Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (May-June 2018)

[Calvin]

I'm just going to bring some honesty here there's no way a scholarship basketball player could succeed in Computer Science at UIUC (spoken as a current engineering student).

No offense, but this is so far off base it makes me wonder where you get your bias. I'm sure Okoro can do well here if it's what he wants.

Test scores are cheap and easy for colleges to use, but they have been shown to be less predictive than previously thought. Only about half of colleges even bother to check whether test scores are predictive of success at their institution.

High school achievement is actually a better indicator, and various studies have shown a wide variety of noticeable correlations (income, GPA, test scores, attendance). It'd be one thing to question a kid who's demonstrated they're ill-prepared, but to question a young man who values education and has a very respectable test score...I don't get that.

 

[coryfor3]

Derek Piper with an Okoro CB for Oregon. It's over.

Well yes that should do it.

 

[kuhl84]

Yep. Okoro puts next year's team into the NCAA Tourney discussion. That happens, and it helps Illinois' chances with players like Whitney, Timme, and Cockburn. No tourney, and this staff is likely scrambling to land more 3-stars in hopes of "coaching them up". Good luck with that.

Most, if not all, of the prospects mentioned will make their decision before they see any games UI plays next year.

That being the case, the odds of Cockburn and Timme just went up, due to less competition.

 

[Calvin]

Derek Piper with an Okoro CB for Oregon. It's over.

Crap. Looked like we had a pretty decent shot.

I've always thought recruiting is best measured by watching it unfold, and judging a coach by whether he gets his plan A guys, plan B guys, etc. If you're getting half your A/B guys, you're a very good recruiter. If you dip down into Cs frequently, or reach even farther down your list, it shows you have a hard time closing the deal, or there were some tough circumstances.

Underwood's a mixed bag at this point, but he had a very rough first season here with the prior recruits, and has had to bring in a lot of new guys. We really need to see his system working to help sell the program.

 

[TCTORNADO]

Maurice Calloo, your table is ready.

 

[coryfor3]

Maurice Calloo, your table is ready.

Are we better off holding the scholarship for a future class at this point. I feel like we have about 150 offers out for the 2019 class.

 

[BWilson25]

Lord this board is full of crybabies...

 

[Joel Goodson]

Maurice Calloo, your table is ready.

Always ready with the salt, TC. ;-)

 

[EyeoftheIllini]

Gives me another reason to hate Oregon (I went to Oregon State on exchange and hate the Yucks).

 

[Obelix]

I don't recall Oregon being on the radar for Okoro until just the last few month when he suddenly made a visit there. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention before but whatever. I had heard back when he was a freshman that his dream school was North Carolina but other than that, Illinois was in good shape for him.

There were plenty of valid reasons for optimism until the last couple of months and the decision to reclassify. But one can't ignore what has happened since then, school visits, etc.

 

[kuhl84]

Always ready with the salt, TC. ;-)

Yep. Sarcasm king. I appreciate his humor and brevity.

 

[Ol Dirty Gamer]

Horrible failure by our staff not conveying that info and/or differentiating our system from Altman's ...

You know the old saying about assuming.

 

[ChazzReinhold]

Amazing that Dana Altman somehow convinced Okoro that he runs a fast paced system when all metrics show the complete opposite.

Horrible failure by our staff not conveying that info and/or differentiating our system from Altman's ...

And how do you know that they didn't? Obviously you are in tune with all of Okoro's priorities.

 

[Newman]

Bigger blow than KBD??

KBD was more of a local kid than Okoro but BloNo has never been that pro-Illini when it comes to the younger crowd. It's a bummer but that will change when we start winning, especially when we have players like Frazier with his swagger and likeability. I think we need a year of results with our great guards before we attract a top big. In the meantime, we just have to live with being below average in the post but if it's not too far below and if we have above average guards, we should still have some success.

 

[Obelix]

Matt Humphrey. Perhaps the lowest moment of Weber's recruiting.

It was Dunigan, Humphrey, Josh Crittle and Joevan Catron, all from Illinois and primarily the same connection. All had very close ties to Tai Streets and MeanStreets, and what worked for Oregon was the connection between Tai Streets and Ernie Kent/Kenny Payne.

