Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#251      
FloridaMan
IlliniFan42 said:
There's so much wrong with this opinion piece, but I've got some choice statements:

"Student-athletes — almost all of whom are in college mostly to get a degree, not prepare for a professional sports career — are being dragged across the country in the middle of the school year for games that aren’t the high-profile television events networks pay top dollar for." - While true most won't go pro, that means this is their one chance at a taste of the pro lifestyle and they're making some real money now.

"The average sports fan has become more and more focused on the NBA and often pays attention to college basketball only to keep up with future draft picks." - The average sports fan has left behind the NBA, whose ratings have plummeted. I don't know a single person that says "Gosh, I love the NBA regular season." Not even NBA players want to play the NBA regular season.

"The decline in visibility of the men’s game is happening just as women’s college basketball is having a peak cultural moment" - The women's tournament ended up receiving a contract value of $65M, when estimates projected $81M - $112M. I know the NCAA is really bad at negotiating, but it's also possible despite all the media people driving up women's basketball, it's a mirage.

There's more garbage here and I could get into it more, but I think I covered the worst statements.
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Ya, I was mainly alluding to this paragraph. "This is what it has felt like to love college basketball lately. In an age of constant realignment and dramatically shifting priorities for universities and television networks, the sport, whose new season begins on Monday, seems to be fading more in relevance by the year. Some of its wounds are self-inflicted; for instance, a massive amount of roster turnover makes it somewhat inhospitable to fans."

More generally, the recent changes in the landscape have not translated to an improved product. This was, by many accounts, one of the more boring tournaments in memory. It is on a path to becoming much like minor league baseball. Nobody cares about minor league baseball, nobody pays money to go to the games or watch on television, and as a result the players make squat. That is where college athletics is ultimately headed IMO without some guardrails.

I understand others have different opinions on the issue, and that's fine. Hopefully, I am wrong. If not, I guess I will find something else to be passionate about. That makes me sad.
 
#255      
ChiefGritty
Dan said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1910475155521872043
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I like this idea a lot.

1. Long armed, herky-jerky lean-y sorta positionless natural basketball player with the innate scoring gene. Not explosive but just a high-level feel for offense. Kind of a poor man's Malcolm Hill.

2. Be it as big a role as TSJ or as small a role as Justin Harmon, I feel like there's an intangible give-a-crap factor with in-state kids coming home. Having "Illinois" on their chest is something they've taken a long and hard road to achieve.

3. The way the NCAA is now treating Jucos, he probably has three years of eligibility left. And he graduated high school in 2020, so he might be like 22-23 already? Grown men have done very well for us.

 
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#256      
LvilleILL1
ChiefGritty said:
I like this idea a lot.

1. Long armed, herky-jerky lean-y sorta positionless natural basketball player with the innate scoring gene. Not explosive but just a high-level feel for offense. Kind of a poor man's Malcolm Hill.

2. Be it as big a role as TSJ or as small a role as Justin Harmon, I feel like there's an intangible give-a-crap factor with in-state kids coming home. Having "Illinois" on their chest is something they've taken a long and hard road to achieve.

3. The way the NCAA is now treating Jucos, he probably has three years of eligibility left. And he graduated high school in 2020, so he might be like 22-23 already? Grown men have done very well for us.

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Possible bench guard.
 
#257      
the juiceman cometh
grue2 said:
I'd say it was more like their hard work narrowed the company losses from 15M/year to 10M/year, so the total debt are down to 100M from the projected 105M. Then they turned around and demanded 6M in raises.

Everyone points out the high income without considering the expenses. It doesn't matter if you made 1B selling cars if you spend 1.5B making them. UI sports run at a 40% loss w/o the alumni bailouts each year (122M revenue, 175M expenses last year).
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Yes, because most college sports are not revenue generators. Those aren't the sports we are talking about though when it comes to athletes making millions. We're talking about the ones that have been so profitable that their coaching salaries have exploded over the last quarter century.
 
#258      
ILL21
Murray state has offered him 300k. I would think a 6th man is worth more than that no?
 
#259      
splitter
blackdog said:
It's like if we don't hear something positive every day people start letting their own negative thoughts take over. Just because you think a thing doesn't make it real or true. Nothing is settled, everything is in motion, and the roster now is not going to be the one that goes out on the floor.

This message is yelling into the wind but felt like I had to say it.
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It's April on Loyalty so what to expect is our negative thoughts, or our insiders holding our hands and talking us down. Until there is breaking news, I only come to hear about Pru's neighbor ladies or cottage cheese.

