Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (March 2017)

[champaignchris]

To follow up a bit on what some others are saying in this thread...

I'm not always sure what people mean when they're saying "Chicago recruiting." Do they mean the CPL, kids from the City regardless of league, or just kids from Chicagoland? It seems to mean different things to different people and I feel like the goal posts move a lot.

But there seems to be this idea that there is this gigantic pool of talent coming out of the CPL that the Illini are failing to tap, and I'm simply not seeing it. Where are these players?

You've got Kendall Pollard (Simeon) at Dayton and Charlie Moore (Morgan Park) at Cal, and after that I'm struggling to find the CPL player that would have made a big difference on this year's team. Throw in Vic Law (St. Rita's) from the Catholic League and you've pretty much got the city limits wrapped up.

Now, if you want to extend things to the suburbs... That's another story altogether with Javon Carter (Proviso East), Jalen Brunson (Stevenson), Sterling Brown (Proviso East... again! That's Dee Brown's school for crying out loud!), Ben Moore (Bolingbrook), Scottie Lindsay (Fenwick)... and I could go on... Add in Ian Happ from the Quad-Cities...

If Groce successfully recruits half that group, he's still probably coaching here.

 

[GoIllini40]

Why do top Chicago recruits want to go elsewhere? Answer:

Win, and people will come.

 

[Obelix]

Fill scholarships with non-CPL players and tell them that the spots will be there if their kids commit.

CPL... people talk basketball like it is 20 years ago. You think the Irvin's influence is CPL and Morgan Park? Think again, and I'd like to welcome people to 2017.

 

[Gunner23]

I-57 doesn't go through STL..... I-55 on the other hand goes straight through.


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I-55 doesn't go to or through Champaign... Maybe you were thinking of ISU? :thumb:

 

[EthanM]

If he isn't already, Underwood will quickly become familiar with The Chicago Way. The Chicago Way has many tentacles, from sports to building permits to parking meters. Don't know if they have a version of that in Stillwater.

Agree. There is no option but to have a Chicago recruiter that knows how to play the game up there.

"You wanna get Capone? Here's how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! That's the Chicago way."


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[HC Illini]

To follow up a bit on what some others are saying in this thread...

I'm not always sure what people mean when they're saying "Chicago recruiting." Do they mean the CPL, kids from the City regardless of league, or just kids from Chicagoland? It seems to mean different things to different people and I feel like the goal posts move a lot.

But there seems to be this idea that there is this gigantic pool of talent coming out of the CPL that the Illini are failing to tap, and I'm simply not seeing it. Where are these players?

You've got Kendall Pollard (Simeon) at Dayton and Charlie Moore (Morgan Park) at Cal, and after that I'm struggling to find the CPL player that would have made a big difference on this year's team. Throw in Vic Law (St. Rita's) from the Catholic League and you've pretty much got the city limits wrapped up.

Now, if you want to extend things to the suburbs... That's another story altogether with Javon Carter (Proviso East), Jalen Brunson (Stevenson), Sterling Brown (Proviso East... again! That's Dee Brown's school for crying out loud!), Ben Moore (Bolingbrook), Scottie Lindsay (Fenwick)... and I could go on... Add in Ian Happ from the Quad-Cities...

If Groce successfully recruits half that group, he's still probably coaching here.

We need someone who has good relationships with the high school coaches in Chicago and the Chicago AAU coaches (Mean Streets and Mac Irvin Fire).

I think Groce was finally building a good relationship with the Fire (I think he would've got Ayo). However, Tai Streets didn't like Groce. If we can find favor in the CPL and both of those AAU teams we'll be looking good.

 

[dmac279]

Some posters seem so hung up on this Chicago mystique that they've now extended its realm to include the Quad Cities.

Oh well ...

No, not really mostly Hawkeyes

 

[mhuml32]

A lot of blanket statements being made in this thread. The Chicago area is two different places recruiting wise. You have the Derrick Rose/Anthony Davis/Cliff Alexander group of recruits that we are likely never to get and frankly I don't want them since we don't have teflon from the NCAA. The other group are guys like below - they aren't looking for a payout and Illinois should be involved with and grab our fair share of them (from last year's tourney). You could have won a tourney title with this team:

Jalen Brunson, Villanova (Stevenson)
Jevon Carter, West Virginia (Proviso East)
James Farr, Xavier (Evanston)
Ethan Happ, Wisconsin (Rockridge)
Roosevelt Jones, Butler (O'Fallon)
Abdel Nader, Iowa State (Niles North)
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky (Marian Catholic)

These two schools are not in the Chicago area.

