Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
Dr Copejam
- The Rock
On3 rankings update:
Brady Pettigrew up to No. 10
Dylan Betts up to No. 9
Benjamin Bourett up to No. 7
All are Illini targets:
Brady Pettigrew up to No. 10
Dylan Betts up to No. 9
Benjamin Bourett up to No. 7
All are Illini targets:
On the topic of recruiting and the fact Duke seems to have their way with recruits, did anyone know these nuggets:
1) Adam Silver is a Duke grad
2) Grant Hill is the MD of Team USA's Selection Committee
3) Their GM is an ex Nike Executive
4) That Brian Scalabrini, when first discovering Cooper Flagg, made two calls. One to Team USA and another to Duke.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but might there be some horseplay that give Duke an unlevel advantage in CBB?
1) Adam Silver is a Duke grad
2) Grant Hill is the MD of Team USA's Selection Committee
3) Their GM is an ex Nike Executive
4) That Brian Scalabrini, when first discovering Cooper Flagg, made two calls. One to Team USA and another to Duke.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but might there be some horseplay that give Duke an unlevel advantage in CBB?
Why ??
Trending to IU^^
Think we sit in a really good spot with Brady Pettigrew right now. I don't think they are in a rush to add a ton until the season is over, going to push for retention then add around that in the offseason.
Think we sit in a really good spot with Brady Pettigrew right now. I don't think they are in a rush to add a ton until the season is over, going to push for retention then add around that in the offseason.
Chuck Nuggets
Dip your nuggets in my staff source sauce.
IU must be throwing a huge offer at the kid.
Damn would’ve preferred him at Arizona if it wasn’t us. Not excited by the prospect of Izzo and now IU already loading up on ‘27 talent. McCoy Jr. is essentially a ‘27 freshman now too if he stays at Michigan. And I know Purdue has a notable recruit coming in too.
What is IU’s sell … big NIL $$? Don’t think IU comes close to the other two in terms of recent history of being a winning program or developing guys into NBA players.
Dr Copejam
- The Rock
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
they have the highest tool factor, bar none
I think Wabbington and Pettigrew shock Illini nation and tell Brad yes we are coming!
Illinois will have a ton of money to work with this offseason. More than they ever have.
Not concerned in the slightest. Illinois will easily be top 15 every year now
In the grand scheme of things, I'm guessing BU would rather keep Mirk, Drej, Coleman, Vaaks, etc(whoever is an option)....if he had the choice over any of the preps. That approach would require a fortune in NIL. Recruiting, as we know it with prep commitments, is long gone. Coaches can go 5 different directions.....as can players. When it comes to basketball, I won't really concern myself with it until about June and th Combine ends. We have the money to spend and we'll be contenders in 27-28.
I'd like to see Pettigrew because I think it's important to lock down the state's best. It means the message is resonating close to home. Outside of that, I don't make much out of any of it.
You know how good it feels to legitimately be dismissive and say “fine. Go to Indiana (basketball). Bad choice by you and we’ll do better.”… and actually mean it?
Yeah but Wabbs is not someone I want to have to play against
For sure, Arizona would be better. But until shown otherwise, I’m not scared of Indiana.
Candidly, I don’t hate the Euro route for bigs anyway. (Nor does Arizona I imagine)
7 top 40 kids in the B10 so far. IU has one of the top shooters already signed, around #25.
Painter may have one of his better classes, two top 40 kids.
Yep but to LvilleILL1's point that I'll gladly take Year 3 Mirk/Vaaks, Year 5 Andrej, and Year 2 Coleman over practically any Top-10 kid. And if we lose any of those guys to the draft that means we likely had a great season. And also can repurpose that $$ for a high profile portal transfer ala an Yaxel in 2025-26 or a Blackwell/Vaaks this year.
Plus he seems like a perfect fit for our style of play.
Heck yeah - Willard was a the BE media day saying this exact same thing. He's not doing any HS recruiting this year, would rather bring his guys back and he'll let this HS class flush out. This class of freshmen could be in the portal next year.
When you're Painter, this year is probably a good opportunity get those kids with less competition. He does a great job of retaining them once in.
I don't think not hitting this year is a very big deal at all.