It would be really sweet to beat UK for Smith...my brother in law is a big UK fan and I need something to be smug about for a change.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (April 2017)
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It would be really sweet to beat UK for Smith...my brother in law is a big UK fan and I need something to be smug about for a change.
Well doesnt Damonte have a chance? I get the infatuation with Smith and he's the better player right now but ceiling wise it's close.
Based on nothing, I am going to go on record that I don't believe he will be playing for Kentucky.
Seen JT play a couple of times at ESL...finally hit me...you old timers may recall Pervis Ellison from Louisville...circa 1986
Deleted member 4723
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A couple things you can be smug about:
1. How is a Kentucky divorce like a tornado? With either one someone is losing a trailer.
2. Following a Kentucky divorce does the law still consider them brother and sister?
Let's beat them out for Smith.
Never nervous Pervis
Bwalk
- Independence KY
I live among the big blue nation. They are entitled elitists. Good people until basketball becomes the topic.
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I've seen him play a few times. I really hope we get him and think he'll be very solid. That said, your statement is complete over the top hyperbole at this point.
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If he is as good as Pervis Ellison I will be ecstatic
Oskee67
- Champaign
Haha of course Illinois recommends Rupp to UK and decades later gets screwed over in the tournament at Rupp Arena against UK... #Illinoisthings
Bwalk
- Independence KY
Hahaha. Wonder how many will thank me when I tell them.
Guys, barring some Illinois fan, we aren't winning 5 star Chicago kids. Basically Illinois is not even in the conversation until they have a good coach and proven success. These Chicago high school coaches, man when kids make it in the NBA, they come back with thousands of dollars and drop them in their old coaches pockets and give them game tickets among other things. I mean, why wouldn't you send your kids to a program that has a proven record of getting kids to the NBA? We have a way to go to consistently attract top tier talent. That or we just give someone Dad one of the vacant assistant coaching jobs and 400k... that would probably do it too.
Agreed with this. If you're a 5 star NBA one and done (Okafor, Anthony Davis, Jabari, etc.) Illinois likely isn't going to get them. The 4 stars/great college player, not surefire going to be drafted high are the ones we need to clean up on. Think Jalen Brunson, Jon Scheyer, Dee Brown. Get these players out of Chicago and other areas and we'll be national contenders.
I think we have a class that has Jeremiah and hopefully Mark Smith which are these level of players.
The other three recruits could be, just haven't seen them play and their ranking says different, so that's all I have to really go on that isn't from a biased fan board
FeelTheLovie
- Louisville, KY
Yeah, I go to the University of Louisville and I can not stand BBN
While I like Smith and hope he chooses us, I definitely think this is an exaggeration. Smith isn't head and shoulders above Damonte if Damonte can recover from his injury and return to the form he had right before he got hurt. The question with Damonte has never been his talent. It's been his consistency and it seemed like he finally figured it out right before he got injured. In this Mark Smith hoopla it's easy to forget just how good Damonte looked right before he got hurt.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Mark Smith will be a first team All Big10 guard at the University of Illinois.
Quite the prediction considering he hasn't even committed to us. Damonte is in the same ballpark talent wise as Smithwas the point of my post.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
I find it odd, people saying Damonte's "consistency" issues are resolved while at the same time acknowledging the small window with which he may have displayed said consistency...
It is kind of like the extrapolations people were making on "what might have been" with Thorne's '15-'16 season based on one half of basketball against Iowa State.
Hope it pans out for Williams, but the consistency and motor issues still very much need to be proven.
MainelyIllini
- uh, Maine
This is just fantastic news! Lots of credit to JWalk and BWood for keeping this recruiting class intact. Thank goodness my biggest concern for the coaching change did not materialize. :thumb:
Before you anoint anyone all Big Ten it is always hard to know how players adjust once they get on campus. While both Smith and Williams are great prospects neither is a can't miss caliber player. What they become in college to a large degree will be based on how they adjust and develop during their four years at Illinois. The talent and potential is certainly there and should be fun to watch both develop if Smith ends up an Illini
IbleedOandB2014
In BU we trust
- Chattanooga
Kiir with a CB to the Illini
Tilmon has 67% CB's to Mizzou
The same guy picked Blake Harris to MSU and a SG to UK, which would theoretically take Mark Smith off the board for them. I like how that guy thinks
sdfidaho
- Boise, Idaho
Way to rain on the parade
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