Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (August 2019)

[Deleted member 4960]

Recruitments go south? We do have Kofi and Ayo within the fold. Which is far better than the previous staff did. Are we getting every recruit? No but they are doing pretty well. We win, it will improve even more. We are even at the early signing date and people are whining on this board.

 

[alexander58]

Recruitments go south? We do have Kofi and Ayo within the fold. Which is far better than the previous staff did. Are we getting every recruit? No but they are doing pretty well. We win, it will improve even more. We are even at the early signing date and people are whining on this board.

Maybe it went west. He’s 18. Maybe he wants be on the coast.

 

[Berg88]

Recruitments go south? We do have Kofi and Ayo within the fold. Which is far better than the previous staff did. Are we getting every recruit? No but they are doing pretty well. We win, it will improve even more. We are even at the early signing date and people are whining on this board.

Groce landed 2 recruits higher rated than Kofi (by 247 national average). Outside of our inability to land a point guard, recruiting wasn't THAT bad under Groce. His big issue was that he just didn't end up being very good at coaching.

 

[Illiniguy13]

Recruitments go south? We do have Kofi and Ayo within the fold. Which is far better than the previous staff did. Are we getting every recruit? No but they are doing pretty well. We win, it will improve even more. We are even at the early signing date and people are whining on this board.

It is important for programs to land primary recruits in the Fall. I think we all want that. At the same time, I'm mostly pleased with the players we've ended up with. Like good ole Obelix used to say: recruiting isn't about who you miss, it's who you end up with. We've ended up with some good players. I'm confident BU, Antigua & Chin ultimately land us good ball players. I think it's time for the other guy to be replaced with a stronger recruiter IMO.

 

[sacraig]

Groce landed 2 recruits higher rated than Kofi (by 247 national average). Outside of our inability to land a point guard, recruiting wasn't THAT bad under Groce. His big issue was that he just didn't end up being very good at coaching.

Agreed. He was an above average recruiter considering what he had to sell. The problem was that he had no idea what to do with the recruits when he got them, and once it becomes clear that this is the case, you start finding harder to land those recruits.

 

[alaskaillini]

Recruitments go south? We do have Kofi and Ayo within the fold. Which is far better than the previous staff did. Are we getting every recruit? No but they are doing pretty well. We win, it will improve even more. We are even at the early signing date and people are whining on this board.

Misses in the fall are not as big an issue with this staff as the previous one, as this staff always seem to have Plan A, B, C, ….

I think the bold is now important. If this staff shows that they can win with a group of projects and 3 star guys along with a star or two thrown in, they will start to get more of their Plan A guys. Think that their idea is to build a team that can compete in the top half of the B1G and for a tourney spot by getting older, and then recruit the young guys to get to the next level.. I also hope that they can keep OA on staff, as he is in the process of establishing UI as a place for big men. He really helped Black and Giorgi play to their strengths. This should really be of some help with front court recruiting.

 

[socalini]

Recruitments go south?

Yes. If you look at rbachuber's scholarship grid, for the 2019/20 class, I see 62 offers, only 1 of which turned orange (Kofi). The bottom 3 slots belong to three signees, none of whom was on (almost) anyone's radar at any point before they committed.

If they're finding diamonds, I'll be happy to say I was wrong. But it just feels like something turns with a lot of the players we get close on / feel confident about.

 

[Deleted member 4960]

Groce had 5 yrs to pull in those recruits, Underwood has had basically 2. Ayo is going to the NBA. We never really had anyone close under Groce. The point I was trying to make is Groce/Weber went after plenty of high 5 star recruits and missed on practically all except for Black and whats his face. Underwood is going to miss some too. Hopefully he can win now!! and pull in some of these he is going after. I think he has already done a better job of closing.

 

[illini0440]

I don't know. illini0440 seems pretty well connected. I just wish he, or someone, could tell us why these recruitments seem to go south so often with this staff. Is it the coaching staff's temperament? Facilities? Politics? If it's politics, why do we seem to be on the bad end of so much of it? What does the staff make of these losses, and do they see a problem with their recruiting? Are they sticking to their methods or are they trying to adjust and react as these losses pile up?

The argument that there is a logjam of talent at certain positions just doesn't hold water. There's plenty of talent at lots of schools that doesn't seem to scare kids off.

1. It is no secret that BUs style isn't for everyone.
2. I know BU doesn't like the facilities they have.(minus SFC)
3. Most of the time the politics thing comes down to how bad we have been lately.
4. The staff is always adjusting when it comes to recruiting. I mean not much they can do once a kid commits somewhere else just move on the the next option.

 

[socalini]

1. It is no secret that BUs style isn't for everyone.
2. I know BU doesn't like the facilities they have.(minus SFC)
3. Most of the time the politics thing comes down to how bad we have been lately.
4. The staff is always adjusting when it comes to recruiting. I mean not much they can do once a kid commits somewhere else just move on the the next option.

