Ready for some S&C positivity gang?
So, I stand by what I said about Smith earlier. He's obviously a terrific player, but expecting him to be much better than where he's rated is bad and unfair to him. It's a low-percentage proposition.
HOWEVER, we don't just have Smith, we also have Frazier and Da'Monte, two other guys with similar attributes, all of whom with a lot of athleticism and upside, who are good fits for a system that will hopefully be very well coached.
Each is below 50/50 odds of blowing up over way their rankings, because that's how it works. But those odds compound when you stack recruits of that quality. So the chances that ONE of them is a four-year all-conference type stud is probably well better than a coin-flip.
Honestly, I feel like we're getting a second chance at that DJ, BP3 and JoeBert class. Those kids were great players and didn't get the help or the coaching they deserved. That should have been a memorable era of Illini Basketball.
We've got the right people in place now. Let's go get 'em!