so you’re saying we had a good chance on Tchikou and then Made a late offer to Lieb and that threw a kink in things? Doesn’t make a lot of sense. Seems like they would have just told Lieb to wait around to see if the spot opens up or not. Lieb sounds like he wasn’t going anywhere if we were on the table.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (July 2020)
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so you’re saying we had a good chance on Tchikou and then Made a late offer to Lieb and that threw a kink in things? Doesn’t make a lot of sense. Seems like they would have just told Lieb to wait around to see if the spot opens up or not. Lieb sounds like he wasn’t going anywhere if we were on the table.
My impression of BU is that he’d try to send a message to future recruits to commit when he tells them to or he is willing to move on and take someone else that wants to be here.
Hodgson doesn't play around.
The NCAA already allows teams to over sign by one. I wonder if they would consider a rule change that would allow the oversign to remain on the team as redshirt.
I think it would be a good compromise with the new transfer rules. It would allow coaches to oversign as they do now, but avoid creaning someone if all players return. The catch is one of the incoming oversign class must be redshirt.
I think it would be a good compromise with the new transfer rules. It would allow coaches to oversign as they do now, but avoid creaning someone if all players return. The catch is one of the incoming oversign class must be redshirt.
Pettway does the heavy lifting at Bama. I'll still take Chin and Antigua any day.
Will schools be allowed to help facilitate NIL endorsements?
Not under their current proposal. But they still have to make their rules more lenient to comply with many states' laws. Not sure if that would allow schools to be involved in this stuff but I'd assume still no.
That almost reads as if the staff was surprised that Tchikou reclassified when he did or they were very high on Lieb
Count me as one who doesn’t understand. Why would you take a redshirt and give up Tchikou? Like taking guys with potential but not at the expense of probable starters at our weakest position. Hope you are wrong and they knew he wasn’t coming before they took Lieb.
Or the writing was on the wall with Tchikou and they took someone rather than staring at the wall while getting 2nd. This staff has proven to be very willing to take a flier on a big if/when they miss on their priorities.
sacraig
- The desert
1) We don't even know if that is an accurate description of what happened. Maybe they had reason to believe Tchikou wasn't likely.
2) You can't just sit there waiting forever on someone with 6 other schools under consideration and you have unfilled positions of need. That's how you end up sitting out the dance. [Enter John Groce, stage right]
illini80
- Forgottonia
I certainly don’t know anything about the situation, but with the two players being discussed an either/or situation seems over simplified. One is a likely 2 year immediate impact player and the other is likely to be 2 years before he has any meaningful impact. Tough to imagine they worked that hard on Tchikou and then took a flier instead.
Plus we all know they keep that Luther Head scholly in their back pocket if needed.
I am not so sure that anyone they bring in is an instant starter at the 4 as mentioned earlier (at least that is how I take it as I fully expect Kofi back at the 5). Georgi will be back as a junior and I really felt he finally started to find himself at the 4 late in the season. I expect he will be the four starter, and, if he's not. that means someone has really jumped up and taken it away from him. But, not sure a freshman would be the one taking the immediate spot at the 4.
Argument would be much different if we are talking Hawkins but we are talking Lieb vs, Tchikou. Not trying to put Lieb down as he could develop into an important contributor but he certainly does not compare to T at this point.
Forget about the scholarships. My point is that I can shrug off missing on Tchikou knowing we have Hawkins, a PF in the same class with very similar upside.
If they knew they were getting Tchikou then they wouldn’t take a project....almost anytime a reclass happens the school of choice is known before the announcement of the reclass.
Agree. Just don’t know where we are at the four. Maybe a strength with Giorgi, Ben, and Cole. However it becomes much more important if Kofi doesn’t return. Grandison can probably cover with Kofi at the 5 but need size with Giorgi at center.
B-ILL
- Working From Home
This aligns with how I answered the "next basketball commit" poll. I've always had a good feeling about Jones personally.
Latest on a potential timeline for a Jones' commitment comes from a June 3 article: "According to Tarr (high school coach), Jones’ plan is to start cutting down his list in July and then figure out which schools he would like to take official visits to, assuming he’s allowed to take trips in the fall."
No Jordan Nesbitt? SeemEd like we were pretty high on him.
Regardless of which player vs. which player is at the crux of the current debate, the roster make up will determine position battles. Certainly, Hawkins and Tchikou would have been battling each other for minutes. With the ever increasing popularity of guys who want more minutes transferring, you could argue that having a developmental redshirt is actually serves the program better long term. Lieb is completely on board with his minutes allocation for the upcoming season. (Zero minutes) Chances are one of Hawkins or Tchikou would not have been thrilled with their usage by the end of the season.
That's assuming Tchikou would have even ended up in Champaign had Lieb not been so eager to be an Illini, which is assuming an awful lot...
A just as likely scenario would have been, we slow play Lieb hoping for Alex, and Lieb decides to go to OK St because they actually want him. Then Alex commits to Alabama anyway and we continue to wonder when we are going to start developing a "developmental" big man.
B-ILL
- Working From Home
Based on what I've seen, Nesbitt and Jones have similar games/sizes/positions. If Jones commits first, I would assume that Illinois doesn't pursue Nesbitt. Like I said, gut feeling...
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