Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[Dr Copejam]

With Storr, Daddy Brad needs to tell him to get on board or be left behind. We can’t afford to be holding the bag like we were with Ray J.

If no on Storr, it’s next up.

 

[pruman91]

The game is afoot… let Brad do his thing, folks.

Then again…

F@ck it… go nuts, you nervous Nancies

 

[Manual3for4peat]

Get the Boswell official. Then add shooters. No real need to panic at all. Just need to lock Boswell up first.

 

[Joel Goodson]

I would need to have a better sense of the alternative to answer that question really.

Also, I really do believe the cost is TBD. The staff might think they know how much ammo is out there and how much desire there is for Storr, but they don't and inherently can't.

John Tyson owns original Andy Warhol's. He can get AJ Storr. If Kentucky and Mark Pope thinks that's a move that can save face, they can get AJ Storr.

But that said, Boswell and Storr would be worth going pretty crazy for, IMO. High risk, but Final Four type upside.

tell me something I don't already know.

I was simply asking the OP if he'd blow away the transaction parameters. Easy to say in a vacuum, doubly easy to say when it's not your money.

 

[ChiefGritty]

AJ Storr is a 20 YO kid who does not know what he does not know. He will find some coach to which he will commit and get a million....and forever wonder why he did not go to play for a coach and team that would make him play to his potential....for his team...for fewer $ but the wise choice. That may likely be the Illini and BU, who were among the first to recognize his fit...or it may be Kansas or some other coach. Regardless, he will not be missed, only replaced. I wish him well but have not seen his potential to lift a team to new heights like TSJr. and MD did. It sure was not the Badgers last year.

Illinois, Arkansas and Kentucky are all really great options for him, and taking the most money makes sense.

So long as he's been open and candid with the staff about his intentions (which definitely seems to be the case) I have zero beef with how he's going through this process.

 

[Joel Goodson]

With Storr, Daddy Brad needs to tell him to get on board or be left behind. We can’t afford to be holding the bag like we were with Ray J.

If no on Storr, it’s next up.

+infinity

think we're full go on our backup plans

 

[ChiefGritty]

tell me something I don't already know.

I was simply asking the OP if he'd blow away the transaction parameters. Easy to say in a vacuum, doubly easy to say when it's not your money.

Yeah I mean the question is how bad does the rest of the team look if you go over the top for Storr.

If it means I'm starting Jason Jakstys at center I'm not doing it. But within reason, if I'm keeping Boswell (and Morez), I'd be inclined to take the risk and get pretty nuts.

But again it's not as easy as just saying so, and at this moment the staff needs to be focused on the non-Storr options.

 

[Joel Goodson]

Yeah I mean the question is how bad does the rest of the team look if you go over the top for Storr.

If it means I'm starting Jason Jakstys at center I'm not doing it. But within reason, if I'm keeping Boswell (and Morez), I'd be inclined to take the risk and get pretty nuts.

But again it's not as easy as just saying so, and at this moment the staff needs to be focused on the non-Storr options.

if it's an auction, there are programs with deeper pockets than ours

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

He'd have to improve for his 17-20 points to come on less than 17-20 shots. He's not a guaranteed (much less already proven) star. He has a high ceiling, and even if he turns out to be great, it might not happen until he gets to the NBA. It would be different if we thought he'd be around for a few years, but expensive one year rentals should be more of a sure thing in my opinion.

The question that very few of us can even begin to answer is....what's the second best option. None of the guys are guaranteed superstars and there's never a guarantee that any coach can get their squad to build chemistry. We saw the difference between two years ago and thus past year. If we continue to live or die in the portal to stay 'old", this will be a yearly occurrence because ultimately, nobody is being developed. We didn't have one young guy develop by leaps and bounds last year to be able to say ...let's build around him. Ty is the closest thing, but he still hasn't proven to be able to shoot a lick.

Our fan base won't allow for a rebuild season. It's all about reloading and getting back to the Elite 8 and beyond. The transfers aren't coming in to be the 8th or 9th option.

We need to replace 90% of every statistical category. When it comes to scoring, it's probably what.....95%? That's a complete guess.

1)Who gives us the best odds and 2)how far is the drop between options? My guess is that we're going to find issues(as you noted above about Storr) with every player they bring in.

All three transfers(including Boswell in this) have received criticism.

 

[Combo]

Pretty basic strategic thinking.

Storr is going to the highest bidder, end of story. That might be us, seems like it would be us today, but at any moment someone can swoop in with an offer either bigger than we can afford or bigger than we can justify giving Storr.

So we have to be looking elsewhere for someone else we're satisfied with. That is NOT giving up on Storr, NOT crossing him off the list, it is simply recognizing the strategic reality. Talking to Storr and holding room for him and focusing our efforts on him is a waste of time.

Storr's decision moment will come and we'll either be the top bidder or we won't. Beyond writing down a number on a piece of paper at an unknown moment in the future, our attention should be entirely elsewhere.

Yes, you always need back up options and back up options to the back up options. Lots of moving parts.

 

[illinoispeak]

Does not getting Storr give us a better chance to get Maddox?

