Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (September 2016)

[combes]

I think it is a gimmick defense. It works for VCU because they play in a midmajor conference and when they play other teams, those teams have not seen it.

If they played a BT schedule, it would be exposed, imo, just like Iowa's press under Tom Davis was exposed by good BT teams. Davis had good teams but they never won anything with it. It worked better for them at home where they got more calls, but when they brought that press to Champaign, we often scored at will when we broke the press. Some big scoring nights up to 118, iirc.

 

[IlliniBrave75]

One of the Bigs that VCU is recruiting is making his announcement tonight.

Corey Evans ‏@coreyevans_10 20m20 minutes ago
2017 Vermont Academy big man Marcus Santos-Silva announces his college commitment this evening; down to VCU and Temple

 

[coryfor3]

Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello 11h11 hours ago
D.J. Harvey to http://ESPN.com : “I was [Mike Brey's] No. 1 guy and he showed it by not missing a single event in all my summers."

Looks like this strategy works sometimes...just didn't with Goodwin!

Not familiar with a Goodwin. It's like I've forgotten all about anyone by such a name.

 

[frozenrope9190]

Is the A-10 still a mid major? I know it's not part of the 'Power 5', but it feels like a step up from Conference USA or the WCC. It seems to have several teams that consistently compete in the tourney, and even the Power 5's have bottom feeders that are on the same level as the A-10 bottom feeders (Mizzou, Rutgers, Washington State).

 

[coltjames03]

I don't know if it was intentional or not but saying that Stansbury has "green grass" is a pretty apt way of describing why he is successful in recruiting. Keep in mind this is the guy who took Renardo Sidney at Mississippi State long after every other coach decided the recruitment was way too dirty.

Yeah you caught exactly what I was saying. To get the 2 guys he got to go to western Kentucky says a lot. Also when coaches refuse to recruit against you that tells an even bigger story. Even the guys who follow recruiting have put the hints out there.

 

[Deleted member 10676]

[FONT=&quot]Evan Daniels ‏@EvanDaniels [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2017 guard Jamir Harris just verbally committed to Minnesota, per a source. Shot nearly 40% from three in the Nike EYBL.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
3 star (#233 247 composite) from NJ. Played for the Playaz in EYBL and is at the Patrick School in Elizabeth NJ where he was the back court mate of Bryce Aiken last year.

 

[Deleted member 10676]

Stansbury has some really green grass when it comes to recruiting. Might as well stay away from recruits he is going after.

[FONT=&quot]Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Multiple coaches telling me recently that they are bowing out of recruitments when Rick Stansbury gets involved.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Steve Lappas ‏@stlappas Pennsylvania, USA [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@GoodmanESPN I recruited against him one time and that was it. Done !He actually showed up during my home visit with a kid!! Believe that?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In reply to Steve Lappas [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@stlappas Not much surprises me about Stansbury.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello 16h16 hours ago [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@beckjason Two top 100 kids (including a top 10 kid) plus a boat load of transfers. In just the past six months. Loading up.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello 16h16 hours ago [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Rick Stansbury continues to upgrade the talent at Western Kentucky. Josh Anderson (No. 72) joins elite center Mitchell Robinson (No. 9).[/FONT]


Hope W. Kentucky enjoys it while it lasts. Won't last long.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[ejam21]

[FONT=&quot]Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Multiple coaches telling me recently that they are bowing out of recruitments when Rick Stansbury gets involved.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Steve Lappas ‏@stlappas Pennsylvania, USA [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@GoodmanESPN I recruited against him one time and that was it. Done !He actually showed up during my home visit with a kid!! Believe that?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In reply to Steve Lappas [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@stlappas Not much surprises me about Stansbury.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello 16h16 hours ago [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@beckjason Two top 100 kids (including a top 10 kid) plus a boat load of transfers. In just the past six months. Loading up.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello 16h16 hours ago [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Rick Stansbury continues to upgrade the talent at Western Kentucky. Josh Anderson (No. 72) joins elite center Mitchell Robinson (No. 9).[/FONT]


Hope W. Kentucky enjoys it while it lasts. Won't last long.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

I'm kind of impressed he had the gall to show up to another school's home visit.

