Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#101      
We do not want to be known as the program willing to be treated how Adam Miller (and handler) has treated us. That sends a horrible message to current and future players. "Leave any time, we'll miss you and overpay when you want to come back!" There's a fine line between paying market rates and being saps, and the Miller signing would make us the latter.
 
#102      
Did Illinois pass on Dame Sarr, or did Sarr pass on Illinois? Totally depends on who you talk to.

Adam Miller buzz was also exaggerated, IMO. No way Illinois was paying off handlers.

All eggs in the Adrej basket right now and boy it’s a huge amount of eggs.
So Sarr is definitely out, correct?

If they get Adrej, can they afford another big time player? Or is it just filling out the roster with role players?
 
#104      
Depends on who the handler is and what they want
I agree the 2nd thing is pivotal. But unless the handler is Charles Manson or something, how much should we really care about the 1st, especially for a player we'd only have for one year anyway?

There are three mortal sins that have to be avoided, things that Weber and Groce did constantly, and BU has almost totally eliminated

1. Dedicating time, resources, and opportunity cost relying on recruitments where you are either unaware or unwilling to do what it takes to get the player
2. Counting on your competition being as constrained as you are
3. Assuming that the issues that stopped you from getting Player X were specific to Player X and won't be a problem for Player Y and Player Z

I don't see any huge reason to get bent out of shape about Miller going elsewhere, but the couple of weeks of commentary about it have been more triggering of memories of the Bad Old Days than I'd like.
 
#106      
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We will need a lot of SlavicEggs
 
#111      
I think the bottom line is, some guys might be worth the headache... Adam Miller is not.
Fair enough. It's an ugly business at times and I agree sometimes the juice is not worth the squeeze, as it appears was the case here. But one day there might be a guy worth this particular headache, or a similar headache, and BUs history tell me he's open to that as well, which is good.
 
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#115      
Was going to post a “conclave” GIF, but probably too soon…..
 
#116      
I still can’t get over the money being thrown around to 18-22 year olds to play a year of COLLEGE basketball.

I’m not normally a yell at clouds kinda guy, but NIL makes me want to tell kids to get off my lawn (luckily I’m a younger millennial who can’t afford a yard, so no snickering kids are outside).
 
#118      
I agree the 2nd thing is pivotal. But unless the handler is Charles Manson or something, how much should we really care about the 1st, especially for a player we'd only have for one year anyway?
As an example, there was a rumor that the sticking point for AJ Storr last offseason was that he was demanding a spot on the women's basketball team for his girlfriend as part of his deal.
 
#120      
I’m glad the coaches are keeping this visit close to the vest while he’s on campus. Does he leave campus tonight or will he stay over?
 
#121      
I still can’t get over the money being thrown around to 18-22 year olds to play a year of COLLEGE basketball.

I’m not normally a yell at clouds kinda guy, but NIL makes me want to tell kids to get off my lawn (luckily I’m a younger millennial who can’t afford a yard, so no snickering kids are outside).
Wait til you find out how much some youtubers make. There's a 12 year old youtuber who makes like $30 million a year.
 
#122      
This isn't a buyer's market right now. That's not breaking news. There's more demand than inventory and any handler/broker is going to take advantage of that and rightfully so. Unless the market resets, it's only going to get worse from here. So, either we adjust or we'll be left behind.

We're officially the Chicago Cubs and Tom Rickett's of college basketball since NIL has taken off in earnest.

We want to be associated with the top free agents, we want to bring them in, we want the fans to buy in, but ultimately we won't go beyond a point where we'll finish any closer than 2nd in pursuit of the top guys and 4th with the elite ones.

The one constant is that fans. They'll show up regardless of what the off-season looks like, then when we finish 2nd or 3rd in the division, they want the manager fired. A new manager comes in and same results.

I don't care what kind of relationships that OA has and I don't care what kind of offense we run....if we can't pay the horses, none of it really matters.

If the business model and resources don't support winning at a high level, it's all moot.
 
#123      
As an example, there was a rumor that the sticking point for AJ Storr last offseason was that he was demanding a spot on the women's basketball team for his girlfriend as part of his deal.
But that's the about the demands themselves - the 2nd part that I agreed was pivotal.

Edit to add: And the point I was making was simply, if a handler you don't like makes a reasonable demand, does it really matter who the handler is? If it's a player you really want who will help you win games, it probably shouldn't. Conversely if you think a player has surrounded himself with great people who you love, but they demand something unreasonable, then it doesn't matter how awesome his camp is. They're being unreasonable.
 
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#124      
I still can’t get over the money being thrown around to 18-22 year olds to play a year of COLLEGE basketball.
It's less than 10% of what the top NBA players are making annually.

These are easily justifiable numbers relative to the value these guys deliver.

The shocking thing was how little money players were getting under the table. The rumor was that a payment of $200k secured the commitment of Anthony Davis to Kentucky back in 2010 which is a preposterously low figure for the best player in the country.
 
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