Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (March 2019)

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#652      
My concern with grad transfers is the complexity of our O and D and how quickly they can pick it up to be serviceable. This type of system seems to need a year or two of marinating the player. At the very least, a half season. We can't keep waiting until January for players to get it.
If the other option is spending a whole season with a huge hole at the 4 and no depth at the 5, then a half season learning curve doesn’t look so bad. Feliz came in and did more than ok, DLR’s problems I would blame more on recovery than system. I Think the bigger risk is just fit and talent on a grad transfer, and in many cases they are coming off a missed season from injury.
 
#653      

sacraig

The desert
Underwood has only signed 1 guy (Ayo) in the Fall period. I hope that's not the norm for the future.

I don't really give a crap how many guys he signs at various times of the year. All I care about is that we win games and play some entertaining basketball. With all of the transfers these days and with the increased agency that top players are taking over their own recruitments, the old rules of recruiting are changing. I wouldn't put a lot of weight on "number of fall signees" as a measure of success.
 
#654      
I don't really give a crap how many guys he signs at various times of the year. All I care about is that we win games and play some entertaining basketball. With all of the transfers these days and with the increased agency that top players are taking over their own recruitments, the old rules of recruiting are changing. I wouldn't put a lot of weight on "number of fall signees" as a measure of success.
When they sign is less important than when they enroll. Missing the summer is a huge deficit especially for a frosh.
 
#655      
When they sign is less important than when they enroll. Missing the summer is a huge deficit especially for a frosh.

Missing Summer won't happen this year with the team going to Italy. Of the 4 holdovers last year, didn't only 2 stay for the Summer??
 
#656      
If the other option is spending a whole season with a huge hole at the 4 and no depth at the 5, then a half season learning curve doesn’t look so bad. Feliz came in and did more than ok, DLR’s problems I would blame more on recovery than system. I Think the bigger risk is just fit and talent on a grad transfer, and in many cases they are coming off a missed season from injury.

Not in many case. Just in ours. :p
 
#657      
If the other option is spending a whole season with a huge hole at the 4 and no depth at the 5, then a half season learning curve doesn’t look so bad. Feliz came in and did more than ok, DLR’s problems I would blame more on recovery than system. I Think the bigger risk is just fit and talent on a grad transfer, and in many cases they are coming off a missed season from injury.

Either way, we’re not going to have a huge hole at the 4. As of right now, our 5’s will be January, Kane, and Cockburn. That is awesome—especially since we’ve been so depleted at the position. At the 4 you are looking at Georgi with backups of Tevian Jones and Allan Griffin. They will be destined to play the 4 in certain situations regardless.
 
#658      
Either way, we’re not going to have a huge hole at the 4. As of right now, our 5’s will be January, Kane, and Cockburn. That is awesome—especially since we’ve been so depleted at the position. At the 4 you are looking at Georgi with backups of Tevian Jones and Allan Griffin. They will be destined to play the 4 in certain situations regardless.
I agree, but would add, 1) I hope our 2 5's sign and qualify ,see January, hope for him but doesn't it seem weird that he didn't play much, if at all and we don't hear ANYTHING about him? 2) We need more 4's, GB isn't enough, he's still going to play some 5 and Griffin and Tev are more 3's, also Kipper ain't gone yet.
 
#659      
Either way, we’re not going to have a huge hole at the 4. As of right now, our 5’s will be January, Kane, and Cockburn. That is awesome—especially since we’ve been so depleted at the position. At the 4 you are looking at Georgi with backups of Tevian Jones and Allan Griffin. They will be destined to play the 4 in certain situations regardless.
Alan & Tevian aren’t 4’s & it is yet to be seen how many useful minutes we will be able to get from January & Cockburn.
 
#661      
Either way, we’re not going to have a huge hole at the 4. As of right now, our 5’s will be January, Kane, and Cockburn. That is awesome—especially since we’ve been so depleted at the position. At the 4 you are looking at Georgi with backups of Tevian Jones and Allan Griffin. They will be destined to play the 4 in certain situations regardless.
I think there is a strong possibility that a 4 will transfer in. Giorgi is not enough, we need more depth at that position
 
#668      

Dbell1981

Decatur, IL
All this talk about Giorgi playing the 4 mainly are not gonna play out that way IMO. Giorgi will stay at the 5 most of the time. I think he will float around 30 minutes total and 20-24 at the 5. I think he still only gets 6-10 min at the 4. Coach has a fast paced system and I dont see Kofi playing more than 20-25 minutes a game tops. When Kofi is tired Giorgi will slide over and someone else will take the 4 spot. 4 spot will get filled by Jones, Higgs, January, or(grad transfer). If anything else Goirgi starts and Kofi comes off the pine. Coach wants balls to the wall effort and 20 minutes is a good number for Kofi and Giorgi. This team is gonna be solid when he gets 4 years of players stacked in his system. Even better when his first hand picked class(Giorgi, Ayo, Griffin, Jones and Higgs)are seniors.
 
#670      
All this talk about Giorgi playing the 4 mainly are not gonna play out that way IMO. Giorgi will stay at the 5 most of the time. I think he will float around 30 minutes total and 20-24 at the 5. I think he still only gets 6-10 min at the 4. Coach has a fast paced system and I dont see Kofi playing more than 20-25 minutes a game tops. When Kofi is tired Giorgi will slide over and someone else will take the 4 spot. 4 spot will get filled by Jones, Higgs, January, or(grad transfer). If anything else Goirgi starts and Kofi comes off the pine. Coach wants balls to the wall effort and 20 minutes is a good number for Kofi and Giorgi. This team is gonna be solid when he gets 4 years of players stacked in his system. Even better when his first hand picked class(Giorgi, Ayo, Griffin, Jones and Higgs)are seniors.
Higgs will never play college basketball. (epilepsy has worsened) I read that he may receive a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA. So he is out of the equation, too bad. He would have been Giorgi’s backup at the 4. Hope you are right about January. Hopefully he meets all the academic requirements. He didn’t play his senior season except for a couple of exhibition games in order to bring his grades and score up to par in order to qualify. Ayo won’t be here his senior season unless he regresses, hopefully Jones and Griffin stay. Nothing is a given at this point in time.
 
#673      

Tevo

Wilmette, IL
Not all players learn at the same rate. Elite athletic ability doesn’t equal elite learning ability.

Also, "knowing" the system is maybe half the battle. Equally critical is developing the unspoken understanding with your teammates about how they will read the situations and react. We STILL have guys yelling and pointing to each other on the floor, directing them to cut or switch sides or set a pick, etc. If you have to verbally communicate all of that on every play, you'll never have a fluid offense or effective defense. And developing that chemistry requires experience, and usually in game situations. Thus the reasons everybody hears about stars in practice who have a tough time translating it to games.
 
#674      
I get your point, but learning a system and having it be natural to you I think are two different things. Signing Holyfield would make those concern go away completely since he's already played in our system.

This really is not a concern of mine. There were reports early this year that ADLR had a full grasp of the system super early and was almost like a coach before he got back from injury.
 
#675      
January can shoot the ball out to three and he's athletic enough to handle the 4 no problem. I see him as a more natural 4 than a 5 myself.

January for a big is a 4 moreso than a 5...he is very mobile, can handle the ball and is athletic enough to cover alot of ground. Guarantee he is being sold more in that role than a traditional 5. This allows Kofi to handle down low with Giorgi as well, which we all know is his bread and butter.
 
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