Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (March 2021)

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#1,326      
Not trying to discredit anyone here, but Trent transferring to another school makes 0 sense. If anything, I see him leaving to get paid. Not trying to claim to be an insider, but I'm speaking as someone who's hung out with him several times. I don't see it. If it happens, I'll eat crow, but someone saying this the same day we lost just seems even more far-fetched to me.
The rumors change by the week but there has been speculation he might want to finally return home to Florida.

I'm not sure what's incredibly unrealistic about transferring back to your state where your dad and girlfriend are to play a season much closer to them after a pandemic.

There's a crazier hypothetical out there regarding Miami but when people throw out possibilities that don't come into fruition they are labeled fake insiders.
 
#1,328      
How much money do you think a player like Frazier or Williams could make overseas? I don’t think another year is going change the level of league they can play for.

I think for Kofi he needs to get a honest assessment of where he stand in the draft. I think if he adds a mid range shot and develops his defense on the perimeter he is a first round draft pick next year. The salary difference between being drafted first round or second is not small and is worth a year. With Kofi not playing basketball his whole life I think he will only get better at Illinois. He has a tough decision to make but he would be the face of this team and the Big Ten.

I think Underwood and the staff have a good feeling where the guys are leaning with their decisions. The change in transfer rules will be interesting to see who we lose and who we can get
 
#1,329      
Also......just a side note. We will have those three guards that have been mentioned with the two freshman and Burnett as well. But just wanted to say this-Austin Hutcherson.....remember that name. He is going to be a huge surprise to a lot of people next year.
If he is healthy, he is a huge addition. Best shooter on the team with a 40 inch vertical. Health is the key and reports are positive.
 
#1,330      
If he is healthy, he is a huge addition. Best shooter on the team with a 40 inch vertical. Health is the key and reports are positive.
what happened to him at texas tech i didn’t watch him or anything. did he not play much? was he not good? what happened?
 
#1,335      
One of my all time favorites. He was the man as a freshman and completely changed his game for the team. He’s the kind of person all programs need to be successful.

Yep, even with a disappointing Second Round loss, it's really important to remember how much we owe Trent. When he came here (and stuck with his decision to come here, through a coaching change), we were awful in every aspect. If we continue to have good teams over the next several years, as I expect to, Trent laid the first bricks in that foundation. He will always be one of my favorite Illini. At the end of the day, we were BTT Champions and a No. 1 Seed, finishing the regular season at #2 in the AP Poll. I won't sugarcoat how disastrous the loss to Loyola was for momentum, but the point is that Illini basketball was brought back to a respectable, nationally relevant place by year 4 of Underwood's tenure, and we owe these players so much.

Future is bright, and I REALLY hope to get some good recruiting news soon to keep it rolling!
 
#1,336      
Not trying to discredit anyone here, but Trent transferring to another school makes 0 sense. If anything, I see him leaving to get paid. Not trying to claim to be an insider, but I'm speaking as someone who's hung out with him several times. I don't see it. If it happens, I'll eat crow, but someone saying this the same day we lost just seems even more far-fetched to me.
Trent was basically our 3rd or 4th option on offense this year, and more than likely it will be the same next year. He was our main offensive weapon when he was a freshman, and we got a sense for what he can do on offense when Ayo was out. Maybe he wants to go somewhere he can be the main guy for a year, and if that is the case who can really blame him? He is good enough where he can make decent $ somewhere, but some people just like the college experience.
 
#1,337      

Deleted member 746826

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so whats the deal?
are we going after big man bayron mateos.
we got an in with reggie bass
 
#1,338      
How much money do you think a player like Frazier or Williams could make overseas? I don’t think another year is going change the level of league they can play for.

I think for Kofi he needs to get a honest assessment of where he stand in the draft. I think if he adds a mid range shot and develops his defense on the perimeter he is a first round draft pick next year. The salary difference between being drafted first round or second is not small and is worth a year. With Kofi not playing basketball his whole life I think he will only get better at Illinois. He has a tough decision to make but he would be the face of this team and the Big Ten.

I think Underwood and the staff have a good feeling where the guys are leaning with their decisions. The change in transfer rules will be interesting to see who we lose and who we can get
I saw the live stream they were on with Kipper. They seemed confident they would play together next year. The average salary of the BBL Sharks is 42k Euros.
 
#1,339      
Kofi is a damn good college player. How his game goes to the next level idk, he's slow footed. 10-15 years ago he's a 1st round pick, In today's game 2nd to undrafted.
 
