I don't want to speak for him, but I think he means that the first few options were Tilmon, Kiir, Kigab, Agau, etc.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (May-June 2017)
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I agree completely. I recognize that there is some need for stopgap players this season, but after the Groce era, I've kinda had it with 5th-year transfers for a while. The McLovins of the world are truly few and far between.Might be we had other choices, but this one seems to have fell in to our laps. Ebo looks like a good player, plenty upside, agile, and physically capable. Hope we can secure to resolve our big issue and strengthen our roster. Still have 3 scholly left after we pick him up. Time in invest in the future.
brapp33
- Normal IL
I thought you couldn't block a kid who asks out of NLI. Which would be why we couldn't block Misery with Tilmon.
He is making a comparison in term of need at the position, not physical attributes. The Illini are in dire need of frontcourt players. Right now, and for sometime now (since Alstork/JCL was just swap of guards), the Illini are 7-deep (MS, TJL, TF, MA, KN, LB, and MF) with just 2 true froncourt (PF/C) players (Black, Finke). That will not be enough, we needed to add at least one player.
Option 1 was keeping Tilmon. Did not work out.
Option 2 was trying to get into the recruitment of some highly ranked 2017 bigs. I know for a fact that Antigua tried, yet it was too late in the game.
Option 3 was trying to find a serviceable big in the grad transfer market, more experienced and would not take away a scholarship. Did not happen and the grad transfer market is quickly drying up.
So the next best option is to look at available 2017s, someone low ranked with potential to help, especially in backup role next year. We found one, and we HAD TO find one. No way we can go through the season in B1G with just Black/Finke. There is no much downside, if it works, great, if not, better than not trying. This kid is a welcome addition in every respect.
But we need to tame exaggerations, expectations, talking about player prodigies and top ranked players who happened to start late, comparisons to Mark Smith situation, etc. There is also no need to talk down players who finished their careers in comparison (e.g., Mav, Tate).
There are similarities with Tate, at the time of their recruitment. We were in dire need of a PG and got a 200 ranked player late in the season, we are in dire need for a frontcourt player and got a 400+ player. Sure, Tate has already finished his career so you know the outcome. But at the time of their recruitment, the excitement, and concerns, were pretty similar.
I find a few things noteworthy with this kid. He's about an inch and half shorter than Tilmon, but has the same 7'2" wingspan. He can run the floor and has decent athleticism. He averaged 14ppg, 14rpg, and 2bpg for an undefeated state champion and has a teammate also from Nigeria who's going to play at Marquette who averaged fewer points and boards per game. To me, that leads some credence that he has an opportunity to produce at the high major level.
TownieMatt
CU Expat
- Chicago
Here's what I've gathered: You can't release a kid but block specific schools. They've given him a conditional release, which allows him to be recruited by other schools. However, if Ebo comes to them and says he wants to commit to us, UIC can say no and force him to either enroll at UIC or sit out a year. I don't think that will happen, but UIC would be well within their rights to do that.
As I said earlier, I watched 5 or 6 of their games, and I think GE is the better of the 2 at least he was in the games I saw, He is a Kid who could really benefit from being able to sit out a year, but if he comes here I do not see any way we can sit him, Maybe if we add a big in 18 they would think about rs him his soph year just to give him a little more time to develop
No. Prior this HS season Eke had better offers. Ebo out played him during the season, as the locals have him first team all conference and Eke third team.
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If this is the guy the Illini get, let's hope he's somewhere between Meyers Leonard and Rich Semrau.
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
And if it is true that he is a 4th or 5th option, does that mean you don't take him? I'm not sure of the logic here, NYC. We have a hole. We need big men. You take your 12th option if you have a gaping hole in the paint like BU currently does.
Like his potential more than everybody on that list but Tilmon.
Guy was playing soccer just a few years ago.. In the video he moves very well for big man.. Not an very explosive athlete but he's fairly fluid at that size and not under the rim by any means.
I'd make a bet he can move laterally fairly well additionally as most guys who have played a sport like soccer for years can... Maybe he lost some of that after a growth spurt who knows.. Again speculating.
Seriously? We could have had JCL playing his real position at PG
The flip of wanting JCL to be our PG to JCL being the worst ball handler of all team is one of the more ironic things I have seen on here
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http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/-4661400377046102163/nigerian-born-greg-eboigbodin-gets-double-double-to-lead-jesuit-basketball-to-class-a-title-game/
http://thecatchandshoot.com/uic-commit-greg-eboigbodin-continues-his-rise-at-u-of-d-jesuit/
First link is a good article talking about his transition to basketball.. Second is a great video of Greg and Ike talking about their transition to basketball and has some clips of them in practice.
http://thecatchandshoot.com/uic-commit-greg-eboigbodin-continues-his-rise-at-u-of-d-jesuit/
First link is a good article talking about his transition to basketball.. Second is a great video of Greg and Ike talking about their transition to basketball and has some clips of them in practice.
Thank you. Tate served us and is an Illini for the rest of his life. I'm glad he was with us.
I regret that the Groce staff swung for fences and missed on PGs rather than recruiting and developing serviceable point guards each year.
Any player not reaching expectations represents a failure of the staff not the player, IMO (aside from significant injuries).
Thats why I like BUs approach in generally ignoring stars...and recruiting best fit and focus on developing them to be successful in his system.
Is it confirmed we will play New Mexico at the UC in December? We don't have the dreaded UIC matchup this year? That certainly would be incentive for UIC to play their cards.
+1
Tate did not have much of a ceiling, and was asked to do a lot more than he should have. Really shouldn't fault him IMO for Groce's misses.
Deleted member 8213
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Guest
If Ebo comes to CU and all he does his entire freshman year is outplay Tilmon in the BR game, then I will be delighted with him.
I was thinking about that earlier, would be an unreal moment for Greg and UofI.
This is probably opening a can of worms that shouldn't be opened but Tate was our best PG for a lot of games throughout his career here, which says more about how crappy we were at the 1 than really anything else.
If JCL or AJ or even DJ were to play at the 1 for all the minutes Tate did, we would've a few more games. Tate had above average court vision, was a better ball handler than JCL (and probably DJW and AJ but such little sample size I'll ignore them.), and was a better defender then all of them. Of course he struggled shooting, but he wasn't awful at driving to the hoop.
I refuse to believe that, as a whole, the last four years would've been better sans Jaylon Tate.
Just saw Bowen is set to announce on Saturday. Kathy, you know something?
Bowen will be playing for somebody not even on his most recent top-5 list, if we are to extrapolate from this wild ride of a recruitment.
EDIT: if Illinois had a stake in this, I'd actually make the image, but this is a prime opportunity to use the "Mr. Bone's Wild Ride" meme and change it to "Mr. Bowen's."
EDIT: if Illinois had a stake in this, I'd actually make the image, but this is a prime opportunity to use the "Mr. Bone's Wild Ride" meme and change it to "Mr. Bowen's."
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