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

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#876      

Hopingfor500

H
Hopingfor500
With each miss, I keep seeing.....onto the next and onto the next again. If we lose Kofi and as of today, it's still an if....we will have lost all five starters from the beginning of the season (Ayo, Frazier, Williams, Kofi, Miller) and a top reserve. If we want to mark Grandison as a starter instead of Williams, then we've lost 4 of 5 starters and 2 of our top 3 reserves. Either way, it's bad.

With many of the top targets at both the prep level and transfer level going elsewhere...at what point does the revelation that we're not going to be very good(at all) next year come into play? I'm all about drinking the Kool-Aid, but where is it?
 
#877      

BlindLoyalty

B
FartNoiseMotivation
BlindLoyalty
Emerson Bigguns said:
I mean... they did win a National Championship in 2019... that’s a reasonable goal.
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Bennett has put 8 guys in the NBA and none of them were 5 stars. Brogden and Harris had similar skills and a 3*/4* HS ranking like Franklin. Bennet developed them into NBA players. Franklin likely discussed the Virginia program with Kyle Guy a fellow Indianapolis native and another player Bennet developed into an NBA player. It would have been nice if he chose Illinois, but Virginia can point to tangible NBA developmental results At SG. Illinois and Brad Underwood can’t, yet. Seems reasonable to me.
 
#878      

Govoner Vaugn Fan

Govoner Vaugn Fan
New Orleans
Govoner Vaugn Fan
JJE said:
There is a lot of time, but to remain in the upper half of the league consistently, we have to hit on some of these players with proven talent. The staff has shown they have a wide net and can be creative in getting players, but it is truly mindboggling the number of players we have missed this year.
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Most teams are seeing a lot of roster turnover this year, Illinois included. But people act like we will be playing with a team of walk-ons and D3 transfers. I remember years when if we had two four star 6-6/6-7 shooters (Goode/Melendez) coming in we would be debating just howdeep in next years tourney these guys would take us. NOt to mention a 6-11 transfer.
 
#879      

CurbeloYourEnthusiasm

CurbeloYourEnthusiasm
CurbeloYourEnthusiasm
Loyalillini10 said:
I wonder what it is about Virginia’s offense that makes Franklin say, “yeah. I want to play there.” That is just a head-scratcher to me.
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Not to me. Virginia's a blue blood right now, and Tony Bennett has put quite a few guards into the league:

Klay Thompson
Kyle Guy
Malcolm Brogdon
Joe Harris
Justin Anderson
De'Andre Hunter
Ty Jerome
 
#880      

Deep

Deep
Deep
As of right now we are Belo and a bunch of unknowns......

We have to start getting some of these guys at some point. We can't keep saying on to the next because next is not as good as what was there. Player pool may not be but talent pool will continue to dwindle.

Right now these guys have become a priority....

The Mitchell
Kofi (coming back)
Adam Miller ( coming to his senses)

Otherwise we may not even be a bubble team next year. I'm not a pessimist and always a optimist with our illini but up to now I dont like what has happened this off season.
 
#881      

Hopingfor500

H
Hopingfor500
Govoner Vaugn Fan said:
Most teams are seeing a lot of roster turnover this year, Illinois included. But people act like we will be playing with a team of walk-ons and D3 transfers. I remember years when if we had two four star 6-6/6-7 shooters (Goode/Melendez) coming in we would be debating just howdeep in next years tourney these guys would take us. NOt to mention a 6-11 transfer.
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Here's the Kool-Aid. I'm all over it, but the thought of Goode and Melendez being key contributors on a good team, as freshmen, seems remote. If Kofi comes back....he in conjunction with Curbelo, different story.
 
#886      

FortWayneFan

F
FortWayneFan
I was kind of hesitantly hoping for Franklin. But, honestly, I’m happy to move on. Not a fan of transferring in-conference. If AM goes to IU or UM, I will not be cool with that. So I’m ok with not getting an IU transfer. Sorry, but I’m old-school like that.
 
#890      

dbeverly26

dbeverly26
dbeverly26
ILLINIborn said:
Watching paint dry while staring at a recent National Championship banner
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That doesn't make it any more interesting to watch. Dean Smith won an awful lot of games by using explicit stall tactics, and the NCAA rightfully adopted the shot clock to stop it. Virginia's brand of basketball is dead boring, and further changes should be made to stop it for the good of the game.

A couple of years ago I watched a very good Virginia team play a very good Wisconsin team and it was one of the worst games I've ever seen. Ten guys wandering up the floor, holding the ball for 20 seconds, and only then attacking the basket. There were guys on both teams who were really good at basketball, and for the life of me I have no idea why Bennett and Gard went to such great lengths to prevent them from actually playing.
 
#892      

Deleted member 747671

D
Guest
Deleted member 747671
F it. Put the press on Miller to return. Who cares if you look desperate.
 
#894      

Illini954

I
Illini954
Deep said:
As of right now we are Belo and a bunch of unknowns......

We have to start getting some of these guys at some point. We can't keep saying on to the next because next is not as good as what was there. Player pool may not be but talent pool will continue to dwindle.

Right now these guys have become a priority....

The Mitchell
Kofi (coming back)
Adam Miller ( coming to his senses)

Otherwise we may not even be a bubble team next year. I'm not a pessimist and always a optimist with our illini but up to now I dont like what has happened this off season.
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We are in full REBUILD mode. Hopefully next year will be a great year for Goode, Melendez, and Hawkins to develop. We need to get to work on the 2022 recruiting class.

Underwood has proven he can develop talent AND land the occasional 5 star recruit. Illinois is still better off than it was 4 years ago.
 
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#897      

the juiceman cometh

T
the juiceman cometh
Fanview said:
Reminder that top talent is continuing to enter the portal and our options are by no means dwindling.
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I think a lot of the truly top talent has already entered. Perhaps there will be some additional guys that are testing draft waters, and end up coming back and transferring, but I'm not sure there will be a lot of those guys. If we are truly talking about guys like Pickett from Siena, I think that means the well has dried up on proven P5 guards in, or about to get in, the portal (I realize there are some great options left at the 4/5 that we are involved in, I'm just talking about the spot that Miller/Franklin would have filled on the roster). That's not to say Pickett or Brewer wouldn't be good. They could turn out to be great. It's just not as sure a thing as a guy like Franklin, who's shown himself to be an impact player in the Big 10, so I would imagine the staff had them lower on wish list.
 
#898      

Loyalillini10

L
Urbana, IL
Loyalillini10
JJE said:
There is a lot of time, but to remain in the upper half of the league consistently, we have to hit on some of these players with proven talent. The staff has shown they have a wide net and can be creative in getting players, but it is truly mindboggling the number of players we have missed this year.
Click to expand...
Is It???
 
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