Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (April 2017)

[helppitch]

This will be a great experiment. Some like myself thought that if Cuonzo were at Illinois or even Missouri his recruiting might exceed what he has previously accomplished. That has certainly been shown to be true so far. Now the question is can he coach just enough to capitalize on the talent?

Time will tell. i'm guessing he will do well enough without turning Mizzou into powerhouse. Similar to our old buddy Norm Stewart

At this point his recruiting is not as great as we seem to think. He got the no. 1 recruit in the nation by hiring his dad. If he is not a one & done, it means he had a disappointing season. He probably will get Tilmon & today he got a guard who is three or four stars, depending on where you look, & is rated below both our incoming guards. If they add Knox that would be big, but I don't think that will happen.
Their returning nucleus isn't much. They appear to be pretty weak at the guard position. Their best returning guard shot 36.5% from the field. Their guards are about as weak, or weaker, than our bigs. But obviously guards are easier to find.
Now he might add to it, but right now they have a very good class, but much of that ranking is based on Porter.
I can hear the howling if they don't make a run in the NCAA tourney.

 

[mattcoldagelli]

Some like myself thought that if Cuonzo were at Illinois or even Missouri his recruiting might exceed what he has previously accomplished. That has certainly been shown to be true so far.

I was one of these people, but nothing's been shown to be true so far. He recruited fantastically to both Tennessee and Cal - next to nothing to show for it in terms of results.

 

[STLIlliniMike]

Back in the day, numerous times Norm and Lou's teams met and both were in the top 20 or 15. It's possible for both teams to be very good at the same time. Just because both have been lousy for a while, success at Miznoz doesn't necessarily mean doom for Illinois.

It doesn't necessarily mean doom but it's certainly not a positive development.

 

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

Too early to judge this class. Let's see what BU and three strong assistants can accomplish over the next month. Could be exciting.

 

[helppitch]

No reflection on Walker whatsoever. The Dad stepped in and something, we don't know what, happened. It is a very real possibility that Martin may have come after and gotten Tilmon even if JG was still the coach.

Personally, I can see a lot of positives in keeping an assistant coach from the previous regime. It certainly isn't anything new for us.

 

[jmilt7]

Do you really think that would make recruits want to go to Illinois?

When I was a soph. in high school I followed my h.s. Varsity team "downstate"(synonymous with Champaign). Had a great time although I don't remember much of it but it certainly made me want to go to UI. Unfortunately I was only a 1* player (if that) and hence not really recruited.

 

[MadSeason]

I was one of these people, but nothing's been shown to be true so far. He recruited fantastically to both Tennessee and Cal - next to nothing to show for it in terms of results.

No I totally get it. His results have been uninspiring with the talent he has brought in. Once Tilmon signs he will have secured his best class to date however. Now whether that translates to wins?

I think expectations will be crazy at Mizzou and he's never going to eclipse the 800 lb gorilla in Lexington

 

[Obelix]

I think expectations will be crazy at Mizzou and he's never going to eclipse the 800 lb gorilla in Lexington

He does not have to.

 

[MadSeason]

He does not have to.

If he wants to win conference championships he does. I realize success is largely measured by NCAA tourney success, but just as is the case with Duke, UNC and Kansas the fanbase will expect to compete with the Big dog

 

[Obelix]

If he wants to win conference championships he does. I realize success is largely measured by NCAA tourney success, but just as is the case with Duke, UNC and Kansas the fanbase will expect to compete with the Big dog

The difference between programs like Illinois and Mizzou right now and the 4 true blue bloods (Kentucky, Kansas, UNC, Duke) is huge. So eclipsing one of the true blood bloods is almost impossible. If Illinois was in the SEC, we would not be able either.

Even in the absence of true blue bloods in B1G, if you tell me that Illinois would consistently finish in the top-4 in the next 5 years, even without ever winning a B1G title, BU would be considered immensely successful. So will Cuonzo in SEC.

Cuonzo was probably the board favorite for the majority of the season. So either many posters had jumped the gun with erroneous judgement or there is an obvious bias due to the rivalry with Mizzou. Or both. But reality is that Martin is a significant upgrade at Mizzou and had we hired Cuonzo and he was recruiting as good as he is doing right now at Mizzou, the fan base would be going crazy. I am not convinced that Martin would be a huge failure at Mizzou as others on this board are.

 

[PlayAZ]

Mark Alstork?

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/04/mark_alstork.html

 

[BMo79]

I ran into DaMonte at the Shaun Livingston tourney on Saturday. I thanked him for his loyalty to the Illini. He said he couldn't guarantee that he would be ready for the beginning of the season and, if not, he'd have to do what's best for him and RS. I told him I completely agree. As much as I'd like to see him play this fall, he'll have 4 great years regardless of which ones they are.

