The die hards are underestimating what a horrible look this is for our program. Top 30 recruit from the state who’s wanted to go here for years now wants the heck out of dodge. Only natural for outsiders or recruits to think something is wrong with our program based on this.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Why? You mean to tell me we can't find anyone to replace him or it's just an infatuation for some ungodly reason? I don't get it.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
To be clear, our roster turnover has been greater than the national average for the entire time BU has been here.
That underlying national average has changed radically of course, but we had an unusual degree of churn then and we have an unusual degree of churn now.
That has been true of his staff too. Stability has been hard to come by.
Is there talk of him going to BYU?
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- Batavia
Losing out on Dame Sarr at the last minute seems inevitable at this point. The word on this kid is out now, and we just aren’t going to outbid the big dogs.
Except this isn't the corporate world. How many places have you worked where each employee gets to openly field offers in front of their current employer with no consequences if you decide to stay put at the end of the day. And most employees do leave if they are offered twice as much somewhere else even if they believe they won't be as happy at their new job.
I think that’s exactly it. Very few big men are going to want to play in a 5 out offense. With no post ups, nothing. Morez simply being a garbage man for a team that shoots 30 3s a game isn’t what he signed up for.
"Invested", hahahaha. Would be nice but that isn't going to happen to a 20 year old.
Illinifan533
- Normal, Illinois
Players are going to move, yes, but look at the E8 teams, and most, if not all, have guys who have been around for more than one season. You need your core, culture guys to keep some sense of continuity. We had that last year with TSJ, CoHawk, Dainja, Ty, and Goode. Otherwise, how do you build and maintain a culture?only 4 of the teams have a starting lineup with 3 or more players that originated at their school. 9 of the 16 have a starting lineup where literally every one of them started at a different school
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Some of these point totals are just absurd. Also led B12 in scoring.
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the highest possible allocation of teams with a lot of continuity would be 4/8....I think its 3 of the 8 have 3+ starters from original school so my point still stands.
If I misunderstood your point let me know, but I thought you were basically saying the teams making it far have a lot of continuity only 25% of the s16 and 37.5% of the E8 have a core of 3+ starters originating there. just seems both methods can workbased on the sample you started with.
I would rather have continuity (selfishly bc I like seeing the progress) but don't think its a prereq to runs is all. I hope to your point we have some multi season players
Hell if this team doesn't play like 13/20 b10 games with a less than whole roster (including not having a whole team at practice for almost that entire period) they probably win a couple more games in reg season, get a higher seed and could very well have been in this s16
Illinifan533 nailed it. "....You need your core, culture guys to keep some sense of continuity"
Stuborness can be an excellent quality in a coach. But one cannot let it get in the way of making the correct decision.
Man, I don’t think I’ve posted all year. And it’s late and I just got done working a concert, but…. Dang! I don’t dislike Brad, but he carries so much drama and chaos with him. Honestly, I’m tired of the constant player and assistant coach turnover. Every year it’s the same. I laughed when people were planning on our “core” being back next year. Will we even have anyone back? I don’t know. And that’s what I don’t like. No, it’s not entirely Brads fault, but he plays that game. And I don’t like it. As an old fart, I actually prefer the Purdue situation. I know that’s not us. It’s just how things are. So, I’m just kinda sad. Please don’t throw me under the bus. I’m just sad. I want to like the Illini… But it’s hard to like anything/everything anymore. I do know, though, we will all survive this. So, be cool. That’s all I’ve got…
What are the chances we land one of Dix/Conwell? This team really needs a ball handler who can score at a high level.
So just to get this straight:
1. Coleman Hawkins got $ 2 million from KSU and this board largely agreed that this was a vast overpay.
2. Morez got backchanneled an offer of around that same amount, and I guess we think he is totally worth it? Is that where we are at?
Observation: this board's valuation of players is wildly inconsistent, and seems to be largely based on other factors such as "BU didn't get us to the S16 so I'm still mad at him."
3. Morez took the better offer. Good on him. But it looks like he is justifying this by trashing the program on the way out. Adam Miller didn't do this. Skyy Clark didn't do this. Majority of the board is OK with this though, apparently.
4. He apparently wants to shoot more 3s and his dad thinks we should have let Kofi, Dain, and Ty shoot more 3s.
Observation: His dad should never be hired as an AC to run our offense. Kofi is in his 3rd season of pro ball and is still not getting the green light to shoot 3s. He is, as far as I can tell from highlights I've seen, playing pretty much the same game he did here. Dain didn't shoot a single 3 at Baylor and attempted one at Memphis, which he missed. I think the staff evaluation was OK there and is likely correct on Rez as well.
