Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (August 2019)

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#402      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
I can still hear the great Rob Jordan say, "Ya'll need to go fishin'!"


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#403      

jmilt7

Waukegan
Andre Jackson SF cuts list to Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Syracuse, and UCLA
 
#405      
Grandison is a product of Bill Carmody, The Princeton Offense and last place in Patriot League/Holy Cross. What's there not to like about that trio.

Or maybe "Grandison is a product victim of Bill Carmody, The Princeton Offense and last place in Patriot League/Holy Cross." In any case, Grandison himself seems to have found things not to like, no?

It seems the thing that matters most should be the player. The one we took from John McDougal's 15-12 MAC squad was a solid contributor. ;)
 
#406      

Deleted member 236589

D
Guest
Chris Hodges of Schaumburg HS looks to have committed to Wisconsin. Too bad. He goes to my HS Alma Mater, so I've seen him play a few times. Young kid, big kid with a lot of development potential over the next two years in high school.
 
#407      

BMoreIllini

Baltimore, MD
I honestly don't have a problem with Hutcherson and potentially Grandison. The fact is you have 13 scholarships to fill, but realistically 9 or 10 get meaningful playing time. I'd rather take fliers on transfers with something to prove at a higher level of college competition than really lowly rated HS recruits that will likely never see the court and provide little skill to go against the first team guys in practice. Hutcherson and Grandison (if he commits and we take him) will get a full year to learn the system and workout before getting 2 years to play. They'll both have to work hard to prove that they deserve minutes, or else they'll be one of the 3 or 4 scholarship guys that don't see the court much. Worst case scenario is they're decent, long guys for our first team guys to go against in practice to develop against, unlike guys like Matic who I doubt provided much in that regard. I'm usually a glass half full type though, so take my opinion how you like. IMO the biggest downside is having only 11 eligible scholarship players next year with Hutcherson and Grandison (again, if he commits) having a sit out year.
 
#410      
Really hope we show a good product this year, make some noise in the dance, and see a meaningful recruiting bump. As it stands, we've landed a number of good guys, but the misses are too many for my taste.
 
#413      

Tevo

Wilmette, IL
Not really understanding this OV. Am firmly behind our staff, but this is puzzling, especially after landing Hutcherson. Anyone care to clue me in?

What's the big deal, even if he doesn't work out? It's not like it's our last Official Visit. We have plenty.
 
#416      
Of which we’ve notoriously run out of the last couple of years.

I think the bigger head scratcher on this recruitment comes when you look at the other schools recruiting him. Especially for a non 5th year player.

What's the big deal, even if he doesn't work out? It's not like it's our last Official Visit. We have plenty.
 
#417      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
I think the bigger head scratcher on this recruitment comes when you look at the other schools recruiting him. Especially for a non 5th year player.

This. With Griffin and Hutcherson (and Tev too), we're pretty well set at wing. I can see the case for adding another, but it's bordering on the department of redundancy department. Not to mention a 3 year schollie commitment. Maybe the staff knows something (the hoi polloi doesn't), maybe Grandison is a big sleeper. But this courtship seems like a big meh to me.
 
#418      

BMoreIllini

Baltimore, MD
We'll given the binary choice of a mediocre transfer or a mediocre high school player maybe.

But most of us are looking for better talent than that.

And please stop, everyone, with this idea that weve got a bunch of recruiting Mulligan's. Everyone we recruit from now on should be a potential for post season accolades as a senior.
I think as fans ALL of us should be looking for better talent than that, but IMO that's unrealistic. There's only so many Top 150 players to go around. Realistically, unless you're a blue blood, you're going to be filling in the back end of your roster with mediocre transfers or HS players. One of those mediocre HS players we recently signed just so happened to turn out to be one of our best players, but that's something I'm not expecting to repeat itself anytime soon. I understand the disappointment, it's really early in the recruiting season to be signing more than one of these types of players when we have our eyes set on several Top 100 options. I think the staff has the best idea of who we have a good chance with though, and trust they know a little more than we do when it comes to our roster breakdown and how these recruits/transfers fit in the grand scheme.
 
#419      
I wat
This. With Griffin and Hutcherson (and Tev too), we're pretty well set at wing. I can see the case for adding another, but it's bordering on the department of redundancy department. Not to mention a 3 year schollie commitment. Maybe the staff knows something (the hoi polloi doesn't), maybe Grandison is a big sleeper. But this courtship seems like a big meh to me.
The films I saw liked the handles, quick shot, and agility of Hutcherson. I have not seen many of Ganderson. I trust the staff but i was more excited about what i saw in the DII guy than him thus far. If BU wants him then I'm ok with it.
 
