Only saw the video but very skilled offensively and a disinterested defender. Didn’t look well conditioned but this was in HS.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Saw Ames on NFHS last night. Good outside shot, primary ball handler, out of control sometimes, 7 turn overs, 3 assists, led team in scoring. I saw Fears the night before. Underwood, boy did you make the right decision on Boswell and Ames over Fears. I am just an amateur armchair talent evaluator. Ames passes my eye test.
You're right, I missed this in the link: "Payment of principal and interest on athletic facilities debt, leases and rental fees in the reporting year." To be fair, I did say it was likely I was missing something! Found an article:
College Athletic Debt Soars as Power 5 Programs Resist Scrutiny
Writing for Sportico, University of Illinois professor and athletic board member Michael LeRoy paints a picture of massive athletics debt and misleading administration on his campus and beyond.
www.athleticbusiness.com
So a few things. This article seems to have the problem going back to 2014 ("Simply put, Illinois’ athletic program has been deeply mired in debt since 2014.") That's pre-Whitman. I suppose you can blame Whitman for not going into belt-tightening/austerity mode. But that means no facilities upgrades, no coaching changes, no pay increases to retain talented coaches and assistant coaches. And at the end of the day, that likely means bad teams in both revenue sports, and probably a lot less revenue. Not sure that ultimately helps the debt situation.
2nd, the article shows this is a widespread issue. Iowa's annual debt service is over $32 million a year, with Alabama and OSU not far behind. In a lot of ways it appears to be the cost of doing business.
Last, it appears a good chunk of this debt is to the University. Not sure if that's actually better than it being to a bank, but I guess it makes me feel a little better that a good chunk of this annual debt service is going back to the University, and presumably to academics.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Bossi on Highland Shootout, nice section on Ames: https://247sports.com/LongFormArtic...z-Johnson-Jevon-Porter-180183180/#180183180_1
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Boswell is a 5-star player just about anywhere you look--247, Rivals, ESPN, etc. I'd love to get him, esp. since he's a 2023 recruit
I don't think anyone DOESN'T want Boswell to come to IL. Some are just concerned BU's reach may exceed his grasp.
BU and staff always seem to have a plan A, plan B, plan C and plan D. It seems that A thru D are always good plans. Not worried about shooting blanks in 2023.
You can see many clips of Kenwood games on YouTube. My only real complaint about Ames is, either he is an Eric Dickerson type where he makes it look effortless even when busting his butt, or I would like to see him give a little more. He's very effective but, at least looks, like he's going 3/4 speed. I feel like if he went 100% he'd make people look like fools. Again, that could just be how it appears, not reality.
But if Underwood wants shooting, Ames can shoot. Not much rotation on the ball, but it goes in at a high rate.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Good assessment. Should he come to Illinois, staff and the huge step up in competition should rectify his coasting, IMO.
OSF and UI athletes
Noticed a bill board for OSF with DMW. Found this on line that I hadn't heard about previously.
Noticed a bill board for OSF with DMW. Found this on line that I hadn't heard about previously.
Fears committed to Mich St.
frozenrope9190
- Aurora, IL
The gerbil tubes! Been a life saver when I've been up there for work during the winter.
Dont forget Ayo's dad is an assistant coach at Kenwood so BU is getting the entire scoop on ALL facets of Ames including work habits, academics, personality in general and any other positives/pitfalls that may exist
Would love to add Ames, get that bird in the hand and then chase the huge fish in Boswell.
sacraig
- The desert
Would both be willing to play with the other, though?
