Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (July-August 2016)

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#4,576      

IlliniFoLife

I
IlliniFoLife
Greensboro said:
Problem is there is a difference between last scheduled/planned & last actual. I'm with FatGreg, I think the chances of him making it to UConn are slim, before that Xavier is nearly a month after IU visit...there is a good chance he doesn't make that one. In this case, I love going first, he least we get to make a pitch, maybe if rumors are true & Tilmon/Williams/Pickett show up something good happens. So let's hope for your first & last visit, that scenario usually plays real well.
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Why wouldn't he visit UCONN and Xavier though? I mean, do you know something we don't? What is wrong with those schools? They have certainly had a lot more success in recent years and have produced more NBA talent. Kevin Ollie is a fantastic coach and so is Chris Mack. So, I guess I'm not sure why you don't think he'd visit those schools? Do you think it's because kids these days have a mentality of making quick/spur of the moment decisions and not being patient w/the process?

Who is to say that he will know his decision by the 2nd or 3rd visit? Every kid is different. Let's not pretend to know what goes on in their minds. We should be well aware of that given what happened w/Cliff Alexander, Brunson, and Jordan Goodwin.
 
#4,577      

Greensboro

Greensboro
Greensboro
Illwinsagain said:
Any thought about the chance to give a little urgency to Wilkes, with Kigab coming the next week? After all, we just told one highly ranked player, we're good at your position. I know not likely, but, maybe? :noidea:
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coryfor3 said:
More likely that it places more urgency on Kigab. Not that Kigab is at a loss for options at all but like Scruggs, I think Wilkes is ok with his options even if one of his schools fills a spot.
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I don't think we are high enough on Wilkes list to have that much leverage or that we would turn Wilkes away even if we got Kigab, I think if Wilkes commits we would likely walk away from Kigab, but if Kigab were to commit we still take Wilkes instead of the big if in the unlikely event we win the lottery twice & that opportunity presents itself.
 
#4,578      

Greensboro

Greensboro
Greensboro
IlliniFoLife said:
Why wouldn't he visit UCONN and Xavier though? I mean, do you know something we don't? What is wrong with those schools? They have certainly had a lot more success in recent years and have produced more NBA talent. Kevin Ollie is a fantastic coach and so is Chris Mack. So, I guess I'm not sure why you don't think he'd visit those schools? Do you think it's because kids these days have a mentality of making quick/spur of the moment decisions and not being patient w/the process?

Who is to say that he will know his decision by the 2nd or 3rd visit? Every kid is different. Let's not pretend to know what goes on in their minds. We should be well aware of that given what happened w/Cliff Alexander, Brunson, and Jordan Goodwin.
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Nothing is wrong with those schools & I don't know what he is thinking. But why did Lewis not make it past ISU, Frazier not make it past us, or Scruggs not make it to us...stuff happens on both sides, he has probably seen all the schools on unofficials, talked to the coaches multiple times, in the end many/most kids don't make all 5 visits. in this case, there is also a long time to UConn to grow tired of the process. For reference, if we were 5th I would bet heavily he didn't make it to us.
 
#4,579      

IlliniFoLife

I
IlliniFoLife
Greensboro said:
Nothing is wrong with those schools & I don't know what he is thinking. But why did Lewis not make it past ISU, Frazier not make it past us, or Scruggs not make it to us...stuff happens on both sides, he has probably seen all the schools on unofficials, talked to the coaches multiple times, in the end many/most kids don't make all 5 visits. in this case, there is also a long time to UConn to grow tired of the process.
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Yea, I see what you're saying. I'm not sure why his visits are so spread out? Could be school oriented? Could be personal-oriented? Who knows, but that is a lot of time. Someone like Goodwin who said he'd make a decision by his birthday, well, he seemed to be awfully excited to make a decision much earlier than what he first said.
 
#4,580      

618 Illini

6
Chicago
618 Illini
Adnarel said:
Let's pause for a second and realize that we're talking about landing a "home run" and we have a 5-star already committed in this class. When's the last time Illinois landed two 5-stars in a single class?
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Love this^

Whether or not we land Wilkes, the recruiting momentum and the amount of "top X schools" lists we have made this year has made the recruiting thread fun to monitor. Looking forward to a successful season where we can parlay these great recruits with on-court success and national notice.
 
#4,581      

GameOfThrows

G
GameOfThrows
Is Nojel Eastern still an option? Why haven't we pursued him? Is he not interested?

He's a versatile 6'6" pg/wing who played for the U17 team, right? What am I missing here? For those in the know, please clue me in.

I only ask b/c I don't feel like Smith, Wilkes, or Kigab will choose the U of I. We already lost out on Lewis (perhaps b/c of slow playing him for Goodwin, oops!)
 
#4,582      

combes

C
combes
BananaShampoo said:
Well, it was 2010 according to some ranking services (Meyers and Jereme Richmond). We also got two 5 star recruits in 2002 in Dee and DWill (even if DWill wasn't technically a 5 star on ranking services, we all know he was REALLY a 5 star-level recruit). IF by some miracle we got Wilkes, though, we'd potentially have two McD's AA players coming in. That hasn't happened in a single class since...probably the late 80's? The last time we even had two McD's AA's playing on the same team was the 02-03 season when Cookie was a senior and Dee was a frosh.
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The last time I remember getting two five stars in the same class (and it was before the star system actually came to prominence) was Efrem Winters and Bruce Douglas. Two McDonalds All Americans who were top 15 recruits.
 