 

[CleverHandle1]

I don't blame Storr trying to get the most money, but I also don't blame Elite Illinois for moving on. It's up to Elite Illini to either pay him or not. And I'm good with either decision.

Does purely wanting the most money translate into being a hero-ball type player who isn't team oriented?

It's obviously case-by-case, and if Illinois gets Storr, I certainly don't want it to be the "bad" kind of case.

 

[RabidDawgClassic]

 

[Thompson]

just to be clear, are you in favor of getting him regardless of the cost?

Yes. Not my money. Did you like having Shannon last year?

 

[Illini8420]

We can totally get a guy who’s not quite as good as Storr for much less money…but I really think Storr is going to be that good. In basketball at all levels, star power matters. Storr has been making rapid improvements each year and I could totally see him carrying a team far in the tourney by himself. He will likely be a much better player than what we saw at Wisconsin. Yeah he might bring some headaches like Skyy/Mayer, but he is way way way more talented than those guys ever were. To the point where it might be worth it to throw a massive bag at him.

 

[Illini in Italy]

What we need this weekend is a little Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom

 

[Chuck Nuggets]

Yes. Not my money. Did you like having Shannon last year?

Exactly. I'm not sure why anyone would care about the cost.

 

[ptgrd23]

KY needs to make big splash. I think they pay $1.5m for Storr after NBA camp. Lets move on. Give Armani, Luke, DGL and Ty more NIL money so they come back happy.

 

[Joel Goodson]

We can totally get a guy who’s not quite as good as Storr for much less money…but I really think Storr is going to be that good. In basketball at all levels, star power matters. Storr has been making rapid improvements each year and I could totally see him carrying a team far in the tourney by himself. He will likely be a much better player than what we saw at Wisconsin. Yeah he might bring some headaches like Skyy/Mayer, but he is way way way more talented than those guys ever were. To the point where it might be worth it to throw a massive bag at him.

while your projection of Storr may very well be true, we can be outbid by Arkansas and UK, regardless of how massive our bag is

 

[bleedorange and blue]

Zach??????

 

[Combo]

Yes. Not my money. Did you like having Shannon last year?

Sure, if we had unlimited funds (which no program has). But if paying him a lot limits our funds for other guys (Boswell, Maddox, Booth, etc) it may not be worth it.

Everything is a matter of opportunity cost.

 

[More3s]

Exactly. I'm not sure why anyone would care about the cost.

Well, presumably you still have to play within the confines of your overall NIL budget, and we have to replace something like 80% of our scoring this offseason. And while I agree that Storr has a ton of talent and the best chance to be a great get out of almost anyone else in the portal, he won't be 80% of our scoring on his own, no matter how much of a star he turns out to be. So it seems to me there's just a practical top end limit to what you can pay him and still put a decent overall team on the floor.

But I'm not sure it's only about the price tag in terms of dollars, either. I'm trying to read between the lines a bit on what insiders have said, but I wonder if there have been other, non-monetary demands that have been made that might have the potential to put the team or locker room in a bad spot. I could be off base on that, but I'm probably more wary of something like a demand for a guaranteed amount of playing time, or something like that, than I am about paying a million or more for him. (But I do think there is still obviously a practical limit to that dollar price tag too)

 

[Yes33]

It’s one thing to pay high dollar, but paying for drama queens isn’t worth the talent they bring nor the potential disruption to team chemistry. Shannon was a great example, from what has been stated on this board, he was always in very early and worked harder than anyone else to earn it. I don’t think there was any doubt amongst his coaches and teammates that have gave above and beyond.

 

[Birdus]

Storr still has to go through the process. If he doesn't want to be here, we don't need him. Brad will get the players that we need to succeed. I believe he learned a valuable lesson with the portal season before last. I am confident that we will compete and be in the top 3-4 again this year regardless who is here. I do know one thing. Tez is a beast and like nothing we had last year. When he is coached up and ready to go, he will be one of our best players. Kid has a stroke.

 

[ever]

The question that very few of us can even begin to answer is....what's the second best option. None of the guys are guaranteed superstars and there's never a guarantee that any coach can get their squad to build chemistry. We saw the difference between two years ago and thus past year. If we continue to live or die in the portal to stay 'old", this will be a yearly occurrence because ultimately, nobody is being developed. We didn't have one young guy develop by leaps and bounds last year to be able to say ...let's build around him. Ty is the closest thing, but he still hasn't proven to be able to shoot a lick.

Our fan base won't allow for a rebuild season. It's all about reloading and getting back to the Elite 8 and beyond. The transfers aren't coming in to be the 8th or 9th option.

We need to replace 90% of every statistical category. When it comes to scoring, it's probably what.....95%? That's a complete guess.

1)Who gives us the best odds and 2)how far is the drop between options? My guess is that we're going to find issues(as you noted above about Storr) with every player they bring in.

All three transfers(including Boswell in this) have received criticism.

I agree, though I'd say it also depends on our third, fourth, and fifth options. If Storr means we're looking at a couple "replacement level" guys to fill out our starting rotation, I'd rather have 5 proven good players than one potential star and only two other proven good players.