Totally forgot that. I guess I meant more the current version of BU because I feel he has reinvented himself to some degree during his time here. Wish Leron would have stayed!
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
Steve Krafcisin says hello
that one still kills me. I thought we could been something that next year. I loved Leron black's game!
Well, this Lockport Porter class of 77sends greetings and salutations to him as well!!
Honestly, I think Weber is really the only coach that's an interesting question of if he would have done better with NIL and the instant portal.
Groce is an obvious no, young Self would have been incredible with these rules, and I think He son and Kruger are both good with those rules.
Weber was probably clean to a fault with his recruiting and it cost him when he kept striking out on the top end talent and then would lose the guys ranked a bit lower as a result since they would commit to a Purdue or Wisconsin type team while Weber was focused on the Eric Gordon's of the world.
Weber was pretty good at the actual coaching part imo and reminds me a lot of Matt Painter. If you simply improved his recruiting with money he might have been able to sustain some success. However, he also seemed stubborn so maybe he would be like Shaka and struggle because he refused to use the portal.
Used to get a lot of strange guys going pro that had no chance of getting drafted before NIL.
I feel like a lot of kids surround themselves with the wrong type of people and they get blatantly incorrect advice on when to go pro(see Kofi). In Black's case he had a medical redshirt but had been in college for 4 years so it's possible he graduated and just wanted to try to play professionally(which he did do in South America), but yeah he probably would have been better off sticking around and picking up a graduate degree or certificate in a 5th year and then going pro.
Jeremy Richmond is the all time most baffling one imo. Never any shot he was getting drafted after his freshman year and he actually might have had a chance to get drafted after his sophomore year if he kept his head on straight and improved. Nearly 8 pts and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes as a freshman isn't terrible production to build off of and McCamey, Davis, and Tisdale were all out of eligibility.
He could have probably become the go to guy on a starting lineup that could have actually been pretty good running out Richardson(jr.), Paul(jr), Bertrand (so), Richmond(so), and Leonard(so).
Richmond went pro because he didn’t have a choice. He wasn’t welcome back for his sophomore season.
Always thought Leron was one of our great what-ifs.
Richmond was a classic case of being a head case. A bad decision but not so baffling to me considering the history of the person making the decision.
Another decision I really didn't like for either party was Giorgi. I understand he was stuck behind Kofi - really unfortunate for him - but he was actually a really solid college player who didn't really have any business going pro when he did.
I guess Leron has gotten into coaching... He was the Player Development Coach for the Trailblazers this year. He's on Linked-in..
I had no idea... Good for him.
Not that strange when you think about it tbh. He'd gotten his degree early, as many players do. Was engaged. And playing in college did not pay money. He knew he wasn't going to the NBA but figured on a pro career playing abroad, and decided to start on that road a year earlier.
In the pre-NIL context it was still rare, but made sense to some extent. Nowadays it would be an absolutely crazy thing to do.
Rumor has it if you hold a replica illinois football helmet up to your ear you can hear him yelling in all caps that Aaron Bailey is an All-B1G caliber QB.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
Dr Copejam
- The Rock
I will be there.
Look at USC's roster... Jalen Cox is probably their 9th man.
Can anyone explain how exactly Zavier Zens was a maxpreps All American? Usually every one of these guys are 5 stars.
Here’s the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams this year (2026):
1st team:
— Quentin Coleman
— Colben Landrew
— Miles Sadler
— Jordan Smith Jr (player of the year)
— Tyran Stokes
2nd team:
— Abdou Toure
— Cam Williams
— Brandon McCoy
— Caleb Holt
— Jason Crowe Jr
3rd team:
— Luke Ertal
— Cayden Daughtery
— Christian Collins
— Caleb Gaskins
— Zavier Zens
Here’s the 1st, 2nd, 3rd teams from last year (2025):
1st team:
— Nate Ament
— Brayden Burries
— Cam Boozer (player of the year)
— Darryn Peterson
— Koa Peat
2nd team:
— AJ Dybantsa
— Malachi Moreno
— Braylon Mullins
— Caleb Wilson
— Tounde Yessoufou
3rd team:
— Mikel Brown Jr
— Kingston Flemings
— Nik Khamenia
— Jordan Smith Jr
— Tyran Stokes
…..
Every one of these guys listed are bona-fide 5 stars and potential lotto picks. Was Zens just massively under-ranked and we got a steal… or is it more of great HS production but not quite the NBA potential?
Here’s the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams this year (2026):
1st team:
— Quentin Coleman
— Colben Landrew
— Miles Sadler
— Jordan Smith Jr (player of the year)
— Tyran Stokes
2nd team:
— Abdou Toure
— Cam Williams
— Brandon McCoy
— Caleb Holt
— Jason Crowe Jr
3rd team:
— Luke Ertal
— Cayden Daughtery
— Christian Collins
— Caleb Gaskins
— Zavier Zens
Here’s the 1st, 2nd, 3rd teams from last year (2025):
1st team:
— Nate Ament
— Brayden Burries
— Cam Boozer (player of the year)
— Darryn Peterson
— Koa Peat
2nd team:
— AJ Dybantsa
— Malachi Moreno
— Braylon Mullins
— Caleb Wilson
— Tounde Yessoufou
3rd team:
— Mikel Brown Jr
— Kingston Flemings
— Nik Khamenia
— Jordan Smith Jr
— Tyran Stokes
…..
Every one of these guys listed are bona-fide 5 stars and potential lotto picks. Was Zens just massively under-ranked and we got a steal… or is it more of great HS production but not quite the NBA potential?
Jalen Cox will start along with Rice & Arenas in the backcourt with Lewis, Jones & Bruns as reserves.
Forward spots are up for grabs - they have Cofie/Reibe but the 3 freshman bigs are all extremely talented.
Bruns, Hughes or one of the freshman will be their 9th man (ie, guy who barely plays at all and has next to zero impact)
You guys are just making sh1t up now.
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I'm not.
View attachment 50491
Jalen Cox will start along with Rice & Lewis in the backcourt with Jones & Bruns as reserves.
Forward spots are up for grabs - they have Cofie/Reibe but the 3 freshman bigs are all extremely talented.
They only have 11 players who aren't walk-ons. We have 12.
You guys are just making sh1t up now.
Starters will be: Rice, Arenas, Lewis, Cofie, Reibe.
Bench will be Christian Collins, Ratliff twins, and Cox.
Really a heck of a roster.
Day by day this topic grows dumber
Buck Turgidson
- Massachusetts
A St Laurence grad?
So a dysfunctional program managed to get the #7, #19, and #30 freshmen and two decently productive starters from lower conferences to fight for the 8th and 9th spots? I thought anyone of that caliber wanted a clear path to more playing time.
View attachment 50492
Jalen Cox will start along with Rice & Arenas in the backcourt with Lewis, Jones & Bruns as reserves.
Forward spots are up for grabs - they have Cofie/Reibe but the 3 freshman bigs are all extremely talented.
Bruns, Hughes or one of the freshman will be their 9th man (ie, guy who barely plays at all and has next to zero impact)
You guys are just making sh1t up now.
For the record, I'm not focused on having a 9th man, but rather having another option for 5th-8th man in case someone doesn't pan out.
Edit: and I'm sure USC will find a way to be bad, so maybe they just manage to get the most overrated guys rather than just having bad coaching, but the players probably don't think they're overrated and would still want the playing time that similarly ranked players would want
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Exactly, in other words - STANDBY. ; )
