Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#676      
I don't really love the QG add assuming Hawkings comes back. He feels redundant with some of our other pieces. Seems like Hansberry will never see the floor as well, and there were talks of him possibly being a contributor right away not that long ago.
It ensures Hansberry won't have to play a big role, unless he plays better than QG. It raises our fIoor. It also ensures that all 4 of the big men have to play against a quality, B1G caliber, F/C in practice. The 2nd team will have some DUDES.
Stuff happens. Having redundancy on your roster is a good thing, if the guys can play.
The plus side of all of our transfers being 5th year guys, is that our young players will be sitting at the top of the depth chart when the next off-season rolls around. That should make it a bit easier to keep them.
 
#678      
YoMan I wish y’all could see what Self just texted me … 😂😂

That dude stole Timberlake right from under Hurley …

It was some words … Along with this gif …

Washington Redskins Football GIF by NBC Sports Washington
Kansas Basketball Self GIF by Kansas Athletics

bye bye bye justin timberlake gif GIF
 
#681      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
You make very good points, but where I stray is that comparing our football program's expectations when BB first got here vs where our basketball program currently is with BU is night and day.

We were not and still to a point are not an overly attractive football school. We're obviously much better and continuing to evolve, but a 6-5 season and a bowl game had people jumping for joy. BB's only option was to go with what he had. That said, our last four QB's have been portal guys, right? (Peters, Sitkowski, Devito, now we'll see what the Ole Miss kid brings). The more the football program wins, the higher the expectations will be, the more attractive the school is to higher level recruits.....then the churn and burn starts. It's inevitable. We're a couple of good seasons from BB being deeply involved in the portal.

BU has created expectations, he is involved with elite recruits, he lands high level recruits, we are definitely one of the haves vs have nots when it comes to NIL money, we're a portal destination because of that money and he's working with a scholarship max of 13(??). His options with how he can operate is ten times that of BB. I can't reiterate it enough that BU has created an environment where winning is the only option and we're not talking about 20 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance. That wasn't good enough. People were very upset. Short of being in the top 3 in the conference and a Sweet 16...some deem it as unacceptable.

We are talking about two totally different situations. If BB has the football program consistently winning 9 games.... we'll see if his approach changes, as the options increase and the pressure to win increases.
Oh, listen, to be honest, I have more confidence in basketball's future with Underwood than I do football's under Bielema, for a variety of reasons many of which are not BB's fault.

It's just very easy, especially on the internet, to take a pose of "oh, well you have to be maximally cynical and transactional and you're just shooting yourself in the foot if you do anything differently, cuddly sentimentality is for losers".

Is that true though? You look to test that hypothesis against actual evidence, look to the real world, and the picture is sometimes a little different.

Did Desmond Dan or Christian Bobak or whoever magically become contributors because Bielema gave them an extra year? No. (Kendall Smith did though). But does choosing to handle the roster that way in that moment weigh on the enormously consequential decisions of Lovie recruits Newton and Randolph and Julian Pearl to eschew the NFL, take our NIL money and stay?

Not true. Just because someone isn't playing, doesn't mean they aren't gaining experience.
They aren't gaining playing experience. Come on now.
 
#682      
Is Paul's Confectionary still open?

I believe so....my best friend growing up, his grandfather was Paul. Have fond memories of raiding his candy counter, "helping" make the chili and playing a slot machine that he had in his basement :)
 
#683      
So we should play the young guys? Like Miller and curbelo and Epps and skyy and RJ?
Playing the young guys guarantees nothing.
I am a proponent of a 10 man rotation which includes playing and developing young players. Iowa does it as they have developed quality players over the past several years under Fran. MSU does it, Maryland does it. But we do not. Name me one player that we have developed. I can name 1. Giorgi. That is it. Brad erred two seasons ago playing only 7 guys double digit minutes. Granted, it got us a B1G title but is that what we playing for? That team was exhausted after a rugged conference season. Williams should never have played 30 minutes a game. No other team in the conference would have done that. Podz, Goode and Melendez should have played double digit minutes. Coleman should have gotten over 20. Trent, basically so wore down toward the end of the year that he got sick. He played 34 minutes a game and many times near 38. Do not get me wrong, I love that Brad is here but he needs to address why we are losing players via transfer, Jones, Melendez, Podz, Miller, Curbelo, Epps, Clark etc. Are we not recruiting the correct fit or just settling? I think he needs to go deeper on the bench. FAU did not have 1 player with over 30 a game and played 11 guys double digit minutes. With a rough conference schedule every year, it seems to me that having a rested team would go a lot farther in March than a tired beat up team. The goal is a NC not just a conference title. Or at least a consistent 2nd weekend team year in and year out. Herb Brooks said it best, I am not trying to get the best guys but the right guys. It worked in 1980.
 
#684      
I know, drinking the koolaide:

i think it was mentioned earlier, but BB added a layer of trust and "familly" to the football building
and as a result, we have had the lowest turnover from the portal in the big ten and those kids got
markedly better! i hope this is the year that it will particularly pay off with the law firm back. last years
success was due to our upper class sticking around, maybe it will contribute even further this year?

we were a few minutes away from pulling off the big upset over Michigan last year. how would the
attitude changed on this board now if that would have fallen our way?
 