 

[IlliniBrave75]

The recruiters who land the players who make teams great


9. Xavier Musketeers: Travis Steele
The Musketeers are continuing to find their way onto the recruiting lists of several top prospects, and Steele's tireless work in the Midwest is a major factor. He helped bring in last year's stars, Trevon Bluiett and Edmond Sumner, as well as Jalen Reynolds. Steele also has Xavier heavily in the mix for multiple ESPN 100 prospects in 2017, namely Kris Wilkes and Paul Scruggs. Steele and Luke Murray, who landed ESPN 100 recruit Tyrique Jones and transfer Malcolm Bernard in 2016, form a potent duo.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...st-recruiters-top-25-college-basketball-teams

 

[Smacko]

[FONT=&quot]Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Multiple coaches telling me recently that they are bowing out of recruitments when Rick Stansbury gets involved.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Steve Lappas ‏@stlappas Pennsylvania, USA [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@GoodmanESPN I recruited against him one time and that was it. Done !He actually showed up during my home visit with a kid!! Believe that?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In reply to Steve Lappas [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@stlappas Not much surprises me about Stansbury.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello 16h16 hours ago [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@beckjason Two top 100 kids (including a top 10 kid) plus a boat load of transfers. In just the past six months. Loading up.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello 16h16 hours ago [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Rick Stansbury continues to upgrade the talent at Western Kentucky. Josh Anderson (No. 72) joins elite center Mitchell Robinson (No. 9).[/FONT]


Hope W. Kentucky enjoys it while it lasts. Won't last long.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

This may be a perfect storm. Western Kentucky is exactly the kind of program that the NCAA would be willing to hammer with sanctions to show how tough they are. They aren't a traditional powerhouse. They don't play in a major conference. Small fanbase. You can obliterate them and make a big show of how tough you are while letting larger programs skate.

Slick Rick was also at Texas A&M when they pulled in that nice recruiting class that included Elijiah Thomas.

 

[ThreatLevelMidnight]

If it's well known that most recruiting with the top kids is dirty, I wonder just how dirty Slick Rick is getting?

...Must be filthy

 

[Deleted member 10676]

Western Kentucky moves to number 11, Minnesota to 28 in team rankings. We're still number 3, Auburn still number 1.
http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Ba..._medium=ExternalEmbed&utm_campaign=CommitList

 

[Deleted member 29907]

The high major conference part was referring to Bob Huggins in the B12. My next post referring the VCU as a potential high major is obviously subjective, but while Shaka Smart was there they pretty much Gonzaga'd their way up from mid major. And I'm gonna keep disagreeing with you on gimmick. Few teams do it because few teams have the athletes. When you have the athletes it's a highly accepted basketball strategy. Where I come from, using tactics your opponents can't handle, whether it's pressing or the Syracuse 2-3 or anything else, that's called good coaching.

My suggestion is that he did it because he needed to. Had good quick long athletes that would not perform as well in typical mtm D. My guess is that not as many recruits want to play that type of ball but there are those that do. I didn't suggest he wasn't a good coach - rather that those two approaches are vastly different than the norm so that is an advantage to those unprepared. Those who know how to handle it break it apart well. Pitino, in particular used to abuse the SU zone with a solid scheme. Yes, it takes the players, but so does beating anyone. To a lesser extent it reminds me of the Wildcat used in football until everyone figured it out.

"Gimmick" is a strong word and I didn't intend to start a riot - rather - point out that "Havoc" is quite different than what most teams are used to seeing ...

I don't think many around here consider VCU high major or Gonzaga-like at all.

 

[Deleted member 29907]

I think it is a gimmick defense. It works for VCU because they play in a midmajor conference and when they play other teams, those teams have not seen it.

If they played a BT schedule, it would be exposed, imo, just like Iowa's press under Tom Davis was exposed by good BT teams. Davis had good teams but they never won anything with it. It worked better for them at home where they got more calls, but when they brought that press to Champaign, we often scored at will when we broke the press. Some big scoring nights up to 118, iirc.

Agree - that is basically my point - and my feeling is that Syracuse is not as effective now as they used to be now that more coaches are seeing their 2-3 on a regular basis (ACC). Michigan, as i recall, tore apart the VCU press a few years back. And once you do that - its dunk-city.

 

[sacraig]

I don't want us to be one of these press-all-the-time sort of teams, but I would be perfectly happy if we were more willing to strategically employ the press more often if/when we have the athletes to do it.

 

[Tevo]

I don't want us to be one of these press-all-the-time sort of teams, but I would be perfectly happy if we were more willing to strategically employ the press more often if/when we have the athletes to do it.

I'd love to see strategic use of a press when the opponents don't expect, or at least a shifting of defense. Of course, that requires you to be at least serviceable at TWO defensive schemes. I think I recall that some of the Self Illini teams would shift from man to zone (or vice versa) when the shot clock got down to about 7 seconds. I loved the idea that just as a team was getting nervous and guys starting looking for their shots, the defense would throw them a wrinkle and get them off balance. I have no stats (or even memory) of how effective it was, but it seemed like an interesting idea.

 

[ejam21]

My suggestion is that he did it because he needed to. Had good quick long athletes that would not perform as well in typical mtm D. My guess is that not as many recruits want to play that type of ball but there are those that do. I didn't suggest he wasn't a good coach - rather that those two approaches are vastly different than the norm so that is an advantage to those unprepared. Those who know how to handle it break it apart well. Pitino, in particular used to abuse the SU zone with a solid scheme. Yes, it takes the players, but so does beating anyone. To a lesser extent it reminds me of the Wildcat used in football until everyone figured it out.

