Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (July-August 2017)

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#1,126      
.. except with his right hand. He does practially everything with only his left hand, which is a little concerning. I agree with you on the rest.

Yeah his fundamentals are pretty piss poor. And he has to play the post a ton with his fellow teammates lack of size. Worth the gamble probably if THT falls through
 
#1,127      
Obviously you make very good points about the wing positions and I agree I would love to have at least 1 if not 2 of THT/Griffin/Hellems. That being said, this team works best with multiple guys that can handle the ball and flat out score. That is something that Ayo absolutely does in addition to having excellent size at the PG spot. Ayo could play anywhere from the 1-3 positions in this offense. Also, I wasn't trying to say that the bar has been set for BU to land back to back Mr Basketballs but landing Ayo would help to set that bar and show that Illinois is a premier destination for top recruits in Chicago.

On Ayo (maybe you've seen him?) he's just a tough kid to gauge by highlight tapes because he's not a ridiculous athlete and his frame is almost slight. He's obviously ranked what he is for a reason but I see primarily layups from him and obviously nobody gets too blown away with a highlight film full of layups. Gurus have him ranked top 50 for a reason.

I think 2 out of THT/Griffin/Hellems would be fantastic. Ayo/Griffin/Hellems and I would be ecstatic moving forward to the next class. If Ayo comes here I wouldn't be shocked to see Pearson too.

I'm higher on Pearson than most as I think he's a fairly good athlete at that size that could get 6-8ppg off transition baskets alone but if you take him do you hurt your chances with a higher ceiling 2019 guy? Who knows.

This beef with the Fire.. I see a lot of tweets/retweets.. And Conditt's coach(i believe that's who it was) kind of fired a shot at Ayo a couple nights ago and Conditt/THT/Griffin are regularly tweeting/retweeting this thing about not being scared to play ranked players etc. Seems you're either with the fire or you're not right now..

Some guys are really high on where Conditt could be a couple years from now..

I'm rambling on because I could, if there wasn't any drama, see Ayo/Griffin/Hellems/Pearson/Conditt as a 1-5 class... Yeah that makes it tough to pitch to Okoro/EJ the following year but guys go play behind other 5*s at Kentucky/Kansas so shuold Pearson or Conditt scare a guy off?
 
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#1,128      
Yeah his fundamentals are pretty piss poor. And he has to play the post a ton with his fellow teammates lack of size. Worth the gamble probably if THT falls through

He's a wing with a tight handle that goes primarily towards his strong hand.. That's really not that uncommon for a senior in h.s. Yes he needs to develop his off hand some but this whole thing seems to get blown out of proportion when it's a lefty.. If that guy was right handed nobody would likely even notice he went right the entire time.

Piss poor fundamentals seems pretty harsh. Henrickson has been talking about this kid for awhile and Bossi called him a breakout performer and says he's definitely a high major wing. He can seemingly score in every way possible when his team actually allows it. Not his fault he was buried in the post for his first few years of h.s. because he's taller than the other kids.
 
#1,129      
People are shocked there are folks like Lavar Ball in the world. But if you've been in the AAU circuit in the last two decades you seem them every weekend. Mike Irvin is one of those people. Has good intentions, but a loud mouth and consistently speaks out of place and wears his emotions on his sleeve (or twitter)


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#1,130      

sacraig

The desert
People are shocked there are folks like Lavar Ball in the world. But if you've been in the AAU circuit in the last two decades you seem them every weekend. Mike Irvin is one of those people. Has good intentions, but a loud mouth and consistently speaks out of place and wears his emotions on his sleeve (or twitter)

To me, those two pieces of this statement contradict each other. LaVar Ball is not interested in doing what is good. He is interested in doing only what will line his pockets with more green. If Irvin has generally good intentions (and I think he generally does), that already puts him in a different class that Ball.
 
#1,131      
Brad beal elite playing at 7:30 on espnU. Several Illini targets, okoro, Hellams, Liddell.
 
#1,132      

Deleted member 10676

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#1,133      
He's a wing with a tight handle that goes primarily towards his strong hand.. That's really not that uncommon for a senior in h.s. Yes he needs to develop his off hand some but this whole thing seems to get blown out of proportion when it's a lefty.. If that guy was right handed nobody would likely even notice he went right the entire time.

