Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (October 2016)

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#401      
Basketball players would prefer Nike/Jordan over adidas let's say 95/100 times. some players even speak of the "adidas curse" where guys who wear adidas are injured at a higher rate. Maybe not true, but D Rose is the face of that perception, and he was at one point adidas' leading man. Also, nobody is gonna post a video like this of a line of specialized adidas shoes.

While it's ridiculous, this statement is pretty accurate.
 
#402      
I'm recruiting competition, has anybody seen the video of UM Jordan collection? Even if you're not a sneaker head it's pretty cool and I truly think it gives them another advantage because a lot of hoopers are sneaker heads, especially for Jordan's. For sneakers heads, the 10s, 11s, and 12s are sick, and are probably the most popular Jordan's out there.

https://youtu.be/pgCypgpwiZ4

Don't we have our own Jordan line? Jeff that is.
 
#403      
I'm recruiting competition, has anybody seen the video of UM Jordan collection? Even if you're not a sneaker head it's pretty cool and I truly think it gives them another advantage because a lot of hoopers are sneaker heads, especially for Jordan's. For sneakers heads, the 10s, 11s, and 12s are sick, and are probably the most popular Jordan's out there.

https://youtu.be/pgCypgpwiZ4

Golly those Bred's & 12's are SICK!! :eek:

not even cool how unfair that is...
 
#404      
I do recall a rumor floating around that clappy rubbed the coleman-lands family the wrong way in some capacity. Clearly seems like IU is his destination, but if family ties are truly important this could hold a lot of weight. Gotta believe the coleman-lands' family has shared their feelings about good ole Crean.

Don't forgot about Groce's ties to Indiana as well. There's a reason why he believes we can be successful in that State, and reasons why he was successful there in the past... His name carries a lot weight in some circles over there. Credibility is key!
 
#405      
I remember JCL recruitment being kind of quiet, then pleasantly surprised.

JCL's recruitment resembles very little that of Wilkes. So I do not agree with the parallelism that people are trying to make. IU/JCL had broken ties much earlier, actually IU was not really a factor for quite a few months before JCL made his announcement. Not sure what people consider "pleasant surprise," but when JCL made his last visit to UI and made his announcement, there was absolutely no surprise that is was going to be us.
 
#406      
Crean offered JCL after the 8th grade (just like Wilkes). JCL then wanted to commit after his Soph, year at Cathedral and Crean slow played him and then ultimately had Blackmon, Robert Johnson and Stanford Robinson all SG's in the clsss before JCL and Crean would not take his commitment. But as JCL's Uncle said it all worked out and they are happy.

and hence the keeping it real comments...
 
#407      
Feels very much like Indiana, but Groce & Co. have done an outstanding job to even put us in this position
 
#408      
Basketball players would prefer Nike/Jordan over adidas let's say 95/100 times. some players even speak of the "adidas curse" where guys who wear adidas are injured at a higher rate. Maybe not true, but D Rose is the face of that perception, and he was at one point adidas' leading man. Also, nobody is gonna post a video like this of a line of specialized adidas shoes.

Not sure I agree with that. There has not been such a strong brand "pull" since the Jordan years IMO. I am around basketball and AAU quite a bit, and while today's young AAU athletes have a strong desire to wear the latest and coolest models, the hip models, they have much less incline to specific brands among the top national basketball brands.

What attracts them to AAU programs is the coaches, visibility, and the fact that they get a lot of free merchandise that includes some of the latest/coolest stuff. Much less the specific brand. They love the feeling of being "sponsored" but if their coaches/programs moved from Adidas to Nike, or vice-versa, or even Under Armour (making a very big push in basketball) they would not think twice. The game is influencing the influencers, the coaches/programs/events. JMO.

On the topic of Wilkes, shoe companies and association is not a factor here. Wilkes has been to multiple different sponsored events, including Under Armour.
 
#409      
I honestly think him cutting the list and cancelling visits is a bad thing. Seems he may be set on IU if he doesn't want to look around anymore, but who knows.

Or maybe after what was a pretty good visit at Illinois, the next two visits were not as good so he figured why even bother to keep doing this
 
#410      
Sounds as much like they are counting on the Obelix rule with regards to cancelled visits as they are on any inside information.

Yes, but as I mentioned in another post, with respect to Wilkes, some people close to his recruitment (at least one AAU coach that I talked to personally) believed that IU was the favorite in this race, even before Wilkes started to take official visits.
 
#411      
UCLA will be Under Armour by the time Wilkes steps on campus.

And they didn't pay them to be A Under Armour school, they paid for them to be THE Under Armour school. Biggest deal in the country, is what I believe I read.

I can't imagine there's not pressure pushing Wilkes to UCLA.
 
#413      
I think the only reliable CB's at this point are the ones that say "foggy." =P
 
#414      
Basketball players would prefer Nike/Jordan over adidas let's say 95/100 times. some players even speak of the "adidas curse" where guys who wear adidas are injured at a higher rate. Maybe not true, but D Rose is the face of that perception, and he was at one point adidas' leading man. Also, nobody is gonna post a video like this of a line of specialized adidas shoes.

This may have been true 5 years ago, but there's been a shift. I still think most would prefer Nike or Jordan brand (important to realize those are 2 different things), but it's not 95%. I'd put it at 60/40 these days. Adidas has made big moves legitimizing their basketball brand in the past couple years.
 
#417      
I think the only reliable CB's at this point are the ones that say "foggy." =P

I find it interesting that Meyer and his "followers" are, to this point anyway, still sitting on UCLA. He and Bozich are the two I'm paying attention to on the CBs. Bozich still holding with Indiana. Also read on one of the Indiana boards last night that at one point Meyer said Wilkes would go anywhere but Indiana, which would lend creedence to Combes' posts that he's less than fond of Crean. Think UCLA has a better chance than most Indiana fans are now giving them.
Of course, nobody is really giving us a chance but don't think we've been completely ruled out. The ref might be at 9 but he hasn't waved us off. (I don't think --purely MHO.)
 
#418      
Since KW has cancelled his last 2 visits it seems logical that he has made a decision. So can someone expound on why he hasn't at least set an announcement date???
 
#420      
Since KW has cancelled his last 2 visits it seems logical that he has made a decision. So can someone expound on why he hasn't at least set an announcement date???

Either he does not plan to have a (physical) announcement (i.e., at a specific venue) or he has not finalized logistics (timing, process, etc.) yet.
 
#421      
HH is October 22nd. If "soon" means "during HH," then we're toast. We are locked in a waiting pattern until we get more smoke.
 
#422      
Does it mean anything that his GF on September 23rd "followed" Groce and IlliniAthletics on her twitter account??
 
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#423      
Does it mean anything that his GF on September 23rd "followed" Groce and IlliniAthletics on her twitter account??

Depends, does she follow UCLA and IU? Even so, I doubt it means anything.
 
#425      
Does it mean anything that his GF on September 23rd "followed" Groce and IlliniAthletics on her twitter account??

Probably means that Groce has had better success with moms and GFs than recruits themselves. :)
 
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