Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Minus our backcourt in '21/'22, a lack of size/athleticism has certainly not been our downfall the past few years.
Joel Goodson
- dawgville
looks like the plan is to morph into a PG:
I like it. Versatility is a VG thing
I like it. Versatility is a VG thing
i wonder why we haven’t offered this kid yet
1 CB for Butler to Illinois.
and yet they seem to fade come tournament time....
The entire recruiting paradigm has changed. Now you have to worry about player retention just as much as recruiting. There are only so many minutes to go around. You can't bring in 3 guys every year who expect to start (Most 4 & 5 stars do), unless you are losing a similar number of guys to the draft or the portal.
Having a guy or two who come in with an understanding that floor time might be scarce early on, isn't necessarily a bad thing from a team chemistry/player retention perspective. Guys like this may not be sexy, but I think they can really help build team a sustainable team culture.
Having a guy or two who come in with an understanding that floor time might be scarce early on, isn't necessarily a bad thing from a team chemistry/player retention perspective. Guys like this may not be sexy, but I think they can really help build team a sustainable team culture.
if he's a good student, hopefully the point guard from Manual stays in the Peoria area. Too many end up at a
prep school or a bigger high school. Staying local is good for my local basketball..
prep school or a bigger high school. Staying local is good for my local basketball..
i think that's why we have recruited developmental kids who don't expect early PT recently. hopefully they stick around
to enjoy their junior and senior years.
Dietrich Richardson....DJ's kid?
I
I think it’s his Nephew
Joel Goodson
- dawgville
DJ is his uncle, so sayeth another poster. No idea why they share first names.
We had an all-time Illinois athletic freak on the 21-22 team and had plenty of length/athleticism on last year's team. Arkansas was a bunch of freaks but I wouldn't say they ended our tourney run as much as we did (and it's not like they performed to expectations either...). Our continual problem is not a lack of athleticism but getting torched on one end by crafty, multi-faceted guards (Jamal Shead, Davonte Davis, Council) and not having the same offensive weapon(s) on the other end. Most often those guards are older guys (transfers!), not high 4 or 5-star frosh/sophomores that are highly-rated because of their measureables.
What we need -- and unfortunately did not get, in an embarrassing way -- is not more guys that can run and jump but can't break down a guy off the dribble and/or shoot; we need those tools-y guards that can also hold up at the other end. And, ideally, either build their experience level here or poach them as transfers with experience. That's the main reason I was bummed Epps left, no matter his defensive faults. The kid can do what we've been unable to do on offense. I'm of the opinion that it has to be really bad before you let those kinds of talents walk out the door.
We got infinitely better at shooting than we were last year.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
Could be a grandfather's name
sacraig
- The desert
And, of course, when you force a team to respect the jump shot as a threat, it opens up the lane.
Well the obvious call out is all the players you mentioned were Groce recruits. On that note, Maverick Morgan was a very serviceable Big10 center and does not belong in the "this player was a lowly recruit and played like it" conversation. Not counting Brad's early rebuild period (and that truly doesn't count), Brad & staff have done an excellent job of identifying talent irregardless of ranking. Every dang program in the country sans bluebloods offer and take 3 star recruits, so anyone pooh-poohing the Butler recruitment is off base.
Bigtex
- DFW
Said it for a long time - why can’t our guards consistently beat our opponents off of the dribble? Doesn’t mean they score but beating your man means another player needs to help guard and leaves one of ours players open..
5 of the 7 (6 of the 8?) most athletic guys in that game played for Arkansas last year.
RJ was the only Illinois guy who could hold his own athletically with Houston.
No matter how biased we are, southern schools lick their chops to play big ten teams. They know they’ll have trouble strength wise “but we’re able to go wherever we want to go” is the quote I got from the coach who came to my practice last week (my best guy is d1 so we have coaches consistently rolling through).
I’m guessing DJ is for Dietrich Jr, so maybe DJs brother named his son after his own dad.
Edit: I see someone beat me to this conclusion
Not unless a couple of guys from last years roster also got infinitely better at shooting.
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