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

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#551      

drsmitty74

drsmitty74
Rochester
drsmitty74
STL Illini said:
For all those saying we can’t compete in the BIG, won’t be “elite”, can’t bring home the Natty until we compete with the “blue bloods” for the 5 * talent….consider this from Rivals rankings:
2016: 3 commits (3*, 4*, 4*)
2017: 2 commits (3*, 4*)
2018: 5 commits (NR, NR, 3*, 4*, 4*)
2019: 1 commit (3*)
2020: 3 commits (4*, 4*, 4*)
2021: 3 commits (5*, 4*, 4*)
2022: 1 commit thus far (3*)
What team? The same team that just won the Championship…..Baylor
Look at last years Baylor team. They had 3 bigs that cumulatively totaled around 12 points per game and 10 rebounds.

Of course many will critique this post and talk about this, that, and the other and how this doesn’t compare with our beloved Illini. Whatever……blowhards are blowhards and some people just live in a world of pessimism, negativity, and argue to argue. Go argue with someone at the local tavern…..
The point is this….Brad is creating a team of interchangeable parts with athleticism, length, speed, slashers, shooters, and defenders. I personally love it.
Yep, I’d still like to get Kofi back, or another big….but Baylor just showcased what can be done with a bunch of three star and four star recruits without five star players and dominant bigs.
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Not here to knock anything you just posted, but, Baylor, like Texas Tech, relied heavily on transfers in addition to their HS recruits.

Last year Baylor started 3 transfers for most of the year. They accounted for 52% of the playing time and 54% of the points.

Just saying that Baylor relies heavily on transfers to be competitive.

Alabama had 4 transfers. Arkansas had 7.
 
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#555      

Whitewaterr

W
Whitewaterr
Epsilon said:
Honestly, it’s on you all for thinking that it’s a done deal and getting so emotionally involved with any one recruit. You know the drill. It’s not done until the papers are signed. Nobody owes you anything to protect your feelings. It’s business and we need to accept that. I hope the people complaining about this never go into sales. You will be sorely disappointed in life if you do.
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I literally qualified my statement with the second paragraph haha please read my comments.
 
#556      

BTM33

B
BTM33
LvilleILL said:
All I was told was the next two days but could be today. What me Indy or other insiders provide is what we hear and I realize it always doesn’t come true. Recruiting is crazy and these kids are in high school (some in college). A lot of people forget how an 18-20 year old can change their minds quickly, and now it’s even crazier with the nil situation. I will not always be right but the information is legitimate. I appreciate everyone on here who listens to me Indy TC and others, we do our best to give you guys solid information. This offseason has been tough but Brad is a great coach and I can tell you guys some of our upcoming classes of hs kids are going to be really good. Fingers crossed on the Kofi situation, I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated
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I appreciate reading your insight. Thank you.

My question lately has been the actual pull of Brad Underwood. I know that you see alot of recruits who go to a school ONLY because of the relationship with the recruiter/assistant. When that relationship ends or changes, the relationship with the actual head coach comes back into play. I worry about BU's attractiveness, recruiting wise, outside of his assistant (In this case now, Chester). I remain pessimistic on Kofi because he himself made no mention of his relationship with BU, positive OR negative at all. It was all about Chin.

I don't think BU has the pull to bring Kofi back just by himself, and I continue to worry about that in the future. Do kids comes to Illinois because of Brad? It certainly doesn't look like they stay because of Brad, players or assistants.

This isn't to just rip on BU, its just a consistant thene lately. This has been a very rough offseason, I just hope this current regime wasn't TOO built on 3 assistants who are no longer here.
 
#557      

Fanview

Fanview
Fanview
BTM33 said:
I appreciate reading your insight. Thank you.

My question lately has been the actual pull of Brad Underwood. I know that you see alot of recruits who go to a school ONLY because of the relationship with the recruiter/assistant. When that relationship ends or changes, the relationship with the actual head coach comes back into play. I worry about BU's attractiveness, recruiting wise, outside of his assistant (In this case now, Chester). I remain pessimistic on Kofi because he himself made no mention of his relationship with BU, positive OR negative at all. It was all about Chin.

I don't think BU has the pull to bring Kofi back just by himself, and I continue to worry about that in the future. Do kids comes to Illinois because of Brad? It certainly doesn't look like they stay because of Brad, players or assistants.

