Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (Week of April 5th, 2021)

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#477      

JFGsCoffeeMug

BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
We're in the early stages of an ongoing battle to establish the dominant narrative.

On one side, you have those who are arguing that we have an excellent coaching staff who will continue assembling competitive rosters, develop players, and sustain success. When Ayo publicly credits his time at Illinois with his development as a player and gets drafted, this particular narrative is strengthened. Likewise if Kofi and Curbelo get drafted. Winning the BTT and having the best two-year stretch in the B1G also helps.

On the other side, you have those who are arguing that our coaching staff is not good enough and cannot be trusted to keep this thing rolling. Losing to Loyola contributed to this narrative. Miller looking one-dimensional and entering the transfer portal after this season also contributed. The fear that we will fall back into the basement without Ayo and Kofi also fuels this narrative.

Are we in a much better place as a program than we were three years ago? Absolutely. But our current position is far from stable. If we fall back to earth post-Ayo, the narrative will be that Ayo temporarily elevated the program due to his own greatness. And any perceived failures will not be attributed to Ayo but to the staff. He could only be expected to do so much. Ayo giving credit to the staff will be chalked up to his humility and character as a person. If Miller leaves and has greater success elsewhere, the narrative will be that our staff held him back because we didn't know how to maximize his talents.

Assigning credit for success or failure can be tricky. While the truth is usually likely somewhere in the middle, public opinion can be significantly less nuanced and generous when it starts to crystallize. So as we have been saying for multiple years at this point, we are yet again entering another critical year for this program and coaching staff. Buckle up.
 
#478      

Dan

Admin
rbachhuber has decided to move on from the forum. Special thanks to rbachhuber for posting & maintaining the scholarship grid over the years.
For now anyone is free to post an updated scholarship grid here in the recruiting thread. Go Illini
 
#479      

illini80

Forgottonia
We're in the early stages of an ongoing battle to establish the dominant narrative.

On one side, you have those who are arguing that we have an excellent coaching staff who will continue assembling competitive rosters, develop players, and sustain success. When Ayo publicly credits his time at Illinois with his development as a player and gets drafted, this particular narrative is strengthened. Likewise if Kofi and Curbelo get drafted. Winning the BTT and having the best two-year stretch in the B1G also helps.

On the other side, you have those who are arguing that our coaching staff is not good enough and cannot be trusted to keep this thing rolling. Losing to Loyola contributed to this narrative. Miller looking one-dimensional and entering the transfer portal after this season also contributed. The fear that we will fall back into the basement without Ayo and Kofi also fuels this narrative.

Are we in a much better place as a program than we were three years ago? Absolutely. But our current position is far from stable. If we fall back to earth post-Ayo, the narrative will be that Ayo temporarily elevated the program due to his own greatness. And any perceived failures will not be attributed to Ayo but to the staff. He could only be expected to do so much. Ayo giving credit to the staff will be chalked up to his humility and character as a person. If Miller leaves and has greater success elsewhere, the narrative will be that our staff held him back because we didn't know how to maximize his talents.

Assigning credit for success or failure can be tricky. While the truth is usually likely somewhere in the middle, public opinion can be significantly less nuanced and generous when it starts to crystallize. So as we have been saying for multiple years at this point, we are yet again entering another critical year for this program and coaching staff. Buckle up.
You articulated the points well, but I think those on side B (bad) are few at this point. Well all know how fickle fans are and it could change quickly, but that's how I read it anyway. Most of college BB is in upheaval right now, so very few programs are feeling good about themselves. I trust the staff to construct the new roster until they prove they can't. I do think the days of continuity of rosters is likely over. This year will be more extreme, but is not an anomaly. It is the continuation of a trend that has already been established.
 
#480      

illini80

Forgottonia
rbachhuber has decided to move on from the forum. Special thanks to rbachhuber for posting & maintaining the scholarship grid over the years.
For now anyone is free to post an updated scholarship grid here in the recruiting thread. Go Illini
Sad to see him/her go. I always appreciated the input and work that went into that grid. Thank you.
 
#481      
My understanding is that is Burnett’s situation. I think a few factors have hurt Illinois recruiting in general the last fifteen years (in no particular order): 1) we have been very bad until recent; 2) academic standards/clearing them are higher at U of I than a lot of other programs; 3) Chicago and St. Louis recruiting is a dumpster fire; 4) we have not sent anyone to the league in forever, much less a player that has gotten paid and played a huge role on an NBA team.