 

[TCTORNADO]

Yep. Sarcasm king. I appreciate his humor and brevity.

Actually, Zagoria tweeted last Thursday that Calloo has an OV scheduled to Illinois this week. Weeks not over, right?

 

[CAHALL15]

Amazing that Dana Altman somehow convinced Okoro that he runs a fast paced system when all metrics show the complete opposite.

Horrible failure by our staff not conveying that info and/or differentiating our system from Altman's ...

1) How do you know they didn’t make this clear?
2) How much importance did Okoro place on style of play?
3) How do you know the respective pitches from both schools and which aspects he liked from each?

 

[Obelix]

Amazing that Dana Altman somehow convinced Okoro that he runs a fast paced system when all metrics show the complete opposite.

Horrible failure by our staff not conveying that info and/or differentiating our system from Altman's ...

Good players fit many systems, hardly a big differentiator IMO in most recruiting situations.

 

[WhiteRhino]

If you look at Oregon's roster over the years, they seem to have mostly California and International players and then a pretty steady stream of Illinois guys.

It really sucks that not only do we have to compete with other Big 10 schools and schools like Duke and Kansas for Chicago players, but we're also losing out on guys from Central Illinois to random schools on the other side of the country. And we're also in danger of losing Metro East guys to Miznoz.

It's a good thing we have someone like Antigua on staff, because if we want to compete we've got to get guys from all over until they rebuild the Illinois brand so that the local guys will want to stay.

 

[IlliniInTexas]

No offense, but this is so far off base it makes me wonder where you get your bias. I'm sure Okoro can do well here if it's what he wants.

Test scores are cheap and easy for colleges to use, but they have been shown to be less predictive than previously thought. Only about half of colleges even bother to check whether test scores are predictive of success at their institution.

High school achievement is actually a better indicator, and various studies have shown a wide variety of noticeable correlations (income, GPA, test scores, attendance). It'd be one thing to question a kid who's demonstrated they're ill-prepared, but to question a young man who values education and has a very respectable test score...I don't get that.

I think what he meant was that the rigorous nature of the academic program in CS/Engineering is prohibitive for players in the rev sports. Jack Ingram is actually a great example of this. I remember hearing stories that one of his professors didn't care that it was the national championship, and made him sit for an exam the day of the title game, after which he drove down to St. Louis. Can't imagine how difficult his life was with 20+ hours of basketball per week, including a bunch of travel, knowing how hard it already was for a full-time student with no other obligations.

To each his own of course, but Okoro's path to the NBA is much more difficult if he has to spend more time and effort in the classroom relative to his top 50 peer group. Of course, his floor is much higher if he doesn't play pro ball and has Illinois Engineering on his resume...

 

[illini80]

This one and Golden together would have been huge. It sucks. No other way around it.

 

[skyIdub]

Good grief, maybe the dude likes trees? Maybe he drove over to the Oregon coast? Maybe he likes ducks? Maybe the Eugene campus blew him away?

I couldn't wait to GTFO of Central Illinois when I was 19.

If I would have had a full scholly to a cool campus in another state I would not be a UI alum. I would have been out like the fat kid in dodgeball.


(but I still love you )

 

[mattcoldagelli]

That's really disappointing.

 

[Normalman]

Oregon has been on the radar for awhile now. My family member told me a month ago that it will come down to Oregon and Purdue. I was hoping he might have a change of heart and stay close to home, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. The kid wants to play in the nba and if he thinks Oregon’s coaching staff can prepare him for that, well I can’t blame him. One more thing. Our staff put in tons of effort recruiting him. They had a visible presence at a lot of games this past season. I believe in this staff. Okoro just wants to go to another school. He’s a good kid. I’ll be rooting for him wherever he goes

 

[Tevo]

Serious question:

Who was the last basketball recruit Illinois beat Oregon for?

Recently, we've lost out on MiKyle McIntosh (ISU transfer), Abu Kigab, Dylan Ennis?, Devoe Joseph

Well it's EASY to recruit when you win a bunch of games! Big deal, Altman. You want to impress me? Try missing the tournament for 5 straight years and THEN recruit these guys!