skyIdub
Winged Warrior
I see what you did there.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (December 2020)
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Lol I don't get the angst over Tipton. He does graphics for practically every recruit. He did one for Coleman, Kofi, Miller, Curbelo, and much more I'm sure. There's no anti-Illinois Tipton conspiracy. Of course it's going to feel like you never win recruitment battles he does graphics for when he does the majority of kids.
If anything, Tipton edits just confuses me. Why does every kid use him? The graphics are always the same, and not particularly good. If I'm a recruit I'm going a different route. Also I'm using Yakety Sax as the background music, because why not?
I concur. I think this is true with a lot of services though. We go with the norm - something safe - the "gold" standard. When often, the best choice would be something lesser known.
Anyone know anything about Jaylen Blakes?
I thought the tiptoes edits thing is one of those default inside jokes should be an entry in the glossary thread.
I vote we have Moggs put up a poll to see how many people believe Tipton portends bad things for the Illini?
I almost posted something like: note to Self, keep your hands of our . . . but I thought better of it.I see what you did there.
If Cockburn leaves we need to fill his place on this team.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Well, with Goode, Dick....Cockburn may have less chance of success?
Jaylen Blakes, at 6'-2" 195lbs and the 104th ranked recruit, looks like a really solid fit to take over Trent's Scholarship. His recruiting ranking has risen from ~#180th last year and is close to breaking into the Top 100 now so he's on the rise. He's being described in a few articles as a sharpshooter and his highlight tape shows a pretty good shooting form. He'd likely be able to slot in as a backup ball handler to Curbelo and add 3 point shooting eventually filling a similar role to Trent's on our Roster. Blakes has an extra 20 lbs and 1" of height over Trent so maybe he'll have more success driving and finishing at the rim than Trent has had as well. Obviously, we'd expect a drop in minutes since it's not likely for Blake's to come in and play elite defense and 30+ minutes right away, but with Curbelo, Miller, and Goode and possibly Hutcherson/Williams/Frazier contributing on next years roster I'd be very happy if we landed Blakes in our 2021 class. Keep in mind that Frazier was the #109 recruit in the class of 2017 and Underwood has shown some ability to recruit players to fit his system and to coach them to play above their initial star rankings so if he's offering Blakes, I'm all in on him.
RJ Melendez is 6'-5" 190 lbs and the 138th ranked recruit. His recruiting ranking has held pretty steady since last year too so hopefully that's given Underwood time to watch tape and decide if he fits our system. With Ayo almost certainly leaving after this season there'll be an open Scholarship for RJ. RJ's the same height at Ayo but despite RJ's scholarship likely coming from Ayo's departure I think that's probably where the comparisons end. RJ is Puerto Rican like Curbelo so maybe that would help them develop solid team chemistry and maybe that'll help us in recruiting. On the 2019 U17 Championship where RJ played for Puerto Rico, he struggled from 3-point range shooting only 22%, and another article written by Baselinetosideline indicates that he's struggled on the offensive end of the floor but has lead his team defensively. If he's really able to play solid defense, he may be the new 2019-20 Da'Monte for this forum to complain about getting too much tick despite only averaging 3 points per game.
At this point in the recruiting cycle I'm really hoping we land any 2 of RJ Melendez, Wesley Cardet, Kordell Charles, Brandin Podziemski or Jaylen Blakes. Then if Kofi leaves, we can hopefully replace him with a ready to play transfer (or go back to Michael Foster, Chet Holmgren, or Charles Bediako and try them again but I think those ships have sailed).
If our 2021 class looks like the following we'll be in great shape:
Luke Goode (#99 6'-7" SF with a great shot)
Any 2 of Jaylen Blakes (#104 6'-2" PG) or RJ/Wesley/Kordell/Brandin (#101-155 6'-5" to 6'-6" SF's)
Kofi returns OR ready to play Transfer (at least able to provide a solid 20 minutes but can sub in with Giorgi/Hamlin/Lieb)
One of Trent, Da'Monte, or Miller return
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
Deleted member 29907
D
Guest
I never sausage a group of names on a basketball team...
Thank god Luther is no longer on the team.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
I thought that door was schutt already?
What the Schutt is going on here?
Hopefully that group doesn't turn soft.
Imagine the size on that team.
Stiff defense is the hallmark of a champion.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decisionâ„¢
Where's the face palm emoji?
I hope this recruitment ends well, tired of getting the shaft.
Schutt is class of 22 correct?
Clean it up guys.
I hold no ill will towards the guy but his work is terrible. It's the same crappy jersey photoshop for every recruit. My 9 year old sister could make better edits in Microsoft Paint with her Surface Pro.
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