If Tim Finke goes elsewhere, hope it isn't a BigTen school. Had to live through to many players with Illini ties hurt us over the years. Not sure if the brothers would prefer to play on separate teams or if the make-up or style would fit Tim.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (July-August 2016)
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Not Scruggs' Dad, it's Mike Peterson his AAU coach.
It may not be about whether or not Grove can land him. There's a good chance it comes down to both opportunity for early playing time, and how many rides we have to give out in 2018 and which positions get prioritized.
Not necessarily. It's who you get, not who you don't, that matters. If we land another quality player or two in the '17 class and a quality player in '18 (Cart'Are Gordon would be nice!), I think most of us could handle the loss of Finke just fine.
The kid may not want to "stay home" and/or play with his brother. Not saying this is the case - but it's certainly a possibility.
Illinifan533
- Normal, Illinois
I just don't see Scruggs coming here now that the team has Lucas and Frazier for the foreseeable future. I know Illinois isn't considered a front-runner for Wilkes right now, but things can change quickly. 
Not every kid wants to follow in their big brother's footsteps. Some kids want to do their own thing. If Tim wants to do his own thing there is nothing the staff can do about it.
Joel Goodson
- dawgville
I just don't see Scruggs coming here now that the team has Lucas and Frazier for the foreseeable future. I know Illinois isn't considered a front-runner for Wilkes right now, but things can change quickly.
If Scruggs wants to join up, Lucas and Frazier will not deter him.
Until the '17 class started coming together I thought he'd go elsewhere. Things can change quickly.
Mike
C-U Townie
"Sounded like" his question was if UI is the best option for his possible basketball career. Got the impression that if we lose, it's to a blueblood. Don't crucify me please if that's not what happens.
Can imagine his brother's physical transformation via Fletch and especially how we play this year will weigh heavily, but that is a WAG.
I tend to agree with you. It's not like they live out of state or even in Bloomington. They live within a couple miles of campus and he is always at Ubben playing and bonding with the team and coaches.
However since he is a top 50ish player I could see where he would want to go where there is a lot of early playing time as well.
With this said..... hopefully the bond will be strong enough to keep him close to home.
Tim and his father have been quoted that they are concerned about playing style, we don't necessarily fit that well with what he prefers. Hopefully we can overcome that.
If he doesnt come here I won't blame Groce because there's nothing more he could have done. It just wasn't going to happen.
I get what you're sayin' jonny, but at the same time, Tim is just taking advantage of being around a major college program in his home town. Right now, the choice is essentially, hang out with the Illini and play hoops on campus OR do not. It's not like he can be picky right now. I'm sure he's enjoying the elevated competition and facilities; however, when he does have the choice to go away and play at college, his opportunities expand exponentially.
He'll still have the UI relationships and maybe they'll be strong enough, but he may want to go out and make his own way. In the meantime, he's not going to turn down playing hoops at a B1G university as a high schooler, so I'm not sure the fact that he plays at Ubben all of the time is that significant.
Would you have wanted to go to college in your home town? I know that I surely didn't. Get me away from the parents please.
I would imagine he's been an Illini fan his whole life, I would love to play for the team I grew up rooting for. Especially, if that meant I got to share the court with my older brother for one season.
Deleted member 29907
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Its a big enough area - and up to the parents. If my kids went to college around here I would leave them alone - they need that development. The harder part would be separating from all the locals who weren't students.
We would have 3 upperclassmen wings Finke's freshman year, and two his sophomore year (maybe 3 depending on how the 2017 class shapes up). This is more about fit than anything else. If we have some roster attrition, then Finke becomes a more likely get, but with the current roster, it wouldn't make sense for either side. Until then, Finke and Illinois have nothing to lose to keep their current relationship as is.
If Finke wasn't a top 100 guy, I would feel better about him wanting to play for his hometown team and with his brother for a year. But Finke is good enough that he can be a bit more selfish about his future and do what's in his best interest. For now, it seems like Illinois can swing for the fences with their 2018 scholarships and that makes it even more unlikely that Finke commits, IMO.
If Finke wasn't a top 100 guy, I would feel better about him wanting to play for his hometown team and with his brother for a year. But Finke is good enough that he can be a bit more selfish about his future and do what's in his best interest. For now, it seems like Illinois can swing for the fences with their 2018 scholarships and that makes it even more unlikely that Finke commits, IMO.
His older brother doesn't seem to mind staying in town, so it can work. But it depends on the kid, My oldest would have been fine staying in town at UNCG (ended up in Chapel Hill), my second son sees UNCG as a death sentence and knowing how much less trust worthy he is & the motivations of mom, might be right.
Back to Tim Finke, he certainly hasn't openly expressed a large desire to leave Champaign, so I doubt staying home will be an issue & hopefully it helps. I hope we land him, but if we don't it won't be a death blow.
Joel Goodson
- dawgville
Spot on.
Groce is in an awkward position. If he lands Finke, it's a fait accompli. If he doesn't, a significant portion of the fandom will say he blew it.
HoopCity
- Huntsville, AL
Tuff position to be in although Finke knows the situation well. All depends if we get 2 real good commits with these last 2 or 1 and another next year with Finke in the mix?
With regards to fit, I bet we would take Finke's commitment instantly. From his side, he likely can find a better fit for freshman playing time & there is no reason to be a hurry. I go back to comments with regards to Mike's recruitment, where they said something on the order of we were keeping our options open to gauge Illinois' interest, but if Illinois was interested it was going to be the choice. Just guessing, but though my orange tinted glasses, I suspect Tim's recruiting will go the same way. But to your point, he will have many options and he indeed may go elsewhere.
I think it's pretty obvious that different people feel very differently when it comes to the question of whether or not it's desirable to go to college in your hometown, so we can really make no assumptions at all about what Tim Finke is probably thinking.
I'm in the camp that would not want to go to Illinois if I grew up in Champaign. Champaign is great, but I wanted a change of scenery in college, not something familiar.
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