Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[dank1982]

Question for one of the "insiders". Why would the staff not want to recruit to be the team to beat instead of just another contender?

Who do you think they should have gotten that they didn't? Literally every year we hear about how Brad cant keep recruits...what's he doing? Keeps everyone here that was part of the run. You guys then say he didnt do enough. I guess I'm just confused about what this guy needs to do. Also where would Andrej rank if he portaled? Mirk? Tomi? Big Z? Let's say none of them played for Illinois last year and he brought all them in this year...what would you guys think then?

 

[illini0440]

Jalen Brunson

 

[sacraig]

At this point, I've largely lost the will to argue on here and instead resort to snark to make a point more efficiently.

 

[My2Cents]

A shrink and pharmacist could make a kill'n here.

 

[grue2]

Some of you are beyond miserable, goodness.

What do you expect. Its almost 7 months before the next game. Of course I'm miserable.

 

[mysterio2525]

legally I'm still in portal Kombat chaos mode and at this price point I'm allowed to make wild and crazy claims and be an emotional wreck.

next phase: may and June I chill and let it all pass knowing it will be fine. new news is slow so no need to get all worked up

July: I assess the final roster and start dreaming for the next year

but in honor if 4/20. I'll chill until tomorrow

 

[foby]

At this point, I've largely lost the will to argue on here and instead resort to snark to make a point more efficiently.

 

[Chillinini]

Hope Coleman can transition from a small private school in St. Louis County, MO to the BIG. The change in completion will be a huge change for him. Being Wagler 2.0 would be like finding 2 needles in 2 haystacks or discovering 2 matching snowflakes. Sure hope he is IT. Wagler has certainly spoiled us.

Look at their schedule. They played a lot of teams nationally. Strong tournaments and teams.

 

[sacraig]

Levelheaded Illini fan: Brad got us to a Final Four. Surely the critics will pipe down for a bit, now.


IllinoisLoyalty:

 

[Dragons89]

Tournament Andrej doesn't happen if he's handed a starting role and doesn't improve his D & rebounding.

Davis earned that starting role and I would be shocked if he doesn't continue to put in the work. I'd rather make Coleman take it from him.

If AS wasn’t hurt, twice for that matter, Jake wasn’t taking anything from him. Get real, Jake is a role player, spark off the bench type and doesn’t handle pressure at all. The ball was a hot potato in his hands in the BTT AND NCAA tournament. I like Jake and he has a role but don’t get carried away.

 

[Emerson Bigguns]

A lot of the same scouting experts around here were saying Ben shouldn’t be on the court for anything but practice last April. They had lots of clever nicknames for the kid, too.
Brad believed in things we couldn’t see, because he is better at this than any of us.

If he was half as worried as many people on this board the rumor mill would still be churning. It’s quiet, because he’s pretty happy with what we’ve got.

You guys can think less. Many of you might be smarter than him, but when it comes to coaching basketball? You aren’t. The man always has a plan. I guarantee he wants it more than you.

 

[OrangeKrushRush]

Me catching up on all the posts from today

 

[My2Cents]

 

[Det_Illini_fan]

Levelheaded Illini Fan: the team right now is an A, maybe not an A+. But can get there.

IllinoisLoyalty:

 

[Chief Piasa]

I watched him every night from ‘72-‘77 but it was mainly to get his cottage cheese recipes.

 

[My2Cents]

Time for a break I think.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

If AS wasn’t hurt, twice for that matter, Jake wasn’t taking anything from him. Get real, Jake is a role player, spark off the bench type and doesn’t handle pressure at all. The ball was a hot potato in his hands in the BTT AND NCAA tournament. I like Jake and he has a role but don’t get carried away.

I have no real opinion on who should start, but this is unfair for the sole reason that Jake stepped up and sank two FTs to tie the game at MSU with no time on the clock to force OT, in front of the MSU student section.

That takes stones.