Personally I hope he does, taking a year off to heal cant be a bad thing, plus it will give us a 2018 guy who already will know the system as a RSFR. same with trying to get Bragg, even if he has to sit a year he will still be learning . I would of loved to see Pickett stick with it and done the same. I believe that is why he asked out, he was told he might RS and didn't like the idea

 

[MrOizo]

Antigua, Martin and Walker, is Underwood basically saying he will win without Chicago?? Will he try and recruit the city at all? Will he focus on suburbs, downstate and nationally?

And, if he can build a winner, does that bring back the city kids that we used to get in the 80's?

But Martin has recruited Chicago, Antigua may have and should be able to. You won't make some people such as the Irvins happy but they don't control everything. We shall see.

 

[BMo79]

not sure if this has been posted, but after watching it and a few other Vids of him, I would gladly take him as our back up PG to TL, It would let Trent play off guard with JCL and let DaWill rs without putting us in a hole of guys who can handle the ball


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6PKHzODo6U

 

[davesworld]

not sure if this has been posted, but after watching it and a few other Vids of him, I would gladly take him as our back up PG to TL, It would let Trent play off guard with JCL and let DaWill rs without putting us in a hole of guys who can handle the ball


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6PKHzODo6U

I wouldn't mind seeing that effort and work from my Illini team. Great video thanks for sharing

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

[ILHoff]

I think that was kinda the point. No reason to get all bent out of shape about something he's never proven he can actually do.

That's still just half the point.

 

[combes]

I know about Martin's mediocre results but this feels different. He has a captive audience in a recent fertile recruiting ground and I worry they will take notice. I do not believe you can just discount what might happen based on prior stints because this is totally different circumstances.
Of course, I will not give up hope and I will use the wait and see approach with BU's Illini but I will admit being nervous about what is happening across the river.

How many daddies can Martin hire?

 

[illini80]

How many daddies can Martin hire?

:thumb:

 

[TCTORNADO]

Why are we the only school that has to have a coach from Chicago to recruit Chicago? We will recruit Chicago. Antigua has had success there.

Plus Antigua knows Anthony Davis' Dad, that's reason enough.

 

[MrOizo]

I feel we are being naive to think that Cuonzo will be a flash in the pan. If his recruits can win (and I am not talking National Championship win) more recruits will take notice and thus he will continue to recruit well. He will be able to sell putting 1-2 guys in NBA early and we will not be able to counteract that. He is actually setting himself up for pretty good long term success. If we continue to scuffle, what will we be able to sell? A hope and a dream?

It could get better before it gets worse for sure. But with the Michael Porter, Cuonzo knows he has to act instantly and make it huge in year 1. Porter will be gone and he'll have to build on whatever happened while he was here. If we're able to beat Mizzou two years from now and they don't hit it as big as they'd hoped this and next year, the sizzle will be a memory. I don't expect that, but it's a legit worry for them.

There's definite danger that the ball continues to bounce his way and momentum can be a dangerous thing. Surely, we need some luck to come our way and it's all gone his way thus far. If things average out, I have no doubt that we'll win out on this one. However, there are no guarantees - sometimes, you flip heads 10 times in a row.

 

[HC Illini]

not sure if this has been posted, but after watching it and a few other Vids of him, I would gladly take him as our back up PG to TL, It would let Trent play off guard with JCL and let DaWill rs without putting us in a hole of guys who can handle the ball


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6PKHzODo6U

Trent is pretty small, he may have to guard the 1. I'm not sure Frazier and Lucas on the court together defensively will be very good. You are who you can guard, Trent won't be able to guard most 2s, at first at least.

 

[HC Illini]

not sure if this has been posted, but after watching it and a few other Vids of him, I would gladly take him as our back up PG to TL, It would let Trent play off guard with JCL and let DaWill rs without putting us in a hole of guys who can handle the ball


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6PKHzODo6U

This kid really needs to speed up his shot.

 

[Deleted member 8213]

Trent is pretty small, he may have to guard the 1. I'm not sure Frazier and Lucas on the court together defensively will be very good. You are who you can guard, Trent won't be able to guard most 2s, at first at least.

Lucas plays very strong D. I think you'd match him up with the best scoring guard on the other side even if he gives away some size some times.

 

[Deleted member 10676]

http://www.flohoops.com/article/544...to-recruit-flo40-no-6-kevin-knox#.WOuBE2dw_X4
Missouri Students Go All Out To Recruit Flo40 No. 6 Kevin Knox

and in the article below this one they pick Knox to Mizzou.

 

[BMo79]

Trent is pretty small, he may have to guard the 1. I'm not sure Frazier and Lucas on the court together defensively will be very good. You are who you can guard, Trent won't be able to guard most 2s, at first at least.

Trent will do fine on D, and Lucas will guard the best Guard for the other team the kids going to have all summer to get stronger and he already played the best D we have seen for a while, so I am not at all worried about who is the other guard on the court with him when it comes to D