When Bill Self was at Illinois, a top 60 player out of Milwaukee committed to Illinois. Problem was that Self either didn't make an offer or the offer was not commitable. I believe the player ended up at Marquette.
When Bill Self was at Illinois, a top 60 player out of Milwaukee committed to Illinois. Problem was that Self either didn't make an offer or the offer was not commitable. I believe the player ended up at Marquette.
Having never been recruited for a sport, what does a push for a commitment sound like? Thanks!
It depends on the coach. Some coaches prefer to allow athletes to pursue all of their options to make sure the school they choose is right for them (believe it or not that actually exists). While others may pressure athletes to commit to a scholarship before others commit to them. Depends on the level as well. I was offered a couple NAIA offers that I was told were "valid for one month". If I didn't commit within that month I had to sit down with the coach and talk about the offer again. I was not at the level of being recruited by a B1G school, but I have seen similar offers from kids that I have coached (also not B1G level guys). I would assume the big time recruiters wouldn't make that kind of pitch to one of their top guys, but at the lower levels this is seen pretty often.
J.R. Morris. Illinois was recruiting him, but he did not have a commitable offer, mainly due to academic hurdles. He jumped the gun and verbally announced for Illinois, but obviously Illinois did not accept his verbal. Ended up at Seton Hall.
Same thing happened to me and I was forced to do that to recruits when I was coaching in college. The head coach told me tell the kid he has 3 days to make a decision. They do that so that kids don't take many more visits. Usually only happens when you know you are leading for a kid and you just want him to make it official so the process ends. Completely backfired on us and the kid torched us as a freshman.
I didn't commit to that school either as I felt more comfortable with the coach that allowed me time to make the decision that was best for me and my family. Unless you are Coach K or Cal I think this strategy is bound to backfire. There are more subtle ways of telling kids they need to pull the trigger. The one I committed to just constantly reminded me that "I was his PG, and he would stop recruiting all other PG's from my class if I were to commit." He kept his word and everything went smoothly. More subtle approach but doesn't force a kid to make an uninformed decision.
Not sure if you guys remember when Coach Collins Sr. slammed Lou Henson and Illinois for calling his kid late in the evening and asking him to commit on the spot or the scholly offer was going away. Collins Sr. claims they broke off ties with Illinois at that point. Illinois got the other MCAA SG in the class, at then end of the day I believe they had comparable college careers. Collins Jr. got to go to Duke and use Coach K ties to help his career.
I doubt the validity of this story if it came from Doug & Dougy
Illinois had been Collins` No. 1 choice up until two weeks ago, when Illini coach Lou Henson offered Collins a scholarship. But Henson, who has only two scholarships to give for next season, wanted Collins to make an immediate decision-something Collins wasn`t ready to do.
Henson then offered the scholarship to 6-8 forward Chris Gandy of Bradley-Bourbonnais, who committed to the Illini.
According to the source, Doug Collins and his wife Kathy were prepared to move to Bloomington, Ill., so they could be closer to Champaign to watch the younger Collins play. Doug played his college basketball at Illinois State, located in Bloomington. -Chicago Tribune
At the end of the day we got Richard Keene, another instate MCAA who was better suited (6'6 with handles) for the SG position. Solid shooter (not great) and good passer and assist man.
I don't understand. LSU did literally one of the worst coaching jobs I have ever seen this past year. You have to try to miss the tourney with Ben Simmons what a joke.
Not sure what the connection is for Charlie, but this is certainly not great news from our perspective. I'm sure he wants to get this wrapped up soon, so a commitment while on a visit would make sense.
He's probably going to use all of his remaining visits. I wouldn't be surprised if visits Illinois unofficially so he doesn't waste his officials. He has plenty of time to make a decision since most the schools don't have many other 2016 or transfer targets this late.