Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#1,326      
ILLINIShox24
The university should be interested in accepting exceptional talent in all fields. Not everyone has to be well rounded across subjects. Frustrating to think that we would turn away the greatest piano prodigy in the world if they couldn't spell. Be the place that helps exceptional people improve their weaknesses while continuing to grow their strengths.
 
#1,327      
IlliniDawgs
BWA said:
Prefacing this by saying I didn't watch a single Texas Tech game this year. What am I missing with Terrance Shannon? His stats look more like a Jacob Grandison type player, not the guy I would expect at the top of the transfer ratings. Is he just a total lock-down defender?
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His usage rate took a pretty big step back this year. Look at his stats last year, if he would have progressed naturally as he probably expected he would have scored around 15 ppg most likely. He was on nba boards last year. Needs to move somewhere he can be a top dog. Is a terrific 2-way player though. My expectation is he thinks he could get another NBA look here as opposed to the style of game Tech plays. Just business baby.

He also battled injuries all year this year which played a part offensively as well.
 
#1,329      
Roundball Sage
College football and basketball will always be the most public face of a University for most of the general population.

Most Americans might have a personal tie to one or maybe a couple of colleges for personal reasons or through family and friends. The many hundreds of other schools just don’t get noticed for the most part because for most people they don’t have to be. Except for sports fanatics, people are too busy living their lives and only start to pay more attention (if they do) during college bowl season or during March Madness. (And even then, betting might really be their draw in).

So, how does a University stand out and get noticed? Have an elite major sports program. The middle-feeders don’t get noticed. The bottom dwellers don’t get noticed. But SEC footballers and the roundball Blue Bloods ALWAYS get noticed and even casual fans recognize those nameplates.

And so it is a self-generation loop of attention as high schoolers then gravitate to those big name programs with a legacy of success so they can leverage their short college careers to be highest chances of success. This is why Alabama and Ohio State get a constant stream of 5-star guys on the gridiron and the usual basketball Blue Boys do likewise. Once you get up to that highest level of name recognition and attention it is very hard to fall off that perch. Even when a big name or charismatic coach retires they are usually quickly replaced by some stud on the way up as Management knows what the bigger game is all about.

That’s why we in Illini Nation are so thankful for the developments of the past five years. A legacy successful program that fell on hard times finds the right guys to lead a turnaround to elevate the program back to the top 10-percentile on the court. And something similar is being attempted to elevate the football program above the level it has been stuck at for generations.

In some ways regarding admissions, one might look at bringing in a guy who isn’t the greatest student (in marketing terms) like a ‘loss leader’. Not talking about the character of the guy but the idea of compromising a bit on something to rake in greater benefits as an offshoot.

And the player in question has chance to be in quality institution and is given a golden opportunity to succeed on and off the field of play. Not a bad setup for the rest of his life.
 
#1,330      
the juiceman cometh
DMWSuperFan said:
26% graduation rate begs to challenge that, though it’s not HORRIBLE, ranked around 227 among national universities. It may be a very positive impact of a school, but pretty strong seems to be a tad much.

I’m not suggesting anyone graduating from there is not of high quality - to be fair, I’ve not actually met anyone that graduated from there, but from an academic reputation standpoint, I think they would fall more along the lines of “decent”.

For comparison purposes, Alabama is ranked 148th, so just shy of 80 spots ahead of NMSU.

Again, not saying it’s a bad school, just that it doesn’t exactly have the reputation academically of being a strong academic school.
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I think these stats are a bit misleading. It's all based on 4-year graduation, and a lot of students don't stick to that timeline anymore, often for very good reasons. A friend of mine finished his engineering degree in 4.5 years, went on to a top 25 law school, and is now a very successful attorney. Yet based on the 4-year metric you'd assume the university failed him in some way.
 
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#1,331      
BashCtIllini
BWA said:
Prefacing this by saying I didn't watch a single Texas Tech game this year. What am I missing with Terrance Shannon? His stats look more like a Jacob Grandison type player, not the guy I would expect at the top of the transfer ratings. Is he just a total lock-down defender?
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Have you looked at the others?

He is a starter on a Sweet 16 team. It was a balanced team, so while he was the 2nd leading scorer, 2 other guys scored about the same amount. He's got good size, very good athlete, strong defender, definitely plays with attitude (sometimes too much).

I don't think he's an All Big Ten player, but not many All Conference players, from a P5 conference, transfer.
 
#1,332      
MannyBianco
the juiceman cometh said:
I think you're kind of splitting hairs here. Just because fine arts is taught doesn't mean the typical fine arts major is exempt from general academic requirements. If I fail all my high school English, history and gym classes, do I get a pass because I'm applying to be a math major? No. The point is that universities should consider the whole picture when it comes to students who excel in specialized areas, even when they don't meet all traditional requirements. Certainly academic institutions have taken to weighting extra curriculars higher than they used to. Shouldn't that apply to basketball and football players, who spend so much time on their extra curriculars that it probably leads to adverse effects on academics for many of them.
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So…just revenue sports? All athletics?

