Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (Week of April 12th, 2021)

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

Leonard was a lottery pick. Weber didn't hurt his development at all. How much higher do you think he would have went?

Leonard was drafted based upon his projected potential, not his development up to that point. I think it's possible to simultaneously waste an opportunity to meaningfully contribute toward a player's development while also not significantly harming his draft stock. The two are not mutually exclusive.

 

[Fanview]

Not to be too argumentative, but Feliz played for Antigua at South Florida, so I wouldn't give Underwood too much credit for that.

The bold I can 100% agree with. I'm just not in the give the staff the benefit of the doubt mode yet. Ayo and Kofi can cover up a lot of warts for ANY coach.

I see your point, but again, we evaluate the staff's ability as a whole. Super hard to pinpoint who deserves how much credit for each prospect - especially the head coach.

I agree that it's too early to declare anything about the staff either way. But I'm also not going to put too much weight on a bunch of experimental projects they took a shot at. If you have the scholarships, why not take a chance? Worst case they transfer.

 

[illininutt]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1382132571505573898

Don't forget about this guy!

 

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

And again, any coaching staff that ends up getting a guy into the lottery (like Meyers) absolutely did an outstanding job developing him. You can say "I wish he would have played more for the college team to be better", but for Meyers own personal development, he was a lottery pick.

You could argue they did a better job at personally developing Meyers for the pro game (since he was a lottery pick), than Kofi. They were both top 40-50 big men. One guy was ultra productive on the college team. One guy, not as productive, but a lotto pick.

You could say these things, and you would be wrong. You can't give a coaching staff 100% credit for player success, just like you can't blame a coaching staff 100% for player failure. Players get drafted on pure potential all of the time. Development isn't always a factor.

 

[CurbeloYourEnthusiasm]

Not to be too argumentative, but Feliz played for Antigua at South Florida, so I wouldn't give Underwood too much credit for that.

The bold I can 100% agree with. I'm just not in the give the staff the benefit of the doubt mode yet. Ayo and Kofi can cover up a lot of warts for ANY coach.

I agree with you. The key change in our success was the change in defensive philosophy for year 3. And that also was the same time Kofi came in as rim protector. So I want to see if we are still good on defense, without Kofi. If we are, then i'll really believe in the coaching staff. At this point though, lot of our wins were due IMO to elite talent.

I do like the skillsets that Underwood is looking for when he offered Bass, Goode, Podz, and Storr. 3 of those guys (don't know about Bass) have reputations as shooters (which you need in today's game), and they are tall guards which hopefully means more switching/positionless basketball. Or even zone, because its easier to play zone when you got long tall guys out there on the perimeter. Curbelo, with shooters around him, should be fun basketball. A different style than we've played in the past when it was either Feliz putting his head down and driving into the lane, or Ayo/Trent iso jump shooting off the dribble.

I think really need 1 more fast dribbling smaller guard though to go with these tall shooters we got

 

[logjam]

10000000 times yes on the Tisdale/Leonard question. Great coaches play the best players period. Underwood would have started Leonard over Tisdale all day, every day.

Meyers couldn't stay on the court his freshman year, same as most freshman, fouls.

 

[I11ini82]

I see your point, but again, we evaluate the staff's ability as a whole. Super hard to pinpoint who deserves how much credit for each prospect - especially the head coach.

I agree that it's too early to declare anything about the staff either way. But I'm also not going to put too much weight on a bunch of experimental projects they took a shot at. If you have the scholarships, why not take a chance? Worst case they transfer.

I'm in full agreement with this entire post.

That said, I am going to put a bunch of weight on his current success hinging almost entirely on Ayo and Kofi. I like Brad, but if the pandemic doesn't happen, there's a very real chance Ayo was gone after last year and we would have been a 4-6 seed this year. So when a poster talks about Underwood taking the Illini to a 1 seed in 4 years, it's like, let's just slow down a bit... (which I realize you were not the poster in question and your comments are generally in line with my thinking too)

 

[DocMorgan]

https://www.pscp.tv/Illiniswami/1RDGlPWdPvoGL
Polish Pod interview! Minutes ago!

What’s with the hood? Pull down the zipper.

 

[DB11Headband]

I'd forego bringing in a PG this year and put a full court press on '22 Seth Trimble.

Superstar. Like him as much as I did Curbelo, and I think you and I were two of the early adopters of Curbelo on here.

 

[Manual3for4peat]

Superstar. Like him as much as I did Curbelo, and I think you and I were two of the early adopters of Curbelo on here.

That would be a huge get for any staff we’ve had here. Would love it.

 

[logjam]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1382132571505573898

Don't forget about this guy!

Fletch....calling Fletch!

 

[TheFameProtector]

You literally replied to a post that cited 247 team recruiting rankings. I referenced a post with the last 4-5 years of rankings -- a period in which 247 had/has established itself as the premier bball talent evaluators -- and which were relative to other contemporary team rankings. Your response was a historical comparison of rankings relative to other Illinois' classes over the last 15 years. Hence the need for a more reliable ranking over time.

Tevian Jones, Alan Griffin, Samba Kane, Anthony Higgs, BBV, Hamlin, Kouma, Lieb. That's literally 7 players who will contribute almost 0 on the floor to Illinois basketball. And 1 who was a minor contributor for 1 year. That's A LOT of whiffs in 3 years. A whiff is taking a highly ranked recruit and having them perform lower than expectations. Taking a flyer on a low ranked recruit and having that recruit live up to (very low) expectations is not a whiff. Every team will have end of bench guys that don't contribute, but that is not what team performance is based on.

