Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
#1      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
Welcome to the Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread :illinois:

2023 Illini Recruiting
Amani Hansberry (2023 PF) committed on August 28th, 2022, signed on November 9th, 2022.
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (2023 G) committed on September 30th, 2022, signed on November 9th, 2022.

2024 Illini Recruiting
Morez Johnson (2024 PF) committed on November 4th, 2021.
 
#2      

BWA

B
BWA
I know we expect transfers and all, but we do not have a lot of players for next year right now. Best guess at who is back

RJ
Goode
Dainja
Epps
Rodgers
Harris
DGL
Hansberry
Lieb?

That is not a lot of bodies.
 
#3      

fulton steamer

F
fulton steamer
BWA said:
I know we expect transfers and all, but we do not have a lot of players for next year right now. Best guess at who is back

RJ
Goode
Dainja
Epps
Rodgers
Harris
DGL
Hansberry
Lieb?

That is not a lot of bodies.
Click to expand...
Hawkins?
 
#7      

Illini808

I
Illini808
armo859 said:
Add Moretti, though at this I don't count on the international player until he plays in an actual Big Ten game.

Two open scholarships for certain (Perrin, Clarke). TBD: Hawkins and Lieb. Wild card: RJ. Best guess, we end up with as many as 5 new players. Welcome to the free agency era. Team chemistry is optional, at best.
Click to expand...
Chemistry isn't a time thing. Some guys just click.
 
#8      

BashCtIllini

BashCtIllini
BashCtIllini
Illini808 said:
Chemistry isn't a time thing. Some guys just click.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's true when going to the bar on a Friday night. When it comes to knowing a teammate is going to see his defender playing tight, so he's going to cut backdoor, that takes time.

I, and many others, think that was a big part of why the 04-05 team was so great. Not only a great collection of individual talents, but also they could read each other and that creates synergy.

I think no one will deny this years team is really just a collection of talent and not a cohesive team. I've bemoaned ad nauseam I'm concerned this is what the transfer era will lead to. My hope is that this year is an aberration. We are getting over 114 minutes of a possible 200 from players new to the program, and that's not including Dainja and Skyy. If you added just Dainja that would be roughly 135 minutes, 68% of our minutes from newbies.
 
#9      

sacraig

sacraig
The desert
sacraig
armo859 said:
Add Moretti, though at this I don't count on the international player until he plays in an actual Big Ten game.

Two open scholarships for certain (Perrin, Clarke). TBD: Hawkins and Lieb. Wild card: RJ. Best guess, we end up with as many as 5 new players. Welcome to the free agency era. Team chemistry is optional, at best.
Click to expand...
If we have 5 new players, that means we have 8 returning players around which to build chemistry.

 
Last edited:
#10      

Emerson Bigguns

Emerson Bigguns
Emerson Bigguns
BashCtIllini said:
I think no one will deny this years team is really just a collection of talent and not a cohesive team. I've bemoaned ad nauseam I'm concerned this is what the transfer era will lead to. My hope is that this year is an aberration. We are getting over 114 minutes of a possible 200 from players new to the program, and that's not including Dainja and Skyy. If you added just Dainja that would be roughly 135 minutes, 68% of our minutes from newbies.
Click to expand...
Hopefully, it will be a long time before we are ever in a situation where we return zero starters from the previous year. Our returning players had a combined 15 starts between them. (14 for Hawkins, 1 for RJ) Only Hawkins averaged double digit minutes. Couple that the fact that the guy with the second most court time in an Illini uniform missed 2/3 of the season, and you have a pretty extreme lack of continuity.

We virtually had to start from scratch. Even in an era where continuity will be harder to maintain, I think this year is an anomaly from that perspective.
 
#12      

FinallyMadeAnAccount

F
FinallyMadeAnAccount
LvilleILL said:
We will return a lot more than what we did last year which will be huge. I would expect 5/6 of that list to be back, plus Moretti, the two freshman, and at least 3 or maybe 4 transfers coming in
Click to expand...
I saw the other day that during senior night we are only honoring Shannon and Mayer but not Hawkins. Last year, Kofi participated in senior night while being a junior. So do you happen to know if this means Hawkins might end up staying his senior year?

My guess would be that he's intending on declaring for the draft, going to the combine, and then deciding based on the feedback from scouts.

Do you have any intel on his thought process by any chance?
 
#13      

mikeyo

M
mikeyo
LvilleILL said:
We will return a lot more than what we did last year which will be huge. I would expect 5/6 of that list to be back, plus Moretti, the two freshman, and at least 3 or maybe 4 transfers coming in
Click to expand...
Epps?
 
#16      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
FinallyMadeAnAccount said:
I saw the other day that during senior night we are only honoring Shannon and Mayer but not Hawkins. Last year, Kofi participated in senior night while being a junior. So do you happen to know if this means Hawkins might end up staying his senior year?

My guess would be that he's intending on declaring for the draft, going to the combine, and then deciding based on the feedback from scouts.

Do you have any intel on his thought process by any chance?
Click to expand...

zero intel. I suspect scouts are intrigued by Hawkins' skill set & length, tempered heavily by lack of consistency and offensive mistakes. Right now, I'd be shocked if he's a 1st rounder. I'd like him to come back. I think he can improve his stock. That and $5 will get you a cup of coffee.
 
#17      

TheGreatDebate

T
TheGreatDebate
LvilleILL said:
We will return a lot more than what we did last year which will be huge. I would expect 5/6 of that list to be back, plus Moretti, the two freshman, and at least 3 or maybe 4 transfers coming in
Click to expand...
This board is going to run with this, isn't there 3 freshmen? Harris, Epps, and Rodgers
 
#21      

BashCtIllini

BashCtIllini
BashCtIllini
LvilleILL said:
We will return a lot more than what we did last year which will be huge. I would expect 5/6 of that list to be back, plus Moretti, the two freshman, and at least 3 or maybe 4 transfers coming in
Click to expand...

Hopefully not all of those transfers will be Srs.

Just put yourself in Matthew Mayer's or Terrance Shannon's shoes. You want to play in the NBA. You are pretty close, but not quite there. Furthermore, you have direct feedback from the NBA telling you, this is what we need to see from you. You're now on a new team and you know, I need to show on X. Well aren't you going to be very interested in doing just that? So then you have an internal struggle, team vs I came here because you said you could help me get into the NBA and this is how I do it.
 
#22      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
LvilleILL said:
We will return a lot more than what we did last year which will be huge. I would expect 5/6 of that list to be back, plus Moretti, the two freshman, and at least 3 or maybe 4 transfers coming in
Click to expand...
hey bro , you think cohawk might be coming back next year ??????......
 
#25      

NarrowJ

NarrowJ
NarrowJ
LvilleILL said:
Potentially. A lot has to play out there. I think there's a better chance than there was at the start of the year (which was basically 0)
Click to expand...

The situation merely different now because his 110% confidence he'd be in that 1st round conversation hasn't panned out, or is there more to it than that (maybe wanting to go back closer to home, looking at $ overseas, etc etc)?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.