t7nich
- Central IL
Yep, Ayo and the staff have been on him more then any other school.. making him feel wanted/needed. He likes Illinois a lot. If he isn’t completely blown away by another visit then we’ll be in good shape. We’ll see.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (March 2018)
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Yep, Ayo and the staff have been on him more then any other school.. making him feel wanted/needed. He likes Illinois a lot. If he isn’t completely blown away by another visit then we’ll be in good shape. We’ll see.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Jones was already a key recruit, but Black's departure makes him key-er. Worried about Xavier. They'll get a more recent visit, they've been successful and he'll get significant pt from the get go.
We may be able to tell something by who attends or doesnt attend the banquet. When that is I don't know.
People here speculate. They have very, very little insight as to who may transfer.
Finke was definitely gone most of the 2nd semester by many on this board, "no way Smith transfers". Players who were definitely gone are still here & probably will remain. A couple of players who would remain are gone.
IMO, not worth much, but as much as most here, Matic gone? Why? TJL most likely stays. That could change, I guess, if Ramey signs, but even then TJL transferring is no sure thing.
ILLINI IN NE
- Omaha,Ne.
April 9th
Matic gone according to Tate in last weeks podcast.
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TownieMatt
CU Expat
- Chicago
Would be shocked if Matic was back. We're going after two HS bigs and likely looking to add another on the fifth year market. I think the decision not to redshirt Matic was to give him a chance to prove himself and stay on the roster. He didn't.
Deleted member 631370
D
Guest
Who is our primary scout on these big guys? I know Chin Coleman got Ebo because of a prior relationship, but wasn't Matic an Antigua guy? What about Kane? Or Giorgi?
I'm all about scouting guys that fit the system, even if they're not highly coveted prospects. John Beilein and Bo Ryan have proven masterful at this. But I certainly hope Matic isn't representative of the sort of big that we are identifying as guys to recruit. I'm assuming he was a bit of an emergency fill by a brand new staff, but the fact that we're still going after projects tells me that perhaps the staff has a different vision for the types of bigs they're going to recruit.
Or, maybe it's simply a matter of going after what's left after you've missed on your other big prospects.
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
VERY NICE!
This is it. Unless you are a true blue blood like UK where you can just wait until whenever and snag the big time 5* players late, recruiting is really a fall primary focus. You should have most of your recruiting needs addressed, and use late spring/summer for the occasional opportunistic addition.
Going into spring/summer needing to address major gaps, something we have done for years now, is a clear indication that your recruiting has not worked and highly correlated with mediocre/bad results (evident by missing the tourney 5 straight years).
Deleted member 631370
D
Guest
I imagine everybody will be taking a look at guys like that.
TownieMatt
CU Expat
- Chicago
Taking Matic was low risk from our point of view. We had the spot, we took a chance on him. It didn't work out and now he's likely gone. Not much harm done.
As far as who's recruiting who...
- Antigua has been the lead on the East Coast bigs, including both Valdir Manuel and Giorgi B.
- As for Kane, I believe Chin had the connection there, possibly from his days in Colorado (Kane played at a program in CO before moving to FL). However, I believe both Chin and Antigua visited him in FL before his visit.
- Antigua was the lead on Alan Griffin.
More importantly, Underewood saw all of these guys play in real games and in live workouts.
Underwood never saw Mattic or, for that matter, Smith actually play.
The assistants also have a much better understanding of what type players are necessary for the style of offense and defense they will play. I forgive the scouting errors of the first cycle and assume they learned from mistakes.
If they churn players next year that they recruit in this year's cycle, it is a very bad sign.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Yes and yes. Think we are a longshot in that one, though.
BU talked about Caroline on TNT today...think he knows something we don't 
Yeah I have no problem with giving that kid a try, but I do hate the fake positive spin to make it seem like every recruit is a diamond in the rough. It's funny that some people believed that he would have been a top 40 guy if he was from the states. Top 40 in Illinois, maybe..
BU talked about Caroline on TNT today...think he knows something we don't
What do you mean?
sacraig
- The desert
He was "g0"
He was analyzing Texas-Nevada game and talked about Caroline specifically.
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