Everyone knows that saying something on record makes it true...
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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In the NBA, the gather step is allowed. I didn't think the NCAA had put that in the rulebook yet, though.
On the otherhand, who are we kidding: travels and carries (redundant term, actually) are let go almost all the time. The ones that are called seem to concentrate on travels that don't even give an advantage. Refs and coaches have settled on this.
So you think 100+ college coaches know the budget of every single other program in America? (NIL amounts are not being reported)
Even the 3 staffs directly involved in the Josh Dix recruitment had no idea what the other schools were offering, all they had was the agent telling them $2M which everyone knows was bogus/inflated
That poll is useless, like I said
So insiders and coaches are all saying we’re pretty stout with NIL. What is your source for saying where 25-40? Which seems to go against everything I’ve ever heard. In fact that’s a bit outrageous IMo
It’s not a gather step he received the basketball and jumps stops and then both feet move about four inches towards the basket when he shoots
Good bit of the staff will be at the game tomorrow night. After that, I think some of our portal pursuits are going to ramp up, should have some visitors on campus next week.
I do think we're lower this year in the rankings than last year, but that's just my gut feeling. Like I think Michigan has really turned it on.
Coaches are literally the ones in the bidding wars with the players. They literally know exactly what players are demanding and what schools are paying.
Have you never been in any kind of price negotiation? It’s hardly secret.
My #1 source is common sense
If we are top 10 NIL we are not getting outbid at the rate we apparently are
But the guy over at Rivals (O&B News) says we are in 20-40 range, he is close to our program and not just some coach from some other conference saying "Oh Illinois has good team & players = must be top 10 NIL"
And as far as Werner, I just watched their "Portal Kombat" podcast the other day and he said the same thing - not top 10 but probably top 20ish - so he is either talking out both sides of his mouth or something changed that caused him to believe we had less than he thought we did before? No clue
We've been told we have around $8M this year... some guys are getting (reportedly, again nobody knows) $3M so yeah it looks like we are pretty far behind
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Knowing Brad’s personality - how he manages lineups and in game adjustments I could see him being stubborn and not willing to budge at the negotiation table. I think that might be why we’ve lost out on many top targets.
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11 April 2025
Govoner Vaugn Fan
- New Orleans
Would that be the time share on the Hudson Bay, Canada beach where you have the entire month of January reserved? /s
ILFaninFL
- Nature Coast in Florida
They go to North Carolina.
I am back and forth regarding NIL, salary caps, etc.
I read where some say UI is top 10 in NIL while others complain too many schools are outbidding us. What is reality?
In my opinion, unless you’re a school with top level, big donors that are willing to enter the fray of “NIL free agency” every year, you better have a culture to retain talent. I think that’s where BU needs to be looking first and foremost with the Wild West we call NIL.
If we weren’t churning a majority of our roster year after year, and created a culture where players accepted a little less to be here, we would likely have a much more favorable chance at some of the biggest names in the portal to add to our returning players. The best way to build that is through a culture focused on development and retention of younger players.
Before I get ripped, there actually are other teams that have better retention that have players who would be top tier portal names. (Purdue with Smith and TKR. Northwestern with Barnhizer) Those coaches must be doing something right regarding culture and retention. Those guys would be raking in the portal. I would guess that Kylan could have received a bigger bag this year if the entered the portal. But he didn’t. He wanted to finish at UI and likely left money on the table.
What if Trey hadn't had the “fallout” and benched for two or three weeks. What if Rez wasn’t getting 6-8 minutes through two thirds of the season while Ben continued to play 32? What if players weren’t watching our defense getting scorched every night with Hamer making the decisions and we had a defense first coach that players learned from and respected?
I’m not ripping BU, rather I’m saying player retention is possible and we should be forward thinking enough to consider that as part of our NIL strategy.
