Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#76      
mysterio2525
I think I see the plan... not necessarily with this player, but in general. most of our money has to be spent on retention, new transfers, euros, and then maybe get a 5 star will Riley type if you can. if you can keep one if these guys and they develop then that's great

hopefully this isn't a over reaction to having so many 4 star recruits transfer out after a year (morez, Epps, skyy, Miller, etc...) and essentially having another team reap the benefits of their best years.
 
#77      
HereSoIDontGetFined
Should perhaps point out there that 4-stars who end up the 11th or 12th guy on the roster who will not be on the roster much longer as they will transfer to a team where they can get playtime, AND they will command more NIL money on commitment. We should not expect all 15 players to be regular contributors on the court during their four years here. Better to spend low dollars on the 14th/15th slots to fill out a roster with bodies and let them decide if they want to try to rise up and take a spot or put their name into the portal after a year or two.

If there is a condition in which they do not receive NIL, that would be ideal. But no one in their right mind thinks Illinois doesn't have the money to sling around right now.
 
#78      
RabidDawgClassic
mysterio2525 said:
I think I see the plan... not necessarily with this player, but in general. most of our money has to be spent on retention, new transfers, euros, and then maybe get a 5 star will Riley type if you can. if you can keep one if these guys and they develop then that's great

hopefully this isn't a over reaction to having so many 4 star recruits transfer out after a year (morez, Epps, skyy, Miller, etc...) and essentially having another team reap the benefits of their best years.
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Oh… it’s an over reaction all right… just not on the part of the staff. 😉
 
#82      
the juiceman cometh
Future Insider said:
It’s going to be the norm now. BU will keep Illini competitive in the BIG10 and a top 30 team and try and ride that Elite 8 team as long as he can without ever getting there again most likely.
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Billy Madison Shut Up GIF


If the over/under on BU making the Elite Eight ever again is 0.5, I am taking the over again and again. Consistently being competitive in the Big Ten and being a top 30 team every year is exactly how you do that.
 
#83      
Oracle21
mysterio2525 said:
I think I see the plan... not necessarily with this player, but in general. most of our money has to be spent on retention, new transfers, euros, and then maybe get a 5 star will Riley type if you can. if you can keep one if these guys and they develop then that's great

hopefully this isn't a over reaction to having so many 4 star recruits transfer out after a year (morez, Epps, skyy, Miller, etc...) and essentially having another team reap the benefits of their best years.
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I don’t think this is anything other than filling out the end of the roster with players that will play for nothing. Hypothetically speaking, say Illinois has 8 million payroll. I think the staff would prefer finding 8 players each worth $1 million, and then the other 7 players (who aren’t likely to play get nothing). Now in order to make that situation work, the staff needs to find guys who are only happy being on scholarship and don’t have any dreams of NIL money, and will be ok being on a team where other players are making $1 million and they make nothing. Not many guys like that. These guys are basically walkons with scholarships. Practice players. I don’t have any issue with it.

The alternative is to simply not use all 15 rides and only take guys you are paying.
 
#84      
RandyfromTuscola
People need to calm down, and while I appreciate the insight from some insiders, the immediate disparaging of these KIDS is not ok. We need a balanced roster and can't live 100% with transfers or guys from overseas, and there are plenty of roster slots. We can name plenty of guys that were not on anyone's radar and turned into all Big Ten after 3-4 years.

Criticize the coaches if you want, but these kids just got to accept an offer from a major college program and you crap on them because their name isn't Dame Sarr. I think it shows a lot of character (OR LACK THERE OF) from Indy Illini Fan.

And guess what, if you're right in 2-3 years and they don't amount to more than a bench player, then fine. But don't crap on these kids. The coaching staff and Brad Underwood (more importantly) have shown how to evolve and handle different rosters and talent levels, as well as turnover in assistant coaches.

JUST RELAX PEOPLE
 
#85      
Future Insider
the juiceman cometh said:
Billy Madison Shut Up GIF


If the over/under on BU making the Elite Eight ever again is 0.5, I am taking the over again and again. Consistently being competitive in the Big Ten and being a top 30 team every year is exactly how you do that.
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Tells me a lot about you. Willing just to be middle of the pack. Not me. I need BIG10 Championships, Top 10 teams and threats of Elite 8 or Final 4. Nothing wrong with what you’ll accept but I prefer more.
 
#90      
Indy Illini Fan
RandyfromTuscola said:
People need to calm down, and while I appreciate the insight from some insiders, the immediate disparaging of these KIDS is not ok. We need a balanced roster and can't live 100% with transfers or guys from overseas, and there are plenty of roster slots. We can name plenty of guys that were not on anyone's radar and turned into all Big Ten after 3-4 years.

Criticize the coaches if you want, but these kids just got to accept an offer from a major college program and you crap on them because their name isn't Dame Sarr. I think it shows a lot of character (OR LACK THERE OF) from Indy Illini Fan.

And guess what, if you're right in 2-3 years and they don't amount to more than a bench player, then fine. But don't crap on these kids. The coaching staff and Brad Underwood (more importantly) have shown how to evolve and handle different rosters and talent levels, as well as turnover in assistant coaches.

