Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (May-June 2018)

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#1,126      

Peoria Illini

P
Peoria, IL
Peoria Illini
mhuml32 said:
Not to me. There are many incoming 18 year olds that can log minutes right away. Some are ready to play 20+ minutes immediately and can provide a solid, all around game (Jalen Brunson), some can give you spot minutes and excel in a few areas (Da'Monte Williams), some can provide mostly garbage minutes or play in very specific situations (Maverick Morgan), and others should be redshirting or only playing in emergency (Matic). There is a difference between all 18 year olds developing and improving their game and being called a project because they shouldn't be getting playing in real games yet.
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With player/roster turnover the way it is these days, I don't think redshirting really applies anymore unless a kid is using a medical redshirt. Let's face it, most all of the kids will graduate in 4 years easily, since they are on campus from June of their freshman year and taking summer classes each summer. So why waste a redshirt year to develop. If you ask a kid to do that now, he'd just as soon transfer to another program where he can play. And if he does redshirt (medically), there's a good chance he bolts as a 5th year grad transfer.

Just my opionion, but I don't think redshirting is as common as it once was.
 
#1,127      

BWilson25

B
The A
BWilson25
CAIllini said:
Oooffff...

BU : big man :: JG : point guard
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Goooofff...Apples and oranges at this point - first full recruiting season for BU and last I checked we have more than zero bigs signed. Take that sky is falling mentality elsewhere
 
#1,128      

Tevo

Tevo
Wilmette, IL
Tevo
I'm excited about Trent's freshman year, the possibilities that Damonte represents, and the added athleticism of some of our new recruits. But saying adding one more player, like Whitney, will mean we're clearly in the tourney in two year makes some assumptions. Of course we assume our players will improve, as every team assumes about ALL of their players. They key, obviously, will be that we need our players to improve MORE than the competition's do. We need to recruit BETTER than the competition. And we need to COACH better than the competition. So far, we've seen a lot of Big Ten coaches show very high-level skills in getting their teams to play well together and develop chemistry. We've seen other schools landing 5-star players. We have a solid recruiting class, but the national ranking is based significantly on numbers of players, which I think is kind of odd. And most of those other programs are starting from places clearly ahead of us.

So, I get the excitement of a big new class of players and a Top 30 guy like Ayo, and a returning young talent like Trent, but we've been waiting 6 years now for an indication that our coaching staff can outpace the opposing coaches in skill develop or schemes. Personally, I'm hopeful in that regard, too, but still waiting for evidence.
 
#1,129      

Rap73

R
Rap73
Who has 5 star players in the big ten other than Mus? The other coaches in the conference with the exception of Indiana havebrecruited their players they have. I believe Underwood has recruited his type of players and the Illini will be muchniproved.
 
#1,131      

Tevo

Tevo
Wilmette, IL
Tevo
Rap73 said:
Who has 5 star players in the big ten other than Mus? The other coaches in the conference with the exception of Indiana havebrecruited their players they have. I believe Underwood has recruited his type of players and the Illini will be muchniproved.
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I didn't necessarily mean Big Ten schools with 5-stars, though in re-reading my post I see that was strongly implied. But in 2018, Maryland and Indiana both have 5-stars coming in so far, with MSU and UM both strong contenders for another set to announce tomorrow. And if you look beyond the sheer numbers, and instead look at the average quality of each player (as represented by their "score", and yes I know we can throw out stars and scorings, etc.), Illinois' average 2018 player score is 90.74, which places us 10th in the Big Ten using that metric.

So we have a lot of players coming in, who, on average, are less highly-regarded than the majority of the conference have coming in. And we're starting from a place where the returning players are likely less-highly-regarded than most of the Big Ten. Put another way -- which of our returning players would likely start in front of their counterparts on other Big Ten teams? Trent would likely have a spot on many teams, and that's it.

This is not to say Underwood and staff did a bad job recruiting, but it does say (to me) that they have a LOT of ground to make up in coaching AND future recruiting if they expect to be back in the top half of the league, vying for championships, or making the tournament again. One one or two players alone will not make up that difference, unless they are absolute superstars, the likes of which we haven't seen in Champaign in decades.
 
#1,132      

foby

foby
Bonnaroo Land
foby
drewillini89 said:
I still think Braun is coming. Casting a wide net doesn’t hurt, I guess.
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Was seemingly a whirlwind recruiting process, so not a surprise they would take a few extra days to make sure he 100% wants to come here. I'm hopeful he will end up in O&B.
 
#1,134      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
TCTORNADO said:
Braun might have been shown Zdor.
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tenor.gif
 
#1,138      

bigtiny

B
bigtiny
Dren1 said:
Sure doesn't seem like anything is imminent from that article.
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wow, see those other forwards LSU got. Crazy...just one of those guys and this board would be talking about the national championship.
 
#1,139      

Dren1

Dren1
Glenview, IL
Dren1
IndyILL said:
by the end of this month so not too long of a wait...
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Yeah, I just meant that it sounds like he will be taking other visits so that probably means no decision in the next few days as I and some others were hoping.
 
#1,140      

Dren1

Dren1
Glenview, IL
Dren1
bigtiny said:
wow, see those other forwards LSU got. Crazy...just one of those guys and this board would be talking about the national championship.
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Seriously, I guess we might see how much weight early playing time is given in this situation, because it certainly doesn't seem like Braun would get much time on the floor at LSU for a couple of years.
 
#1,141      

foby

foby
Bonnaroo Land
foby
bigtiny said:
wow, see those other forwards LSU got. Crazy...just one of those guys and this board would be talking about the national championship.
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Emmitt Williams was a beast in the Jordan Brand Classic. How do they score 2 5-star bigs? *smh*
 
#1,142      

FC Illiniman

F
FC Illiniman
GolfFan1 said:
I don't like our chances with Braun if he makes the visit to Arizona. Usually the last visit is the winner. :confused:
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Seems like he knows people at Illinois, and family is familiar with us. Visits were good, redshirting was mentioned,, not sure if both LSU and Illinois. I would think he would have opportunity to play here, would be a plus. The Zdor offer does raise your eyebrows, is this a replacement or a guy we using to give a push? Seems we will wait for abit longer, commit or for more information. Hope we not getting just another body, we need a liile bit more.:eek::illinois:
 
#1,143      

Indy Illini Fan

Indy Illini Fan
Indy Illini Fan
foby said:
How do they score 2 5-star bigs? *smh*
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Williams had some very major off the court issues during his recruitment. Lot of schools backed off. He wanted to play with Reid.

Naz Reid’s girlfriend is a player for the WBB team at LSU.

Having a great PG in Javonte Smart coming in doesn’t hurt either.
 
#1,146      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
If, I said if, we miss on Braun it will be very disappointing. It felt like we had some nice momentum this spring and that has evaporated.
 
#1,148      

FC Illiniman

F
FC Illiniman
GolfFan1 said:
Zdor is a 2 star and from his highlights, he plays like a 2 star. Another mistake. He looks like another Matic. If we land him and not Braun, I will be disappointed.
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Has height but didn't show much to me in vid. Has some quality offers , all schools must be searching for a needle in the haystack, I wouldn't be surprised if we still look at 5th year. I know BU not keen on idea, but with the backcourt options we have, we need quality size down low.;):illinois:
 
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