Piss poor fundamentals seems pretty harsh. Henrickson has been talking about this kid for awhile and Bossi called him a breakout performer and says he's definitely a high major wing. He can seemingly score in every way possible when his team actually allows it. Not his fault he was buried in the post for his first few years of h.s. because he's taller than the other kids.

How many times have you seen him play?
 
#1,134      

Joel Goodson

ties will be resolved
Some guys are really high on where Conditt could be a couple years from now.

Obviously, it's an educated guessing game. But the kid has some intriguing skills, skills you don't typically see with very tall players. Who among us would have tabbed HS prospect Frank Kaminsky to be the upperclassman he turned out to be? Not me. (note: not saying Conditt will have the same trajectory as Kaminsky)
 
#1,138      
To me, those two pieces of this statement contradict each other. LaVar Ball is not interested in doing what is good. He is interested in doing only what will line his pockets with more green. If Irvin has generally good intentions (and I think he generally does), that already puts him in a different class that Ball.



I think Ball has good intentions for his boys and the boys on his AAU team. I think we'd be surprised what Irvin would say if Ayo was his son and ESPN threw cameras in his face every single day.


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#1,140      
[FONT=&quot]Change in the 6 o'clock game. CP3 vs Oakland Soldiers so we'll get to see Illini recruits in both games. Amadou Sow with the Soldiers and EJ, Okoro and Hellems at 7:30 with BBE. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Brooke Weisbrod‏Verified account @BrookeWeisbrod [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]#THE8 Semi-final action coming your way featuring last year's champs Team @CP3 vs @soldiers_salute and @TTOBasketball vs @STLEaglesBBall[/FONT]
Would love Sow. He is just a grown man. Knows his role and stays in his lane.

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#1,141      

sacraig

The desert
I think Ball has good intentions for his boys and the boys on his AAU team. I think we'd be surprised what Irvin would say if Ayo was his son and ESPN threw cameras in his face every single day.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on that, then. I think Ball is looking out for no one but himself and likely will end up hurting his kids' brands in the long run if he keeps it up. He reminds me a little bit of Joe Jackson.
 
#1,142      

IlliniDent

Chicago, IL
Would love Sow. He is just a grown man. Knows his role and stays in his lane.

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Would love to get him and Castelton/Conditt. They are such different players and would give us a lot of insurance if we can't land Okoro. At the same time, I seriously doubt Okoro is scared off by any of them because anywhere else he will be going will have even better and more matured bigs in his way.
 
#1,144      
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on that, then. I think Ball is looking out for no one but himself and likely will end up hurting his kids' brands in the long run if he keeps it up. He reminds me a little bit of Joe Jackson.



I mean if I had to pick I would say Ball is definitely much worse publicity wise. My point is just that there are many men like him in the AAU world. And also many men much worse.

Which is part of what makes recruiting so difficult, especially when they have significant influence over the kid.


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#1,147      

blackdog

Champaign
Would love Sow. He is just a grown man. Knows his role and stays in his lane.

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Wasn't watching the game too closely but had it on and heard the announcers talking about him as a guy who has great timing for blocking shots and rebounding. Always room for players like that.
 
#1,148      

BLloyd2311

Los Angeles
EJ is playing good defense against Jalen Smith and contributing offensively :thumb:

EJ plays hard, undersized 4 but dude has game. Was not to impressed with Hellems but just one game. Would be happy with him Fink or THT. Okoro looks raw but the talent is their, nice upside.
 
#1,149      
I wasn't impressed with anybody on BBE tonight. Just one game but that looked like a John Groce coached team out there with guards over dribbling and guys just kind of taking their turns trying to "get theirs". I suppose that's probably a lot of AAU ball.

It was pretty clear Jalen Smith's length completely disrupted BBE despite their "size". And Hellems just never got into the flow of the game.. Well.. There was no flow.

I can't conclude anything from that cluster of a game other than I can understand why the staff covets a "length" guy so bad after watching how disruptive it was to other guys that are by no means small.
 
#1,150      

618 Illini

Chicago
Jump shot looks pretty good from midrange when he does shoot it. Also seems like he plays with some fire too which I like to see.

Zion Griffin has as much upside as any wing we've been recruiting. Not quite the uber athlete DJ Stewart was but this kid is a stud.. Just under the radar because his aau team doesn't play in all the elite events but they played in one and he tore up 2 of the best aau teams in the nation. Can score every way possible.

https://youtu.be/9qTqLwZ9OnA
 
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