FWIW Reeves has been following both of them, as well as Sencire and Harmon, for a while. Not new follows
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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This is where I'm currently at right now. I LOVE our insiders. They are more in tune with what's going on than anyone else here. That said, the whole PG situation was a fiasco from April on straight through until today. This started with Campbell and has ended with Williams with about 250 booms in between. Nobody can read inside of a kids or their parent's/handler's minds. Nobody. This was a classic example of that. When talking about 18-22 year olds....there are no "locks" until they're in uniform. Our insiders are unfairly taking heat from some. Others are putting heat on the head coach. To your point, when it comes to recruiting, you can't put 100% faith in a kid. Hell, when it comes to life, in general, who puts 100% of their business decisions on a a kid? When I was 22, with the bread out I'd change my mind from ham and cheese to peanut butter and jelly....1 second before the bar was opened. I'm sure my parents, after I told them they I was having ham and cheese, put "get more ham and cheese" on the grocery list. Silly comp, but the point stands.With regard to basketball recruiting:
As far as I’ve seen, the answer to #1 is no. Feeling is with being out all year and never having actually played with Iowa St that chances are good. But who knows.
Answer to #2 is who knows. One would have to think that given the roster make up right now, Illinois doctors have examined him and feel that in likelihood he’ll be ready to play this coming season. But, again, who knows.
I'm not up for trading anything, it'd just be nice to actually make a dent in the tournament that matters at some point, instead of a single impressive victory over a 16 seed, and escaping 13-seeded Chattanooga.
Theoretical exercise here, which result this upcoming season would look better for Brad moving forward?
1. The team shocks the B1G and wins the outright championship over Purdue and MSU, earning a 2 seed in the tourney, but falls to 7 seed Baylor in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
2. The team finishes 3rd in the B1G, earns a 4 seed in the tournament, but makes a surprise run to the Elite 8, knocking off #1 seed Tennessee in the process before falling to #2 Alabama in the regional final.
That was kinda my point yesterday that we’re sorta screwed in the PG department which is probably the worst position to have this problem. I think JWill even coming off the injury is a better choice and Harmon is a better choice, but neither of them are good choices lol
Need some Te'Jon Lucas!
Someone, if you don't mind.....please educate me to how things have to go down to get Reeves? Are we back to having to get waivers and another full recruiting cycle? As we sit here in June and our August international trip two months away....there doesn't seem to be much time to get things squared away.
Have to do things like this go get both sides of the aisle to agree to appropriate the funds
That’s an amazing combination of Bill Clinton “definition of ‘is’” speak and general all around Trumpian poor-man’s charlatan bullshittery.
I don’t understand this school of thought whatsoever…
You could say that about anybody who’s good. What team wouldn’t be better with without say: James Worthy and AC Green or Akeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson?
All-Americans are a nice luxury. That just proves the staff can recruit….one of the biggest parts of their job. It’s what they’re supposed to do. Right? Why is that a mark against Brad? Lol.
If you wanna say we lost to a team with less talent; and we probably shouldn’t of…that I understand at least.
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
I mean, personally, I would take either of those results. If you're dismissing a conference title, especially next year when it's going to be an absolute dogfight, you're crazy.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
My DC Brother, you are far too restrained on this topic IMHO. We had a train wreck of team chemistry last season, no PG, no guy at any time running the offense who saw fit to run the plays our HC called with any material consistency, and basically started a true frosh at point for the entire season.
And yet... we finished the BT one game out of sharing second place and 1-1/2 games removed from occupying second place alone. Over a 20-game BT schedule. If a couple players had decided to buckle down (yes, I'm "old") and shed their laziness and narcissism we might have bested Purdue for the title.
SMH at the river of bile directed at BU. Yes, he has learned the hard way how to navigate the portal and NIL. And yes, it is reasonable to project that his team next season will be less painful to watch than last season. He has shown that he can learn and change (anyone recall him bringing in the NBA specialists to completely revamp his scheme after his first or second season?)
End of the day, his players need to decide to play as a team and show up at some point during the first 20 mins of the games. At Bloomington in February, without TSJ, we saw what might have been in terms of a 40-minute effort. (Even with Epps at his oppositional-defiant nadir and BU in his face on the sideline.) Am hard-pressed to think of another game all season like that. And yet they did fairly well for a completely dysfunctional team.
We had much less talent two seasons ago than we'll have next season and won the BT based on team cohesion, defense and solid coaching. Count me in the cautiously optimistic camp.
I know, I know, I'm a Pollyannaish apologist too soft (and in thrall to Stockholm syndrome) to face the obvious, systemic inferiority that is Illini basketball under the current regime.
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Best guess on who gets creaned?
The funny part is that the whole time the insiders were talking and we were worrying there was really only one thing to pay attention to-whether Flagler returned to Baylor.
Everyone one is theorizing that someone will leave but isn't it even more likely that the whole NIL/portal deal is about to take another dramatic shift: adding a 14th guy (or more) through NIL deals.
Where have you seen this? (Williams not getting a waiver)
I believe the concern was if he'd be ready to play early in the season, which LVille (and the other guys) have already answered:
Oh please, it's the truth. Who is seriously going to argue that the 2022 team was better than the 2021 team, just because the 2022 team won the B1G?
If you don't want to accept that, it's not bull!!!!, it just means you choose to be willfully ignorant.
rifraf
- Glenarm, IL
I had the same question.
Sure, but that's not actually answering the question of the scenario. I would take both as well, but which makes Brad's seat safer?
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
There's no world where 2022 can be viewed as anything other than a resounding success for the program. You're really going to sit here and complain because it didn't match the level of one of the greatest seasons in program history?
So the Woodbury thing is not just random CBB Roundup guy bs. If @LvilleILL had some inkling that we might be looking into him also.
Question now is that off the table since we have Williams and are going hard after Reeves??
Once again, two things can be true at once. 2022 was a successful year for the program except for March. 2021 was a better season overall. Coupled with the falloff in 2023, it's trending in a direction we don't want to be heading in unless this season is a correction.
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