Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (January-February 2018)

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#326      

Deleted member 631370

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Dude said:
If last night's game was not evidence enough for him how big of a hole we have, I am not sure what else there is. Obviously there is a ton of minutes...and rebounds on the floor for him here.
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Exactly.

The thing is, next year is a critical year for us. We really, really need to start winning games to build a winning culture and keep recruiting going in the right direction. And adding a big man like this helps us. Period.

Can't get worried about whether this scholarship prevents us from taking a more promising 4-year kid or anything like that. BU has to think about NOW. I suspect that's what he's doing.

A quick look at the box score shows the extent to which Tyler Cook and Garza ate our lunch in the paint. That has to stop.
 
#327      

Deleted member 654622

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Verified Insider said:
Exactly.

The thing is, next year is a critical year for us. We really, really need to start winning games to build a winning culture and keep recruiting going in the right direction. And adding a big man like this helps us. Period.

Can't get worried about whether this scholarship prevents us from taking a more promising 4-year kid or anything like that. BU has to think about NOW. I suspect that's what he's doing.
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Completely agree about next year. If it is true Ayo has been recruiting, it makes it a lot harder for him to get his teammates and friends to come here when its to a team in last place. I am not sure all the kids know how close we are to winning as much as they just see game scores.
 
#328      

IlliniDent

IlliniDent
Chicago, IL
IlliniDent
Dude said:
Completely agree about next year. If it is true Ayo has been recruiting, it makes it a lot harder for him to get his teammates and friends to come here when its to a team in last place. I am not sure all the kids know how close we are to winning as much as they just see game scores.
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The difference is our team is primarily Freshmen and Soph. You can actually sell this team as a team that will improve. It'd be bad if this was a team full of seniors and juniors that we were going to lose and it would be up to our new recruits to build it from the ground up.
 
#331      

IlliniDent

IlliniDent
Chicago, IL
IlliniDent
IlliniMed said:
Going to Maryland?

Damn, he gone lol
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He's a transfer looking for increased playing time starting next year. He only has 1.5 years left, he doesn't have time to play the bench. Should give us a good shot at him.
However, I agree that it will be hard to sell him on coming here over a team like Maryland
 
#332      

Deleted member 654622

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IlliniDent said:
The difference is our team is primarily Freshmen and Soph. You can actually sell this team as a team that will improve. It'd be bad if this was a team full of seniors and juniors that we were going to lose and it would be up to our new recruits to build it from the ground up.
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I do not disagree whatsoever. I believe we will be a very good team next year because of the Freshman and Sophomores. My statement was directed more on how much some of these recruits are really going to look into this. Some may not be willing to "hear" what Ayo is saying because of the record. They could just be "listening".
 
#333      

Greensboro

Greensboro
Greensboro
Illini Beer 4 All said:
Yep he's gone. There is no way you sit through that game and say I want to be a part of this. The crowd was not very loud, they team as usual only played half a game, and we got beat by a bad team.
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Meh, Maryland is a middle of the road Big team that just got blown out by OSU. Sure middle of the pack looks good from where we are at, but Maryland isn't going to win the Big Ten next year or make any noise this year.

They lose 1 Sr Big playing 17 mpg & have a freshman big playing 21 mpg, they are mostly back next year but I wouldn't think it would take much to believe with number of freshman he would have us to MD level next year and it would be hard to imagine a more open path to playing time than our situation.
 
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#335      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
skyIdub said:
If I was a transfer post player, and I watched Trent play and knew Ayo was coming next year, and I KNEW with almost zero doubt there were a ton of minutes to help that team, I'd be on it like a chicken on a June bug.
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Playing alongside Anthony Cowan is certainly very attractive though, on a team that also needs help in the post and has done much better than us the last few years.
 
#336      

RML

R
RML
Flo Thamba

So we play Nebby on Jan. 15, and Thamba is deciding between us and Nebby (and Baylor) "probably by Jan. 15"?
 
#337      

Oldtoysrock

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Sarasota, Florida
Oldtoysrock
#339      

illini62707

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illini62707
If he's looking for the more successful program right now it is , Maryland. Baylor, too. Maryland has 3 top 100 recruits coming in next year, none of which play the post. They have a couple big men returning. Don't know anything about , Baylor.
If he's looking for playing time (which he is), maybe IL offers a better opportunity. Although, I imagine Maryland is saying he can come in and see significant minutes, also.
I saw where someone said he had only 1 and a half years left. Why would that be ?
 
