Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (May 2019)

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#551      

Deleted member 646108

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Khan? Sorry can someone tell me who? I'm not an alumni.
Khan put a bug in their ear.jpg
 
#552      
From looking at his contract, Underwood is going to have a buyout of ~$10 million (or more) for the next two seasons. I'm not privy to UI finances but that seems like a massive buyout for any P5 school.
$9.45 million currently
$6.4 million after 5/1/20
$1.625 million after 5/1/21
 
#553      

WiscIllini

Madison, WI
The other "Good" - those recently recruited players did not transfer and we will start the year pretty much intact from last year's team (missing AJ of course). The impression is the coach has the hearts and minds of his players. Older teams with good talent can win and then make recruiting easier. Last year's schedule and only 4 returning players set us back a year.

Shouldn't this just be an expectation that we have consistency from one year to the next?
 
#555      

Deleted member 29907

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Shouldn't this just be an expectation that we have consistency from one year to the next?
The transfer portal activity in college basketball would indicate "no". In addition, there was a ton of discussion on BU's coaching style and today's player and transfers out his first year. However, given those things (and since we were/are still trying to figure out our coach) I would say that its a pleasant surprise.
 
#558      
With current retention numbers in mind, teams generally need to recruit 2 contributors and 2 projects per year. The exception are the schools that put more than 1 player into the draft every year, or lose their top players as transfers (like what happened to SFA with TJ or Iowa with Moss).

As far as I'm concerned, as a team we're on track. Last year we got Ayo, Giorgi, and Feliz as contributors. Year before we got Trent and Damonte. This year we have Kofi.

Next year likely Ayo, and Feliz will need to be replaced as contributors.

As projects with lots of potential we have Alan and Tevian.

As more unknown projects we have Samba, Kouma, and whoever else is signed this period.

A big question coming into this offseason was whether the staff could hold on to the current roster, which they have.

Going into next season I think the question is can the team improve and make the tourney?

The question the following year will be can they replace Ayo, Feliz, etc?
 
#560      
I you
I’m not totally buying the idea that we have to win first. Crean and others can do it...why can’t we???

Per TCTornado we are 1-13 on closing OVs. I look at the scholarship grid for this year and we had approximately 60 offers. We got Kofi and maybe Kouma. We’ve got 40 or more offers for next year and have no signings with no early signings. That seems like an awful lot of offers. I’m certainly no expert but the ability to close seems to be the problem. If this is normal please correct me.


"If you're not hearing "No" a lot more than you're hearing "Yes" you're recruiting the wrong players." Bill Self....so yeah it's normal and not all of those players have fully committable offers.
 
#561      

UncleBob

San Clemente, CA
I you



"If you're not hearing "No" a lot more than you're hearing "Yes" you're recruiting the wrong players." Bill Self....so yeah it's normal and not all of those players have fully committable offers.

Recruiting is sales. If you make 60 offers and only get told yes one time then it’s time to find a new profession. I guess my point is that we are historically a top 20 program and I want us to compete with those other top 20 programs that bring in 1-2 top 50 recruits every year and make the tournament 9 out of 10 years.
 
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#562      
Recruiting is sales. If you make 60 offers and only get told yes one time then it’s time to find a new profession. I guess my point is that we are historically a top 20 program and I want us to compete with those other top 20 programs that bring in 1-2 top 50 recruits every year and make the tournament 9 out of 10 years.

Trying to relate business to college basketball is foolish. Totally not the same thing and the 60 people you are "recruiting" doesn't mean you made 60 open offers, so again, comparisons between the two worlds don't work. BTW, we have basically had 1 top 50 players every year or very close to it, with Mark Smith the 1st year (not sure if he was quite top 50 but it was also Wood's 1st year), Ayo (top 35) and Kofi (top 50).

Next year we start the Tourney almost every year thing.
 
#564      

UncleBob

San Clemente, CA
Trying[QUOTE="PtownIllini8, post: 1466694, member: 646012"]Trying to relate business to college basketball is foolish. Totally not the same thing and the 60 people you are "recruiting" doesn't mean you made 60 open offers, so again, comparisons between the two worlds don't work. BTW, we have basically had 1 top 50 players every year or very close to it, with Mark Smith the 1st year (not sure if he was quite top 50 but it was also Wood's 1st year), Ayo (top 35) and Kofi (top 50).

Next year we start the Tourney almost every year thing.


Foolish in your opinion. In most human endeavors if your only successful 1-60 you probably should step back and evaluate where you need to improve.

I do hope you are correct in your last sentence.
 
