That being said , who's to say some posts are made to get negative feedback, when these posts could come from any source,
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Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (April 2017)
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or not. Our forum is free, unlike others that charge after 7 days.The allure of playing baseball in the SEC. I don't blame him. Facilities, attendance, warmer weather....any high school baseball player would make the same decision of playing at an SEC school vs. pretty much anywhere else.
Thanks. I didn't realize that. But any SEC school? Including Missouri which is t really warmer weather and has no tradition of being an SEC school? In other words, my original question- is Mizzou that much better than Illinois? Or is it not but the conference is? Maybe the answer is yes. I am asking seriously.
sacraig
- The desert
For one, I don't think that we can draw conclusions based on one recruiting season where he started in the 11th hour.
For two, I think that the staff we have now collectively has a lot more to sell based on major conference experience and results than what Groce had.
For three, I really don't want to be competing with mid-majors for all of our recruits. We should be making (intelligent) runs at the big boys.
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
The forest: Illinois hired Brad Underwood and an amazing support staff.
If they have enough time to attract some players this year, great. If not, no sleep lost. We're way out ahead.
If they have enough time to attract some players this year, great. If not, no sleep lost. We're way out ahead.
I'd say the mindset of most high school baseball players is they'd rather go to a bottom feeder SEC school than a top level Big 10 school. While the arms race of facilities has caught up, there is nothing more depressing than a nice big stadium, and less than 1000 fans in it. And although the weather between Columbia and Champaign may not be much different, conference road trips to LSU to play in front of 10,000 are a lot more alluring than a conference road trip to Evanston or pretty much anywhere else in front of 1000 (and most likely less).
I don't know why I can't find stats for 2016, but in 2015, there were 7 SEC schools who averaged over 3000 in home attendance, including 5 with over 6500. Only Nebraska was in the top 25 in attendance in the Big 10, with 3904 per game...not other Big 10 team was in the top 25 and the 25th ranked attendance figure was 2670 per game.
Kids choose where they go to school for a myriad of reasons..athletics, academics, social, ability to develop in all those areas, where their friends are going, to be close to their girlfriend, to be far away from her....while for an individual baseball player, they may choose a big 10 school over a SEC school for any of those reasons, but I think the overall outlook is SEC far and above the Big 10, and any other conference outside of the Pac 12 (and there are only 2 Pac-12 school in the attendance top 25.
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And there's the turn.
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
Nope. Same refrain I've sung since time immemorial, or March 18.
Yes, it is. It was before they joined the SEC, and it definitely is now that they are in the SEC.
Think about it: If you grow up a college basketball fan, and have a son who's suddenly being recruited by everyone, don't YOU want to do official visits? To OSU? To MSU? To Kentucky or Duke?
I would. That would be a dream come true - and not just for my boy. Even if we both were already leaning to a school.
It's even fun for academic achievers. My son is no athlete, but scored near-perfect on the SAT. We settled on UC-Berkeley, but it was very fun visiting campuses and having people make their pitches. I'm proud of him, and it was fun to do together.
We fans get our identities wrapped up in our team loyalties, so we take it personally when someone considers other options. That's part of fandom, for good or ill.
But come on, a little perspective: I think most dads would LOVE this. And why not? Have fun, Smiths. Hope you join the UI hoops family, but even if not, enjoy it all. Life goes fast.
I would. That would be a dream come true - and not just for my boy. Even if we both were already leaning to a school.
It's even fun for academic achievers. My son is no athlete, but scored near-perfect on the SAT. We settled on UC-Berkeley, but it was very fun visiting campuses and having people make their pitches. I'm proud of him, and it was fun to do together.
We fans get our identities wrapped up in our team loyalties, so we take it personally when someone considers other options. That's part of fandom, for good or ill.
But come on, a little perspective: I think most dads would LOVE this. And why not? Have fun, Smiths. Hope you join the UI hoops family, but even if not, enjoy it all. Life goes fast.
KU was all over this kid, this is a surprise.
I actually think his point was the consensus in the immediate days after the hire was announced and the gradual turn trending in the opposite direction has been picking up steam ever since.
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
If you'd like to make judgments about the ability of this staff to recruit "big targets" after 2 weeks on the job, be my guest.
I guess since it is so early in the process with Underwood, what big targets are we missing on? Last time I checked Smith, Tilmon, the Italian kid and Bragg are still out there.
And Debbie Downer strikes again. You might be right, but there is really no way to know any of that. Hard to figure with a new coach and no real track record to compare it with. I doubt we strike out on all of them, but who knows.
Let's just hope that Underwood does some things, sooner rather than later, to move you to a "better place."
Because by sheer force of shouting into the void, I'm going to talk Underwood into the correct philosophy for the program. And if I do, he's more than a good enough coach to make the last 12 years a strange, distant memory.
He's hopefully both a good enough coach to do it anyway, and a smart enough one to tweak things without listening to my nonsense. Hopefully.
Stay woke. It's all a conspiracy dreamed up by Coach BU and the Smith's. You see, there is no better way to get more pub for this signing than to make sure it looks like the O&B beat out U.K., Duke, MSU and OSU.
Smith gets more pub, Coach BU is a hero and Mom and Dad will forever go down in Illini lore.
Insert sarcasm font above when reading.
Edit: Need to add that I do think he ends up at UI, though.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal
Not having the 14th-best coach in the conference would be one reason.
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
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