Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (January-March 2017)

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#251      
Hooping34
Recruiting players is a weird part of college coaching....getting the right fit for a coaches philosophy & concept & sometimes getting a nationally ranked top 50 player (Tilmon) doesn't hurt a program...

I guess the million dollar question here is would Groce & his staff have gone after Smith if D. Williams hadn't got hurt ????? (No one ever wants a player to injured)

Smith is late the high major party....but is now considered a high major PG......
 
#253      
TCTORNADO
Sort of surprised that Smith has not committed or did that offer have more strings attached to it than we think??
 
#254      
MrOizo
Hooping34 said:
Recruiting players is a weird part of college coaching....getting the right fit for a coaches philosophy & concept & sometimes getting a nationally ranked top 50 player (Tilmon) doesn't hurt a program...

I guess the million dollar question here is would Groce & his staff have gone after Smith if D. Williams hadn't got hurt ????? (No one ever wants a player to injured)

Smith is late the high major party....but is now considered a high major PG......
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As weird as it is, it's half the battle. We just win that battle for the first time in years and years. Truly complicates the picture for Whitman.
 
#255      
Hooping34
TCTORNADO said:
Sort of surprised that Smith has not committed or did that offer have more strings attached to it than we think??
Click to expand...

Again, the million dollar question here is would Groce & his staff have gone after Smith if D. Williams hadn't got hurt ????? (No one ever wants a player to injured)

I don't know if there are any strings attached to Smith & Illini .... besides the offer....
 
#256      
Joel Goodson
Hooping34 said:
Again, the million dollar question here is would Groce & his staff have gone after Smith if D. Williams hadn't got hurt ????? (No one ever wants a player to injured)

I don't know if there are any strings attached to Smith & Illini .... besides the offer....
Click to expand...

I think Smith gets offered regardless of Damonte's injury. WRT ties, it's becoming clear that Smith is a long-time Illini fan. So, there's that.
 
#257      
SescIllini
IMHO the last two schollys were intended for big men. The exception would be impact players regardless of position (Wilkes).

From our current players and recruits I thought the PG position was upgraded from previous years but my preference would be for a bigger guard (OSU Lyles). So unless Damonte was going to be the PG we were looking at average size PGs. Enter Mark Smith who I believe can be the true big guard and can also be an impact player.

So I don't think Damonte's injury is a factor. We are seeing players coming back from this type of injury.
 
#258      
TCTORNADO
Hooping34 said:
Again, the million dollar question here is would Groce & his staff have gone after Smith if D. Williams hadn't got hurt ????? (No one ever wants a player to injured)

I don't know if there are any strings attached to Smith & Illini .... besides the offer....
Click to expand...

This is really an interesting point. You've made it numerous times. Smith is not new to the staff as they saw him numerous times this summer and yet did not really move aggressively after him until after the DWilliams injury. So your statement has a lot of merit. Also maybe the staff has seen enough of some present players to know there are going to be further vacancies.
 
#259      
Paigncake
TCTORNADO said:
This is really an interesting point. You've made it numerous times. Smith is not new to the staff as they saw him numerous times this summer and yet did not really move aggressively after him until after the DWilliams injury. So your statement has a lot of merit. Also maybe the staff has seen enough of some present players to know there are going to be further vacancies.
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Nobody made a move on Smith this summer because he's taken it to another level since because he's focused himself 100% on basketball and it's made a huge difference in his game.

I don't think Smith has anything at all to do with DWilliams. They're different players.

It's like people forget we were going to use one of those scholarships on Goodwin... The hypothetical question that if we got Goodwin would we still be going after Smith is a better one.
 
#260      
Deleted member 10676
Hooping34 said:
Again, the million dollar question here is would Groce & his staff have gone after Smith if D. Williams hadn't got hurt ????? (No one ever wants a player to injured)

I don't know if there are any strings attached to Smith & Illini .... besides the offer....
Click to expand...

I think going after Smith now and not before had more to do with his baseball situation and the fact he's blowing up now. From all I've read and heard, he's improved markedly from last year and even this summer. I don't know when he decommitted from Mizzou's baseball program but no matter how good he is at basketball, if he was concentrating on baseball, not much point in tracking him on the court. Also, I don't think there are any strings attached. We were willing to take Goodwin and DaMonte, now that Smith is proving he would bring a lot of the same abilities and attitude to the table that Goodwin would, it's kind of a no-brainer to try and land him.
 
#261      
Joel Goodson
Paigncake said:
It's like people forget we were going to use one of those scholarships on Goodwin... The hypothetical question that if we got Goodwin would we still be going after Smith is a better one.
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Nope. Need another big in this class.

Goodwin was a giant burn, but may end up as a gift. Smith's versatility and ability to run the show trumps Goodwin's game (right now, at least). C'mon Smith, commit!
 
#262      
MrOizo
Paigncake said:
Nobody made a move on Smith this summer because he's taken it to another level since because he's focused himself 100% on basketball and it's made a huge difference in his game.

I don't think Smith has anything at all to do with DWilliams. They're different players.

It's like people forget we were going to use one of those scholarships on Goodwin... The hypothetical question that if we got Goodwin would we still be going after Smith is a better one.
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I totally agree. Clearly, Smith was a committed Missouri baseball recruit until July and it takes a while for everyone to catch up on his sudden availability, then start to scout seriously and consider him. This feels like the right timing for such a situation. Nothing more to it in my view. And I love the idea of Smith on this team, love it. I hope we can get him on board so badly...
 
#263      
Paigncake
miketherevelator said:
I think going after Smith now and not before had more to do with his baseball situation and the fact he's blowing up now. From all I've read and heard, he's improved markedly from last year and even this summer. I don't know when he decommitted from Mizzou's baseball program but no matter how good he is at basketball, if he was concentrating on baseball, not much point in tracking him on the court. Also, I don't think there are any strings attached. We were willing to take Goodwin and DaMonte, now that Smith is proving he would bring a lot of the same abilities and attitude to the table that Goodwin would, it's kind of a no-brainer to try and land him.
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I was told by a couple scouts he looks like an entirely different person since this summer.. If he was throwing up 30/40ppg at aau events people wouldn't care if he had a commitment to baseball.. They would say "hey you can still play it here too but you are a future college basketball star". JMO. It wouldn't stop me from recruiting a player if that was my job.

He's admitted himself a few times in interviews his game has been taken to another level since he focused more on basketball.. But I guess in the end it doesn't really that matter as to why/how.. We agree this kid is very good in the here and now.
 
#264      
Bailey
TCTORNADO said:
Sort of surprised that Smith has not committed or did that offer have more strings attached to it than we think??
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I'm not any more aware of his specific situation than the average poster on this board, but I can think of a lot of reasons why a kid wouldn't be in a rush to commit in the midst of his recruitment blowing up.
 
#273      
combes
Pickett with 40 and 10 in a 2-point loss to Courtney Ramey's team. Ramey with 21 including game winner at buzzer.
 
#274      
I Bomb
Re: Smith - it's pretty impressive that he has shown what steps he can take by simply focusing on basketball. It makes you wonder how high the ceiling is once he gets into a major program.
 
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