#686      
Oh, listen, to be honest, I have more confidence in basketball's future with Underwood than I do football's under Bielema, for a variety of reasons many of which are not BB's fault.

It's just very easy, especially on the internet, to take a pose of "oh, well you have to be maximally cynical and transactional and you're just shooting yourself in the foot if you do anything differently, cuddly sentimentality is for losers".

Is that true though? You look to test that hypothesis against actual evidence, look to the real world, and the picture is sometimes a little different.

Did Desmond Dan or Christian Bobak or whoever magically become contributors because Bielema gave them an extra year? No. (Kendall Smith did though). But does choosing to handle the roster that way in that moment weigh on the enormously consequential decisions of Lovie recruits Newton and Randolph and Julian Pearl to eschew the NFL, take our NIL money and stay?


They aren't gaining playing experience. Come on now.
Actually, I think at this juncture, it’s a toss up between BU and BB. Or at least he gap between the football program and the basketball program has narrowed. BB has proved he can win consistently in high level D1, win bowl games and develop players. BU has won games but not much success in March when it matters. Both are solid coaches who will do well for us but right now, it’s a closing gap between the programs.
 
#688      
I am a proponent of a 10 man rotation which includes playing and developing young players. Iowa does it as they have developed quality players over the past several years under Fran. MSU does it, Maryland does it. But we do not. Name me one player that we have developed. I can name 1. Giorgi. That is it. Brad erred two seasons ago playing only 7 guys double digit minutes. Granted, it got us a B1G title but is that what we playing for? That team was exhausted after a rugged conference season. Williams should never have played 30 minutes a game. No other team in the conference would have done that. Podz, Goode and Melendez should have played double digit minutes. Coleman should have gotten over 20. Trent, basically so wore down toward the end of the year that he got sick. He played 34 minutes a game and many times near 38. Do not get me wrong, I love that Brad is here but he needs to address why we are losing players via transfer, Jones, Melendez, Podz, Miller, Curbelo, Epps, Clark etc. Are we not recruiting the correct fit or just settling? I think he needs to go deeper on the bench. FAU did not have 1 player with over 30 a game and played 11 guys double digit minutes. With a rough conference schedule every year, it seems to me that having a rested team would go a lot farther in March than a tired beat up team. The goal is a NC not just a conference title. Or at least a consistent 2nd weekend team year in and year out. Herb Brooks said it best, I am not trying to get the best guys but the right guys. It worked in 1980.
Screen Shot 2023-04-20 at 10.16.16 AM.png

10 guys playing double-digit minutes.
 
#690      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Actually, I think at this juncture, it’s a toss up between BU and BB. Or at least he gap between the football program and the basketball program has narrowed. BB has proved he can win consistently in high level D1, win bowl games and develop players. BU has won games but not much success in March when it matters. Both are solid coaches who will do well for us but right now, it’s a closing gap between the programs.
BU does not get nearly enough respect for having won two Big Ten championships at Illinois.
 
#692      
BU does not get nearly enough respect for having won two Big Ten championships at Illinois.
2005 was a long time ago now. It’s time to make the second weekend of the tournament, at a minimum.

Yes, the BTT title and conference title are great accomplishments, but last years topsy turvy season soured those fond memories.

The 22-23 season was sold as a team built for March and that didn’t come close to happening with all the dysfunction throughout the year.
 
#694      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
Oh, listen, to be honest, I have more confidence in basketball's future with Underwood than I do football's under Bielema, for a variety of reasons many of which are not BB's fault.

It's just very easy, especially on the internet, to take a pose of "oh, well you have to be maximally cynical and transactional and you're just shooting yourself in the foot if you do anything differently, cuddly sentimentality is for losers".

Is that true though? You look to test that hypothesis against actual evidence, look to the real world, and the picture is sometimes a little different.

Did Desmond Dan or Christian Bobak or whoever magically become contributors because Bielema gave them an extra year? No. (Kendall Smith did though). But does choosing to handle the roster that way in that moment weigh on the enormously consequential decisions of Lovie recruits Newton and Randolph and Julian Pearl to eschew the NFL, take our NIL money and stay?


They aren't gaining playing experience. Come on now.

I'm not going to pretend to agree with everything you spout (lol). But you touch on a great point, namely nuance. And Joe Average Superfan typically rarely does nuance.

The great unwashed (charter member) rarely has even close to the full story, but that is hardly a deterrent for many. Like most, I come here for Illini news, but the hot takes comedy is pretty good too.
 
#695      
I agree that this year was a different animal if you look at it just through that lens but we were down to just 8 players after Clark left and Goode was still out.
View attachment 25194
10 guys playing double-digit minutes.
I agree looking at this does show this year as a rarity but if you look deeper, it’s kinda the same. If you look at the first of the season, we were heavy dosed with the top 7. Sprinkle in Rodgers and Harris in but for the most part it was 7 guys. Clark leaves, eliminate his numbers, Goode is still out. We were playing 8 guys at that point where BU had no choice. If Clark and Goode were both here and healthy, this MPG would have been different. I would guess 8 guys would have played double digit minutes instead of 10. It’s just how BU is. He likes a short bench.
 
#696      
BU does not get nearly enough respect for having won two Big Ten championships at Illinois.
Nice to see you switching things up. Would have expected you to be more like “BU only really has one conference championship and that’s one less than Greg Gard”
 
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