...or blame them for not being hungry enough.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (January-March 2016)
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...or blame them for not being hungry enough.
Unless you're a blue blood program you're going to have a roster with at least a few 3 star recruits. That being said you still need top tier talent to balance out the roster. Some of our best teams had 3 star players that were critical to the success of that team. We also need coaches that know how to develop players. Lon Kruger for example has done a phenomenal job developing kids throughout his career.
ILL in IA
- Iowa City
The hope being that a 3* as a Sr. can be better than another teams 4* or 5* as a freshman...1 or 2 3* are good. Banking your entire roster on it is not.
Nobody is wanting to bank the entire roster on 3 stars. But, a good coach should be able to identify those that are better than their rankings. Such as a Gill, Bardo, Archibald, Mike Davis and many others that have played here. We all !!!!! and moan when some guy from Illinois goes and stars elsewhere because we didn't recruit him. The Illinois coaching staff should identify those guys and recruit some of them. That is how you build depth, for one. The belief that they can only contribute their senior year is just dumb as well.
They should at least recruit and build a relationship with them. This staff hasn't done a great job at recruiting 5 star players and attempting to slow play lesser ranked recruits at the same time.
If anyone we are recruiting for 2017 in the 1-50 range commits before fall of 2016, then fine. Else move on. No use waiting for the likes of a Tilmon till the end of time - chances decline rapidly. Not worth it (Tilmon could be an exception to this rule).
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You are hedging on your own statement right there. Everyone could be an exception until they commit. It is extremely hard to give up on major recruits you can make the very short list until they actually commit elsewhere. Without Tilmon, the 2017 recruiting class in Illinois is very average. Chances that a coach in Illinois will outsmart, outdevelop, and outcoach other B1G coaches and teams with lesser recruits are slim to none. This is a do or die recruiting class and a class that will most definitely go the distance until Fall signing day, if not later.
Without Tilmon, the 2017 recruiting class in Illinois is very average.
Please, please don't tell me this. I've been waiting 12 years for the class of '017.
The Class of 2017 was never a great class overall. What was different about the class is that most of the talent is outside of Chicago. Everyone assumed this would give Illinois a better chance to assemble a good class. We will see if this is true.
I hedged only because Tilmon is from down south. Were he from any other state I would give him a time limit, after which I would invest more effort in a Plan B. And, were a 4* to commit, I would gladly accept it.
I think if our classes were made up plenty of 4*s and a few 3 and a few 5, we would be a happy family. 8 :: 4 :: 1?
And, no matter how good/bad Groce is at coaching, IF he had been able to recruit a good center (not one that floats away from the basket) and a real good PG, we would have done fine. Not a top notch team perhaps, but an entertaining and competetive one. I think this team without the injuries and UI, we would have been a few notches above where we are.
Problem is that this scenario assumes a plethora of players, and in the case of Tilmon 4* centers, that are ready to commit. In most years, including 2017, this is not the case. When we are talking 4* players, you are really talking about our highest ranked players (e.g., JCL, Black, etc.).
If you have 4* players ready to commit, you take them regardless of Tilmon, but if you look at rankings, there are not many 4*s in Illinois to begin with (and centers nevertheless) and furthermore even less that are likely to pull the trigger very soon.
People are understandably eager to get commitments, but also make it sound that there are 4* players at position of need ready to commit. That is not the case. The 2017 recruiting class will go the distance IMO and if it does not, it will likely not be the great class that we need.
Javon Pickett
I'm honestly surprised at the fact that Javon Pickett is considered a 3* prospect still, he is in top 5 scoring in stl-metro area this season and has good length, height, and a rapidly growing skillset. Kid is constantly working too, he is definitely one of those 3*'s that can turn into a steal years down the road.
I'm honestly surprised at the fact that Javon Pickett is considered a 3* prospect still, he is in top 5 scoring in stl-metro area this season and has good length, height, and a rapidly growing skillset. Kid is constantly working too, he is definitely one of those 3*'s that can turn into a steal years down the road.
With the rate of injuries Illinois players and recruits are suffering we are going to have the oldest roster since the post WWII teams that were full of veterans.
I hope with age comes maturity and with maturity comes success.
I hope with age comes maturity and with maturity comes success.
midastouch11
- New York, New York
Unless a kid plays on teams that make trips to these national high school tournaments around the holidays or after the season, the only real way for a prospect to raise their national rankings is through AAU ball. Pickett doesn't play for a monster AAU team (Jets), so unless he moves to the St. Louis Eagles with Goodwin/Tilmon, he probably won't raise his stock all that much.
Another reason rankings don't tell the whole story
midastouch11
- New York, New York
True. It's a pretty solid barometer for what to expect from a player, but obviously a kids talent isn't set in stone from his ranking as a 17 year old. The other day I went through the rankings of the kids at Oklahoma now. They've got a couple four stars on the roster, but not one kid ranked in the top 100. With that said, I still want kids ranked in the Top 100.
BlindLoyalty
- FartNoiseMotivation
Lots of programs are saying the same thing about their recruits. I'm sure Northwesten fans are saying the same thing about 3* Isiah Brown. Last week he became the all time leading scorer in Seattle Metro League history, averaged 28.3 ppg as a Jr & is averaging 35 ppg this year.
If they have four star kids on the roster then they have top 100 recruits.
Buddy Held was #86 Rivals. His low ranking was due to just moving to USA from Bahamas in 2010. The International scene is growing larger.
There are typically 120-140 5-4 star recruits, so that's not true. They do have one top 100 kid though I'm pretty sure.
Maybe I'm wrong. I thought there were roughly 20-30 5 star prospects a year pending on the quality of the class and the rest of the top 100 were 3 and 4's.
OrangeDeeLight
- Champaign Area
I think it used to be the top 25 were 5 star. 26-100 was 4 star. Anything 101-200 was 3 star etc.
However, I think some services are ranking a handful of recruits just outside the top 100 as 4 stars. Like maybe 100-105 or up to 110 ish???
Depends on the quality of talent from class to class. A kid ranked 105 1 year could be a better player than the kid at 85 the year before
OrangeDeeLight
- Champaign Area
True in real life. But as far as the star ranking system for recruiting services, you will never see #85 in the nation be labelled a 3 star by that respective recruiting service.
By those specific numbers, 85 and 105 would probably both be 4 stars.
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