Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (April-June 2016)

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#2,752      

coryfor3

C
coryfor3
Captain Bubbles said:
I'd like to see Illinois take a look at 6-10 Jack Nunge of Castle, IN. He's still garnering Big Ten interest. According to Pocket City via Twitter, he just went to Vanderbilt for an unofficial visit, so he's garnering SEC interest as well.

Illinois needs bigs for its 2017 class and with Castle not being far away, it wouldn't hurt to check him out. Castle has a great basketball program and is one of the more notable programs in the area.
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I thought if he went Big 10 that he was an Indiana guy from the get-go.
 
#2,753      

Deleted member 10676

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[FONT=&quot]New ESPN 2017 rankings.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/b...rankings/_/view/espnu100/sort/rank/class/2017

[FONT=&quot]Bowen 10[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Wilkes 11[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Tilmon 29[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Goodwin 54[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Terrence Lewis 66[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Verge 73[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Eastern 74[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Justin Smith 76[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]DaMonte is ranked as a 4 star #26 SG with a grade of 82 which would put him somewhere just below 100.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/databaseresults?firstname=DaMonte&lastname=Williams&collegeid=356&class=2017&position=&state=18[/FONT]
 
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Deleted member 10676

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#2,755      

Connor

C
Connor
miketherevelator said:
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/b...ition/shooting-guard/class/2017/view/position

On the Top Shooting Guard rankings, they have DaMonte as 27th, just below David Beatty who is 97th overall. If you look DaMonte up individually they have him 26th, typical ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/b...sition/power-forward/class/2017/view/position

Power Forwards, Theo John is ranked 28th, Negron 32nd. Both outside the top 100.
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These rankings are bad. Theo John and Damonte are top 75 guys.
 
#2,756      

Newman

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Newman
At least now we can stop referring to Jarrett Culver as an unranked SG. He's 88th in the top 100. Interesting rankings but I can't argue against any of them really if you're putting more weight on production than potential.
 
#2,758      

FatGreg

F
FatGreg
TCTORNADO said:
DaMonte was previously #38 on ESPN. Quite a fall to just inside #100.
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Just *outside* you mean. Some other notables:

Paul Scruggs - #33
Malik Williams - #42
Derek Culver - #79
Victor Bailey, Jr - #91
Trent Frazier - #150-ish (#35 SG/4 star)
Jericho Sims - #200-ish (#32 C/3 star)
Evan Gilyard - #200-ish (#44 PG/3 star)
Charles Payton - #125-ish (#25 SF/4 star) - did we ever show any interest?
Javon Pickett - unlisted (below #250)

I'm not sold on these rankings - ESPN is notoriously out of step with the rest of the major services - but it does make you think. If we miss on Tilmon, Malik Williams, Culver, and John, we might be looking at very undersized guys or big projects. Likewise, if we miss on all of Scruggs, Goodwin, Lewis, Justin Smith, and Eastern, it starts to look a little disconcerting with Da'Monte sliding and Pickett failing to climb. Obviously rankings aren't the end-all, be-all, but still.

I don't think it will go down this way, but a class of DMW (if he slides to the 75-100 range), Pickett, Frazier, Negron, a 2-3 star project big, and a grad transfer big would make me feel uneasy.
 
#2,759      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
FatGreg said:
Just *outside* you mean. Some other notables:

Paul Scruggs - #33
Malik Williams - #42
Derek Culver - #79
Victor Bailey, Jr - #91
Trent Frazier - #150-ish (#35 SG/4 star)
Jericho Sims - #200-ish (#32 C/3 star)
Evan Gilyard - #200-ish (#44 PG/3 star)
Charles Payton - #125-ish (#25 SF/4 star) - did we ever show any interest?
Javon Pickett - unlisted (below #250)

I'm not sold on these rankings - ESPN is notoriously out of step with the rest of the major services - but it does make you think. If we miss on Tilmon, Malik Williams, Culver, and John, we might be looking at very undersized guys or big projects. Likewise, if we miss on all of Scruggs, Goodwin, Lewis, Justin Smith, and Eastern, it starts to look a little disconcerting with Da'Monte sliding and Pickett failing to climb. Obviously rankings aren't the end-all, be-all, but still.

I don't think it will go down this way, but a class of DMW (if he slides to the 75-100 range), Pickett, Frazier, Negron, a 2-3 star project big, and a grad transfer big would make me feel uneasy.
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Uneasy? Groce brings in that class, he should resign. Save himself from being fired.
 
#2,761      

Captain Bubbles

Captain Bubbles
Fairfield, IL
Captain Bubbles
coryfor3 said:
I thought if he went Big 10 that he was an Indiana guy from the get-go.
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Amusing statement. You can say the same thing about Jalen Coleman-Lands before he committed to Illinois. Living in Indianapolis, he was in the backyard of some great basketball programs such as Purdue, Notre Dame, Butler, and Indiana. Could've easily chose any one of those schools, but I'm glad and thankful for the decision he made.

Like one poster said earlier, Nunge is outside the top 100 on 24/7 in the 2017 class. That's nothing to scoff at. I hope Illinois takes a look at him. It's not a far drive from Champaign to Evansville. Illinois can use all the bigs they can get for the 2017 class and this is a great opportunity for Illinois to make a move by evaluating and perhaps offering a scholarship to him.
 
#2,763      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
Captain Bubbles said:
Amusing statement. You can say the same thing about Jalen Coleman-Lands before he committed to Illinois. Living in Indianapolis, he was in the backyard of some great basketball programs such as Purdue, Notre Dame, Butler, and Indiana. Could've easily chose any one of those schools, but I'm glad and thankful for the decision he made.