"Gimmick" is a strong word and I didn't intend to start a riot - rather - point out that "Havoc" is quite different than what most teams are used to seeing ...

I don't think many around here consider VCU high major or Gonzaga-like at all.

Why would long, quick athletes have trouble with man to man D? If you're long and quick, wouldn't you have an easier time keeping players in front of you and helping on D when there is a breakdown and you need to rotate?

Or are you saying that long quick athletes would be better pressing than M2M, even if they are good at M2M (not sure i'd agree but it could make sense)?

 

[rtbritt]

Why would long, quick athletes have trouble with man to man D? If you're long and quick, wouldn't you have an easier time keeping players in front of you and helping on D when there is a breakdown and you need to rotate?

Or are you saying that long quick athletes would be better pressing than M2M, even if they are good at M2M (not sure i'd agree but it could make sense)?

Wondered that as well.

 

[Deleted member 29907]

Why would long, quick athletes have trouble with man to man D? If you're long and quick, wouldn't you have an easier time keeping players in front of you and helping on D when there is a breakdown and you need to rotate?

Or are you saying that long quick athletes would be better pressing than M2M, even if they are good at M2M (not sure i'd agree but it could make sense)?

HAVOC relies on the baseline, sideline as another defender with trap help. While quickness helps any athlete, its not a guarantee of good on ball, help, rotate m2m D - there are alot of other factors and BB IQ is also key. Quick, fast does not necc. mean high BB IQ.

 

[coltjames03]

If it's well known that most recruiting with the top kids is dirty, I wonder just how dirty Slick Rick is getting?

...Must be filthy

Well when you have coaches come right out say they won't even bother recruiting pretty much says he gets real filthy. If coaches know then ADs know and chances of him getting a power conference job is very slim. Not many will put their school into something where they could have a ton of problems down the road.

 

[coltjames03]

I'm kind of impressed he had the gall to show up to another school's home visit.

lol I thought this was actually hilarious. Idk why I did but man that takes some stones to do. I would of love to have been a fly on the wall when this happened

 

[Alfonz24]

[FONT=&quot]Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Multiple coaches telling me recently that they are bowing out of recruitments when Rick Stansbury gets involved.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Steve Lappas ‏@stlappas Pennsylvania, USA [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@GoodmanESPN I recruited against him one time and that was it. Done !He actually showed up during my home visit with a kid!! Believe that?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In reply to Steve Lappas [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@stlappas Not much surprises me about Stansbury.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello 16h16 hours ago [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]@beckjason Two top 100 kids (including a top 10 kid) plus a boat load of transfers. In just the past six months. Loading up.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello 16h16 hours ago [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Rick Stansbury continues to upgrade the talent at Western Kentucky. Josh Anderson (No. 72) joins elite center Mitchell Robinson (No. 9).[/FONT]


Hope W. Kentucky enjoys it while it lasts. Won't last long.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

I am sure Lappas gave him some major stinkeye.

 

[Deleted member 10676]

Evan Daniels ‏@EvanDaniels 22m22 minutes ago There are 35+ coaches here at La Lumiere including Steve Wojciechowski, Sean Miller, John Groce, John Beilein & Tod Kowalczyk.


Probably going to be about 15 new schools on Epperson after today.

 

[Obelix]

Michigan, as i recall, tore apart the VCU press a few years back. And once you do that - its dunk-city.

One game means little, especially when it comes to far more talented team that was the NC runner-up that year. It would be the same as criticizing Lon Kruger as a coach and his basketball schemes for losing and getting embarrassed by Villanova by 44 points. Actually worse since Lon and Oklahoma were the favorites.

Shaka did very well at VCU and I do not think it is a coincidence. I can understand some of the negative feelings towards him for turning us down, although he was most fans favorite until then. Good coaches adjust based on personnel, and Shaka, and for the talent he could get at VCU, he did great. He is a very good coach IMO, and a good recruiter, he has that type of personality. Getting a top-5 class right off the bat at Texas was impressive.

 

[bert1991]

Five-star Wilkes updates visit process

First, he recapped his official visit to Illinois.

“I think (the official visit) was definitely better than the unofficial visit," said Wilkes. "The unofficial I didn’t really get to see too much with the gym being finished and stuff like that I didn’t really get a feel for it. Going down for the official and getting to see more things, staying over night and meeting the players and just seeing what would happen on a daily basis made me consider them more than I did in the past.

"I definitely like them more now.”

...................He also had interesting (almost weird) things to say about Indiana recruitment. Good article - Here's the link: https://illinois.rivals.com/news/five-star-wilkes-updates-visit-process