Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (January-March 2017)
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Like a few others I'm heading to Bloomington to see Smith play against Simeon tomorrow night. Pretty excited to see him play for the first time. Should be a pretty good measuring stick because Simeon usually plays good defense. Hopefully he ends up in orange and blue.
Yep. We were finalists or at least top 5-7 (last cut when finalists announced) for all of the following:
2013
Demetrius Jackson
Monte Morris
Tyler Ennis
Xavier Rathan-Mayes
London Perrantes
Scoochie Smith
2014
Quentin Snider
Shelton Mitchell
2015
Jalen Brunson
Jawun Evans
Marcus Lovett
Jamal Murray (people felt like we had a legit shot before he blew up and reclassified)
Shake Milton
Jimmy Whitt
Landry Shamet
2016
Charlie Moore
Alterique Gilbert
Xavier Simpson
Bryce Aiken
Tony Carr
Lamar Peters
That's not even mentioning guys we may have had a chance with but decided not to offer: Tyler Ulis, Glenn Watson, and Luwane Pipkins, among others.
Close to 75 percent of the guys on that list would have saved Groce's job.
So everyone wants to keep the 17 recruiting class, but maybe it's a blessing in disguise if it falls apart. Think about how many times we say "this coach won with the previous coach's recruits". If our new coach comes in right away and starts winning then that is all he is doing. But if the class falls apart then this will truly be the new guy's program to reshape.
By no means am I saying I want the class to fall apart, obviously I don't. I want to win as as soon as possible. I just mean theoretically if a coach comes in and wins with the 17' class it doesn't mean that coach is "the one". It means he can win with a talented group he didn't recruit. OTOH, if a coach comes in and starts from scratch and has us competing at a high level in 3-4 years then I feel very confident in saying this is "the guy".
By no means am I saying I want the class to fall apart, obviously I don't. I want to win as as soon as possible. I just mean theoretically if a coach comes in and wins with the 17' class it doesn't mean that coach is "the one". It means he can win with a talented group he didn't recruit. OTOH, if a coach comes in and starts from scratch and has us competing at a high level in 3-4 years then I feel very confident in saying this is "the guy".
Huh? We have been irrelevant for 12 years and want to wait another 3-4 years? It is critical that we get the right guy and crucial that he tries to keep the 2017 class together.
Deleted member 236589
D
Guest
IF and I stress IF, we lose this Freshman class....We'll obviously be without out Senior Class of those year, which was the majority of our production, I don't think we have any Seniors next year(????) and we're going to have what was a highly regarded 2017 class and it again be void of a center and a PG. So....You're rolling the ball out there with...Not much.
If the current class stays together, it is arguable....Again, I stress it is at least arguable, that with that talent and depth that is provided.....By mid January, it could be a really formidable team....Concern being could Groce have coached them up.
Right now, the unknown, FAR outweigh the facts of just a week ago. If they would have retained him....At least those kids are on campus and if they transfer, they have to sit out a year. However, they've had a year on campus for it to be more than just the coach. It's friends, it's the school, it's the experience. Now.....It's just the relationship of the guys who are gone.
Losing a freshman class.....Next year will be a disaster and we're right back to square one with a new coaches first class in 2018. That had better be stellar with next year potentially being a train wreck.
KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
- Chicago, IL
I appreciate that you left out Cliff Alexander. That one hurt.
Just lead guards.
It is no one's advantage to lose anyone in this recruiting class - well, maybe SLU, Missouri, Kansas or others, but no one that is an Illini
I'm with you, I need this turned around and quick. These are very good players and we can get good in a hurry if we keep them and get Smith
That's a lot of misses.
Getting the right coach is leaps and bounds more important than retaining any one recruiting class. Hiring someone quick just for the chance at retaining any or all of the incoming recruits would be a huge mistake.
Obviously it's not quite this black and white but in what world is our goal to hire a coach who either loses early in the tournament or failed to make it all together?
The really painful ones, IMO, were:
Jackson, Ulis, Watson, Evans, Moore, Snider. Those are all guys I think we had a great chance to land, and for one reason or another they slipped away. Maybe Ulis never would have been that interested in us, but if Groce had been on him like he was on Frazier, I wonder.
Aiken had a really nice year at Harvard. Shamet is outstanding for Wichita too. He controls so much of the game for them.
Losing Evans was a particularly bad screw up since he was all ready to go. Then Groce started hearing the siren song of Brunson and it turned him off. Brunson was not coming here after Groce was so late to the game in his recruitment. It was just a terrible double misfire
There were other reasons he chose OSU.
His plane was not diverted on his OV to OSU is the primary one.
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
To me, this speaks to a larger issue of not being able to develop players then sure-fire misses. Some of those guys would be top players anywhere but a guy like shamet should be something we can replicate with a top 125 player (which we still have mostly gotten). It's the same idea behind the apparent lack of success for AJ and DJW. These guys didn't suddenly lose all talent that they can't make the rotation on an NIT team, we were not making these guys better. For those reasons, I'm not as concerned about losing the 2017 class because besides Tilmon (who still is not a top 5 locked-in lottery one and done), all these guys still will need to be developed/coached up to become quality BIG starters. I do not believe Groce could be that coach so at least whoever we hire will have a shot at that.
Tilmon is likely gone. But if we lose TF too that would be a real hit.
Tillmon would be a disaster to lose because we have no size at all coming back
Tilmon is likely gone? According to who?
That is all about the past. I, for one, want to set a new and higher course for Illini basketball. I have yet to see anyone cite one good reason why Illini basketball can't be a destination job. Duke wasn't always Duke. Gonzaga wasn't always what they are now. Etc. and etc. The Illini can and will become this kind of program if they want to and set out that course. Yes, we have love for the team. But that love does not detract from the reality of a path that is there if they want it.
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