skyIdub
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (August 2018)
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Duke is paying $9mil a year currently, more than any other school. Even Self, the fourth highest paid according to USA Today's database, is only $4.9.
Stevens contract was for a little over $3mil a year, although it's said his extension gave him a good bump.
Meyers Leonard was a lottery pick. Cookie wasn't too bad.
Brian Cook but I get what you are saying. I agree that coach Underwood will get it going soon.
Dont really understand that first sentence, but Egwu was a top 100 guy (heck, Mav was around 150 IIRC). If Samba wants to be one of the best in the past 3 decades, he's got a few other hurdles than just Augie, though he probably is the largest.
I am giving BU a chance, and I'm optimistic on guys like Kane, Griffin, and Higgs, and taking into account that in most cases you gotta walk before you can run, we are going to need recruiting to take a bump in the right direction. Put me under the camp of (over) analyzing what BU has already done, but getting clear plan C and below guys isn't how you build a successful program. I still would give his 2018 class a B, the guys he pulled in the spring period were impressive, however the fact remains that if you're filling 5+ scholarships in the spring, you're not recruiting well (in most cases).
Missing on guys like Castleton in a vacuum isn't program ending (and franking if one recruit ever is, theres much bigger issues present), but eventually, we have to start landing plan A/B recruits, and in a class of almost half your team, you'd hope more than 1 was that kind (and while Jones might end up becoming a guy that should've been prioritized, he was not a 1/2 option). This years class will be telling whether or not this turnaround will take 2/3 more years, or 5/6. I'll easily give BU a 2/3 year window to make things work. I still dont think it wrong to criticize and examine what's happened since he's arrived, without immediately calling for his head. I think too many on this board think those two are always cause and effect, when they don't need to be linked at all.
Is my sarcasm meter off???
Deleted member 643761
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Well we lost Shaq to LSU and the list of bridesmaid recruitments since then is lengthy.
P.s. little known fact. Shaq was set to come but didn't want to go up against rennie clemons each day in practice
This is true, but I don't think I would qualify Self as a big name college coach (in the vein of the other coaches you mentioned) when he left Illinois for Kansas. He was obviously extremely successful in his short stint at Illinois, but he became a top-tier, big name coach while at Kansas. Duke doesn't have to hire a guy with the immediate panache of Coach K, they just need to hire the next one, so to speak.
...easier said than done of course. But those guys do come around and Duke will have one of the easier times recruiting and paying such a coach.
Disagree. Boosters help. But Duke is a boulder rolling down a mountain that has gained so much momentum. Success breeds more success and money and money and success breed success and money. There is a lot of recruiting wrapped up in things specific to K like K's connections and coaching influences and marketing and NBA ties and what he can do for a person/coach/player connected to him. That is something that has increased over the years. If he leaves, Duke still has the banners and money and track record and a very attractive coaching situation (though you can argue following K is going to be really undesirable) but a lot of the those things that are very specific to K will be gone. I'm sure Duke will find a good coach and have plenty of recruiting advantages but K leaving would certainly level the playing field in a lot of ways.
Neither of us know how they get it done, so that's fine.
My point is they are spending more on their coach than any other program in the country, and I expect that if he retires,
A) they will be especially eager to get an elite replacement &
B) Financially, no one seems out of reach.
Spud Webb and Charlie Criss and Tyrone "T-Bone" Robinson, the latter being a Juco player at Olney Central in the mid-1980s from Gary, Ind., who shot a funky ball but could dunk like nobody's business at 5'8"!
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Uh, Deon Thomas, the best big man Illinois has every had, along with Marcus Griffin. Shawn Pruitt had some solid skills, too, despite being a black hole. Have we been a factory, like G-town was at one time? No, but we have had some and would be pleased if Kane could be what Griffin was and even in the same area code as Thomas!
We have absolutely no evidence Kane will be even in the ballpark of that good. It is not us not "giving coach a chance" it is the majority of the posters on this board being realistic. And even if he's an all big ten player he hasn't even stepped on the court yet. Top 100 guys do not fear competing for playing time against a guy rated 281.
sacraig
- The desert
All I know for sure is that this board has given up on reason. I get whiplash due to how rapidly and violently we swing between "we are in the lead to land x, y, and z recruit" to "our entire 2019 class is doomed!"
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
This board (and Illinois fans in general) added another level of anxiety and desperation after the 2007 recruiting class. Add 12 more years of bad memories and you get the current product.
Not much here to be scared of, other than Kansas and maybe Maryland... But then again, are we somebody anyone should be scared of either :/
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They are correlated, but it's not 1 to 1. There are plenty of teams out there that recruit at high levels despite poor performances. My personal example is UNLV, but there's obvious coaching choices that pull recruits higher than their weight class. Of course, that typically means on court success is lacking, or they would just be known as good coaches.
On court success is the easiest way to get good recruits. I guess my point is there needs to be some concept what who we can pull. Offer every top 50 kid for all I care, but spending time (and OV's) but theres gotta be some self awareness. TBH it's probably that we know about 5% of whats going on, but it seems like the staff wasted more time then they should've on kids they should not have. Though hindsight helps, there must have been some feeling that a few of those kids were pipe dreams.
At the end of the day, theres always going to be second place finishes and wasted recruiting time, but I don't think we have to have 20 win seasons to pull every guy we want.
0% - surprise
Seriously? All of those schools have made it to the Big Dance a lot more than we have in the past 5 years or so with the exception of Pitt. And maybe RI but I'm not going to look it up.
I was told there wouldn't be any math? :noidea:
Boston College!?!
I agree on A and B. But I think unless they find some elite candidate that is going to satisfy the Dukie masses and pass K's approval, they're going to feel like they have to stay in the Duke coaching tree for a replacement. Rest assured that when it is time for K to exit, he will not do so without a plan for his choice to get the job if he has a particular choice.
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