See where he lands, BU aggressive coaching style not for him. Although leaves us very thin in middle, having him leave now is best for our team. We will find a replacement, maybe 2. Trust staff and team!
Illini Basketball 2018-2019
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See where he lands, BU aggressive coaching style not for him. Although leaves us very thin in middle, having him leave now is best for our team. We will find a replacement, maybe 2. Trust staff and team!
illinitrav
- NW Suburbs
Waiting on one more. Will be a mid-major as part of the Maui Tournament.
Interesting note, Illinois was actually looking to set up a home and home with a Power 5 team for this date, but they weren’t able to work anything out.
Has this been posted or referred to already? My apologies if it has. Also, apologies if this already well known.
https://247sports.com/Article/Illini-head-coach-Brad-Underwood-discusses-Greg-Eboigbodins-transfer-roster-building-for-next-season-the-transition-process-for-his-program-118903274
Two things stood out to me:
First, in regards to Ebo: "I don't think anything catches me off guard anymore," Underwood said. "I try to stay very private with interactions with our players, but every player has different situations and different circumstances and Greg's were personal. I don’t want to say I’m ever surprised. I think it’s part of the world we’re in today."
“Greg was fantastic. He’s a very, very educated, extremely cerebral young man. He has a lot of interests. Those things all led to a personal decision for him.”
And second, in regards to 5th year transfers: Underwood “We haven’t tried to go out and get stop-gap, fifth-year guys in multiple spots. We don’t want that.”
I realize this has been posited many times but I am not sure if there were any direct quotes about his not wanting to go the 5th year transfer route. But I could be wrong.
Also in the "what else can he say" department, here's his response to the question about reliable and experienced front court help:
"Everybody worries about size more than I do," Underwood said. "I’m excited about the guys we got coming in. We’re continuing to recruit as we always have to add a piece or two to that."
https://247sports.com/Article/Illini-head-coach-Brad-Underwood-discusses-Greg-Eboigbodins-transfer-roster-building-for-next-season-the-transition-process-for-his-program-118903274
Two things stood out to me:
First, in regards to Ebo: "I don't think anything catches me off guard anymore," Underwood said. "I try to stay very private with interactions with our players, but every player has different situations and different circumstances and Greg's were personal. I don’t want to say I’m ever surprised. I think it’s part of the world we’re in today."
“Greg was fantastic. He’s a very, very educated, extremely cerebral young man. He has a lot of interests. Those things all led to a personal decision for him.”
And second, in regards to 5th year transfers: Underwood “We haven’t tried to go out and get stop-gap, fifth-year guys in multiple spots. We don’t want that.”
I realize this has been posited many times but I am not sure if there were any direct quotes about his not wanting to go the 5th year transfer route. But I could be wrong.
Also in the "what else can he say" department, here's his response to the question about reliable and experienced front court help:
"Everybody worries about size more than I do," Underwood said. "I’m excited about the guys we got coming in. We’re continuing to recruit as we always have to add a piece or two to that."
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
More likely the latter. Hope we get at least a couple more gimme games on there because I think we could use them.Much better than last year, with some wins early RPI should be good going into B1G should be nice. Maui could make us feel really good or ready for a long season.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
An "open face sandwich" is usually two pieces of bread, but with so much meat you cannot possibly "close" it, hence meeting the two bread criteria.
You can choose to close it if you like
OK, I will give you it, as long as you eat both sides in one sitting and don't save it, deal?
Helps to not put players out of position also. Right now a few players will be out of position. Kipper, Jordan, Tevian fit better as a 3 imo. Right now, without more 4/5, it takes away flexibility and they have to play small ball all the time, instead of when they want. If two 4/5 players came in, ebonleaving would be dissaspointing but not a huge blow. No replacement as of now and they have 2 months to fix.
i liked ebo and wished he would have stayed.
If Underwood is able to put his system in place, the 1-4 are a lot more interchangeable. We didn't see it last year, unfortunately. I think you really only need 1 guy on the court who's a rim protector (which means 2 active guys on your roster).
If no one gets hurt, and we never get into serious foul trouble, we'll be fine...and by fine, I mean we'll have two true freshman
Agree with everything but 'best team ever'. You can qualify by saying it's your opinion. My opinion Jack wouldn't have seen the court much back in '89.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Ebo was not talented. His other offer was UIC. He was a fouling machine and couldn't play defense. Maybe he would have improved with age, like many bigs (Mav). The reason his departure stinks is not the loss of his talent, it's scarcity in the frontcourt. If you're starving, and you lose your only can of soup, it hurts even if it's gross split pea soup.