 

[jmilt7]

If you’re not jumping up and down or pumping your fist into the air, there is something wrong with you. This is bigger news than you think.

I guess there must be something wrong with me then. Oh, wait, I'm an Illini fan. Not doing this until there is a more official confirmation (basically Tilmon himself tweets it). Maybe Frank C. is teasing us Illini faithful with something akin to the Cliff Alexander hat switch. Been an Illini fan too long to take anything for granted. Paranoid much?

 

[IlliniDent]

Anyone who thinks Illinois becomes great and relevant without Chicago is just kidding themselves. Sure it can happen, and it has happened on a few rare occasions. However, it won't happen consistently at all without chicago. Why have a coach here that can't tap into Illinois's largest talent pool. Wouldn't almost anyone consider that a major flaw of the coach. To be 2 hours away from one of the best recruiting areas in the country and ignore it is insane and a death sentence to any Illinois coach.

 

[Deleted member 10676]

Not because I want to keep the Chi vs downstate argument going, but only for the sake of accuracy do I post this year's list of Illinois players who started the tournament, although it includes redshirts like Zach Norvell of Gonzaga and transfer sit outs like Kendall Stephens at Nevada. It also lists local players who starred on championship teams 8 of the last 9 years, although that may be inaccurate because it says the team that didn't have one was 2011 UConn, then lists Ryan Boatright in the next paragraph as one of the 8.
http://www.csnchicago.com/ncaa-talk/48-illinois-players-2017-ncaa-tournament-rosters

 

[Deleted member 10676]

oops - my bad, shouldn't post so late at night. UConn won in 2011 and 2014, which was the year Ryan won at UConn, so Phillips is correct.
Boatright was part of the 2011 Illinois high school class which included Davis, Blackshear and Frank Kaminsky, among many others.

 

[illinifan87]

He's the "power broker" because he has hands on the majority of the talent. Robert Smith has talent, but the Irvins take some of those kids in the summer.

All recruiting is based on relationships, whether you're in Chicago or Chebanse. We can fight it, or embrace it.

I understand and respect Irvin's power, but lay with dogs long enough and you'll find yourself with fleas. Recruiting with Irvin is a cat and mouse game.

I think it's important for Underwood to navigate those waters with caution, foresight and strength. Sometimes in unison, sometimes independently.

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[Leonardite]

Hopefully Tilmon can have a role with us that Jordan Bell has for Oregon. They may not be the same athletically and the defenses might not be the exact same, but Bell is the last line for the all of the pressure Oregon puts on. If Underwood uses a similar style of pressure D, I could see Tilmon being our last line eventually and having a huge impact defensively.

 

[FeelYourPaign]

Over the last four years, less 2017, you name me ten top tier D1 recruits from areas south of I-80. I'll put a list together over the same four years for Chicago and it's suburbs and we'll compare notes.....More importantly teams. Heck, go back 8 years. Two full recruiting cycles. The talent comparison, the talent volume and the frequency of elite level prospects isn't even close.

Point is, the areas you speak of in Illinois ebbs and flows with talent. We did REAL well when it peaked, Frank, Sergio, Marcus, Cook, McBride, Randle, etc....But there's been a long stretch where it's been dry, which stands to reason.....Law of large numbers.

You might go one year where you don't have high D1 talent in Chicago or it's surrounding areas, but that's followed up with 8 straight years of enough talent to fill two rosters. There's 8M people in the area. How can you not cater to it?

Don't isolate 2017 and treat this as the norm. This is a can't miss opportunity for a program that recruits Chicago like garbage and hasn't been in the tournament for five years.

Good post. It is an inevitable fact that over the long term the team that resides in the largest population of any B1G state should aspire to attract players from the single largest market in the conference. At times, yes, greater talent will be found elsewhere, but in the long run, Chicago matters. It is complicated, no doubt, but how can you ignore a city of 8 million?