The reason that the DIA is a separate organization is that it does not contribute to the academic mission of the university. I like illinois sports, but I’d rather lose the NCAAT Final than win and find out years later that the players didn’t go to class, like our friends in powder blue. I have no problem if our admissions standards exclude some potential students, even if they’re really good at basketball.
 
#1,334      
the juiceman cometh
MannyBianco said:
So…just revenue sports? All athletics?

The reason that the DIA is a separate organization is that it does not contribute to the academic mission of the university. I like illinois sports, but I’d rather lose the NCAAT Final than win and find out years later that the players didn’t go to class, like our friends in powder blue. I have no problem if our admissions standards exclude some potential students, even if they’re really good at basketball.
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Of course all athletics. We're talking about extra curriculars which round out the resume of an applicant. Gymnastics and wresling are just as much extra curriculars as football and basketball. And I guarantee success in non-revenue sports helps kids get into schools all the time. But value judgments are also made all the time. Let's say the university is judging two students for admission, with the same grades and test scores, and both are borderline academically. On extra curriculars, one is an accomplished concert pianist, the other is among the best theramin players in the world. Which do you think gets in first? The pianist has a much higher potential to garner prestige and publicity to the university, so of course that's going to help their admission.
 
#1,335      
Shockey19
Feel like I can add some perspective to the whole athletics/admissions debate as I’m currently a freshman at UIUC, so it’s only been a year since I went through the whole process.

While the main reasons I chose UIUC were the accounting program and scholarships, the basketball team’s success certainly helped me choose here. As a huge sports fan, having a team to cheer on played somewhat of a role in my decision. Yes, academics are the driving force behind college decision, but college is also supposed to be fun, and the atmosphere/athletics plays an important role in that. I’m envious of certain schools football environment, for example you can watch one clip of Penn State’s whiteout games and immediately you want to be there or apart of something like that. I went to Notre Dame football games as a high schooler and that atmosphere was part of the reason Notre Dame was one of the other 2 schools I really considered.

But getting back to basketball, I was a casual sports fan until just a few years ago (Ayos freshman year is when I really got into the sport). You could see the potential in that team and then the next year they were finally good, and that’s all it took for me to become a diehard fan. I watched every game and was honestly by far the biggest reason I loved the school before I even enrolled.

ANOTHER anecdote, I have a friend from back home who’s super into college football. He’s smart enough to go to much better schools than he is, but his parents have !!!! you money and a wealth of connections so guess where he’s going right now… Alabama
 
#1,337      
Illiniguy13
BWA said:
Prefacing this by saying I didn't watch a single Texas Tech game this year. What am I missing with Terrance Shannon? His stats look more like a Jacob Grandison type player, not the guy I would expect at the top of the transfer ratings. Is he just a total lock-down defender?
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Big athletic wing, strong slasher and cutter. Strong defender. He’s improved his outside shot each year at TT. Hit the 3 at 38% year. If that doesn’t do it for you, here’s a *10 minute* highlite reel of dunks.

 
#1,338      
IlliniKat91
the juiceman cometh said:
I think these stats are a bit misleading. It's all based on 4-year graduation, and a lot of students don't stick to that timeline anymore, often for very good reasons. A friend of mine finished his engineering degree in 4.5 years, went on to a top 25 law school, and is now a very successful attorney. Yet based on the 4-year metric you'd assume the university failed him in some way.
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It also only takes into account traditional (read: fresh out of high school), full-time students. Part timers and returning learners aren't factored in.
 
#1,341      
sacraig
WhiteHorseWings said:
With or without minute allocations?
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Either works for me. I see our lineup next year as

1: Larry Bird, Larry Bird
2: Larry Bird, Larry Bird, Larry Bird
3: Larry Bird, Larry Bird, Larry Bird
4: Larry Bird, Larry Bird, Larry Bird
5: Larry Bird, Larry Bird

But Larry Bird can really play anything from the 1 to the 4. This is assuming we land them all.

Also the practice reports on Larry Bird are amazing. Don't be surprised if he cracks the rotation and the NBA comes sniffing around next year.
 
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#1,344      
WestSuburbanIllini
So I've been pretty Mia this week, would someone mind catching me up on why we seem to think that AC is going to be one of the ones transferring out?

Tia
 
#1,350      
dbeaverfg
illini0440 said:
Oh it’s about the transfer. His grades are fine….he’s got plenty of credits. But do all those credits transfer over to Illinois and in the major he needs them in. It’s all stupid.
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Unfortunately, this is not limited to UIUC by any means. My daughter ran track & cross country at Illinois for 2 years. Got a career-ending injury and decided to transfer to NIU to be close to home. Northern would not accept probably close to 20% of her credits from Illinois. Schools are locked into their own perception of how prestigious their academics are.
 
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