Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (April 2018)

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#827      

EJ33

E
San Francisco
EJ33
nichi said:
I guess you could say NIU is a Junior College.

We don't have any very recent experience with JuCos. Here is a fairly complete list:

  • Mike Washington 1974
  • Nate Williams 1974
  • Reno Gray 1977
  • Craig Tucker 1980
  • Ken Norman 1983
  • P.J. Bowman 1988
  • Rodney Jones 1989
  • Andy Kpedi 1989
  • Shelly Clark 1993
  • Halim Abdullah 1996
  • Arias Davis 1997
  • Fess Hawkins 1998
  • Cleotis Brown 1998
  • Marcus Griffin 1999
  • Blandon Ferguson 2001
  • Rodney Alexander 2007
  • Dominique Keller 2008
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, Ken Norman and Marcus Griffin both committed to Illinois out of high school, but went to Juco because of grades. Norman (Colliers at the time) was one of the top players in Chicago and Grif was a McDAA.
 
#828      

Newman

N
Newman
nichi said:
Of course, competition for playing time is only a concern at Illinois.

If Okoro goes there, maybe Trevion Williams and Emanuel Dowouna should worry?

Jacquil Taylor will be a senior.
Matt Haarms will be a sophomore.
Evan Boudreaux will be a junior.
Aaron Wheeler will be a rs freshman.
Click to expand...

Aaron Wheeler is a wing and Jaquil Taylor's 2 ppg isn't doing to deter anyone. Haarms would be a good back up post so it would most likely be Boudreaux and Okoro as the starters.
 
#829      

hoopsfan47

H
hoopsfan47
t7nich said:
This is just pure nonsense
Click to expand...

Agree...Damonte has the potential to be a tremendous shooter....but the skill he has now simply needs a tremendous amount of work to get there. Hours and hours of shooting drills and confidence building and he could become deadeye, 45%+ beyond the arc, dependable. Not many will do that and as a college student, not too many have the time. I watched Jackie Stiles put in that time during her college years and she went from a great shooter to as good as any I have ever seen, male of female. She even shot a legit jump shot out to about 18 ft. (there are no females that shoot jumpers beyond 21 ft.) How many remember Rick Mount, maybe the best of all time, and the hours and hours he spent shooting to earn that accolade? It is the same for any sport....you need to have some skills like hand/eye coordination and some ability to get off the floor. But those are not enough. Like the great pianists and other prodigies that have those gifts, hard work and long hours of practice are required until the act becomes like blinking the eye..

Yes, Damonte could become a tremendous shooter, but there is a tough road ahead to become such. BU may want his guys to get better in every skill at both ends which would not allow time to become elite at one skill. From what I have seen DW has many skills at both ends and will get better at all, But he can score in many ways and likely will not become an elite shooter...but maybe a better one who will make enough big shots to make us all happy.
 
#830      

rockillini

R
rockillini
hoopsfan47 said:
Agree...Damonte has the potential to be a tremendous shooter....but the skill he has now simply needs a tremendous amount of work to get there. Hours and hours of shooting drills and confidence building and he could become deadeye, 45%+ beyond the arc, dependable. Not many will do that and as a college student, not too many have the time. I watched Jackie Stiles put in that time during her college years and she went from a great shooter to as good as any I have ever seen, male of female. She even shot a legit jump shot out to about 18 ft. (there are no females that shoot jumpers beyond 21 ft.) How many remember Rick Mount, maybe the best of all time, and the hours and hours he spent shooting to earn that accolade? It is the same for any sport....you need to have some skills like hand/eye coordination and some ability to get off the floor. But those are not enough. Like the great pianists and other prodigies that have those gifts, hard work and long hours of practice are required until the act becomes like blinking the eye..

Yes, Damonte could become a tremendous shooter, but there is a tough road ahead to become such. BU may want his guys to get better in every skill at both ends which would not allow time to become elite at one skill. From what I have seen DW has many skills at both ends and will get better at all, But he can score in many ways and likely will not become an elite shooter...but maybe a better one who will make enough big shots to make us all happy.
Click to expand...

He had a tremendous dunk today from a dazzling pass from the El General.
 
#833      

Ga65

G
Ga65
Think Trice was no longer a target as Hinson/Calloo better choices. More skills and much higher upside. Or there could be a grad transfer not on our radar.
 
#834      

rockillini

R
rockillini
Second and Chalmers said:
You were there? How did it go?
Click to expand...

Both prospects had their moments, and you could see the potential with both, as they scrimmaged

All current Illini players on the roster participated in the scrimmage. The El General's team had Kipper, Vessel, and Williams and walk-ons. On Griffin's team was Frazier, Eboigbodin, Jordan, and walk-ons.

El Captain was matched up against Frazier and Griffin was match up against Williams.