Like one poster said earlier, Nunge is outside the top 100 on 24/7 in the 2017 class. That's nothing to scoff at. I hope Illinois takes a look at him. It's not a far drive from Champaign to Evansville. Illinois can use all the bigs they can get for the 2017 class and this is a great opportunity for Illinois to make a move by evaluating and perhaps offering a scholarship to him.
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Agreed, Illinois should start recruiting this kid. Have to have a backup plan if Tilmon spurns us.
 
#2,764      

Deleted member 10676

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kbattle331 month ago
LIVEnXillini#33_finity/verge/Goodwin/tilmonflying@_illiniforsure

I'm with this guy. Get these 3 and we will be good to go. I know I've posted this video before but it's just so good.

[YOUTUBE]MZA40C1zQGw[/YOUTUBE]
 
#2,765      

Chipatsj23h

Chipatsj23h
Chipatsj23h
miketherevelator said:
kbattle331 month ago
LIVEnXillini#33_finity/verge/Goodwin/tilmonflying@_illiniforsure

I'm with this guy. Get these 3 and we will be good to go. I know I've posted this video before but it's just so good.

[YOUTUBE]MZA40C1zQGw[/YOUTUBE]
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First time seeing this. Kid can ball! Love his swag too, we need a guy like this. Will be interesting to see his grades situation
 
#2,766      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
Chipatsj23h said:
First time seeing this. Kid can ball! Love his swag too, we need a guy like this. Will be interesting to see his grades situation
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Never was a question that Verge can ball. And, yeah, he has swag in spades. The questions are character and academics. And some question how his game projects at the high D1 level.
 
#2,767      

FatGreg

F
FatGreg
Verge is one of my favorite kids to watch in the class. I posted this recently, but I have concerns about his propensity to commit turnovers, his shot selection, and his general efficiency. Beyond off court/academic concerns, for me it comes down to the fact that I'm extremely biased toward players favored by analytics.

Since basketball is fundamentally a math game (accumulating points in a fixed interval of time), I'm disposed to prioritize guards that show particular qualities: high usage rate, overwhelmingly high percentage of shots from 3-point range (open 3s in particular) and within 3 feet of the basket, low turnover rate, high steal-to-turnover ratio (far more important than ast:to), etc. In essence, the whole thing comes down to scoring as many points per possession as possible and making it as difficult as possible for your opponent to score points by limiting their possessions and crippling their efficiency (again, ultimately in terms of points per possession).

If you tell me there's a really talented point guard, but he shoots poorly from outside, takes a lot of pull-up jumpers (and is very good at it), has a beautiful floater from 6-8 feet as a go-to move, turns the ball over quite a bit but is also a phenomenal passer and racks up assists, has a decent looking stroke but only shoots 70% from the line...but man, he's a specimen and has a unique feel for the game! I'll pass every time in favor of an average talent that plays a hyper-efficient style. I know lots of people feel differently, which is totally fair. I think that individual games are won and lost on the court, but macro trends are a matter of probability - i.e. long term success is determined by mastering charts and graphs.
 
#2,770      

FatGreg

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FatGreg
#2,771      

TownieMatt

T
CU Expat
Chicago
TownieMatt
I also love that Pickett is so under-rated that he isn't even rated. According to ESPN he isn't even one of the top 17 players in the state. That has to be bulletin board material for him.
 
#2,772      

Illiniguy13

Illiniguy13
Illiniguy13
FatGreg said:
Odd because that's not how he's generally thought of, but he's a terrific passer and has developed a lot as a ball handler. I don't think he'll end up playing PG (at least full time) in college, but you could argue he's as much of a PG as Trent Frazier and maybe Da'Monte and Scruggs at present. Interesting.
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Frazier is much more of an obvious pg in my opinion. He has a nice stroke from deep and can definitely play the 2 at the next level but he has every bit of court vision, ball handling, speed and passing ability you see in a traditional pg.
 
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#2,773      

Illiniguy13

Illiniguy13
Illiniguy13
TownieMatt said:
I also love that Pickett is so under-rated that he isn't even rated. According to ESPN he isn't even one of the top 17 players in the state. That has to be bulletin board material for him.
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Yeah I don't understand this at all. How does a fairly athletic and long 6'5"-6'6" class 4a first team all state player averaging 24ppg out of a fairly large market not get more love?
 
#2,774      

IllinoisFan733

IllinoisFan733
Chicago
IllinoisFan733
Illiniguy13 said:
Yeah I don't understand this at all. How does a fairly athletic and long 6'5"-6'6" class 4a first team all state player averaging 24ppg out of a fairly large market not get more love?
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ESPN rankings generally don't make sense, but one caveat is that he didn't sign with a blue-blood. No way that Damonte would have fallen out of the Top 100 if he signed with Kentucky, Kansas, or Duke. His ranking probably would have gone up.
 
#2,775      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
Illiniguy13 said:
Yeah I don't understand this at all. How does a fairly athletic and long 6'5"-6'6" class 4a first team all state player averaging 24ppg out of a fairly large market not get more love?
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Exposure is the main problem. Pickett's AAU team doesn't play at the highest level. Hence, he doesn't get seen. Ergo, his rating. I'm fine with it. That chip should be huge and will make him a better player.

IllinoisFan733 said:
ESPN rankings generally don't make sense, but one caveat is that he didn't sign with a blue-blood. No way that Damonte would have fallen out of the Top 100 if he signed with Kentucky, Kansas, or Duke. His ranking probably would have gone up.
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As has been said here myriad times by myriad posters, ratings past top 30 or so is an utter crapshoot. ESPN's ratings are more dubious than their main rivals. And, for sure, Damonte would be about where he was if he committed to a blue blood. Whatever, it doesn't matter. If it fires him up, it's a good thing. Am thrilled he's ours.
 
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