#341      

PlayAZ

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PlayAZ
illini62707 said:
If he's looking for the more successful program right now it is , Maryland. Baylor, too. Maryland has 3 top 100 recruits coming in next year, none of which play the post. They have a couple big men returning. Don't know anything about , Baylor.
If he's looking for playing time (which he is), maybe IL offers a better opportunity. Although, I imagine Maryland is saying he can come in and see significant minutes, also.
I saw where someone said he had only 1 and a half years left. Why would that be ?
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2nd semester availablility next year and year after....1.5 years:chief:
 
#342      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
illini62707 said:
If he's looking for the more successful program right now it is , Maryland. Baylor, too. Maryland has 3 top 100 recruits coming in next year, none of which play the post. They have a couple big men returning. Don't know anything about , Baylor.
If he's looking for playing time (which he is), maybe IL offers a better opportunity. Although, I imagine Maryland is saying he can come in and see significant minutes, also.
I saw where someone said he had only 1 and a half years left. Why would that be ?
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Because the assumption is that he's not willing to sit out 1.5 years. If he is, then he has 2 full seasons. Have to sit out a year before playing. Play any game in a season, you burn the entire season (barring a medical redshirt).
 
#343      

Deleted member 652352

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SescIllini said:
Plano is just 2 hours from Baylor. Think that is team to beat for Herard.
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It's closer to 3.5 and no Dallas area (Plano) kids have any sort of loyalty to Baylor, and especially Waco.
 
#344      

Greensboro

Greensboro
Greensboro
Obelix said:
Playing alongside Anthony Cowan is certainly very attractive though, on a team that also needs help in the post and has done much better than us the last few years.
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MD needs some help, but they have Jalen Smith (6"10 -#22 - 247) coming in next year & and the freshman Fernando (6'10" - #86 - 247 2017) already playing 21 min/ 10 pts/6 rpg & a couple 6'7" guys playing. They also seem to lead for 7', #21 ranked Moses Brown. That looks like a lot more competition for big minutes than we have next year. But yeah, everybody has done better than us the last few years.
 
#346      

Deleted member 631370

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Greensboro said:
MD needs some help, but they have Jalen Smith (6"10 -#22 - 247) coming in next year & and the freshman Fernando (6'10" - #86 - 247 2017) already playing 21 min/ 10 pts/6 rpg & a couple 6'7" guys playing. They also seem to lead for 7', #21 ranked Moses Brown. That looks like a lot more competition for big minutes than we have next year. But yeah, everybody has done better than us the last few years.
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Man, Mark Turgeon can definitely recruit.

But as some of my Maryland friends tell me, his coaching? He's no Gary Williams.
 
#347      

IlliniReb

I
Dallas-Fort Worth
IlliniReb
The Process said:
It's closer to 3.5 and no Dallas area (Plano) kids have any sort of loyalty to Baylor, and especially Waco.
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Picking nits:
Agree with the latter, but Waco is nowhere near 3.5 hours away. You can get to Austin in 3.5...Waco is2 hours
 
#348      

Oldtoysrock

O
Sarasota, Florida
Oldtoysrock
Greensboro said:
MD needs some help, but they have Jalen Smith (6"10 -#22 - 247) coming in next year & and the freshman Fernando (6'10" - #86 - 247 2017) already playing 21 min/ 10 pts/6 rpg & a couple 6'7" guys playing. They also seem to lead for 7', #21 ranked Moses Brown. That looks like a lot more competition for big minutes than we have next year. But yeah, everybody has done better than us the last few years.
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Am I ever jealous. We can’t to even seem to coax one big man to join us while it seems every other team in the B10 have several options. I had such high hopes for this staff’s ability to recruit. I mean wasn’t that one of their primary strengths? I understand you have to win first, but my goodness.


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#349      

TheGMan

TheGMan
TheGMan
Oldtoysrock said:
Am I ever jealous. We can’t to even seem to coax one big man to join us while it seems every other team in the B10 have several options. I had such high hopes for this staff’s ability to recruit. I mean wasn’t that one of their primary strengths? I understand you have to win first, but my goodness.


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At the end of this recruiting cycle, they will have essentially had 1 and half recruiting classes. And in that time, they landed 2 Mr. Basketballs (Mark Smith and Trent Frazier), and likely another this year (Ayo).

Sure, we are missing some quality big men, but the lack of them can probably be attributed more to the previous staff.
 
#350      

Deleted member 631370

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TheGMan said:
At the end of this recruiting cycle, they will have essentially had 1 and half recruiting classes. And in that time, they landed 2 Mr. Basketballs (Mark Smith and Trent Frazier), and likely another this year (Ayo).

Sure, we are missing some quality big men, but the lack of them can probably be attributed more to the previous staff.
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Yeah, they've done a "good" job in their first year. Probably not a great job, but a good job.

But, to become a great program again, we need to be "great" in the recruiting department. Need to step it up and land top-level bigs and wings. Period. Until then, we're going to fall short.


I think we'll be fine. Though I keep saying that the Antigua hype was misplaced. It's easy to be the lead recruiter on elite big men when you're recruiting for John Calipari. His brand sells itself, and Calipari is one of the most elite recruiting closers ever. Whole different ball game recruiting at Illinois under a guy like Underwood who still isn't a national household name.
 
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