Here is my perspective on both prospects:

El Captain is a good initiator and orchestrator, he was consistently directing players to get in position. He had a couple of high-end passes and dropped a couple of floaters. He took three or four shots from the outside and made, I think, two. He seems way more experienced than the average high school kid and showed some leadership qualities needed in a point guard.

Griffin made some 3's and you could see his athleticism and abilities shine through some of his misses. He seemed a bit rushed at times, but he has all the tools to be successful.

It looked like all the player bonded well with both players.
 
#835      

Bailey

B
Los Angeles
Bailey
rockillini said:
Both prospects had their moments, and you could see the potential with both, as they scrimmaged

All current Illini players on the roster participated in the scrimmage. The El General's team had Kipper, Vessel, and Williams and walk-ons. On Griffin's team was Frazier, Eboigbodin, Jordan, and walk-ons.

El Captain was matched up against Frazier and Griffin was match up against Williams.

Here is my perspective on both prospects:

El Captain is a good initiator and orchestrator, he was consistently directing players to get in position. He had a couple of high-end passes and dropped a couple of floaters. He took three or four shots from the outside and made, I think, two. He seems way more experienced than the average high school kid and showed some leadership qualities needed in a point guard.

Griffin made some 3's and you could see his athleticism and abilities shine through some of his misses. He seemed a bit rushed at times, but he has all the tools to be successful.

It looked like all the player bonded well with both players.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recap!
 
#836      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
rockillini said:
Both prospects had their moments, and you could see the potential with both, as they scrimmaged

All current Illini players on the roster participated in the scrimmage. The El General's team had Kipper, Vessel, and Williams and walk-ons. On Griffin's team was Frazier, Eboigbodin, Jordan, and walk-ons.

El Captain was matched up against Frazier and Griffin was match up against Williams.

Here is my perspective on both prospects:

El Captain is a good initiator and orchestrator, he was consistently directing players to get in position. He had a couple of high-end passes and dropped a couple of floaters. He took three or four shots from the outside and made, I think, two. He seems way more experienced than the average high school kid and showed some leadership qualities needed in a point guard.

Griffin made some 3's and you could see his athleticism and abilities shine through some of his misses. He seemed a bit rushed at times, but he has all the tools to be successful.

It looked like all the player bonded well with both players.
Click to expand...

Feliz getting stripped of his military rank mid-scrimmage seems like a bad thing ;)

But seriously, the bolded appears to be a genuine piece of news.
 
#837      

illinitiger

I
illinitiger
hoopsfan47 said:
Agree...Damonte has the potential to be a tremendous shooter....but the skill he has now simply needs a tremendous amount of work to get there. Hours and hours of shooting drills and confidence building and he could become deadeye, 45%+ beyond the arc, dependable. Not many will do that and as a college student, not too many have the time. I watched Jackie Stiles put in that time during her college years and she went from a great shooter to as good as any I have ever seen, male of female. She even shot a legit jump shot out to about 18 ft. (there are no females that shoot jumpers beyond 21 ft.) How many remember Rick Mount, maybe the best of all time, and the hours and hours he spent shooting to earn that accolade? It is the same for any sport....you need to have some skills like hand/eye coordination and some ability to get off the floor. But those are not enough. Like the great pianists and other prodigies that have those gifts, hard work and long hours of practice are required until the act becomes like blinking the eye..

Yes, Damonte could become a tremendous shooter, but there is a tough road ahead to become such. BU may want his guys to get better in every skill at both ends which would not allow time to become elite at one skill. From what I have seen DW has many skills at both ends and will get better at all, But he can score in many ways and likely will not become an elite shooter...but maybe a better one who will make enough big shots to make us all happy.
Click to expand...
Nice post...agree DW does not need to match Rick Mount shooting to be an impact player.

I think alot of it is teammate chemistry and shooting to your strengths and best spots. If MS only took shots from left corner he would have left as a 40% 3p shooter. I was surprised to look up Dee Browns stats...shot almost 60% in 04-05 but ~41% in 05-06. Id expect teammate differences impacted the 2d year.
 
#838      

nichi

N
nichi
EJ33 said:
Just to clarify, Ken Norman and Marcus Griffin both committed to Illinois out of high school, but went to Juco because of grades. Norman (Colliers at the time) was one of the top players in Chicago and Grif was a McDAA.
Click to expand...

Fess Hawkins also originally signed with Illinois (in 1996), but went to Westark CC because of academics.

Ken [Colliers] Norman's case was especially unique, since he only attended Wabash Valley CC for one year (1982/83) before transferring to UI. He then sat out the 1983/84 year as a redshirt and had three seasons of eligibility from 1984/5 - 1986/87.
 
#839      

SescIllini

SescIllini
SescIllini
Feliz sounds like the type of player we need. The nice thing about Trent is that he can play well with or off the ball. I think those that can handle the ball, defend, and rebound will get the minutes.