#566      
I think some posters are stressing recruiting too much because of unrealistic expectations. It would be great to root for a team that was pulling a top 10 class every year, and it is possible for Illinois. If that's what you're waiting for as a fan before you can be a happy fan though, then good luck.

With Beilein in mind, do you realize he won 2 conference championships, and made it past the 1st weekend in the tourney 4 times? They missed the '15 tourney.

How many people in this thread would hypothecially call these results a failure if we projected them for Underwood?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Michigan_Wolverines_men's_basketball_seasons

With the way some people talk about their recruiting expectations needing to support their expectations of winning, I just don't think it's very reasonable.
 
#568      
Lol at saying my statement is BS. If you spoke to who I spoke to on Saturday you wouldn’t be saying that.

No worries, not gonna argue the point. From my (outside) perspective, it would take an amount of money that our athletic dept can't come up with, no matter how much they fudge the budget.

If someone has a spare $10 mil lying around that wants a better team, all bets are off, and we can keep our respective beach houses.

All that said, I'm still a believer in that these guys will have us feeling relevant again soon.
 
#569      

illini80

Forgottonia
The issue is not that we have extended 60+ offers and the issue is not that some of those may not have been committable. The only issue is that out of however many offers we have made, we only have one player signed and still have 3 slots open with 2 days left in the final signing period. We also only have 1 OV left to recruit those positions.

Underwood and staff have brought in a few top players that we all love. It’s just not enough. 13 roster spots need to be filled with guys capable of playing or developing into B10 players. Letting spots go unfilled is a failure in recruiting. Obviously it has not been intentional, but that doesn’t really make it justifiable.

Recruiting is not over, but we saw this past year that late season bodies to plug holes is not a gamble likely to pay off very often.

100% behind Underwood still. However these are things that are showing a pattern and are concerning.
 
#570      
Trent, Giorgi and Ayo both had historically good years as freshmen. Kofi is capable as well. So in 3 classes we can have 4 recruits that had results that very few Illini players had as freshmen. Surround those 4 with Tevian, Damonte, Kipper, and Andres. AG and Samba will be much improved. Those are a solid group of 10 players.
 
#571      
No worries, not gonna argue the point. From my (outside) perspective, it would take an amount of money that our athletic dept can't come up with, no matter how much they fudge the budget.

If someone has a spare $10 mil lying around that wants a better team, all bets are off, and we can keep our respective beach houses.

All that said, I'm still a believer in that these guys will have us feeling relevant again soon.
I am as hopeful as you. I want these guys to succeed simply because they are good people. FWIW JW has just as much passion for this university as we do if not more. As for paying buyouts all I know is Shad payed for 3/4 coaches buyouts.
 
#572      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
The issue is not that we have extended 60+ offers and the issue is not that some of those may not have been committable. The only issue is that out of however many offers we have made, we only have one player signed and still have 3 slots open with 2 days left in the final signing period. We also only have 1 OV left to recruit those positions.

Underwood and staff have brought in a few top players that we all love. It’s just not enough. 13 roster spots need to be filled with guys capable of playing or developing into B10 players. Letting spots go unfilled is a failure in recruiting. Obviously it has not been intentional, but that doesn’t really make it justifiable.

Recruiting is not over, but we saw this past year that late season bodies to plug holes is not a gamble likely to pay off very often.

100% behind Underwood still. However these are things that are showing a pattern and are concerning.

Well put. They definitely are concerning. It's late, but there's still time to bring in a ringer or two.
 
#573      
And Penny just adds former Duke commit, Boogie Ellis. Top 50 combo guard.
 
#575      

mhuml32

Cincinnati, OH
Does it really matter when Khan is actually the one paying the buyout?

TTU just re-worked Beard's contract because they think a $6 million buyout will be too rich for the endlessly deep pockets of Texas and their countless wealthy alums, but we flippantly think $10 million won't be too much of a hurdle because of Khan?

Assuming Khan has footed the bill for the majority of buyouts for Illinois, Underwood's buyout would still (likely) dwarf the buyout costs of all terminated Illinois football and basketball coaches in the past 20 years combined. Yes, it's a rounding error compared to his personal wealth, but then again Khan could just write Illinois athletics a $10 million check every year and the football/basketball coaching staffs would be one of the best in the country (and yet that doesn't happen).

I think Underwood is going to produce a vastly improved team in 2019-20, but I also am reserved to the belief that Underwood is here for another two years minimum (barring such a disastrous 19-20 that numerous donors chip in major $$$ to lessen the buyout blow, which at 8 figures would largely be unprecedented in college basketball).
 
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