#420      

foby

Bonnaroo Land
Grandison last season had these numbers against bigger teams;
scUM (Video below shows some great passing and probable ability to play in the B1G)- 12p 5rb 3a
Providence - 17p 7rb 3st
Harvard - 21p 4rb 3a 2st
UMass- 20p 4rb 3a 2st
Rhode Island (Had a bad game) - 2p

 
#421      
I honestly don't have a problem with Hutcherson and potentially Grandison. The fact is you have 13 scholarships to fill, but realistically 9 or 10 get meaningful playing time. I'd rather take fliers on transfers with something to prove at a higher level of college competition than really lowly rated HS recruits that will likely never see the court and provide little skill to go against the first team guys in practice. Hutcherson and Grandison (if he commits and we take him) will get a full year to learn the system and workout before getting 2 years to play. They'll both have to work hard to prove that they deserve minutes, or else they'll be one of the 3 or 4 scholarship guys that don't see the court much. Worst case scenario is they're decent, long guys for our first team guys to go against in practice to develop against, unlike guys like Matic who I doubt provided much in that regard. I'm usually a glass half full type though, so take my opinion how you like. IMO the biggest downside is having only 11 eligible scholarship players next year with Hutcherson and Grandison (again, if he commits) having a sit out year.
Everything you said seems valid. I'll just make one small point, which is that if you always have two guys going through their sitout year, then you don't have 13 scholarship players to find 9-10 players from. You only have 11 and some of them may be freshmen, who can struggle to play P5 basketball. The point being that there is less room for error when 3-5 of your 13 players are either sitting out or freshmen.
 
#422      
With Griffin and Hutcherson (and Tev too), we're pretty well set at wing. I can see the case for adding another, but it's bordering on the department of redundancy department. Not to mention a 3 year schollie commitment. Maybe the staff knows something (the hoi polloi doesn't), maybe Grandison is a big sleeper. But this courtship seems like a big meh to me.

I think the staff is trying to plan for the worst case scenario where our 2020 class does not include a ready-to-play player like (Miller/Steward/Curbelo/Kalkbrenner). If we strike out on all 3 of those and can only recruit guys with potential to contribute real minutes come 2021-22 we're in a tough spot:

Our current 2020-21 Roster and the positions they can each play (bold means the player will or may leave before 2021-22):
PG: Trent Frazier, ?Austin Hutcherson?
SG: Alan Griffin, Austin Hutcherson, Da'Monte Williams
SF: Da'Monte Williams, Tevian Jones, Alan Griffin, Austin Hutcherson
PF: Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Ben Bosmans-Verdonk, ?Tevian Jones?
C: Kofi Cockburn, Bernard Kouma, Giorgi Bezhanishvili

The staff would be forced to play something like:
PG: Trent (28min) + Austin (8min) + Freshman (4min)
SG: Griffin (25min) + Austin (7min) + Da'Monte (6min) + Freshman (2min)
SF: Tevian (25min) + Da'Monte (12min) + Austin (3min)
PF: Giorgi (27min) + Verdonk (13min)
C: Kofi (26min) + Kouma (14min)

The other thing to keep in mind is that even if Kouma gets to Illinois, he may not be ready to contribute 14 minutes in 2020. It's not uncommon for bigs to take a few years to develop. In that scenario, combined with striking out on top 2020 freshmen recruits, adding a ready to contribute 2020 wing in the form of 6'-6" Jacob Grandison the staff could do something like:
PG: Trent (28min) + Austin (8min) + Freshman (4min)
SG: Griffin (25min) + Austin (7min) + Da'Monte (6min) + Freshman (2min)
SF: Tevian (17min) + Da'Monte (11min) + Jacob (12min)
PF: Giorgi (19min) + Verdonk (13min) + Tevian (8min)
C: Kofi (26min) + Kouma (6min) + Giorgi (8min)

I get that this is a nightmare scenario where Kouma isn't ready by 2020 AND we don't land Miller/Steward OR Kalkbrenner... but it's something that makes sense for the staff to plan for.

Keep in mind that this scholarship isn't going to be used in 2019 otherwise and Jacob would at a minimum be another body on the practice floor which could result in a better 2019-20 season.
 
#423      
Everything you said seems valid. I'll just make one small point, which is that if you always have two guys going through their sitout year, then you don't have 13 scholarship players to find 9-10 players from. You only have 11 and some of them may be freshmen, who can struggle to play P5 basketball. The point being that there is less room for error when 3-5 of your 13 players are either sitting out or freshmen.

Unless you're aware of a ready to play 2019 recruit, this isn't a relevant point since another sit and play 2 guy now isn't impacting our 2019 season (other than giving our guys someone to practice with).
 
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