So much for waiting till his birthday. :huh:
But really I'm bummed. Not because we really needed Goodwin, but because I (and obviously the coaches) really WANTED him. To use the cliché, he is truly a "bulldog", and I really wanted him to be that guy for us. A guy with a passion for winning at all costs and who would lay it all out on the floor every night. It's a shame he was duped by a snake oil salesman in Ford and he can't see the rational picture. It's going to be his loss ultimately. I think a year or two down the road he's going to regret not going to play with his friends at Illinois - on the big stage on big time TV in front of 16,000+ fans in a brand new spanking arena against the MSU's and Indiana's of the world.
I really think under Fletch he would have become a BEAST, too. Can you imagine what Fletch could do with a guy like JGood to turn him into a physical specimen? His NBA chances would have shot through the roof with an NBA ready body and his obvious dedication to go along with his skills. I have no doubts a competitor like JGood would have gotten more than his share of minutes by his sophomore year and that he along with Tilmon, Pickett, JCL (if still around), AJ, DJW, TJL, DMW, Finke, and maybe Frazier, Kiir, or whomever else we land would have been an awesome core that would be competing for B1G championships sooner and Elite Eight births sooner rather than later. Oh well. His loss. I do wish him well but I wish he would have shown a little bit more class and respect towards the coaches who showed him the most loyalty and love throughout his whole recruitment process. But thems the breaks.