illinois landing Jones? Xavier?
 
#2,041      

TownieMatt

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CU Expat
Chicago
TownieMatt
Will we never learn that kids saying "we want to play together" is just talk. What is a kid supposed to say? "Nah, I don't want to play with that guy."

Shareef's commitment to UCLA doesn't have any effect on Tevian.
 
#2,042      

Ubermensch

Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
Ubermensch
PlayAZ said:
I would say we should have a really good shot now, with Ayo encouraging him, and hopefully Trice joining?

Not a bad class overall at all, and one that fits needs, our 3/4 guys for most part other than Black whom I consider 4/5 are not shooters. Jones would help this, Trice could play with Black/Kipper/Finke or small with 4 guards. Ayo, well he will just play period!
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Good class. If another spot opens up, add a transfer big and things are looking up next year.
 
#2,043      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
TownieMatt said:
Will we never learn that kids saying "we want to play together" is just talk. What is a kid supposed to say? "Nah, I don't want to play with that guy."

Shareef's commitment to UCLA doesn't have any effect on Tevian.
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It is not that recruits "don't want to play" with other recruits. They actually do, and I believe the same is true for Tevian and Shareef and we make the same case for other recruits and Ayo moving forward. The issue is that most often than not, every recruit will look individually for their own best interests and playing along other recruits/friends is lower on the list of those interests.
 
#2,044      

TownieMatt

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CU Expat
Chicago
TownieMatt
Obelix said:
It is not that recruits "don't want to play" with other recruits. They actually do, and I believe the same is true for Tevian and Shareef and we make the same case for other recruits and Ayo moving forward. The issue is that most often than not, every recruit will look individually for their own best interests and playing along other recruits/friends is lower on the list of those interests.
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Totally agree.

I'm not saying these kids secretly hate each other (although some might), but I think it's funny when a kid is asked if he would like to play with his HS buddy and says "Yeah, sure." Then fans following recruiting think the two are now some kind of package deal.
 
#2,045      

GortTheRobot

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North Bethesda, Maryland
GortTheRobot
aluma said:
So if Arizona was our biggest competition for Jones, now that they are out of the picture, who becomes the biggest threat to Illinois landing Jones? Xavier?
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Wonder if Chris Mack will stay with the Louisville job open. Granted, he has it good at Xavier, but Louisville still has a bigger reputation.
 
#2,047      

t7nich

t7nich
Central IL
t7nich
aluma said:
So if Arizona was our biggest competition for Jones, now that they are out of the picture, who becomes the biggest threat to Illinois landing Jones? Xavier?
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In addition to Xaver, other schools that have come on lately are Oregon, Cincy, Texas, Uconn

My guess is that Texas is unlikely based on their scholarship situation and the possibility of signing another (Ramey).

If Oregon is really interested, that scares me for some reason, even though they have a SG and SF signed.
 
#2,049      

aluma

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aluma
Uconn doesn't worry me at all. I could see Oregon, Cincy, and Texas all being better destinations for Jones than Illinois. With Jones playing in Arizona, you would think that staying on the West coast would be ideal for him, especially a place like Texas. Oregon is especially worrisome because they have recruited circles around us lately when we are both vying for the same recruit and in general.

In regard to Xavier, even if Mack left for Louisville, he would still likely recruit Jones anyways.
 
#2,050      

TownieMatt

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CU Expat
Chicago
TownieMatt
Indy Illini Fan said:
Would take a lot. Xavier is his Alma Mater, and he has got it pretty good.
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Plus Louisville may still have NCAA sanctions coming its way. The sanctions just handed down weren't even for their latest scandal. No way I'm taking that job if I'm Mack.
 
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