Aren't those the same shoes Adam Miller wore at his commitment show? Is he back?
Aren't those the same shoes Adam Miller wore at his commitment show? Is he back?
I actually sort of get this one if you think about it from a season as a whole standpoint, instead of a coaching relationship standpoint (basically the polar opposite of Epps). RJ had a really tough year performance wise and even if he does like the coach and environment and the sticking with him as a starter, sometimes you just decide that maybe a change of scenery and different shooting environment might change things. Like if you do a year end review and look at what you accomplished over the past year and compare it to the high expectations you had for yourself, sometimes you feel like no matter how nice everyone was to you, it still was a failure and maybe you'd have better success elsewhere. I'm not saying it's the best move for him, but I do sort of get it if this was his reasoning.If it ends up being RJ, this is the one transfer I can't put any blame on Underwood. For how bad and for how long RJ played miserably, Underwood did nothing but publicly back the kid. And he continued to show that belief in his playing time as well. If RJ leaves after Underwood bent over backwards to help the kid, it would be mind-blowing to me.
You expected anything different? If only we were as level headed as Hoosier fans!!! /sThe offseason on here is the best. Indy drops a GIF of Mike Tyson walking a Tiger and we’re penciling a guy who hasn’t even indicated he’s transferring yet into our starting 5
I am seriously considering retiring to Paducah now. Wow!
And just like that, the Internet proved its worth to me today. Thanks pru!
This is worse than pro, much worse. How do you build a pro team if everybody is a free agent every off season?I have suggested mostly tongue in cheek that college basketball just become a pro sport. Privately-owned teams with pro (not student) players. Team owners would be free to move the team (name/mascot stays with the university) at will, but school could likewise dump a franchise. Players would benefit by not having to go to classes and meet all kinds of academic folderol, spending more time on their game, plus they could be paid whatever the franchise owner is willing to pay.
Of course, I don’t follow pro sports. College, on the other hand, these guys walk the same quad, go to class in the same buildings, and live in the same dorms (oops, that last one not so much anymore). But now the student-athlete bond has been broken.
I will say this, NIL is going out the transfer portal. Those unwilling to invest their heart aren’t going to invest their hard cold cash. Golden egg of NIL is seeing goose killed by transferring.
No you were notLol, am I the only one who reads this as:
“Tyson.” “Walker.”
How much does Tyger liking/wanting to play for Tim Anderson outweigh NIL $$$? If the way I’m reading the tea leaves is correct, I think that factor seems to maybe tip the difference. Playing closer to home and with TJS and CoHawk may also be important factors…
Oh no!Hmmm. Did another player take down all their Illini references on their Instagram account today?
I don’t know bro. I kinda remember being 18-20. I was too dumb to know how dumb I was. I am still dumb but at least now I know it. I think. Maybe. I don’t know. Nevermind.
I don’t see him wanting to play another year in college. It’d be his 6th year of college if he comes back. He will turn 24 next January. Just doesn’t make much sense. If he’s gonna play in Europe, China, G League, or NBA you gotta go when you are still relatively young.
I will say I want to go back to the pre-portal, pre-sponsorship, pre-college agents, pre-college salary, pre-free agent market tearing up teams every year times.
Why even associate with a college? This is just becoming NBA-lite.
Class of ‘93… and it’s been downhill since we lost our Chief!
Who? Who’s left?Oh no!
TSJ has no Illini on his twitter now.Who? Who’s left?
Who? Who’s left?
Went to the bars with my father in law down there. He lived in Metropolis for a long time. Guy around there everyone calls cowboy that will talk your head off at the bar. You know that fella Pru?I am seriously considering retiring to Paducah now. Wow!
My thoughts exactly. Scouting, practicing, in season preparation to actually win games right now. Never-ending re-recruitment of your current players. Constant pulse checks and monitoring about possible future portal additions. Freshman recruiting. All at the and time.Putting aside my thoughts about the portal, NIL, etc, I can't even comprehend the difficulty of the job of a head basketball coach in the current NCAA climate. Nobody is going to feel sorry for BU, as he gets paid millions of dollars for what he does, but having to re-recruit the entire roster every year while also coaching and trying to win games in the moment just feels like a monumental task. Do coaches need to shift to more of a "what can you do for me now" mentality rather than looking toward the future? Why put the effort into trying to develop underclassmen if they are so often going to leave the program anyway?
I know everyone is going through this and learning the new system together, but it must be incredibly frustrating to have to almost start over from scratch every year. I wonder if this might end up taking the joy out of coaching for some guys. Again, they are getting paid a lot of money to do what they do, and it is up to the coaches to adapt, but is this type of environment really what they signed up for when they got into coaching?
Kansas State replaced nearly their entire roster and made it to the Elite 8.Not many teams can replace a starting 5 (Epps, Shannon, Melendez, Hawkins, Mayer) and not have a severe drop off. If Shannon and Hawkins don’t come back, this will be a 20+ loss team. Worse than 2018-19.
My thoughts exactly. Scouting, practicing, in season preparation to actually win games right now. Never-ending re-recruitment of your current players. Constant pulse checks and monitoring about possible future portal additions. Freshman recruiting. All at the and time.
I’m with you, why bother spending time, energy, and resources recruiting high school kids and developing them as freshman if they are just going to leave anyway? This happens everywhere, not just here.
Possible solution - recruit slightly less talented players on paper that come to Illinois and say they want to be here? Might work better than selling out to win a bidding war for a freshman to leave anyway (Skyy/Epps) or a one year hired gun that doesn’t translate to wins and good team ball (Mayer)