Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (Week of May 17th, 2021)

Status
Not open for further replies.
#1      

Dan

Admin
Welcome to the Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

2021 Illini Recruiting
Luke Goode (2021 G) committed on April 17th, 2020, signed on November 11th, 2020.
Ramses Melendez (2021 F) committed on February 15th, 2021, signed on April 14th, 2021.
Omar Payne (Florida transfer PF) committed on April 3rd, 2021, signed on April 14th, 2021.
Brandin Podziemski (2021 G) committed on April 13th, 2021, signed on April 14th, 2021.
Alfonso Plummer (Utah transfer G) committed on April 17th, 2021, signed on April 19th, 2021.

2022 Illini Recruiting
Reggie Bass (2022 G) committed on March 19th, 2021.
 
#2      
Get Ready Pain GIF by Rodney Dangerfield
 
#3      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
'23 Matas Buzelis has game. Hinsdale Central kid who's been at prep school (Brewster Academy, IIRC) for a year. 6' 8" and has great handles (for his size) and playmaking ability. He's playing for the MIF U16s and doing well. We offered a long time ago.
 
#9      

DB11Headband

Chicago Burbs
This just feels like a recruitment we lose to Michigan. Would love to be wrong but I’ve already mentally moved on from Casey.
Bingo-although we now have a SLIGHTLY better shot than before now that Chin has moved on. Smart $ should still be on Michigan for this one though.
 
#13      

JFGsCoffeeMug

BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
View attachment 9253
How is this legal? Am I the only one that thinks this is stupid? Props to Podz for sticking with us nonetheless…
It might be paranoia on my part, but it looks to me like Kedric is being played here. Podz's camp knows that Kedric loves a scoop and will run to social media with literally anything they give him. So they mention to him that Podz has been offered multiple scholarships to leave Illinois since the coaching changes, but they turned them all down, and Kedric immediately tweets it out. That simultaneously communicates two things: (1) it tells Illinois fans that they are staying loyal (so far); and (2) it communicates to everyone else that they are, at a minimum, allowing people to pitch them. Seven offers is a lot. That probably means they aren't immediately shutting everyone down. And we don't know who they've turned down so far. Maybe they're waiting for very specific offers to be made and, if so, Kedric's tweet could serve almost as an invitation to other suitors to reach out.
 
#14      

GrayGhost77

Centennial, CO
It might be paranoia on my part, but it looks to me like Kedric is being played here. Podz's camp knows that Kedric loves a scoop and will run to social media with literally anything they give him. So they mention to him that Podz has been offered multiple scholarships to leave Illinois since the coaching changes, but they turned them all down, and Kedric immediately tweets it out. That simultaneously communicates two things: (1) it tells Illinois fans that they are staying loyal (so far); and (2) it communicates to everyone else that they are, at a minimum, allowing people to pitch them. Seven offers is a lot. That probably means they aren't immediately shutting everyone down. And we don't know who they've turned down so far. Maybe they're waiting for very specific offers to be made and, if so, Kedric's tweet could serve almost as an invitation to other suitors to reach out.
Always Sunny Fx GIF
 
#15      

LGIllini

La Grange, IL
It might be paranoia on my part, but it looks to me like Kedric is being played here. Podz's camp knows that Kedric loves a scoop and will run to social media with literally anything they give him. So they mention to him that Podz has been offered multiple scholarships to leave Illinois since the coaching changes, but they turned them all down, and Kedric immediately tweets it out. That simultaneously communicates two things: (1) it tells Illinois fans that they are staying loyal (so far); and (2) it communicates to everyone else that they are, at a minimum, allowing people to pitch them. Seven offers is a lot. That probably means they aren't immediately shutting everyone down. And we don't know who they've turned down so far. Maybe they're waiting for very specific offers to be made and, if so, Kedric's tweet could serve almost as an invitation to other suitors to reach out.
Wish there was a way to "dislike" this tweet, but unfortunately I thought the exact same thing. Hoping we're just too cynical...
 
#16      

sacraig

The desert
It might be paranoia on my part, but it looks to me like Kedric is being played here. Podz's camp knows that Kedric loves a scoop and will run to social media with literally anything they give him. So they mention to him that Podz has been offered multiple scholarships to leave Illinois since the coaching changes, but they turned them all down, and Kedric immediately tweets it out. That simultaneously communicates two things: (1) it tells Illinois fans that they are staying loyal (so far); and (2) it communicates to everyone else that they are, at a minimum, allowing people to pitch them. Seven offers is a lot. That probably means they aren't immediately shutting everyone down. And we don't know who they've turned down so far. Maybe they're waiting for very specific offers to be made and, if so, Kedric's tweet could serve almost as an invitation to other suitors to reach out.

Or--and stick with me here, because this is complicated--they had seven schools put out feelers about whether they were reconsidering and they turned them down. Then, when asked about it by Kedric, they answered the question truthfully.
 
#17      
Wish there was a way to "dislike" this tweet, but unfortunately I thought the exact same thing. Hoping we're just too cynical...
Or--and stick with me here, because this is complicated--they had seven schools put out feelers about whether they were reconsidering and they turned them down. Then, when asked about it by Kedric, they answered the question truthfully.
Seems like, at a bare minimum, they're returning phone calls. You don't get seven scholarship offers slid under your door. If nothing else, it's an announcement that he's still listening to other programs.
 
#18      

JFGsCoffeeMug

BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
Hey, I'm happy to Occam's razor all of this and be incredibly wrong, but that tweet just doesn't smell right to me (both the messenger and the message). It wasn't that long ago that we were being told that AJ Storr was solid, and Podz was having second thoughts. Maybe Podz is still sorting through the impact of our coaching change. My "insane theory" would just confirm that's what's happening.
 
#19      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
Or--and stick with me here, because this is complicated--they had seven schools put out feelers about whether they were reconsidering and they turned them down. Then, when asked about it by Kedric, they answered the question truthfully.
Occam’s razor.

Tampering is against the rules. We all know recruiting is shady. These calls happen. We expected it. They decided to stick with their original commitment. I think it’s all great news based on what we knew would happen.
 
#20      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
Hey, I'm happy to Occam's razor all of this and be incredibly wrong, but that tweet just doesn't smell right to me (both the messenger and the message). It wasn't that long ago that we were being told that AJ Storr was solid, and Podz was having second thoughts. Maybe Podz is still sorting through the impact of our coaching change. My "insane theory" would just confirm that's what's happening.
Holy cow. We both thought of Occam’s Razor at the same time.

edit: apparently I just didn’t scroll down enough before responding.
 
#22      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
7 scholarship offers is not like a routine text.
True. But I also suspect most of these are from coaches that had already done their due diligence so they are likely verbal offers or confirmation of prior offers. I doubt you have to get too far in those convos. Even if there was more to it, wouldn’t you be willing to entertain a few discussions given the circumstances? Admittedly seven is a lot, but whatever. I’m happy they went through their due diligence again and are still sticking with the Illini.
 
#24      
True. But I also suspect most of these are from coaches that had already done their due diligence so they are likely verbal offers or confirmation of prior offers. I doubt you have to get too far in those convos. Even if there was more to it, wouldn’t you be willing to entertain a few discussions given the circumstances? Admittedly seven is a lot, but whatever. I’m happy they went through their due diligence again and are still sticking with the Illini.
They'd have to be verbal, because no staff is going to communicate an illegal offer with a digital or paper trail. So Podz's people are still having a lot of conversations with staffs.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.