You can't

 

[CAHALL15]

I hear ya....kinda but why tick off the best recruiting pot in the country that's in your backyard. I'm from Chicago and still live in the city and I think it's perfectly acceptable to demand a Chicago-comfortable tie within the program. My thing is, you better make that your benchmark for every other program you promote to your kids and don't hold Illinois to a higher standard.

I don't understand the over inflated sense of entitlement that Chicago seems to have. Should we hire an assistant from New York to recruit NY kids? A Miami assistant to recruit Miami players? An Atlanta assistant to recruit Atlanta players? This can go on and on. Hire good assistant coaches no matter where they come from and then go out and meet coaches in Chicago and build relationships. If this results in getting some players from Chicago, great. If not, we recruit other places and move on.

 

[SummerofGeorge]

I don't understand the over inflated sense of entitlement that Chicago seems to have. Should we hire an assistant from New York to recruit NY kids? A Miami assistant to recruit Miami players? An Atlanta assistant to recruit Atlanta players? This can go on and on. Hire good assistant coaches no matter where they come from and then go out and meet coaches in Chicago and build relationships. If this results in getting some players from Chicago, great. If not, we recruit other places and move on.

I don't understand this either but the fact of the matter is that it is the reality of the Chicago hoops recruiting scene. We cannot ignore this reality nor can we simply turn our noses to recruiting kids from the city. I agree, however, that we don't hire someone specifically for this purpose and that we need to continue to expand our national recruiting base so as not to become dependent on an unstable resource of talent.

 

[jbmay83]

KSDK 5 in stl reported Tilmon stays with Illini. Per Cusamono.

 

[whovous]

Agreed. I'll wait til it comes from Tilmon's mouth before I celebrate. Then onto DM Williams and Javon Pickett. Frazier sounds good to go (odd, as has been written, considering he's much farther away than the others).

It is not truly official until they show up on campus for classes. Forgive my idiocy, but when is that? Should they all be in CU by June?

 

[Deleted member 3875]

KSDK 5 in stl reported Tilmon stays with Illini. Per Cusamono.

Just made my day.

 

[Illini03]

I saw this article posted on LinkedIn by Stephen Bardo. Aside from the 'what are student athletes worth?' aspect, my takeaway is that despite our downward trajectory since the highs of 2005 we are still #16 on the list of schools that bring in the midst revenue for their men's basketball program. I have to beloved that is we have a competitive team we can easily get back to the top 10. Relating this back to recruiting revenue must be tied to general exposure, people are watching the games, buying the jerseys, and aware of the team. Who wouldn't want to play for a team like that?

http://www.businessinsider.com/college-basketball-player-value-2017-3

 

[FiveStar]

It is not truly official until they show up on campus for classes. Forgive my idiocy, but when is that? Should they all be in CU by June?

I think Trent Frazier said June 7

 

[chiefhaunting]

I saw this article posted on LinkedIn by Stephen Bardo. Aside from the 'what are student athletes worth?' aspect, my takeaway is that despite our downward trajectory since the highs of 2005 we are still #16 on the list of schools that bring in the midst revenue for their men's basketball program. I have to beloved that is we have a competitive team we can easily get back to the top 10. Relating this back to recruiting revenue must be tied to general exposure, people are watching the games, buying the jerseys, and aware of the team. Who wouldn't want to play for a team like that?

http://www.businessinsider.com/college-basketball-player-value-2017-3

Interesting article. While we obviously use ticket, jersey, etc sales to separate ourselves somewhat, it's pretty obvious from this article just how much BTN affects the conference's revenue. There are 7 B1G teams in the top 20 there and I'd bet football charts would look very similar, conference wise.

 

[Love the Illini]

Looks like Mark Smith will be making his decision soon with April 12 fast approaching. What do you think our chances of getting him are and where does that put us in the overall recruiting rankings? I would think he would give us a potential top 5 class. I also think of all the recruits he is the one most physically ready to contribute major minutes or start as a freshman

 

[brapp33]

Looks like Mark Smith will be making his decision soon with April 12 fast approaching. What do you think our chances of getting him are and where does that put us in the overall recruiting rankings? I would think he would give us a potential top 5 class. I also think of all the recruits he is the one most physically ready to contribute major minutes or start as a freshman

Smith is a perfect fit and he has shown multiple signs he likes the Illini. At this point I would be shocked if he wasn't in Orange & Blue next year.