I for one am really confident in BU and his staff. Although we would love to get every top prospect out of Chicago, Illinois, and surrounding areas, in today’s world, I do not believe that is possible. There is too much visibility where every school is recruiting these players. BU and his staff had to dig deeper and I feel found some very good talent late in the signing period and found talent from across the country. I am excited about all the recruits coming in next year. I see athletes, scorers, and upside with each and every one of them. They may not all be stars their freshman year but we need to look long term, be realistic, and trust BU and his staff in developing the players. Unfortunately, with the turnover, we are still a bit behind and have to reach for some players. However, over time we will see that players will stay and we can focus more on the elite players and sign these guys in the fall and only reach for the players in the spring. We just need to dig ourselves out of the hole that Weber and Groce dug us into. Although we all would like to see this turn around in a year or two, that is not going to happen. Let’s get our feet squarely planted and move forward.
As far as creaning players, it is tough However, the staff will be judged on how they produce and if a couple of players need to be pushed along to situations that suit them better, I guess Smith, Lucas, Finke (yes, I think all three were to some degree shown the door) need to move on. In the end, let’s get Illini basketball back to where it should be. Let’s find players that will take us to the next level that the previous players could not.