JUST RELAX PEOPLE
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First of all … I never attacked the kid … I attacked the staffs evaluation and thinking this kid is Big Ten Caliber … Considering not a single other HM staff in the country offered this kid … Don’t think I’m too far off base …

As far as filling out the roster … You wanna go after non HM kids … Fine … Go find DAWGS … Under rated, under recruited kids … Trent Frazier … Andres Feliz … Jacob Grandison … Giorgi … I mean shoot even Coleman Hawkins is that kind of guy … We got away from that and pivoted to this …

And I’m simply stating my opinion that I don’t think it’s the right decision … No one is attacking the kids …
 
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#91      
IlliniFan42
Yet more evidence that the program has run out of steam and can't compete financially. Here's an idea- you'd have to recruit over players less if you simply recruited great players to begin with. 3-star recruits shouldn't cut it for anybody. And I hate the whole "15 spots means you have so many spots to waste" argument.

Duke has five 4/5-star freshmen coming in. Do you think after four of them Jon Scheyer stopped and thought "Gosh, maybe another one would be too many, I should waste a spot on a 3-star so he doesn't leave"?
 
#92      
jamie13197
New Creation said:
Ok good. Because that was my first thought..

What’s going on in the head of Brad with current recruiting? It’s becoming concerning and starting to look like Bruce Weber / Groce recruits.

Is it get 13-15 end of the bench players? Because these are MVC type players right now. Orlando… what have you been up to?
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After past 2 season with tyler and Hamer, throw in how Brad's handled this. Not to mention staff turnover. I have had the take that it's spread throughout High-school ranks. Might be a reason we are signing so many European players. I lost it towards end of last year. I hope I'm wrong.
 
#93      
RockfordIllini
Indy Illini Fan said:
First of all … I never attacked the kid … I attacked the staffs evaluation and thinking this kid is Big Ten Caliber … Considering not a single other HM staff in the country offered this kid … Don’t think I’m too far off base …

As far as filling out the roster … You wanna go after non HM kids … Fine … Go find DAWGS … Under rated, under recruited kids … Trent Frazier … Andres Feliz … Jacob Grandison … Giorgi … We got away from that and pivoted to this …

And I’m simply stating my opinion that I don’t think it’s the right decision … No one is attacking the kids …
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I’ve been thinking this too and also that if we were going to go back to recruiting developmental guys, that it was a shame we couldn’t make things work with Chester. I will forever be a fan of Sencire purely on the fact that he turned around the UCLA game with his defense. And also had a huge block in the Texas game that swung momentum.

Obviously the staff is prioritizing shooting but to me it feels like our goal is an Iowa on steroids type program. And while scoring a ton of points is fun, how many conference championships and second weekends did Fran get?

Maybe staff feels like they already have a dog on the roster in Lee but I agree you can never have too many.
 
#94      
NarrowJ
IlliniFan42 said:
Yet more evidence that the program has run out of steam and can't compete financially. Here's an idea- you'd have to recruit over players less if you simply recruited great players to begin with. 3-star recruits shouldn't cut it for anybody. And I hate the whole "15 spots means you have so many spots to waste" argument.

Duke has five 4/5-star freshmen coming in. Do you think after four of them Jon Scheyer stopped and thought "Gosh, maybe another one would be too many, I should waste a spot on a 3-star so he doesn't leave"?
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1754509602958.png



Duke actually grabbed this fella, zero stars, averaged 1.8ppg last year for Rice

EDIT: Oh, and this guy too

1754509884241.png
 
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#96      
Indy Illini Fan
RockfordIllini said:
I’ve been thinking this too and also that if we were going to go back to recruiting developmental guys, that it was a shame we couldn’t make things work with Chester. I will forever be a fan of Sencire purely on the fact that he turned around the UCLA game with his defense. And also had a huge block in the Texas game that swung momentum.

Obviously the staff is prioritizing shooting but to me it feels like our goal is an Iowa on steroids type program. And while scoring a ton of points is fun, how many conference championships and second weekends did Fran get?

Maybe staff feels like they already have a dog on the roster in Lee but I agree you can never have too many.
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They are over prioritizing shooting IMO …

You need 3-4 guards/wings who can really freaking shoot …

And the rest of your guys, including your bigs need to be athletic dawgs that can guard, and rebound …

See: Houston … Cryer, Sharp, Uzan … Surround them with dawgs who are long, athletic and willing to guard …

I might be wrong but I don’t think that Robert’s kid for them attempted a single 3 pointer … But he busted his butt on the glass, always boxed out and guarding the other teams best post player at an ELITE level … Tugler & Francis … Same thing … They couldn’t have attempted more than 10 threes between all 3 of them …

Those are the kinds of bigs we need …

It freaking works …
 
#97      
IlliniFan42
NarrowJ said:
View attachment 43087


Duke actually grabbed this fella, zero stars, averaged 1.8ppg last year for Rice
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I get what you're saying, but he's a Keaton Kutcher-type transfer, not a serious recruitment. So far we just have 3 and borderline 3/4 star guys coming in, there's no star in their class they're coming in behind. These guys we're getting aren't meant to just fill spots, these are the guys.
 
#98      
NarrowJ
IlliniFan42 said:
I get what you're saying, but he's a Keaton Kutcher-type transfer, not a serious recruitment. So far we just have 3 and borderline 3/4 star guys coming in, there's no star in their class they're coming in behind. These guys we're getting aren't meant to just fill spots, these are the guys.
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Duke has zero commits in the 2026 class

I suppose we could go with the 'bring in 5 freshman studs' model, rather than the 'bring in Euro stars and transfers and supplement with promising freshman' model, but my preference is the latter

Also, I edited my previous post. Duke has brought in multiple zero star guys too, it seems.
 
#99      
Rooftop
Listen, I don't want to disparage the Iowa kid at all, but if we are going to take a chance, if you will, on a 3 star player like this, I'd rather see us grab a kid from the Chicago public league. Stay in state and try hard to stay in Chicago.
 
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