#1,340      
Watching Kofi against Krutwig, reminded me of frank kaminsky vs jahlil okafor some years back. At least in the first half
 
#1,341      
Kofi is a damn good college player. How his game goes to the next level idk, he's slow footed. 10-15 years ago he's a 1st round pick, In today's game 2nd to undrafted.
I tend to agree. His game is not in vogue in the NBA anymore. The league has changed pretty dramatically . If he really wants to play in the NBA, sticking around for another year might be in his interests . He really needs to work on his footwork .

His physical size and skill set is rare in college, but in the NBA, not as much.
 
#1,342      
I thank Trent and Monte for their contributions and wish them the best of luck. With their outspokenness on NIL, I would say either staying in college doesn’t make sense. Go get paid while your body will allow you to.

Besides, the program needs to move forward. We are looking at a team that has:
Belo, Ace, Grandison, Hutcherson, Giorgi, Coleman, Goode and Melendez already. Add in that we are pretty sure we are getting Burnett and Kofi should stay (I know we all love him and want him drafted, but objectively, his game is not NBA ready). That’s 10 guys already without the possibility of Trent and Monte.

It’s not a matter of “not having the minutes” or “trying to find the minutes”. It’s a matter of it’s stupid to try to distribute minutes to a 12 man rotation. It can’t work from a rhythm and continuity perspective.
 
#1,344      
Walker Kessler anyone? If Kofi is leaving, then sign me up.
That would be sick. I’d be surprised if it came to be but he’d have us right back in the national conversation. But we’d only be in it if Kofi leaves. Rumored he’s transferring due to playing time and Roy not letting him expand his perimeter game.
 
#1,346      
Besides, the program needs to move forward. We are looking at a team that has:
Belo, Ace, Grandison, Hutcherson, Giorgi, Coleman, Goode and Melendez already. Add in that we are pretty sure we are getting Burnett and Kofi should stay (I know we all love him and want him drafted, but objectively, his game is not NBA ready). That’s 10 guys already without the possibility of Trent and Monte.
As much as I'd love to see them back, I agree. We won't be as good as we were this year, but we can still be damn good, and its time to start building out the foundation for the next run. That means giving our young guys the tick they deserve. FWIW, even if Kofi isn't back, we still have two NBA-level guys on this squad in Belo and Ace. That's a heck of a foundation to build from.
 
#1,347      
I can’t you all how excited I am for Nimari. Kid legit has it all...well besides the shooting right now. He’s long af, athletic, smart, not timid, rebounds, good passer. He’d instantly be the best defender on our team. I trust he has the work ethic to have improved his jumper since he left Texas Tech and can’t say enough about how good of hands our backcourt is in now
 
#1,348      
I tend to agree. His game is not in vogue in the NBA anymore. The league has changed pretty dramatically . If he really wants to play in the NBA, sticking around for another year might be in his interests . He really needs to work on his footwork .

His physical size and skill set is rare in college, but in the NBA, not as much.
Kofi is a pickle. Can't figure out what makes the most sense for him and there's a lot of optionality in terms of what would make him appealing to the NBA, but also a lot of doubt (on my part) as to whether he can meet any of those criteria. If he had 4 more inches on his vertical and/or wingspan, I'd see him getting drafted in the 1st this year, but that's out of the picture. If he were a good passer that you could run some offense through -- Krutwig-like -- then I think that'd be enough (in combination with his physicality/rebounding) to get drafted, but given where he's at, I don't see another year in college producing some miraculous jump in passing ability. If he had more range on his jumper and shooting skill, that might be enough to overcome other limitations, but given his FT regression and the general difficulty of shooting with bulk and huge hands, I don't see a huge jump happening there either. If he could switch on the perimeter and guard smaller players, maybe that would help, but I'd be surprised if he can improve his agility enough to get there (it's already pretty amazing what he is capable of doing -- soccer tricks included -- at his size and that still isn't enough).

If he stays, there's the very real possibility that he (and the coaching staff) continues to rely on his otherworldly physical gifts and continues to dominate in the ways he has, which would be great for us and for college accolades but not so much for getting drafted. If he goes this year, then perhaps he's forced to learn those skills at a faster clip b/c it's learn or bust; but, if he goes, the likelihood he's actually drafted seems pretty low. Of course, it only takes one team, but there *appears* to be a good chance he ends up undrafted and has to latch on to a team following the Kendrick Nunn route. That, of course, ends up working out for a decent number of guys and isn't thaaattt different than going in the late second round, but that is taking on a lot of uncertainty for someone as talented and with as much exposure as Kofi.

