Yep. John Groce has made a few adjustments in his approach to recruiting, and he now seems to be dialing up all the right numbers. :thumb:
It's far from over, of course, but this year may be a great illustration of the serendipity of jobs like college coaching. John Groce's entire career might literally hinge on his ability to convince one 18 yr old basketball player to trust him. That Tilmon came along at the right time, and has the right skill set and size, and lives in the right area, and that Groce was able to identify and connect with him early, and that he has good friends who are also great players and guys Illinois wants... If any of those things doesn't work out, the whole class could look different.
I know, someone else might have filled in instead, but as past history shows there are so many uncertainties in recruiting. Some other big man, even if we found one even close to Tilmon's ability, wouldn't necessarily have had the connections and draw with the local kids we want to affect the overall group.
When Groce missed on Brunson/Evans and Cliff/Snider (when it also looked like he had done everything he could) it could very well have spelled the end (if not for some other serendipitous events in the athletic department that, it can be argued, ended up distracting some of the attention away from the basketball failures). But he got another chance and has worked very hard, certainly, but also had the good luck to have several things fall into place so that he might actually sign that great class that then makes his coaching look better, and ultimately saves his long term career prospects.
Not a job that I think I would enjoy!