Thanks. I appreciate the response.

 

[ChiefGritty]

If they're finding diamonds, I'll be happy to say I was wrong.

I'd call Kofi and Ayo diamonds. Mark Smith too, at least in terms of winning a big time recruitment.

I don't quite understand BU's methods either, but in each of his classes so far he's managed to secure one big-time player in a big-time hats-on-the-table recruitment that we probably would have lost in prior years.

Either that has to continue, or we need to find a way to land a broader talent base, but for the 2019-20 season BU has put together a pretty darned solid looking roster.

 

[Efrem Winters fan]

1. It is no secret that BUs style isn't for everyone.

His style would/will be far easier to deal with when the team is winning. Let's hope that is what this season brings.

 

[Elgin7680]

I don't think most top recruits want to go to program that has not made the tournament in a number of years. You have to build the perception that the program is at a point where it is consistently seen as tournament bound plus also viewed as an avenue to getting to the NBA. Till then you do what Underwood is doing, in finding players everywhere you can and building a winner. Once the perception changes top recruits will more likely start coming to Illinois.

 

[Deep_Throat]

1. It is no secret that BUs style isn't for everyone.
2. I know BU doesn't like the facilities they have.(minus SFC)
3. Most of the time the politics thing comes down to how bad we have been lately.
4. The staff is always adjusting when it comes to recruiting. I mean not much they can do once a kid commits somewhere else just move on the the next option.

Number 2 is true. Brad wants upgrades.

Also, sometimes a kid souring on us is to no fault of the coaching staff. The college basketball word is crazy.

 

[WiscIllini]

It doesn't have anything to do Stanford.

Underwood and his fantastic skills for building relationships

 

[illini0440]

Underwood and his fantastic skills to build relationships

Also not true.

 

[WiscIllini]

Also not true.

Good to hear. Hope Liddell was a one-off

 

[illini0440]

Good to hear. Hope Liddell was a one-off

Mark Smith and family had more to do with EJ than a lot of people realize.

 

[Calvin]

1. It is no secret that BUs style isn't for everyone.
2. I know BU doesn't like the facilities they have.(minus SFC)
3. Most of the time the politics thing comes down to how bad we have been lately.
4. The staff is always adjusting when it comes to recruiting. I mean not much they can do once a kid commits somewhere else just move on the the next option.

1 of 62 on the scholarship grid says to me that it's far more than BU's style not being for everyone. If you're losing 61 out of 62 fights, you're not coming in with enough firepower. #3 should show meaningful progress this year. #2, might be an issue, but I have to believe our new arena counts for something, and has us above more programs than below.

 

[ChiefGritty]

1 of 62 on the scholarship grid says to me that it's far more than BU's style not being for everyone. If you're losing 61 out of 62 fights, you're not coming in with enough firepower.

Or you're picking the wrong fights.

 

[TCTORNADO]

Also not true.

MIF related?

 

[UCantHideYer]

Better treadmills?

 

[Illiniguy90]

It is important for programs to land primary recruits in the Fall. I think we all want that. At the same time, I'm mostly pleased with the players we've ended up with. Like good ole Obelix used to say: recruiting isn't about who you miss, it's who you end up with. We've ended up with some good players. I'm confident BU, Antigua & Chin ultimately land us good ball players. I think it's time for the other guy to be replaced with a stronger recruiter IMO.

Each of our assistant coaches has some good gets to their names. You're right though that it's been a while since Walker has landed anyone, but I'm curious if that's by design from Underwood, or just because he's striking out.

Per 247:
Antigua got Kofi, Kouma, Feliz, and Higgs.
Jamall Walker got Leron Black, Jalen Coleman-Lands, Austin Colbert, and Michael Finke.
Chin Coleman got Tevian Jones, Samba Kane, and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk.

 

[TCTORNADO]

Each of our assistant coaches has some good gets to their names. You're right though that it's been a while since Walker has landed anyone, but I'm curious if that's by design from Underwood, or just because he's striking out.

Per 247:
Antigua got Kofi, Kouma, Feliz, and Higgs.
Jamall Walker got Leron Black, Jalen Coleman-Lands, Austin Colbert, and Michael Finke.
Chin Coleman got Tevian Jones, Samba Kane, and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk.

Walker is in on the Russian. It got him a free trip to Greece to follow him.

 

[Tevo]

Each of our assistant coaches has some good gets to their names. You're right though that it's been a while since Walker has landed anyone, but I'm curious if that's by design from Underwood, or just because he's striking out.

Per 247:
Antigua got Kofi, Kouma, Feliz, and Higgs.
Jamall Walker got Leron Black, Jalen Coleman-Lands, Austin Colbert, and Michael Finke.
Chin Coleman got Tevian Jones, Samba Kane, and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk.

Chin also got Ayo.