The difference, so far, between Underwood and Weber's recruiting is that Ayo and Kofi became Ayo and Kofi and not Richmond and Leonard 2.0, as college players. We'll see what happens from here. You're doing a mighty fine job here of attributing all the success to two players and not giving any of that to BU's ability to help them improve year-over-year and devise a system to fit their talents. More so, you're ignoring his ability to coach TF from pretty good defender to elite, or bring in a freshman guard and turn them into the 6th man of the year (which was done by living through a lot of growing pains). Ayo and Kofi have been critical to our success, but they're not the end-all be-all of our recent team or individual success (and therein BU's coaching success).

Not to be too argumentative, but Feliz played for Antigua at South Florida, so I wouldn't give Underwood too much credit for that. No, Andres Feliz did not go to S. Florida.

 

[I11ini82]

Superstar. Like him as much as I did Curbelo, and I think you and I were two of the early adopters of Curbelo on here.

If this staff can land Trimble, the program will officially be in another gear. I'm on the same train as you two.

 

[FollowMeDontFollowMe]

2011 was a team that had more talent,
imo.

Jereme and Meyers were both 5 star kids in some services.

Dmac, Paul, Richardson, and Head were all 4 stars.

plus some guys that over played their rankings in Tisdale and Davis.

Bruce not being able to do more with that roster is one of the real tragedies of Illinois basketball. He was either too stubborn or incapable of change.

Weber stubborn? No way. Lol

That one 2005 season masks what a tragedy his hire was starting with his funeral for Self and ending with him using his family as human shields during his departure presser. He took all the life out of the program.

 

[illiniguy]

Illinois BEST recruiting staff EVER!? To go into Wisconsin and get their Mr. Basketball (let alone ANYBODY) and get somebody out of Indiana (whose people HATE our guts) is almost unheard of!

JCL would like a word with you.

 

[chibar]

What’s with the hood? Pull down the zipper.

maybe he was cold. sounds like a good kid that wants to be at illinois

 

[DB11Headband]

What’s with the hood? Pull down the zipper.

 

[I11ini82]

Since I can't quote TheFameProtector's post:

Commited to Antigua, whatever. It's not like Underwood found him out of nowhere.

If Ayo had gone pro, we're nowhere close to a 1 seed last year. If Ayo AND Kofi had left, we wouldn't have even made the tournament. So yes, our success almost entirely hinged on those two individuals.

 

[BRucks]

That has to be a big feather in the cap for us. My oldest son coaches baseball at Assumption and he never has mentioned either of these boys. I'll have to get on him lol. He's a Illini fan even though he went to UNI, Cedar Falls

Dad is very involved in baseball in the Quad Cities. Played at St. Ambrose. Coached at Alleman. Currently officer with both Quad Cities Hitman and QCFieldersChoice.

 

[Nappy I_L_L]

AirPodz, I'm ready to see you AirJordan dunk over the rest of the Big Ten

 

[ILL21]

Seth Trimble will blow up after this summer.

 

[QCtoKC]

That has to be a big feather in the cap for us. My oldest son coaches baseball at Assumption and he never has mentioned either of these boys. I'll have to get on him lol. He's a Illini fan even though he went to UNI, Cedar Falls

I’m pretty sure their father, Scott, won a state baseball championship at Assumption as coach.

 

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1382132571505573898

Don't forget about this guy!

I'm excited about what Goode and Podz will bring to the team, but I'm most excited about Melendez's potential. He could be a real x-factor for us.

 

[LvilleILL]

So I know people have a lot of questions about who is coming and going, here is what I have heard recently:

Trent-He should be back. Should finalize it soon.

Damonte-Hearing Monte is more on the fence than Kofi, but the Trent thing has him leaning towards coming back. Still not 100% but looks good right now.

Kofi-Expect to declare for the draft, and maintain eligibility. Been told that he is more likely to come back and the players think the same.

Adam-This changes daily. I would say it is 60/40 in favor of him coming back, but would not be surprised either way.

Tre Mitchell-This is an interesting one. If his relative does not get hired by a power 5 staff, I like our chances.

Ty Ty-Ship has sailed from what I have heard. Would be shocked to see him end up at Illinois.

Storr-Possible reclass, but depends on a couple of things.

Ntambwe-Staff loves his game. Can shoot it well.

Plummer-Likely done with the Trent news and if Miller stays. If Trent stays and Miller leaves, could be a chance.

There is a couple of good combo guards they are also interested in. Like Plummer, depends on decisions.

Should be more good news coming soon I-L-L

 

[CalIllini66]

Yep, we are doing this.

You literally replied to a post that cited 247 team recruiting rankings.

Tevian Jones, Alan Griffin, Samba Kane, Anthony Higgs, BBV, Hamlin, Kouma, Lieb. That's literally 7 players who will contribute almost 0 on the floor to Illinois basketball. And 1 who was a minor contributor for 1 year. That's A LOT of whiffs in 3 years.

Man, Underwood's talent evaluation record is just spotless.

The difference, so far, between Underwood and Weber's recruiting is that Ayo and Kofi became Ayo and Kofi and not Richmond and Leonard 2.0, as college players. We'll see what happens from here.

I wouldn't count BBV as a whiff yet. I have a feeling he can contribute if he's healthy.