Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (October 2018)

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#652      

Illini Resurgence

Illini Resurgence
Illini Resurgence
Second and Chalmers said:
Mark Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon and Jalen Coleman-Lands and Leron Black and Kendrick Nunn and Myke Henry and Mike Shaw and Jereme Richmond and Crandall Head and DJ Richardson say hello.
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Interesting that only two of those guys that are saying hello provide good memories of their Illini careers (Leron and DJ). In fact none of the other 8 finished out at Illinois.
 
#653      

PtownIllini8

P
PtownIllini8
Illini Resurgence said:
Interesting that only two of those guys that are saying hello provide good memories of their Illini careers (Leron and DJ). In fact none of the other 8 finished out at Illinois.
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Nun provided many good moments in his 3 years here and it's not as if his transfer was basketball related, but you have a good point. Recruits often fail their rankings.
 
#654      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
Mexi-Ken said:
You should give this class a chance to compete before you judge them.
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Huh? Maybe you should read the actual post first.

The post says nothing about expectations of current class. It talks about BU's first class (Alstork, Smith, Ebo, Matic) that really washed out. That has happened already, none is left, so it is not a future statements. The only mention of this class is that most of the Spring recruits fit the category of "lower ranked players that we can develop" which is a actually a factual statement made in a positive context, in addition to the statement that "I do not believe that this is the problem with our recruiting."
 
#655      

NBB1979

NBB1979
UIUCFAN1
Springfield, IL
NBB1979
Illini Resurgence said:
Interesting that only two of those guys that are saying hello provide good memories of their Illini careers (Leron and DJ). In fact none of the other 8 finished out at Illinois.
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I'd argue that Kendrick had good memories here too - just got himself in trouble off the court. and JCL had the game winner to beat Chicago State at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield ;)
 
#656      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
NBB1979 said:
I'd argue that Kendrick had good memories here too - just got himself in trouble off the court. and JCL had the game winner to beat Chicago State at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield ;)
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A lot of players on that list had good moments including many that did not pan our because of injuries (e.g., Mike Shaw) and off-court problems (e,g,, Richmond, Nunn). Furthermore, Black had just a good year and some good moments, but also had consistency issues and off-court problems.
 
#658      

SescIllini

SescIllini
SescIllini
coryfor3 said:
Don't disagree. I don't like what I've seen of recruiting. Tons of talent coming through and leaving. Tons of talent leaving the state for exotic locations like...Iowa State. The Mark Smith relationship looks like it has probably shut us out of the STL area for some time. The signs are bad. But I am no coaching staff insider so I can't say the plan is bad for sure.
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Doubt Mark Smith has that much clout. There is also a perception that Smith was given every chance to succeed and decided that BU's system was to intensive for him.
 
#659      

TownieMatt

T
CU Expat
Chicago
TownieMatt
The staff clearly decided to take big swings in this class. It's reasonable given that we just took 6 freshman in '18 and have just two seniors on this current roster. When just a couple of these kids can turn a program around pretty quick, it makes sense to aim high. That being said, you have to have fall-back options when we miss. To give the staff credit, they did a solid job filling out last year's class late in the process. I've got my fingers crossed for a commitment or two in the coming weeks, but it will be interesting to see what the fall-back options look like if we keep missing.

The reality with this rebuild is becoming clearer: We're going to have to start winning to attract talent. This isn't a program/staff that's going to start bringing in Top-50 kids out of nowhere and run with it. It's going to have to be a gradual thing. If we can land a top-150ish wing and a couple top-200 bigs in this class, then show some progress on the court this season, I think we'll be in a spot to keep trending up. Luckily, I think we have a head coach that's capable of making progress with the talent currently on the roster.
 
#660      

618MattD

618MattD
618MattD
I may have missed it, but where was it reported that Mitchell and Jitobah are not visiting anymore?
 
#661      

Deleted member 643761

D
Guest
Deleted member 643761
Second and Chalmers said:
And Kane and Giorgi and Higgs are what?