The good news, we are chipping away at 1 and 4 in a big way, which will help with 3. Now if my dream scenario of the Bulls drafting Ayo plays out...I think it will be a boost to Chicago recruiting.

I’ll add that I think the team success helps immeasurably for recruiting out of state guys and those ranked in that 50-100 range. You can build a contender with enough of those pieces alone and proper roster construction.
The Bulls traded their first round pick for Vucevic.
 
#482      

JFGsCoffeeMug

BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
You articulated the points well, but I think those on side B (bad) are few at this point. Well all know how fickle fans are and it could change quickly, but that's how I read it anyway. Most of college BB is in upheaval right now, so very few programs are feeling good about themselves. I trust the staff to construct the new roster until they prove they can't. I do think the days of continuity of rosters is likely over. This year will be more extreme, but is not an anomaly. It is the continuation of a trend that has already been established.
Unfortunately for us, even if side B isn't being pushed by fans or the media, it seems like it's being actively pushed by some potentially influential voices (which could be even worse for us in the short-term). Maybe the only course of action is to simply ignore it, since we're probably limited in what we can do to directly address it, but negativity coming out of Simeon, MIF, AM's camp, and the families of multiple Mizzou players won't help us moving forward. I think we can overcome these types of challenges, but they remain challenges nonetheless.
 
#483      

Tacomallini

Washington State
rbachhuber has decided to move on from the forum. Special thanks to rbachhuber for posting & maintaining the scholarship grid over the years.
For now anyone is free to post an updated scholarship grid here in the recruiting thread. Go Illini
Didn't they use a Flash Gordon avatar? Maybe it was time to bring the good fight back to Mars.
 
#485      

Govoner Vaugn Fan

New Orleans
rbachhuber has decided to move on from the forum. Special thanks to rbachhuber for posting & maintaining the scholarship grid over the years.
For now anyone is free to post an updated scholarship grid here in the recruiting thread. Go Illini
If this forum doesn't have a current scholarship grid, how will Underwood and staff know when to stop adding players to the roster??
Actually I hope someone is up to the task, but I know it's a lot of work you would need to know a lot of stuff to do it, which leaves me out on both counts.
 
#486      
rbachhuber has decided to move on from the forum. Special thanks to rbachhuber for posting & maintaining the scholarship grid over the years.
For now anyone is free to post an updated scholarship grid here in the recruiting thread. Go Illini
To pursue other opportunities?
 
#487      
If this forum doesn't have a current scholarship grid, how will Underwood and staff know when to stop adding players to the roster??
Actually I hope someone is up to the task, but I know it's a lot of work you would need to know a lot of stuff to do it, which leaves me out on both counts.
If I understand the current rules, you can have as many players as you want for as long as you want, but they can swap jerseys during timeouts.
 
#490      
rbachhuber has decided to move on from the forum. Special thanks to rbachhuber for posting & maintaining the scholarship grid over the years.
For now anyone is free to post an updated scholarship grid here in the recruiting thread. Go Illini
How are people allowed to give up important positions like this without a vote of the entire board? I, for one, am outraged.
 
#492      

Deleted member 747671

D
Guest
Yesufu to Kansas. Hopefully that helps send Tyty our way, KU would have to create a roster spot for him now I believe.
I threw his name out here a couple weeks ago and nobody had any interest or wanted Illinois to pursue him. Guess Kansas thought pretty highly of him.
 
#493      
You articulated the points well, but I think those on side B (bad) are few at this point. Well all know how fickle fans are and it could change quickly, but that's how I read it anyway. Most of college BB is in upheaval right now, so very few programs are feeling good about themselves. I trust the staff to construct the new roster until they prove they can't. I do think the days of continuity of rosters is likely over. This year will be more extreme, but is not an anomaly. It is the continuation of a trend that has already been established.
Agree with this. We all consider Bill Self to be an elite recruiter and coach, right? As a poster teed up a few pages back, he has three second round exits in 6 years despite averaging a 2 seed. We would have been in the tourney last year as a decent seed, and were obviously dominant down the stretch this season and a one seed. I think the train is rolling towards, at minimum, tournament appearances every year.
 
#494      
The Bulls traded their first round pick for Vucevic.
the dude your opinion GIF
 
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