This isn't to just rip on BU, its just a consistant thene lately. This has been a very rough offseason, I just hope this current regime wasn't TOO built on 3 assistants who are no longer here.
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I’ll pull some stuff up later... but Kofi has given praise to Brad many times. As has Ayo. He’s the head coach. He has a relationship with these guys. He’s even went out on the limb for them. Can’t overstate how much Brad emphasized and said Ayo was league ready
 
#558      

EliteIllini

E
EliteIllini
Epsilon said:
Honestly, it’s on you all for thinking that it’s a done deal and getting so emotionally involved with any one recruit. You know the drill. It’s not done until the papers are signed. Nobody owes you anything to protect your feelings. It’s business and we need to accept that. I hope the people complaining about this never go into sales. You will be sorely disappointed in life if you do.
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I agree people are overreacting, but I don't believe the frustration stems from "any one recruit". The frustration is the culmination of several recruiting battles lost over the last couple years. Losing out on Garcia stings, but the guy passed on the blue bloods already once. Hard to do it twice with NIL money and the league on the line.

As a program, we are heading in the right direction. However, as we get closer to where we want to be, it feels like there is more and more pressure to deliver. We tasted a bit of success, and don't ever want to experience the dark days again.
 
#559      

IlliniDawgs

I
IlliniDawgs
BTM33 said:
I appreciate reading your insight. Thank you.

My question lately has been the actual pull of Brad Underwood. I know that you see alot of recruits who go to a school ONLY because of the relationship with the recruiter/assistant. When that relationship ends or changes, the relationship with the actual head coach comes back into play. I worry about BU's attractiveness, recruiting wise, outside of his assistant (In this case now, Chester). I remain pessimistic on Kofi because he himself made no mention of his relationship with BU, positive OR negative at all. It was all about Chin.

I don't think BU has the pull to bring Kofi back just by himself, and I continue to worry about that in the future. Do kids comes to Illinois because of Brad? It certainly doesn't look like they stay because of Brad, players or assistants.

This isn't to just rip on BU, its just a consistant thene lately. This has been a very rough offseason, I just hope this current regime wasn't TOO built on 3 assistants who are no longer here.
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Kofi has specifically praised Brad for how hard he pushes him. However, I don’t think it’s unfair to question a little bit this offseason given how horribly wrong everything has gone. Regardless, probably won’t be able to properly judge until like 2023
 
#560      

Fr8trn16

F
Fr8trn16
Whitewaterr said:
I think insiders could boost their credibility by using less definitive language. Saying "hearing Garcia to Illinois" or "there will be fireworks next week" are easy gaffes that can be hedged against by making less of a "promise".

What I will say is that it's all in good fun and we all know *deep down* that we aren't here for the quality of information, rather the quantity of it.
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Well there was fireworks! Ijs! 🤷🏾‍♂️
 
#561      

BTM33

B
BTM33
Fanview said:
I’ll pull some stuff up later... but Kofi has given praise to Brad many times. As has Ayo. He’s the head coach. He has a relationship with these guys. He’s even went out on the limb for them. Can’t overstate how much Brad emphasized and said Ayo was league ready
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For me though its not what is said publicly. We know BU is terrific with the media, always says the right things, always is level headed while throwing out "elite" about his players constantly.

Of course the players are gonna say the right things to the media, what else are they gonna say?

My question is internally when the guy who recruited you, who you are very tight with, may have a different outlook or approach then the red faced, hollering, spitting head coach has...how does that affect your outlook of the program from the top down.

As a long time Bulls fan, I fear BU has a Tom Thibodeau complex. Thibs was good with the media and NEVER publicly threw his players under the bus...he also was a b*tch to play for and still has a reputation of winning, but also being universally not fun to play for. Obviously its not an identical comparison, but thats my fear.

BU has done great things so far, but the evidence isnt on his side when it comes to players buying in specifically to what he himself is preaching. Maybe I'm wrong and were just in a rough patch, but I hope the reason Illinois is great, is because BU is great and has the ability to coach and gis players and assistants from the top down, not the other way around.
 
#562      

LongLiveTheChief

L
LongLiveTheChief
Whitewaterr said:
I think insiders could boost their credibility by using less definitive language. Saying "hearing Garcia to Illinois" or "there will be fireworks next week" are easy gaffes that can be hedged against by making less of a "promise".

What I will say is that it's all in good fun and we all know *deep down* that we aren't here for the quality of information, rather the quantity of it.
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To be fair, there is still time for good news this week.
 