Point being, if we create a culture that players want to be a part of, and do what we can to develop and retain our players, including our freshman who need to feel valued and like they are here for a reason, then hopefully they will become impact players as juniors and seniors. Then we have fewer areas of need and can focus on bigger splash players that add to the team, not that are the entirety of the team. Needing 4, 5, or 6 big names from the portal in order to meet expectations every year for most programs, including us, likely isn’t sustainable.
I read where some say UI is top 10 in NIL while others complain too many schools are outbidding us. What is reality?
In my opinion, unless you’re a school with top level, big donors that are willing to enter the fray of “NIL free agency” every year, you better have a culture to retain talent. I think that’s where BU needs to be looking first and foremost with the Wild West we call NIL.
If we weren’t churning a majority of our roster year after year, and created a culture where players accepted a little less to be here, we would likely have a much more favorable chance at some of the biggest names in the portal to add to our returning players. The best way to build that is through a culture focused on development and retention of younger players.
Before I get ripped, there actually are other teams that have better retention that have players who would be top tier portal names. (Purdue with Smith and TKR. Northwestern with Barnhizer) Those coaches must be doing something right regarding culture and retention. Those guys would be raking in the portal. I would guess that Kylan could have received a bigger bag this year if the entered the portal. But he didn’t. He wanted to finish at UI and likely left money on the table.
What if Trey hadn't had the “fallout” and benched for two or three weeks. What if Rez wasn’t getting 6-8 minutes through two thirds of the season while Ben continued to play 32? What if players weren’t watching our defense getting scorched every night with Hamer making the decisions and we had a defense first coach that players learned from and respected?
I’m not ripping BU, rather I’m saying player retention is possible and we should be forward thinking enough to consider that as part of our NIL strategy.
Point being, if we create a culture that players want to be a part of, and do what we can to develop and retain our players, including our freshman who need to feel valued and like they are here for a reason, then hopefully they will become impact players as juniors and seniors. Then we have fewer areas of need and can focus on bigger splash players that add to the team, not that are the entirety of the team. Needing 4, 5, or 6 big names from the portal in order to meet expectations every year for most programs, including us, likely isn’t sustainable.
I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it. To me that statement feels like the supposed attitude of feeling like we had to keep playing Ben bc of how much NIL he got (and presumably who provided it)
Job is to win. If you have $1M for Moore and he helps the team, What Ty received should be a separate situation.
Keep in mind the whole U.S. team are 2026 Draft eligible players and the kid that dominated the world team practices according to Givony will be a freshman at Baylor , so I don’t think this week would vault Sarr safely into the first round in THIS years draft
Lol you're funny. Like Goodfellas funny.
wettsten
- Chicago
the only difference is that Pizza Hut probably doesn't care what team he plays for. they'll pay up regardless. how many college NIL donors can say the same?
It's going to be a few more weeks, imo. Got to stay patient.
Just because we lose out on a guy, that doesn't necessarily mean we were outbid. It could mean a number of things. Staff didn't feel the cost/value was there. other similar prospects may be available for less, another position may be more important but has less names on our Big Board, a donor asked to bankroll a specific player had a differing opinion from the staff and refused to pony up the funds, if the top 2-3 players on our want list have yet to enter the portal then perhaps the staff doesn't want to tie up a finite amount of funding on players 4, 5, 6, 7+ until players 1, 2, 3.... are in the fold. None of us know. Everyone on this board is speculating right now on our total funding, remaining funding, individual players actual NIL number.
I agree, I think there are probably a lot of schools in the same realm but we don't seem to be a true top 10 nil program with the way we are getting outbid for guys.
We had big splashes in Shannon and Mayer that year but haven't really been more getting value guys since.
I think it's pretty clear that we are at least behind Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, Duke, UNC, BYU, Louisville, Indiana, and UConn. Which is 10 deep there and I wouldn't be surprised to see Michigan, Oregon(if they spend it on basketball), Texas, Texas Tech, Houston, Tennessee, St Johns(with Pitino fundraising), Florida, Arizona, or Baylor spend more.
I think Illinois likely has a comparable amount to that 2nd group but that would put them more in the 10-20ish range.
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