A core of Trent, Ayo, DMW, and Feliz at the PG and CG with some minutes at the SF/wing would be pretty solid.

See Aj,Tevian, and Alan at the wing with some Kipper. If bigs play well maybe more Kipper at wing.
 
#840      

illiniguy24

illiniguy24
illiniguy24
Sounds like Feliz is the type of player that’s make his team better, which would be a fantastic option for us having him as a first guard off the bench


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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#841      

IlliniCC

I
IlliniCC
Newman said:
Aaron Wheeler is a wing and Jaquil Taylor's 2 ppg isn't doing to deter anyone. Haarms would be a good back up post so it would most likely be Boudreaux and Okoro as the starters.
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Thank you. Everyone on hear is trying to twist it on why Oregon and Purdue are bad options. At Purdue he is most likely a starter, and at worst getting 20+ mins down low with a coach that has been known to develop bigs well. At Oregon the situation looks more dicey, but I would expect him to be getting about 15-20 mins on a team that looks poised to get back to the national stage once again. Will probably be Okoro, Wooten, and Norris splitting time behind Bol Bol and Paul White. I would expect Oregon’s sell would have to be a 2-3 year plan, and probably saying he will be the man after Bol leaves next year.
 
#842      

OurMottoisOskeeWowWow

OurMottoisOskeeWowWow
Illinois
OurMottoisOskeeWowWow
Evaluating how good a player by their ranking can be difficult. I'm always reminded of Talor Battle of Penn State who I think was a 3 star (maybe 4 star depending on some sites) and like a top 150 recruit but turned out to be scary good for Penn State. Made All Big Ten a couple of times and was averaging 20 points by his senior year.
 
#843      

nichi

N
nichi
BlindLoyalty said:
IIRC, Swanigan and Jajuan Johnson improved their outside shots.
Click to expand...

Swanigan might improve eventually, but I am not sure I'd point to these guys if I were PU. I fact, I am not sure who I would point to other than Carl Landry. Brian Cardinal?
 
#848      

IlliniCC

I
IlliniCC
nichi said:
Yeah, go to Purdue and you'll get a cup of coffee in the League before you're off to Europe. The drooling over Purdue here is getting nauseating.
Click to expand...

Performing in the league is not on his fault. The fact that he has 5 forwards/centers drafted in the past 10 years to our 1 at least shows that Painter has a track record of getting bigs INTO the NBA. Trust me I am a fan of Underwood and understand he has not had a chance to really develop any of our bigs here, nor at former schools due to short stints for that matter, but the experience Painter has makes sense.
 
#849      

Newman

N
Newman
nichi said:
1. No. You actually completely missed the point I made; which was that Okoro might cause the two freshmen bigs that signed in the fall to worry. Since I made it twice, and you have yet to have respond, I am assuming you are not interested in an actual discussion.

2. Unless we have actually seen the players; then ranking, height/weight, past trends, and other objective data are about all we have other than meaningless guesses. BTW, discussions of PU's decision to redshirt Wheeler described his competition for minutes as Vincent Edwards, Eden Ewing, and Jacquil Taylor.

If you are not interested in the actual points others make, are offended by clarifications, and prefer guesses to objective data; then I agree that exchanges with you might not be worth it.
Click to expand...

Yes, Okoro picking PU might make those two players worry. That doesn't affect Illinois recruiting whatsoever, which is why I didn't comment on it the first time.
 
#850      

ritster

R
Wheaton, IL
ritster
rockillini said:
Both prospects had their moments, and you could see the potential with both, as they scrimmaged

All current Illini players on the roster participated in the scrimmage. The El General's team had Kipper, Vessel, and Williams and walk-ons. On Griffin's team was Frazier, Eboigbodin, Jordan, and walk-ons.

El Captain was matched up against Frazier and Griffin was match up against Williams.

Here is my perspective on both prospects:

El Captain is a good initiator and orchestrator, he was consistently directing players to get in position. He had a couple of high-end passes and dropped a couple of floaters. He took three or four shots from the outside and made, I think, two. He seems way more experienced than the average high school kid and showed some leadership qualities needed in a point guard.

Griffin made some 3's and you could see his athleticism and abilities shine through some of his misses. He seemed a bit rushed at times, but he has all the tools to be successful.

It looked like all the player bonded well with both players.
Click to expand...

I was there too. One thing I was impressed with from El General was that he constantly had his head up looking around to see how he could distribute to or who was sneaking up on him. He looks solidly built. I am going Old School here , if the old timers remember Quinn Richardson I think he will remind you of him.

Alan Griffin , I believe , has he chance to be really good. Some shots were rushed however he never seemed to be out of it defensive wise and he did have he knack of making an extra pass to a man with a better shot.
 
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