It's a shame it took us a year and the abject failure of the total opposite plan to get here, but I agree.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (March 2018)
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It's a shame it took us a year and the abject failure of the total opposite plan to get here, but I agree.
IllFanInMi
I
Guest
Personally I am simply ready for our 2018 class to be completed. We are close with a few clouds in the sky. I like the balance on the board, regardless of Stars, etc.... We can only trust our staff evaluated correctly for talent, the system, attitude, work ethic, ceilings, academics, chemistry, etc.....
So many pieces have to fall in place once the tip is thrown and that’s why our staff gets the big $! If the NCAA tournament says anything, it says how parity still exists and the sum is often better than the parts.
So many pieces have to fall in place once the tip is thrown and that’s why our staff gets the big $! If the NCAA tournament says anything, it says how parity still exists and the sum is often better than the parts.
Whitmans Sampler
- Eastern Iowa
Most realistic scenario IMO
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
Would be great.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
And a good grad transfer big, please! But, yeah, this.
We gotta find a spot for Hinson if he's willing.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Agree. He'd come the closest to filling the Leron gap IMO.
I look at him as more of a 3, he has a perimeter-oriented game. But it's the Ramey logic, he's talented and he fits. And there's no Trent Frazier in the way at that position. Take him over Feliz and just plug a hole with Khalid Lewis 2.0 if that's what you've gotta do.
The idea was working with what we had, that the cupboard only needed supplementing, not emptying.
We took one kid in the fall, Underwood's first full class. Oops. It's been a 180 since then, but it's a year wasted, and a pretty frightening job of scouting your own roster.
It is what it is, go get better.
MrOizo
- Chicago
I love Jones Hinson and Feliz. That would do very well and then all in on Okoro and Liddell
I'm not sure what you mean by a year wasted. Who could we have realistically signed in the fall that would have been an upgrade over what we have landed or could land now?
Whitney too
MrOizo
- Chicago
This ignores the need for a culture change. To change the culture, sometimes you need to clean house. I think this was a legit case as with football to do that.
Impossible to know. We missed on the Plan A guys and said "whatever, it's fine, we're only shopping for seasonings in the rest of this class anyway"
Whoops.
Remember on Black Friday at Best Buy back in the day where they'd have a DVD bin for like $2.99? And you'd root around in there and find Bad Boys 2 or Evan Almighty or whatever?
A Big Ten team is gonna be in trouble if it gets all of its bigs from that bin. I like Ebo, I like Kane, Giorgi is a mystery box like Vesel was, but it's a shame to give ourselves so few options two years in a row to start a coaching tenure.
MrOizo
- Chicago
Very true. We need a decent 5th year big that pans out ok. We also NEED Okoro and/or Liddell. Miss on both and the big situation is just not Big Ten caliber looking forward. This is a "must hit on bigs" year.
Deleted member 631370
D
Guest
I'm on the fence about the "culture" argument.
But in defense of that argument, it's not about them being "terrible" kids. It's more about them not being the bulldog personalities that coaches like Huggins, Martin, and Underwood prioritize.
Huggins' teams have always had that identity. And that identity has been built around toughness. I personally thought Lucas would fit into that toughness culture just fine......but I do wonder if his transfer had more to do with him not having the ball in his hands as much as he'd like. His opportunities were only going to decrease with Ayo coming aboard.
Smith? Again, not sure it was a culture thing as much as him not being able to play the lead guard position that he really wanted coming out of HS. It's clear he lacks the lateral quickness and the athleticism to play that at this level, and I think he had a hard time building confidence.
We had 6 new players and 2 empty scholarships last year. That is a pretty clean house to work with.
I would put Castleton and Conditt in the same bin and those were probably the only guys we actually had a chance at getting. I get that it's easy to say this now but I think our most realistic class was going to consist of plan B bigs and a 5th year guy to fill in the holes. This class would have been an absolute homerun class if we would have landed a guy like BPJ, Ayo, and a good wing. The problem is that there's a huge drop off after the top 10-15 bigs in the country so I don't think it's a disappointment that we had to settle for a little less and have to take a gamble. The next class is the one where I absolutely disappointing if we have to settle for less unless one of our current bigs end up overachieving and scaring off someone that wants immediate playing time.
Deleted member 631370
D
Guest
I've seen you make this argument a few times. That is, we had more "poor fits" than we had originally believed we'd have back in the fall. And that's a failure of the staff's scouting.
And that's a pretty weak argument. As many of my former Army colleagues who have commanded troops will tell you, you have no idea what you really have until first contact with the enemy. When you inherit a unit, you can get a preliminary sense for what you've got -- what weaknesses you have, what strengths you have, etc. And you commit yourself to improving those weaknesses from the get-go. I have zero doubt that Underwood fully understood what weaknesses he had. But I also have zero doubt that Underwood wasn't entirely sure if he was going to correct those problems over the course of a 4 month season, or not.
You don't go out and recruit a 5-man class when you only have a few open spots before you've even determined what sort of roster you have. You cannot assume before your first season even starts that you're going to have to run 3-4 kids off the roster. That's crazy. So I understand 100% why Underwood didn't press more aggressively for a big class back in the fall.
Look.....we all armchair QB on this board. It's what fans do. But some of these critiques are completely silly.
MrOizo
- Chicago
If you've been through culture changes as I have been in the corporate world, there are GREAT people who simply are part of a culture and by their nature will perpetuate that culture. They have good skills, good work ethics, but it may be best for everyone if they move on.
I've been through two of these in corporate where those who left have done well, but the culture of the team improved greatly by a "start over". It's not that they're bad - it's that for a number of reasons they will continue to perpetuate a culture that is all they know, and it might prevent a new way of thinking.
t7nich
- Central IL
https://mobile.twitter.com/1AAtrice/status/980129682375966721
We’re in Trice’s top 6. Visits k state next week and Oklahoma the week after.. see if he leaves k state without committing.
We’re in Trice’s top 6. Visits k state next week and Oklahoma the week after.. see if he leaves k state without committing.
GortTheRobot
- North Bethesda, Maryland
"Culture" is just a multi-faceted catch-all, that simply boils down to "I would like players with a different mentality, or experience, or instinct, or work-ethic, or specific skill, etc., etc., etc...
I have been in charge of three different Theatre programs in three different high schools, and every time, there are seniors, who are good kids and very talented, who need to move on to establish a new regime.
It's that simple. Finke, TJL, and anyone else who goes, are not bad kids, or untalented, it's just time to move on. I wish them the best of all possible luck, but it's just part of any process of turnover. I hope we see on court results.
I have been in charge of three different Theatre programs in three different high schools, and every time, there are seniors, who are good kids and very talented, who need to move on to establish a new regime.
It's that simple. Finke, TJL, and anyone else who goes, are not bad kids, or untalented, it's just time to move on. I wish them the best of all possible luck, but it's just part of any process of turnover. I hope we see on court results.
It appear Finke didnt leave but that his scholly was not renewed. I know he had some weaknesses but I am not so sure we couldnt have used him one more year. We shall see.
Finke, Black and Smith were all encouraged to stay. Not sure about TJL.
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