The other reason it stings is that there is mounting evidence that BU struggles to form healthy relationships with young men. Step one in coaching is convincing players to play for you. It's June, we have a proud basketball school in a Power 5 conference, and BU can't give away three scholarships. Players are not buying what BU is selling (including the three guys he recruited just a year ago). That's fatal.
The other reason it stings is that there is mounting evidence that BU struggles to form healthy relationships with young men. Step one in coaching is convincing players to play for you. It's June, we have a proud basketball school in a Power 5 conference, and BU can't give away three scholarships. Players are not buying what BU is selling (including the three guys he recruited just a year ago). That's fatal.
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sacraig
- The desert
A bit hyperbolic, don't you think? He has no such issues at previous schools. Let's maybe give him more than one full receuiting cycle to get things moving smoothly here.
Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
I will say that this board is giving Underwood and staff and the team some decent bulletin board material for this upcoming season, LOL! Hopefully they can use it to fuel some fire this fall!
As have been pointed many times, this is because this particular ranking is influenced by the number of recruits, we have a large number of recruits, partially because of the transfers, players leaving etc. As far as average rating of recruits, this class is 10th in the B1G alone, despite Ayo's lofty rating.
Ayo is very good, very efficient, I have watched him many times and posted on his potential impact way before he committed to us. I watch many players throughout the season so I try to be unbiased in my evaluation, independent of whether someone commits to us or not. We should be improved in positions 1-3, but the problem is 4/5 and our inside game, which was already weak and now Black, Finke, Ebo all left.
Using the class calculator on 247, we would be 28th instead of 23rd with just Ayo, Jones, and Griffin.
For reference we were 30th last year.
(I have already spoken too much about basketball class rankings, which should be totally ignored under all circumstances)
IlliniDent
- Chicago, IL
sure but we keep also hearing the narrative this year that our class is only ranked due to volume which just isn't true.
Anyway, super excited that we finally have leadership trying to improve Illinois sports in all facets.
Again, the average rating of a recruit is a better indicator, combined with the position/gaps that these highly rated recruits fill. The average recruits' rating is just an indication that some of these recruits have a higher chance of succeeding early on. On that aspect, we are ranked 10th in the B1G, and that is mostly guards, not 4/5 which is a serious gap (very weak already, now lost Black/Finke/Ebo).
No unbiased analyst will pick us very high in pre-season in 2018, at least as it stands right now. There is always a chance that a major (positive) surprise/addition can happen, but chances becoming slimmer by the day.
BU needs a very strong 2019 class addressing positions of need, our inside game. The renovation is welcome, but reading through it is obvious that this is more of a PR move (i.e., intend to do a renovation) than concrete plans.
I'd be pleasantly shocked if we're any higher than 13th in the preseason B1G media poll, and I'd vote us 14th (Steve Pikiell Truthers unite!)
But as I said in the other thread, with low expectations comes an easier chance to exceed them.
Sure, but just exceeding expectations by itself is meaningless at this point. We really set the bar very low last year with out performance and obviously expectations will very low starting the season. So just finishing above expectations will not be a reason to celebrate.
No, but if we can sign a class in the fall that fills out the roster going forward and then put together a season that's an improvement on last year, and most importantly BRING THOSE GUYS BACK, then at least we can escape the Kevin Stallings Death Spiral we're in. Baby steps.
And to the point of this thread, that could only help fundraising for this Ubben renovation.
I agree, that is why the 2019 class is so important. Expectations for the season are so low that a strong 2019 class that addresses some critical gaps will carry BU pretty much independent of performance. If we fail on both dimensions (no post season, no really strong 2019 class), the BU era will be in jeopardy. JMO.
As far as renovations, whenever academic fundraising/renovations are announced, there is always what is known as the "quiet" phase, where a big portion of the money has already been committed (that is why academic fundraising goals rarely fail). I thought this announcement was a little strange in that they did not actually announce any concrete plans (i.e., timeline, detailed drawings, etc.) which actually makes me wonder whether the quiet phase has already happened or not. On the surface, it seems a PR move, with intentional avoidance of timeline.
People said the same thing about the 5 we brought in last year. 3 of them are already gone. Also, people said the same thing about Hill, Nunn, Tate, Colbert, and Morgan. People said the same thing about Abrams, Henry, Shaw, Langford, and Egwu. So you can see why maybe not everyone is buying the concept.
Simple.....+1
Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
I think this will be more the norm than not in the future, not just here, but everywhere. Each year there are more and more transfers, as players search for immediate playing time.
It's a different animal than it was back in the day.
Underwood needs to find the tough minded players that fit his system and his coaching style. That may require more "getting to know the player" time, which he was woefully short of his first go around with Smith, Ebo and Matic.
I'm confident that he and his staff will get it accomplished.
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