I mean, this sucks. No doubt. But I'm not sure what the staff was supposed to do. It looks like Rez was coming back, until he got offered nearly 2 mil. I don't know if we had the opportunity to match, but if we were and declined, I wouldn't fault it. And if he wanted to basically play like Tomi I wouldn't fault our staff for telling him no. I have a hard time believing Rez was secretly a perimeter threat and yet was the only guy on the roster not getting a green light. I'm sure the staff would have loved for him to have that as part of his game, but that it just wasn't there.
1. Coleman Hawkins got $ 2 million from KSU and this board largely agreed that this was a vast overpay.
2. Morez got backchanneled an offer of around that same amount, and I guess we think he is totally worth it? Is that where we are at?
Observation: this board's valuation of players is wildly inconsistent, and seems to be largely based on other factors such as "BU didn't get us to the S16 so I'm still mad at him."
3. Morez took the better offer. Good on him. But it looks like he is justifying this by trashing the program on the way out. Adam Miller didn't do this. Skyy Clark didn't do this. Majority of the board is OK with this though, apparently.
4. He apparently wants to shoot more 3s and his dad thinks we should have let Kofi, Dain, and Ty shoot more 3s.
Observation: His dad should never be hired as an AC to run our offense. Kofi is in his 3rd season of pro ball and is still not getting the green light to shoot 3s. He is, as far as I can tell from highlights I've seen, playing pretty much the same game he did here. Dain didn't shoot a single 3 at Baylor and attempted one at Memphis, which he missed. I think the staff evaluation was OK there and is likely correct on Rez as well.
I mean, this sucks. No doubt. But I'm not sure what the staff was supposed to do. It looks like Rez was coming back, until he got offered nearly 2 mil. I don't know if we had the opportunity to match, but if we were and declined, I wouldn't fault it. And if he wanted to basically play like Tomi I wouldn't fault our staff for telling him no. I have a hard time believing Rez was secretly a perimeter threat and yet was the only guy on the roster not getting a green light. I'm sure the staff would have loved for him to have that as part of his game, but that it just wasn't there.
Most of us would probably agree that there has to be a point at which this NIL and paying players from the school has to find a limit. But no a soul has come forward with any good ideas as to how to stop the rising price tag of a competitive team. It will not be long before the entire roster of a top ten team is being paid 7 figures. If you are not paying attention, it will happen as you blink. Greed is not a virtue, but few, if any, teens know that. And there are far too many coaches and ADs who don't.
Looking at the portal, I don’t think Morez is replaceable as far as replacing him with another good big man. Malik Reneau would be solid but I doubt he wants to be in an offense where the big man doesn’t get any post touches.
So given that, I don’t think Underwood will even try to find another rim protector. He’s going to try to create 2021 Baylor and find multiple 6’6-6’7 athletes and play 5 out small ball. I think he’s bought 100% into playing perimeter 3 point oriented basketball, but even Brad has to realize if you play that way you need to get far more athletic and stronger.
So given that, I don’t think Underwood will even try to find another rim protector. He’s going to try to create 2021 Baylor and find multiple 6’6-6’7 athletes and play 5 out small ball. I think he’s bought 100% into playing perimeter 3 point oriented basketball, but even Brad has to realize if you play that way you need to get far more athletic and stronger.
I mean I wouldn’t even pay $1 million for Dix let alone 2 … Sandfort isn’t good enough to play here … He’s essentially Davis but taller … That’s not a shot at Davis we just don’t need more than one of those guys …
Who would I go get if I could pick and knowing what we’ve got NIL wise …
I mean the possibilities are endless but here’s some guys I’d really consider:
Keyshawn Hall … Ryan Conwell … Devin Askew … Dame Sarr … Reed Bailey … Big Z …
Add those 6 to pair with Tomi, Tre, Davis, Bam, Jakstys, Lee, and Wagler …
So you think Tomi, Tre, Davis, Bam, and Jakstys are back? Confidence level 1-10??
DevILLDawg
- Meredosia, Illinois
Is Sarr still an option? Feels like a momentum shift to Duke recently
And, yeah, I don’t know why we’re even talking about Dix. (Did I say I was an old fart?)
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