Blocking is stupid. Just let him go where he wants.
Mark Smith transferring from Illinois
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Blocking is stupid. Just let him go where he wants.
Bad optics. Obviously disappointing.
Best of luck to Mark. Next man up!
Best of luck to Mark. Next man up!
Best of luck to Mark. I'm sorry things didn't work out better in Champaign.
frozenrope9190
- Aurora, IL
Wish Mark the best; sucks it didn't work out.
Don't really care about optics at this point. The current optics I see is a 4-14 team that missed the tourney for 5 straight years.
Don't really care about optics at this point. The current optics I see is a 4-14 team that missed the tourney for 5 straight years.
illinihawk16
- Chicago
Agreed
No, just an honest assessment. Someone needs to look at things without orange cool-aid blinders on......we lose Black, Lucas, and anyone else we maybe win 10 games next year.
I agree, unless there are tampering allegations, which would be the rare 1% type of case.
Yeah, no block. Looked bad on Pitt, would look equally bad here.
Good luck kid. Now replace him with someone that wants to be part of a team and culture. Don’t believe there’s something building? This kid, that actually helped our program, disagrees. https://twitter.com/_trentfrazier1/status/970455183586136065
Yeah, and very, very difficult to prove.
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
Block him from the B10 and Mizzou.
cyfairslam
- Houston, TX
I was hoping he would stay and develop some skills. However, I never thought of him as being more than of a role player at best. He wasn't quick enough to guard the major college guards and I couldn't see that getting any better. My guess is that he saw that too and expected BU to recruit over him.
Good luck Mark. We wish you well.
This is pretty unfair...by all accounts he is a great kid. His game just isn't a fit and he's sliding down the depth chart. Transferring makes a ton of sense for him.
I'm disappointed but I'm more concerned about the optics than the actual basketball impact which seems minimal.
He didn't just expect it - it is happening right now and very aggressively.
Smith was probably #4 on my "please dont transfer" list. Sucks, but his current production is replaceable.
Seems like a great kid too, wish him only the best, unless he's playing against us
Seems like a great kid too, wish him only the best, unless he's playing against us
KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
- Chicago, IL
I mean honestly... What did he expect? Was he expecting anything differently at Michigan State or Kentucky, his other alleged final 2? He'd probably be even further down the depth chart there. He's a freshmen who was inconsistent and not shooting well. He'd be benched deep on those other teams. Honestly, he is lucky he even played at all this season compared to what his situation would have been at the other schools people thought he was considering.
Sorry probably should’ve said “this team and culture”. I don’t think he’s a bad kid, but I think that It’s clear he was never going to buy in to the program Underwood is building
Making speculations about something that the vast majority on this thread know nothing about, myself included.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
Not great. Bracing for whatever comes next.
FinalFour88
- Charlotte, NC
Wow. This is shocking news. I didn't see this coming at all; I haven't really been following the rumor mill at all. What a terrible last 10 years it's been for Illini hoops. Just a total nightmare.
This says it all.
Where does he think he will go where the coach never yells and he is better than everyone else at his position?
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
It’s clearly Brad Underwood’s fault he could barely hit the backboard on a wide open three from the top of the key.
If he doesn’t want to be here then he has no business being here.
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