#563      

Fanview

Fanview
Fanview
BTM33 said:
BU has done great things so far, but the evidence isnt on his side when it comes to players buying in specifically to what he himself is preaching. Maybe I'm wrong and were just in a rough patch, but I hope the reason Illinois is great, is because BU is great and has the ability to coach and gis players and assistants from the top down, not the other way around.
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2 seniors who have been in the program all of Brad’s tenure elected to return. Evidence looks to be on his side
What evidence do you have outside of Kofi potentially leaving to be with the guy who, by all accounts, sounds like brought him here?

Also why do we make it sound like these assistants fell from the sky? Brad recruited them here

I think it’s good to ask questions by the way so don’t take this as me coming at you. Just countering your points
 
#564      

Indy Illini Fan

Indy Illini Fan
Indy Illini Fan
Looks like Geoff found a good spot to take in tonight’s games 👀
787A67DC-98D5-4A5B-803E-049AE0A8A4EB.jpeg
 
#565      

Cook

Cook
Richmond, VA
Cook
sacraig said:
We have no idea what that widget spit out or if it is lowball. On the contrary, it's just as likely or more so that others are overpromising. Overpromising and underdelivering is not something you can do for too long without a serious reputation hit among your clientele.
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Right now there is little issue with over promising because just like you don't know if the offer was low, you don't know that the high isn't realistic either. So for now, use it to your advantage not your disadvantage. Also, not saying do so long term. Right now there is a type of plausible deniability given the all the utter unknowns.
 
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#567      

BTM33

B
BTM33
Fanview said:
2 seniors who have been in the program all of Brad’s tenure elected to return. Evidence looks to be on his side
What evidence do you have outside of Kofi potentially leaving to be with the guy who, by all accounts, sounds like brought him here?

Also why do we make it sound like these assistants fell from the sky? Brad recruited them here

I think it’s good to ask questions by the way so don’t take this as me coming at you. Just countering your points
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No worries and all good, both are good points.

I would counter and say thay it seems like Trent was going to be here regardless, already stayed through one change and got a bonus year...Damonte also seems like an Illini regardless, because of his role and because of his family.

The Adam Miller thing was weird and the Kofi thing is even more so because of what he has built here. Both Miller and Kofi had/have a million reasons to stay, especially if they feel the way they say you do about BU.

Again, maybe this is anomoly...but you have lost soooo much this offseason, and alot of it after losing your assistants. My point is, were your assistants always worth more then your head coach? I'm just not sure.
 
#570      

LongLiveTheChief

L
LongLiveTheChief
BTM33 said:
No worries and all good, both are good points.

I would counter and say thay it seems like Trent was going to be here regardless, already stayed through one change and got a bonus year...Damonte also seems like an Illini regardless, because of his role and because of his family.

The Adam Miller thing was weird and the Kofi thing is even more so because of what he has built here. Both Miller and Kofi had/have a million reasons to stay, especially if they feel the way they say you do about BU.

Again, maybe this is anomoly...but you have lost soooo much this offseason, and alot of it after losing your assistants. My point is, were your assistants always worth more then your head coach? I'm just not sure.
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There’s also something to be said for guys who commit to a team that’s mediocre and expect to play a large role, then when they doesn’t come to fruition, hop on a chance to try greener pastures.
As for Kofi - I think it’s largely a keeping options open thing and exploring what’s best for him now that he has national attention. To be fair, and not saying this is true, if I was trying to get to the NBA and felt like where I was was not getting me there, it would make sense to explore other options that might improve my chances. He had a deadline so entered the portal to extend the deadline. This isn’t all that complex
 
#571      

Fr8trn16

F
Fr8trn16
Fanview said:
I get people having high expectations and wanting to close on recruits. I feel the same.

But the fact that I've seen murmurs of "hot seat" from fans on social media is wild. We just made the tournament since who knows when and were a 1 seed. Things didn't end well, but there's a lot to be optimistic about. I'm not saying we're gonna be a top 10 team season, but I'm hopeful to end a top 25 team. Let's see how the season pans out before we start making bold statements.

How quick we forget where we were before Brad got here... I don't think these expectations would be as crazy if it wasn't for the fact he propelled us up so fast.
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Question Mark What GIF by MOODMAN

Hot Seat? Murmurs? Somebody really tripping! Leave the drugs alone people!
 
#572      

Fanview

Fanview
Fanview
BTM33 said:
I would counter and say thay it seems like Trent was going to be here regardless, already stayed through one change and got a bonus year...Damonte also seems like an Illini regardless, because of his role and because of his family.
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If the Wisconsin situation tells you anything, it’s that guys aren’t gonna stay just “because”. These guys could go make money elsewhere. Electing to return for a 5th year isn’t something you do because “you bleed orange and blue”.
 
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