Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Well you didnt actually tell us what you didn't like so we had to parse it from what you said, and you specifically listed only in-state guys.
And also, guys like Kofi (Jamaican) aren't attached to IL lore? Why? Seems like arbitrary line-drawing.
Huh? You can very much follow the careers of foreign players before they get here too. In fact there are many posts on this website dedicated to that, and I'm sure you can figure out a way to watch ABA games online. Probably actually easier than following a given HS player.
I dunno, maybe? I mean, there are plenty of Big Ten games that feature multiple 1st round draft picks. Most G League games the best player is a guy who might one day get a cup of coffee in the NBA.
Ok decent point, some laundry has more of a following than other laundry.
Man, this is just bush league. Nobody is saying this. You're the one that only wants to root for your team if everyone has American passports or something. The rest of us here are ready to cheer for anyone who dons the O & B, while you're here acting like
Well yeah, because back to back championships are more memorable and a bigger deal than a one-off. Your point? Do you think Gator fans are unhappy that they won with transfers?
Kofi is absolutely in IL lore. Do you want me to mention every recruited high school player? Like literally every player? He did go to high school in the US. Illinois won a traditional recruitment for him.
And no, you can’t follow any international recruit bc nobody knows who these guys are when they are literally signed 3 months before the season even starts. You can’t follow transfer recruiting.
Tell me what international pro is going to be on the team next year? You can’t answer that right? When HS recruits were being recruited, you could do answer that.
And yes, Euro pros taking spots away from the high school players absolutely sucks for my own interest level. If college is simply a watered down minor league basketball league now full of guys that are the equivalent of AA or AAA veteran minor league baseball players, sorry I have no interest in watching that.
A quick search of the internets tells me we're currently recruiting Luigi Suigo, Aleksa Dimitrijevic, Sinan Huan, Jonas Boulefaa and Or Ashkenazi (feel free to look them up and learn more about them, or perhaps find one of their games streaming online)
We all followed the Dame Sarr recruitment very closely here for months
Wagler and Lee committed in September 2024 so you've had a full year to enjoy following our domestic recruits, just as you always have in the past!
I'm sorry you are having this issue, there is always the option of doing something else with your time, nobody wants you to watch something you aren't interested in (that sucks)
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Just reading through this thread and wondering...when or if college teams will begin to schedule games (probably pre-season first,then conf matches) in Eastern Europe, China, Australia, Spain, etc....much like the NFL and to some extent MLB are doing??? I know some teams play a few games overseas as a pre-season practice/team building type trips. As more and more international players enter the college game, would it not make sense to showcase these kids in front of their home countries and potential future recruits, with games that actually count rather than practice type sessions????
In what sense was Kofi's recruitment "traditional?" What does that even mean? Kofi basically came over to the U.S. from Jamaica specifically to play basketball for a private prep school, so he could more easily be recruited by NCAA programs. Christ the King recruited him from his high school in Jamaica in the same way we recruited players from abroad! Then he was recruited again by Oak Hill Academy. Is that "traditional?"
How was Tomi Ivisic's recruitment "untraditional?" Hakeem Olajuwon didn't go to high school in the U.S. He came over from Nigeria when he enrolled at Houston. Would it be preferable that he'd never been allowed to play college basketball? That was before a lot of the players you specifically mentioned even got to Illinois.
Just like with HS players, we get plenty hints on this board about what players we are interested in, while the ABA (or whatever other foreign league) season is in progress. You can watch them. For example we are purportedly interested in Luigi Suigo. He's going to play this year for KK Megabasket. You can probably watch all their games. It will probably be easier to watch their games than it was to watch Morgan Park's games in the 2017-2018 season.
I'm sorry you're having this problem.
Given that Ivisic was a professional player that was already 21 years old when IL got in contact with him, yea that’s fairly untraditional to say 100 years of college basketball recruiting,
Kofi wasn’t 20+ years old,
He wasn’t playing in a professional league. He was playing high school basketball.
If you have the same level of attachment to Mahailo Petrovic as Frank Williams, good for you. I don’t. At all.
He was 20, not 21, but I get it. For some odd reason, the fact he's a couple years older totally ruins this for you, but as far as I can tell most of the rest of us didn't mind at all. In fact, this is the first complaint I've heard about Tomi's age on this forum, ever.
And if he were playing in a professional league today, his games would likely be much more readily available via streaming than whatever HS he attended.
Can't speak for anyone else, but I do not... and same goes for Keaton Wagler & Brandon Lee... so it certainly has nothing to do with the fact that Mihailo is from Europe and much, much more to do with the fact that Frank Williams is an Illini legend who scored 1400+ points in his career while Mihailo has yet to play a single game for us.
We're sorry you are having trouble with this. I don't really know what can we do for you?
