Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (January 2021)
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Let's just say OT ends up at Miami and Burnett ends up at Michigan. We are a top 15ish historical program. We are currently ranked in the top 15 in the country. We are sitting near the top of the toughest league in the country. We have facilities. Why are we swinging and missing on so many players lately? And I know the transfer market is going to be nuts, but i'm just shocked at all these misses lately.....
To be successful, you have to capitalize your recruiting while winning. I just don't want the same trend after the 2005 season.
To be successful, you have to capitalize your recruiting while winning. I just don't want the same trend after the 2005 season.
Keyword here is historical. Illinois has sucked for most of these kids lives. The last time Illinois was consistently good was what 2006? Recruits were 4 years old. Michigan had a good run under Beilein and Miami isn't great but it's in Miami so...
Then there's the street agent/handler/"mentor"/family member dealings which I think Illinois plays the game with some recruits but probably not as well as other programs. Hopefully NIL payments can help even the playing field a little bit.
The harshest part was " he's not even in shape".
I can only think that the comments were public shock psychology to get the kid motivated to work his a_ _ off.
You make a great point, warhog. And I hope we can capitalize on our winning so we don't have our lows after the highs. Again, I think we'll be fine, but with each one of these passing misses, I start to get anxiety.
To be clear, there were problems with both players at those schools...whatever the reason-lack of conditioning, not as good as their ratings etc., I think I saw Burnett was shooting 28% from the 3 for ex. I was a successful Fortune 500 sales guy, won awards etc, and missed on closing deals far more than I would like to remember. Yet, I kept swinging and I kept winning. That's how it works. Quite frankly, I could care less if any guy decides to go somewhere else-we have seen this staff in action-they understand that there are many more candidates out there. They will get their guys. Furthermore, reading all the comments over time about all the 5 star guys that we need to get to compete etc...BU understands the import of getting his guys, the right guys, good people etc. I remember all the angst from this board when the one guy went to Iowa St and we signed Ayo. Worked out pretty damn well didn't it? If this OT guy goes somewhere else, then on to the next guy. Additionally, we are recruiting the world now, unlike anything we had ever done in the past. As long as BU and staff are here, we are a top 20 team. No more of the Groce/Weber yawners.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Expecting Oscar to choose the U. I've no doubt that he's getting more than a nudge from his camp. However, it's possible that he takes matters into his own hands after the WVU failure.
I understand filling Kofi's position, but I think I'd rather have Burnett than Oscar anyway. The motor comments concern me. I doubt a new team can fix that problem.
It's always nice when we get our first choices. So when we don't, its going to be disappointing. And we'll likely not succeed as a team as much.
"BU understands the import of getting his guys, the right guys, good people etc. " This of course is true. Which is why when he offers "the right guy" and the guy says no, we should be concerned.
I recall almost no one suggesting that we take THT over Ayo. The controversy was over whether we could take both and how BU handled the situation.
My hope is that this crazy year is an outlier, kinda like the Haffner/Blackwell class of '84.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
It's not an exclusive-or.
From a positional standpoint, we need a good 5 a whole lot more than a combo guard.
That said, clearly OT is not without risk. Same with Burnett. But if Underwood wants them, so do I. As the cute little Asian girl says, "Why not both?"
Illini in OC
In. The. Alley.
Neither.
Remember, BU never talks to recruits. /s
I get this but the recruiting cycle isn't over yet, and the transfer portal will be a different animal this year. I prefer to wait until the end of the last recruiting cycle to decide whether or not I want to worry about the recruiting. I'm sure some of the posters on here have some level of connection with staff members/people in the know, but really nobody here really knows everything the staff is thinking.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
On my last trip to Illiniland I gave this to brad to help with recruiting ...I call it " the Walken wonder weapon "...it's frequencies are attuned to the minds of 18-22 year old recruits and it subliminally delivers messages of coming to the Illini program and really big cookies and pancakes....
Think of it like the NW game 1st half kinda sucked and the 2nd half Glorious!
I’m not too worried about the recruits who have chosen to go somewhere else. Do BU and staff wish they had chosen Illinois? Of course. But that doesn’t mean that those players would have worked out better than who ends up in this class. I’m guessing WV and Texas Tech were feeling pretty great after each snagged two particular recruits. Illinois isn’t going to get every recruit it targets — nor does it need to. Just need to reel in the ones that want to be here and coach them up. BU and company have a pretty good record of that so far. That success will lead to more — but “misses” will always be more plentiful than not. Doesn’t mean the sky is falling or that the trajectory the Illini are on will flatten out or dip.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Don't ever leave this board, pruman.
Didn't Burnett and Coleman Hawkins play together last year at whatever Basketball Academy? Wonder if CH has been in his ear about how much he would Ill?
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Prolific Prep, IIRC. No idea if Hawkins presence will help, but it certainly can't hurt.
201154JC
- Rockford, IL
Thanks for the laugh! I needed one.
Deleted member 186590
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I don’t think you need to be a top ten team for several years for kids to want to come to your school- good recruiters get kids to
Come their program almost regardless of record. Plenty of examples of good recruiters getting kids to come to a program without a history of winning . But winning and being talked about on TV helps
BW turned out to not be a very good recruiter so what momentum we had was waisted and the IDKWTI fiasco led to a downward spiral
BU needs to hire a top notch recruiter that can start pulling some of these guys- there is enough to sell now, that is not the problem
Deleted member 747660
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Guest
I read somewhere that Burnett and Hawkins were close. Also that Burnett played 1 year at Morgan Park with Ayo.
If you watch Oscar's Freshman highlights you can see he is a lot more Athletic than Kofi and has offensive skills that Kofi does not have. He would be a great get. Regarding attitude sometimes how the message is delivered changes everything. It really seems Orlando knows how to message these out of country players and I would bet he gets the best out of Oscar.
SampsonRelpenk
- Edwardsville, IL
I'm surprised BU would hold on to any keepsake from the 2018 Maui Invitational.
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