 

[EmeraldCityIllini]

I have no real opinion on who should start, but this is unfair for the sole reason that Jake stepped up and sank two FTs to tie the game at MSU with no time on the clock to force OT, in front of the MSU student section.

That takes stones.

The Purdue corner 3 at Mackey was also huge.

 

[Chillinini]

Insiders, do me a favor, avoid this board for a while. Enjoy some peace, prosperity and a nice drink of your liking….on me. Come back when u want to and provide us with your valuable information when the time comes. Don’t get caught up with some of this noise and nonsense.

Thanks!

 

[Jack's Raging Bile Duct]

20 pages today, 2 weeks after the end of the season, on little to no new news?? Noice. Never change, Illini Nation <3


"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience." - Mark Twain.


Lotsa rageba(i)ting going on 'round these parts... Some of youse are either dense, or just love to argue for the sake of arguing. Have the majority of you only been fans for like the last 7 years or something? Step away from the keyboards and touch (or smoke) a lil grass, eh?


Maybe a lil trollin' going on a bit around here too. In house, and out... literally.


Gotta love the offseason! Some of y'all need to get some Bobby McFerrin in ya life!

 

[Chase321]

No idea what the staff thinks. only said "if the staff thinks that" then I trust it.

OK. But the implication you seem to make sure seems to be to say we don’t need another player because the staff doesn’t think we do.

I too trust this staff. If in the end they add no one I’ll trust it was for good reasons. I just don’t know why someone can’t discuss adding more without be called miserable or negative. Sort of what this forum is for.

 

[Captain 14]

Two weeks ago Illini +2200 at Caesars sports book. . . Today +1500

 

[wc_illini]

WE DO NOT NEED THE THREE FRESHMAN TO BE PERFECT OR GREAT. ITS NOT CRAZY TO ASK TOP 50 RECRUITS TO BE THE FIFTH AND EIGHT OPTIONS ON A REALLY GOOD TEAM.

I'm not concerned about the eighth option, and while I wouldn't use the word "crazy", I would say it's "risky" to expect a #27 recruit to be our fifth option because not many freshman around #27 were good enough to be the fifth option on a really good team last year. Arizona, UConn, and Florida all had guys in this range, and they were #8-9 in minutes played. That's saying nothing about Coleman himself- he might be great and people said much worse things about Keaton last year. It's just my perspective on roster risk.

Bringing in a star (or anyone meaningfully better than Jake) and planning for Jake & Coleman to come off the bench would be an upgrade (at least regarding risk; nothing is guaranteed). Without that, Jake is our "floor" if Coleman needs more time to adjust. And that's not a bad option, but it just adds more pressure for our top four to take bigger steps forward if we want to reach another level.

If we tried and/or are trying to get such a player, then it seems like the staff at least agrees that there's room for an upgrade. If they can't find the right player who wants to come here, that's a bummer, but it doesn't mean wanting more is crazy either.

 

[Illinirog70]

This is where I think the concerns about adding a high-usage Blackwell are legit. Sure, he'd score a lot more and make more "wow" plays than Jake, but it's not hard to imagine the offense as a unit being just one step away from firing on all cylinders consistently.

Starting tomi, mirk, andrej, jake and vaaks doesn't give me the same concerns about 'efficiency' as having blackwell in there instead of jake. But it sounds like we'll just never know.

we WILL never know... but Jake is a virtual non-scorer and we know Blackwell can score...in bunches. Likely, we will be somewhat efficient...in the 60's not the 80's. Remember... the best thing about freshmen is that they ultimately become sophomores... unless they're named Keaton.

 

[LvilleILL1]

Hope Coleman can transition from a small private school in St. Louis County, MO to the BIG. The change in completion will be a huge change for him. Being Wagler 2.0 would be like finding 2 needles in 2 haystacks or discovering 2 matching snowflakes. Sure hope he is IT. Wagler has certainly spoiled us.

He's a 5 star recruit, this isn't a needle in a haystack.