No idea. I assume the staff has a good feel tho
Correct. If you manipulate my link a little bit you will see that our debt basically goes back to 2008 ($137M). That was when the Memorial Stadium renovation took place. The party line at the time was that proceeds from enhanced seating options would make that debt repayment manageable. The problem, of course, at the end of the Zook era thru Beckman, Cubit and Smith attendance went in the toilet and the enhanced ticket revenue never materialized. Fortunately, revenue from the Big Ten Network grew tremendously through that period and currently sits north of $50M/per year. The debt remained pretty steady until 2014 when it jumped up to $263M due to the renovation of the Assembly Hall. It dropped slowly from there until 2019 when the Smith Center was added and debt grew to $323.5M which is the second highest in the nation. Newer construction projects for soccer, track, baseball, softball, golf and basketball practice are either relatively small or heavily funded up front and won't likely add significantly more debt. What's needed is more butts in Memorial Stadium on Saturdays which will require winning football. Could also use significantly more donor dollars to the DIA but that could well be in direct competition to newly desired NIL dollars.College Athletic Debt Soars as Power 5 Programs Resist Scrutiny
Writing for Sportico, University of Illinois professor and athletic board member Michael LeRoy paints a picture of massive athletics debt and misleading administration on his campus and beyond.
So a few things. This article seems to have the problem going back to 2014 ("Simply put, Illinois’ athletic program has been deeply mired in debt since 2014.") That's pre-Whitman. I
Interesting problem to have...and it sounds like we have a big time guard transferring to us also? I can't bring myself to pick 3...Big Boy Ball!
And at least 2 have to leave even if we don't sign anyone else right? Let the wild speculation begin/continue!
Sorry, but I don't think it is interesting at all. By 'speculate' you mean no information needs to be applied. Pulll it out of you A. Friends, relative, and maybe players will read the speculation based on nothing, and could feel not wanted. The coaches make many millions of dollars to deal with this, because they are the best with dealing with it. Let them manage the roster. Please.
Highlights from October
illini80
- Forgottonia
Good summary of where we are. A football turnaround could fill that budget hole nicely. The days of cheap tickets hopefully is coming to an end. Not that I didn’t enjoy them, but we need full ticket prices to get where we need to go.
A better football program should mean more national TV exposure (money)...make a bowl game or two and again more $$$....more people attending home games at a higher ticket price...more $$$....and don't forget the alums...winning seems to have some influence on the number and size of donations $$$.....would absolutely help with budgeting issues
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
It's an interesting topic (and, yes, I know it's completely unrelated to the Hoops Recruiting thread.You're right, I missed this in the link: "Payment of principal and interest on athletic facilities debt, leases and rental fees in the reporting year." To be fair, I did say it was likely I was missing something! Found an article:
College Athletic Debt Soars as Power 5 Programs Resist Scrutiny
Writing for Sportico, University of Illinois professor and athletic board member Michael LeRoy paints a picture of massive athletics debt and misleading administration on his campus and beyond.
So a few things. This article seems to have the problem going back to 2014 ("Simply put, Illinois’ athletic program has been deeply mired in debt since 2014.") That's pre-Whitman. I suppose you can blame Whitman for not going into belt-tightening/austerity mode. But that means no facilities upgrades, no coaching changes, no pay increases to retain talented coaches and assistant coaches. And at the end of the day, that likely means bad teams in both revenue sports, and probably a lot less revenue. Not sure that ultimately helps the debt situation.
2nd, the article shows this is a widespread issue. Iowa's annual debt service is over $32 million a year, with Alabama and OSU not far behind. In a lot of ways it appears to be the cost of doing business.
Last, it appears a good chunk of this debt is to the University. Not sure if that's actually better than it being to a bank, but I guess it makes me feel a little better that a good chunk of this annual debt service is going back to the University, and presumably to academics.
) The problem with Prof. LeRoy's Sportico article is that he furnishes figures that are insufficient for determining whether the debt load is truly excessive.He supplies recent annual DIA revenue, debt, and annual debt service, but not figures for expenses that would allow calculation of net income and the free cash flow (net income adding back non-cash items like depreciation) for DIA. That free cash flow figure (cash flow available for debt service, actually), as well as an assumption concerning its annual rate of increase (or, yikes, decrease) is what's needed to estimate whether the DIA debt is reasonable or excessive. I have no idea what the financial statements of DIA look like (to the extent they even exist) but would be interested in seeing them.
[EDIT: My bad. I haven't looked at this thread in several days. I missed BRucks' link to the full DIA financial data yesterday afternoon. Just caught up and saw it.]
The poor performance of football over many years probably has blown a hole in DIA's finances. All the investment in facilities is aimed at attracting talent and developing a product that will fill Memorial Stadium seats again.
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