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Not here to further litigate your argument. Both schools of thought have their believers and detractors. And each side is a reasonable case. I'll just opine why I don't think Oracle is crazy in thinking the way he does....
Did you ever personally go to see one of our top recruits play high school ball before they got to campus? Not just clips online, but physically go to the gym and watch these young men, see how electric they were, watch how their home school resonates with them?
We always went to the IHSA championships in Jr. high/High school and it's soo easy to root for those guys you watch as teens (from your home state). You just naturally follow and wish them the best no matter where they end up. You see an inside glimpse into who they are before the national attention and spotlight is on them. The idea that Oracle is Soo wrong because he likes following guys from instate and would like that to be our main recruiting effort? Idk seems fair.
Just to brag about the guys we had coming through....
First year there was some freak athlete from Simeon (Derrick Rose) along with Jabari Parker a few years later.
Meyers Leonard with Robinson
Jahlil Okafor with Whitney Young
Think Brunson came through after I was gone.
Anthony Davis surprisingly never made it? Don't know how not. Imagine how badly he was tearing up Chicago schools...my goodness
(Edit-if there are any other notables I missed from the 05-2011 years feel free to add them) back in the Bradley days of the tourney
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Kostas
- Naperville, IL
First: Did I or one of my Balkan brothers steal your girl or something 30 years ago?
Second, I cheer for Illinois. I can get invested in Adam Miller, or Morez, or Skyy Clark and they can do me (school and fans) dirty.
Third: These are kids and young men playing basketball. I don't get attached to any of them. Frank Williams isn't good because he's from Peoria. Mihailo isn't bad because he's from Serbia.
Again, I am sorry you're having this problem. Since the level of play does not matter to you, perhaps drop down a level and root for Illinois State? I don't think they have any international players, and only 4 or 5 transfers, so it should be a relatively safe space for you? Or drop down to DIII and root for Illinois Wesleyan? No transfers as far as I can tell. Very traditional. In fact, the kind of team that would not have looked out of place in the 1930s.
This is great and all but there are no longer any players of this caliber staying in Illinois to play basketball anyhow. They all leave for prep schools in NY, FL, CA, etcetera so we're not going to watch them in person anyway.
That's not completely true though overwhelmingly you are correct. Believe there are a couple 27-28 guys who are still in Chicago leagues as well as Lincoln from Kankakee (believe we may have eased up on him but neither here nor there).
NCAA basketball needs to have an age limit for playing basketball and football. We are living in the wild west where no rules apply.
To be honest, players leaving for prep school in other states sucks too. I agree with that part. It just isn’t ruining the whole experience of following Illinois basketball for me.
It's really ruined the top end excitement of high school basketball. At least for me, and like I mentioned there was legitimately a future Lottery pick playing at the IHSA tournament for my entire time in HS. (or close to it)
With Devin Cleveland now in Indiana, Davion Thompson now in Missouri, and Howard Williams now at Overtime Elite (Atlanta), 247 top 150 for 2027 lists one 4-star and one 3-star out of Illinois. These kids usually don't transfer to out-of-state prep schools until their Junior or Senior years anyway, plenty of time for those 2028s to get recruited by OOS prep schools.
Im clearly not as up to date on the recruits as you. Appreciate the clarification Juiceman!
I still think this whole debate comes down to this: unless you’re apart of the small group of exceptions (Purdue and who else?) in this day and age you cannot win at the highest level without dipping into what is considered non traditional recruiting.
We should also point out Purdue brought in Omer Mayer (Israel) and Oscar Cluff (Australia) this season
Kofi actually was 20 his entire freshman season.
And Mayer played 2 seasons in the EuroLeague, which is the closest thing on Earth to the NBA that is not the NBA.
I feel like this argument is getting pedantic...
I really like where college basketball is right now because I'm a huge college basketball fan and I have the time and the desire to make it a hobby that I stay on top of. That's why I'm here responding on this board like all of you.
With that said, I understand at least a part of what @Oracle21 is saying, that the interest might be lost on people who don't pay as much attention because they lose some level of recognition year over year.
More globally, I think the whole argument is probably more subjective than it's being made out to be and more about conservatism and enjoying the sport a certain way vs being okay with adopting and buying into the new landscape as a fan. Sometimes change is tough to stomach, Oracle definitely got a lot of enjoyment about watching Illinois players from a time period and lens that may become less frequent in a certain way. I think feeling a certain way about that doesn't make them less of an Illini fan or mean they have a problem.
With that said, I fully agree that the roster creativity is really cool to watch and is definitely a benefit for a lot of people, most notably opportunistic players but also coaches and fans who are willing to accept (and enjoy) the changing landscape.
There's my Switzerland take that no one asked for.
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