Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#1,251      
pruman91
Been out of the loop since our game Saturday , hardly posting or even reading posts........read the first and second pages of this thread and got a headache big time in Paducah now so skipping 36 pages to arrive here......any REAL news to report ???

thanks , in advance.................
 
#1,252      
Det_Illini_fan
Illini-Rule said:
First off, Im not saying that I believe this.

I heard from someone with supposed ties to KW's family, that his parents really want him getting a degree and that he's staying in college. I just found it interesting.
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This was along the lines of my tin foil hat theory I've been discussing with friends. Would it be a bad financial decision to stay? Yes. It's better for our reputation ultimately for him to go pro, and I'm sure even Underwood is encouraging him to go to the draft; in all do I think he stays? No...

But watching his post game and season interviews, this year seems to have had a big intrinsic value on him. He's a humble kid, whose parents even thought he'll have to redshirt, legit told Underwood. My read is, I think KW thought he'd have a full college career, and by the end of his junior or senior year he might end up in the NBA if all things went right. I somehow wonder if he'd want to come back because he's a humble kid from small town Midwest, loved the team and university feel, and wanted to experience just playing college ball like his parents did. Idk, maybe it's 1% of me thinking money and NBA aren't his entire focus at the moment.
 
#1,253      
Emerson Bigguns
PeoriaIllini03 said:
KW as in Keaton Wagler?? There is absolutely 0% chance of him sticking around to get a degree. Can get that online during his off-season training programs in the league.
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I'm sure his parents do want hi to stay in college and earn his degree, but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with basketball. Most of the big-time athletes do the majority of their classes on-line, anyway. He can be an NBA player and a college student at the same time. Plenty of others have done it.
 
#1,254      
MikeTisdale
Been out of the loop since our game Saturday , hardly posting or even reading posts........read the first and second pages of this thread and got a headache big time in Paducah now so skipping 36 pages to arrive here......any REAL news to report ???

thanks , in advance.................
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Yea we got Vlade Divac's son now. In the lead for Mike Bibby's kid too.
 
#1,256      
OB positive
HensonHall71 said:
You are not wrong- Andrej committed 5 weeks after our season ended so this board had 5 weeks of speculation, innuendo and rumors to go through

Starting with AJ Storr is already committed- we had an agreement in December to Josh Dix is the top target to Dame Sarr we are leading for, to Jackson is visiting this weekend and we have a good shot to Will Reilly is coming back, big donors have stepped in. However through miss after miss, when the board would say “that was our last hope” the insiders would consistently say “No, there is another” and Andrej was that mystery guy they we were targeting from the start who hadn’t entered the portal until late - it just took him to finally visit and some wine on the porch with Peja to seal the deal. So whether you want to call him 1A or not, they clearly tried to get others here that didn’t work out

We also had the NBA decision looming for Will Reilly so he didn’t officially declare until April 14th, so I’m sure that impacted timing of others willing to commit to us- we shouldn’t have that this year
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Did we also go after Sandfort before landing Andrej?
 
#1,259      
RIP_Chief_2003
pruman91 said:
Been out of the loop since our game Saturday , hardly posting or even reading posts........read the first and second pages of this thread and got a headache big time in Paducah now so skipping 36 pages to arrive here......any REAL news to report ???

thanks , in advance.................
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No

There have been no “Boom” or “wtf” moments…
 
#1,260      
skyIdub
Ok ok ok, I know, but just humor us….how big a bag gets thrown at Wagler if he wants to run it back?
I mean, he’s gotta be the #1 pick in ‘27. That has a coolness to it too?

It’s not going to happen but holy shiite Muslim if he announces that!!🤣
 
#1,261      
Illinirog70
Been out of the loop since our game Saturday , hardly posting or even reading posts........read the first and second pages of this thread and got a headache big time in Paducah now so skipping 36 pages to arrive here......any REAL news to report ???

thanks , in advance.................
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Are you doing ok, Pru?
 
#1,262      
BuckDitkis
Indy Illini Fan said:
It’s not necessarily about the degree … You can get that while being in the NBA …

I had a conversation with his parents and I should start by saying that they seem like great people … Very down to earth …

They just want the best situation for him and for him to be happy …

If that’s coming back to college … Great … If it’s going pro … Great …
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But is coming back to college an actual reality? I can’t imagine the cost and how much that would eat into our budget for other guys. Or is that a situation where we’d have a big pocket donor with a blank check
 
#1,263      
CoachHooleyHoo
Indy Illini Fan said:
They’re giving him the resources and he’s got the 5 star coming in …

Sneaking in isn’t going to cut this year …

Ohio State is also pretty over rated as a job … It’s not nearly as good of a job as people make it out to be …
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I actually think Diebler's a very good coach. Had some talent for sure, but feels like they overachieved. Tough early tourney matchup but they competed even with the top teams all year. Give him a couple more pieces, he could be a problem. I think it'd be stupid for them to cut him.
 
#1,264      
NarrowJ
ChiefGritty said:
It was Sarr while the season was still going, then Dix, then Andrej.

I'm sure the conversations had been going on throughout, but hard to imagine Andrej prioritizing us if we'd already added a megabucks wing scorer.

Every portal season it's the same thing, hot and heavy with a top ranked name, the bidding gets feverish, we back off, quietly lock up Plan B behind the scenes, and when the season arrives we have a better season than Plan A does.
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Right, we weren't going to go empty handed so we recruited players in the event that Andrej did not portal. Then, when he did, he instantly became priority 1A.

But, again, just going off memory of the various insider commentary at the time.
 
#1,265      
RollChief
Indy Illini Fan said:
They’ll be some news on that soon …
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Brace Yourself Here We Go GIF by MOODMAN
 
#1,268      
Indy Illini Fan
BuckDitkis said:
But is coming back to college an actual reality? I can’t imagine the cost and how much that would eat into our budget for other guys. Or is that a situation where we’d have a big pocket donor with a blank check
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skyIdub said:
Ok ok ok, I know, but just humor us….how big a bag gets thrown at Wagler if he wants to run it back?
I mean, he’s gotta be the #1 pick in ‘27. That has a coolness to it too?
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As crazy as it sounds … It’s not really about the money with Keaton … Never has been …

Kid just loves playing ball … Loves to compete …

Now he ain’t coming back for $250,000 but you catch my drift … I don’t think he’d be coming back and demanding like $8 million …

And I think he’s going pro and he should go pro …
 
#1,274      
FightinIllini30
Indy Illini Fan said:
As crazy as it sounds … It’s not really about the money with Keaton … Never has been …

Kid just loves playing ball … Loves to compete …

Now he ain’t coming back for $250,000 but you catch my drift … I don’t think he’d be coming back and demanding like $8 million …

And I think he’s going pro and he should go pro …
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I mean I would love this. So much. But I think in the long run it might be better if he went and go drafted top 5 and became an all star in the NBA while getting his degree.

The Wagler family is very cool. My dad and his dad work in the same sort of circles in Kansas and his other two kids play at a school that my Alma mater plays every year. Just a super real group of people from what I’ve heard second and third hand
 
#1,275      
Travis1173
Would be nice to keep the Balkan 4 and Jake. Any indication Andrej or Mirk are moving on? (Sorry if mentioned on the thread already)
 
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