Joel Goodson
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2026 Justin Caldwell, 6' 9", Trinity Christian (NC)
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Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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2026 Justin Caldwell, 6' 9", Trinity Christian (NC)
Care to elaborate any further....!?! lolThey always seem to follow …
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Big Jack
- Decatur
Does getting butler lessen the odds of getting Lewis? I think it’s been discussed the team would be receptive to both, but wondering if it effects Lewis’ decision.
I'm betting it's an either or proposition and you'll be hearing a lot of cope on this board. Color me a bit concerned that our last 4 commits are all 3 star recruits. I know many on this board don't think there is a huge correlation with rankings and success on the court but Illinois historically has been a pretty lackluster team when their roster is stocked full of 3 stars with a couple of 4 stars sprinkled in(see 2006-2017 for the most recent example). The only time we had success is when we roll out stacked teams. It seems I'm in a minority but I feel that settling for recruiting class full of kids ranked outside of the top 100 is setting the bar way too low for a top 10 paid coaching staff and an arguably top 20 program. Seeing programs like Mizzou landing McD AAs makes it sting that much more.
Would have been nice to have had a monster recruiting class to join Morez. Shame we couldn't capitalize on that early commit which seems to have been a gift from the basketball gods.
Maybe these kids will be sleepers? Who knows? But historically it seems to have never worked out for us.
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I'd say that while we can be optimistic, it remains to be seen at this point. Basically we're going from:
TSJ 32%
MM 33%
CoHawk 28%
Epps 30%
RJ 26%
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Sencire 33%
Luke 42%
To:
TSJ- 32%
CoHawk- 28%
Ty- 0%
Luke- 42%
Domask- 35%
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Guerrier- 35%
Sencire- 33%
Goode is a major shooting upgrade over Epps, Ty is a major shooting downgrade from RJ. Domask is slightly better than Mayer. Other than that, it's a bit of a wash. As well, while it's overseas and over the summer so you can take it with a grain of salt, our shooting in Spain was absolutely brutal minus Domask.
So if Domask, a 35% 3pt shooter is being looked to as our optimistic saving grace so to speak, I think we may be putting just a bit too much weight on him.
While the hope is that we're better than the 30.8% 3pt shooting team we were last year, without a dramatic increase in shot quality this year, I'm not sure we can expect all that much higher a shooting percentage from deep this year. That said, our offensive rebounding should be elite, so there's that.
Big Jack
- Decatur
C'mon, man. Butler is a 3-star. Obviously, no threat to Mikey's potential playing time.
Blue bloods sniffing around.
I understand your concerns, but this class isn't finished yet. I am willing to let it play out.
As far as the Mizzou McD AA thing, ya. I don't get how all these schools around us can haul in a 5 star kid every once in awhile and we barley get a sniff.
Hears to hoping Morez will work his way into 5 Star territory.
Yes.
The class is currently ranked 21st on 247.com and adding Jase Butler is not going to suddenly cause that number to plummet. Every team is taking on developmental pieces.
Of the teams in the top 10 recruiting classes on 247.com, over half of them have 3 stars, a few of them have multiple 3 stars, and many of those 3 stars are not close to sniffing the top 100 (guys ranked 134, 152, 192 and below, for instance).
Adding another 3 star does not remotely ruin anything, especially considering Jakstys is rising in the rankings and is close to top 100 as it is now. If our only criteria is to be top 100 then this class is not far from meeting some folk's needs of every recruit needing to be ranked 4 star or higher. Jakstys moves up 11 spots in the next set of rankings, then both our recruits are top 100, problem solved? Is that really the hair we're trying to split here?
Illini fans: We can’t be recruiting these three star players! They’re mid-major caliber!
Also Illini fans: we need to hit the portal and target some mid-major players who were underrated out of high school.
Also Illini fans: we need to hit the portal and target some mid-major players who were underrated out of high school.
Do you have a single example of an Illinois starting lineup of primarily kids ranked outside the top 100 that has had any kind of success in the past 40 years?
A) I don't hear many fans clamoring to target mid-major players in the portal. I do hear fans responding to some of the potential transfers the Illini have targeted.
B) The portal is different than HS b/c guys have shown they can compete at the college level. A 3-star in HS is a real crapshoot.
band camp
- STL City
You win the board. So true.
band camp
- STL City
HS prospects are a crapshoot period. See Skyy whoever the F, and Jereme for example.
How is that remotely relevant? Go look at our scholarship grid. We're in no position of "primarily kids ranked outside the top 100" whatsoever. We're filling out our roster with developmental pieces and people are freaking out.
Dainja, Harris, Rodgers, Hansberry, Johnson were all top 100 recruits. Jakstys, Goode, DGL very close (DGL was a 5 star, remember). I'd also note that we are likely to replace TSJ, Hawkins, Guerrier, Domask with more already-proven talent through the transfer portal next season. We can no longer just look at recruiting rankings and know what our team will look like next year with the current free-agency type landscape now. Not that the class is bad, again, its ranked 21st nationally.
Finally, if the distinction is that a guy ranked #100 = Good but guy ranked #111 = Garbage then I can't get on board with that, sorry.
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They always seem to follow …
You're not wrong, but the risk is statistically lower with 4 & 5 stars than it is 3 stars. It's like analytics in baseball...just b/c the statistical probability is in your favor doesn't mean it's always going to work out. It just means it's more likely to work out than not.
All I'm speaking about is the trend. Jase will be the 4th, non-top 100 kid in a row. Something we probably haven't seen since the Weber or Groce years. So I'm not necessarily sounding alarm bells but I am saying it may be a cause for concern based on historical precedent. Hopefully, you are right and these kids will blow away expectations.
You see a number. I see that national talent evaluations believe that the kid is 10% better relative to the field. Why is that garbage?
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You must’ve missed the Jerome Tang/K-State love fest awhile back.
Again, 3 of the 4 you're talking about are extremely close to top 100. So if Jakstys is ranked 11 spots higher, then there's no trend. If DGL is ranked 34 spots higher, then there's no trend. Butler hasn't even chosen a school yet.
The only trend happening is that we're supplementing our roster with developmental players. Your 'trend' also ignores/overlaps the transfers we brought in this season, which again, are all 4 stars. Every single one of them.
How am I the one seeing numbers when you've blatantly stated that your criteria is that they be top 100?
To you, the guy ranked 100 is good but Jakstys is 111 so he sucks and is part of the downward spiral of IL basketball. Same with DGL. He's ranked 134, not 100, so he's also part of the downfall of IL hoops. I think its an extremely wild overreaction and is a lot of hair-splitting and other types of mental gymnastics to arrive at the conclusion you have, which is that the program is doomed because we have 3 or 4 players on the roster that just barely didn't make the top 100.
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