It seems like it comes down to whether Kofi would rather very likely get paid a G League-level (or best case 2nd round-level, which is nothing to sneeze at) salary to learn NBA ways from NBA guys vs. be the face of IL and hopefully improve his stock. If he does the latter, I think it has to be accompanied by a commitment from BU to use him in more unique ways, run tons of P&R with Belo, and allow him to shoot a couple short jumpers a game, even if he's hitting them at a low rate. Most importantly, he needs to become an elite shot-blocker; without that skill for him to hang his hat on, I suspect it will be difficult to ever crack the first round.

This is all pure conjecture/pontification and is all through the lens of getting drafted and getting paid, so take it FWIW. Either way, it's a weird time to be an absolute beast of a human that can dominate basketball games at every level except the very pinnacle; it's unfortunate that the path forward for that player -- a guy we all love -- isn't clearer.
 
#1,349      
Excited Oh Boy GIF
 
#1,350      

sacraig

The desert
Kofi is a pickle. Can't figure out what makes the most sense for him and there's a lot of optionality in terms of what would make him appealing to the NBA, but also a lot of doubt (on my part) as to whether he can meet any of those criteria. If he had 4 more inches on his vertical and/or wingspan, I'd see him getting drafted in the 1st this year, but that's out of the picture. If he were a good passer that you could run some offense through -- Krutwig-like -- then I think that'd be enough (in combination with his physicality/rebounding) to get drafted, but given where he's at, I don't see another year in college producing some miraculous jump in passing ability. If he had more range on his jumper and shooting skill, that might be enough to overcome other limitations, but given his FT regression and the general difficulty of shooting with bulk and huge hands, I don't see a huge jump happening there either. If he could switch on the perimeter and guard smaller players, maybe that would help, but I'd be surprised if he can improve his agility enough to get there (it's already pretty amazing what he is capable of doing -- soccer tricks included -- at his size and that still isn't enough).

If he stays, there's the very real possibility that he (and the coaching staff) continues to rely on his otherworldly physical gifts and continues to dominate in the ways he has, which would be great for us and for college accolades but not so much for getting drafted. If he goes this year, then perhaps he's forced to learn those skills at a faster clip b/c it's learn or bust; but, if he goes, the likelihood he's actually drafted seems pretty low. Of course, it only takes one team, but there *appears* to be a good chance he ends up undrafted and has to latch on to a team following the Kendrick Nunn route. That, of course, ends up working out for a decent number of guys and isn't thaaattt different than going in the late second round, but that is taking on a lot of uncertainty for someone as talented and with as much exposure as Kofi.

It seems like it comes down to whether Kofi would rather very likely get paid a G League-level (or best case 2nd round-level, which is nothing to sneeze at) salary to learn NBA ways from NBA guys vs. be the face of IL and hopefully improve his stock. If he does the latter, I think it has to be accompanied by a commitment from BU to use him in more unique ways, run tons of P&R with Belo, and allow him to shoot a couple short jumpers a game, even if he's hitting them at a low rate. Most importantly, he needs to become an elite shot-blocker; without that skill for him to hang his hat on, I suspect it will be difficult to ever crack the first round.

This is all pure conjecture/pontification and is all through the lens of getting drafted and getting paid, so take it FWIW. Either way, it's a weird time to be an absolute beast of a human that can dominate basketball games at every level except the very pinnacle; it's unfortunate that the path forward for that player -- a guy we all love -- isn't clearer.

I think you are not giving the coaching staff enough credit for their ability to learn. I know we all have some (seemingly righteous) frustration at what looked like a lack of adjustment yesterday, especially on defense, but let's not forget that this staff completely overhauled their approach to offense to fit personnel. They failed early, learned a lot from that failure, then course corrected with major success.

Having said that, if he stays, why would you think the coaching staff would keep doing exactly what they were doing with him instead of helping him grow (and helping the team out along with him)? I can only imagine they'd work on his various weaknesses like passing and shooting, both to help the team and to help him succeed at the next level. It is far from guaranteed that he would learn these faster elsewhere.

TLDR: There is no reason to assume that the coaches won't work on exactly these things since it helps us and him, so it is silly to suggest he can only learn these by going pro now.
 
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