#4,583      

BananaShampoo

B
Captain 'Paign
Phoenix, AZ
BananaShampoo
combes said:
The last time I remember getting two five stars in the same class (and it was before the star system actually came to prominence) was Efrem Winters and Bruce Douglas. Two McDonalds All Americans who were top 15 recruits.
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We didn't have two five-star classes any time in the late 80's? Who was in the class with Marcus Liberty?

Since we talk about past recruiting classes so much, it sure would be awesome if someone could compile a list of all past historic recruiting classes for us, like this Michigan site has: http://www.umhoops.com/history/past-classes/ Would be even better if it had rankings attached. :shield:
 
#4,584      

618 Illini

6
Chicago
618 Illini
Has Wilkes made an unofficial visit to U of I previously? I think in Wilkes case I look at his campus visit schedule in relation to Xavier. I would much rather be before Xavier rather than after. I have no evidence but my thought is Xavier is the leader and Wilkes is basically doing a double check or due diligence to make sure Xavier is the play unless Illinois completely impresses him.

With that said, I hope JFG brings the house for the visit (inclduing our current commits) and Tilmon's passion for Illinois gets Wilkes drinking the orange kool-aid
 
#4,585      

Illwinsagain

Illwinsagain
Cary, IL
Illwinsagain
618 Illini said:
Has Wilkes made an unofficial visit to U of I previously? I think in Wilkes case I look at his campus visit schedule in relation to Xavier. I would much rather be before Xavier rather than after. I have no evidence but my thought is Xavier is the leader and Wilkes is basically doing a double check or due diligence to make sure Xavier is the play unless Illinois completely impresses him.

With that said, I hope JFG brings the house for the visit (inclduing our current commits) and Tilmon's passion for Illinois gets Wilkes drinking the orange kool-aid
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He visited last year.
 
#4,587      

Calvin

C
Calvin
618 Illini said:
Love this^

Whether or not we land Wilkes, the recruiting momentum and the amount of "top X schools" lists we have made this year has made the recruiting thread fun to monitor. Looking forward to a successful season where we can parlay these great recruits with on-court success and national notice.
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Agree completely with the sentiment. What Groce has done on the recruiting front is amazing. There are lots of strong recruiters out there, but overcoming a bad stretch like we've had shows how relentless he is. Sure hope the pieces come together this year.
 
#4,589      

MrOizo

MrOizo
Chicago
MrOizo
Big Al said:
Cd2VTkTWwAABXNb.jpg

https://twitter.com/BTHSEastLancers/status/710888479786475520
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Was that picture before or after the growth plates closed?
 
#4,591      

EJ33

E
San Francisco
EJ33
BananaShampoo said:
We didn't have two five-star classes any time in the late 80's? Who was in the class with Marcus Liberty?

Since we talk about past recruiting classes so much, it sure would be awesome if someone could compile a list of all past historic recruiting classes for us, like this Michigan site has: http://www.umhoops.com/history/past-classes/ Would be even better if it had rankings attached. :shield:
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The Flyin Illini had 3 5 star guys - all in different classes: Hamilton, Anderson, Liberty

Kruger got 3 5 star guys - all in different classes: Griffin, Williams, Cook

Dee was the only 5 star guy Self recruited (not counting Villanueva). People forget how many 5 star guys Self whiffed on.

Combes is right - you have to go back to Winters and Douglas, who anchored one of the top 3 classes in the country IIRC.
 
#4,592      

IllinoisFan733

IllinoisFan733
Chicago
IllinoisFan733
EJ33 said:
The Flyin Illini had 3 5 star guys - all in different classes: Hamilton, Anderson, Liberty

Kruger got 3 5 star guys - all in different classes: Griffin, Williams, Cook

Dee was the only 5 star guy Self recruited (not counting Villanueva). People forget how many 5 star guys Self whiffed on.

Combes is right - you have to go back to Winters and Douglas, who anchored one of the top 3 classes in the country IIRC.
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If JFG is somehow able to land Wilkes, Illinois ends up with a Top 7 Recruiting Class at the end of the year?
 
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#4,594      

BananaShampoo

B
Captain 'Paign
Phoenix, AZ
BananaShampoo
Illiniguy13 said:
Probably top 5.Either way we'll be in the top 15 for sure.
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Yep. With Wilkes we'd be Top 5 easily. Arguably, it might be the second best class Illinois has ever gotten if that were to happen. Maybe the best based on volume and filling positional needs. :eek: One can dream...
 
#4,595      

Newman

N
Newman
BananaShampoo said:
Yep. With Wilkes we'd be Top 5 easily. Arguably, it might be the second best class Illinois has ever gotten if that were to happen. Maybe the best based on volume and filling positional needs. :eek: One can dream...
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We'd be close, but it might just fall outside the top 5. With Wilkes, we'd have a score of 96.24 which would have put us 6th in 2016 through 2014 according to 247's website.
 
#4,596      

IlliniBrave75

IlliniBrave75
IlliniBrave75
#4,597      

StateFarmCenter

StateFarmCenter
StateFarmCenter
2010 was an all time great class for us too, although rarely ever gets mentioned because it didn't work out whatsoever. Consensus #24, #29, #76 nationally rated recruits. Also the last time we had two 5 stars depending on what service you look at.
 
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#4,598      

cash35

C
Easton, Il
cash35
Don't be too surprised if Wilkes comes to illinois, it's wide open right now and groce had just as good of a chance as anyone. It will be a dog fight
 
#4,600      

illiniknight

I
illiniknight
For what it's worth. ESPN just posted a column of 9 guys who just missed making their top 100 in 2017. Frazier was one of the guys.
 
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