Looking at the Illini program like a marketed product, what are our competitive advantages that we are selling that differentiate us and would make a kid like Foster choose us? Because to a player like him, we are still very much a vision vs. a known commodity. If you watched "The Last Dance", we are Nike vs. Addidas/Converse. So how do we convince a high caliber player to consider us?
- Player development (proven w/ Kofi, GB, Ayo, Trent, Alan Griffin) - skill, IQ, and body strength - I'm sure they are selling their plan for how they make Foster into a next level guy
- Playing time - competition at the 4 is low comparatively to what he would get at the blue bloods, so playtime is almost a guarantee, though I'm not sure a guy like Foster would shy away from competition...but just saying it's a difference that we have vs. them.
- Coaches - of course, relationships are always a selling factor. Hard to quantify, but it's one that got us to the table. Do we know if any of the coaches have an in somewhere?
- B1G competition - playing in a premier conference and testing against top competition
Unfortunately, I don't think we can differentiate on "winning culture" or "guarantee we'll be in the tourney" or "history of NBA player development"
Our vision is still a vision...but the pieces are in place for success. Ace Wolf, AC are no slouches and can complement Foster's game. But as we saw, getting to the tourney is no easy task and it's not just getting to the tourney but getting to the second weekend which gives the players exposure, national stage attention. So Foster has to believe that 1) we make the tourney and 2) have a shot at making it far to show-off his skills
Tough sledding, but they've done it before. However, I think the Coaches and their prior relationships played a large role in getting Ayo/Adam (Chin), Kofi/Andres Feliz/and Andre C. (OA). I'm not sure we have that with Foster unless someone knows?