BREATH OUT
 
#260      
grue2
the juiceman cometh said:
Yes, because most college sports are not revenue generators. Those aren't the sports we are talking about though when it comes to athletes making millions. We're talking about the ones that have been so profitable that their coaching salaries have exploded over the last quarter century.
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I believe that is a total of 5 (maybe 10) programs in the entire NCAA. e.g. MI, ND.

I posted numbers in the past that looked at the FB and BB profits for Div I schools. Almost all of them were in the red. Building/maintaining sports facilities is expensive. UIUC has ~300M in sports debt. This is the debt after huge donations, e.g. the Assembly Hall update. If my math is correct (if I can add), the total losses at UIUC for the non-revenue sports last year were less than the total deficit.
 
#261      
WeWillWhen
FI_8905 said:
With all of the backchanneling that's gone on this year by agents, the portal process is accelerated. Kids hitting the portal already have idea of what schools they will look at. So, last year's roster building timeline doesn't really mean all that much.
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Plus, there is a significant incentive this cycle to get NIL deals inked before the judge approves the House settlement, which will subject NIL payments to "market reasonableness" reviews, unlike the blatant pay-for-play that they are right now.
 
#263      
Govoner Vaugn Fan
splitter said:
It's April on Loyalty so what to expect is our negative thoughts, or our insiders holding our hands and talking us down. Until there is breaking news, I only come to hear about Pru's neighbor ladies or cottage cheese.

BREATH OUT
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Occasionally you can make a deal on a Beach House, too.
 
#264      
Chuck Nuggets
ChiefGritty said:
I like this idea a lot.

1. Long armed, herky-jerky lean-y sorta positionless natural basketball player with the innate scoring gene. Not explosive but just a high-level feel for offense. Kind of a poor man's Malcolm Hill.

2. Be it as big a role as TSJ or as small a role as Justin Harmon, I feel like there's an intangible give-a-crap factor with in-state kids coming home. Having "Illinois" on their chest is something they've taken a long and hard road to achieve.

3. The way the NCAA is now treating Jucos, he probably has three years of eligibility left. And he graduated high school in 2020, so he might be like 22-23 already? Grown men have done very well for us.

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That blue court is an absolute war crime.
 
#265      
robertgoulet
illinifan1987 said:
Think Tim Robinson GIF by NETFLIX

Who is this dude and why does he have multiple GIFs?
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Hungry Season 3 GIF by The Lonely Island
 
#267      
OB positive
Unfortunately I think Illinois basketball suffers from brand recognition. While most of us here on loyalty feel Illinois is a top ten program with a top ten coach the rest of the country looks at us a top 20 - 30 program year in and out. We pick our top portal targets and most of them are happy to hear from us and seem to be happy with what we are offering. Then one of the blue bloods comes along or coaches like Pitino or Calipari and we are immediately second fiddle. It's like thanks Illinois for noticing me and putting me on everyone else's radar but I'd rather play for one of these coaches or a blue blood level program. Even if we had stupid NIL I just don't see many of those kids transferring to Illinois. We are just not that type of destination yet. Hopefully Brad can get things going in that direction so we really can build a final four caliber team.
 
#271      
KingWolf11
KJs stock can only get worse Rileys stock can only get better two completely different situations
 
#273      
Illini 993
grue2 said:
I believe that is a total of 5 (maybe 10) programs in the entire NCAA. e.g. MI, ND.

I posted numbers in the past that looked at the FB and BB profits for Div I schools. Almost all of them were in the red. Building/maintaining sports facilities is expensive. UIUC has ~300M in sports debt. This is the debt after huge donations, e.g. the Assembly Hall update. If my math is correct (if I can add), the total losses at UIUC for the non-revenue sports last year were less than the total deficit.
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If so, it looks like the Illini are an exception. In the past fiscal year, the Athletics department was $4.6 million in the black, football was up around $30 million, basketball $12 million. https://www.news-gazette.com/newsle...cle_e79b000e-e029-11ef-8fa3-7fbbcdc1a42d.html
 
#274      
BfosterL
FloridaMan said:
No hard data, just observing crowds on broadcasts. And personally my interest in college basketball, and specifically in Illinois basketball, is just not what it used to be. Maybe that is due to other factors in my life and/or our team, but the NIL and constant turnover is top of my mind.

Have not studied the data, but did run across one article that addresses it to a degree.

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Counter point, I believe I read that the NCAA tourney first 2 rounds had their highest ratings in 5 plus years. I recall when ARod got his crazy baseball contract that was said not sustainable in baseball, yet here we are :) If you are a fan of a team, you will watch, maybe not with as much interest ever year, but I will always watch Illinois football and bball and I guess 99.99% on here will as well.
 
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