And 2019-spring-bigs-to-be-named are what?
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Second and Chalmers said:
When you have a glaring need and lack of bodies at a position, make an early get of a developmental player who you like and can land with comparatively less effort a priority.

Good recruiters aren't just able to close in drawn-out free-for-alls with major programs for top talent, they are also able to lock down and get quick and easy commits in the recruitments of less hyped players who they like. Combine that ability with really good scouting and you've got a stew going, and a lot of man-hours to dedicate to supplementing that base with a star or two.
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I'm a little confused. So last year's class features exactly what you say they ought to be doing. But you're still b!tching about it.

Since you're so big into "plans" can you give us an idea of how many developmental bigs you'd like to see on the team?
 
#663      

Deleted member 643761

D
Guest
Deleted member 643761
Obelix said:
A couple of assumptions that are not necessarily true. First, you assume that we can outscout and outdevelop players compared to the rest of the upper echelon B1G, which we have really no proof that we can do. Given that BU's own choices in the first year (Alstork, Smith, Ebo, Matic) really washed out, it really puts at least some doubt into that thinking. Furthermore, most of the hopeful positive outlook this coming year is centered more around Ayo (the high ranked star) than some of the hidden gems. Without Ayo? Can you imagine?

The second assumption is that that we are losing highly ranked recruits because of lack of time devoted to them. I do not think that is necessarily true either. We are getting many to visit and show initial interest, but at the end we have not shown the ability to close the deal with them. That will not likely change if we target less of them, it may actually decrease our chances of that star or two.

Our current problem is closing on highly ranked players who give you better chances at improving the talent level that is needed to compete in the B1G. I do not think our problem is getting lower ranked players that we can develop. Most of our Spring recruits would actually fit that category, wouldn't they?
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I think most of us are jacked up about BU's coaching ability. Some number then don't want to really look at his recruiting ability. But you're absolutely right. Coaches are for closing and we've gotten in plenty of doors. I place more value on other items than you do, but I totally agree that at the end of the day it's about the coach.

I'm still optimistic that it will all come together. But if it doesn't, it won't be the fault of the assistants.
 
#664      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
Obelix said:
Huh? Maybe you should read the actual post first.

The post says nothing about expectations of current class. It talks about BU's first class (Alstork, Smith, Ebo, Matic) that really washed out. That has happened already, none is left, so it is not a future statements. The only mention of this class is that most of the Spring recruits fit the category of "lower ranked players that we can develop" which is a actually a factual statement made in a positive context, in addition to the statement that "I do not believe that this is the problem with our recruiting."
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This is the second post that references Alstork "washing out" in some fashion, or other terms. Could we please correct this to "he was a grad transfer that didn't perform as well as we liked"?
Also, Ebo didn't wash out...he chose to leave for personal reasons. Mark Smith could be considered a borderline "wash out" because of the ridiculous expectations heaped on him as a freshman in the B1G, but he also chose to leave for personal reasons.

So maybe my interpretation of "washing out" is way different, but of the four mentioned....only one is a no doubt "wash out".
 
#666      

illini62707

I
illini62707
I ain't sending OT any love on instagram. He's either coming or he ain't. These kids need to get over themselves.
 
#668      

IlliniDent

IlliniDent
Chicago, IL
IlliniDent
illini62707 said:
I ain't sending OT any love on instagram. He's either coming or he ain't. These kids need to get over themselves.
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#675      

IllFanInMi

I
Guest
IllFanInMi
TheOlafRules said:
Its gonna be Def Con 1 in here on November 1st if/when Underwood whiffs on OT & TS. And that will be unreasonable. The quick fix isn't going to happen here. Illini Basketball has been too irrelevant for too long. BU is going to need to deliberately build this thing up over a period of years. If he can get to the dance for a couple years in a row with underdog teams, and gets a player or two to the NBA (Ayo, maybe?), then he'll have something solid to sell to Top 50 players. #realitycheck
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Well explain how other staffs seem to reverse engineer your strategy
 
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