There are still more players committing in the fall, we did well this spring, but that doesn't make it a sustainable practice, & well this spring is heavily biased by what is left.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (May-June 2018)
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There are still more players committing in the fall, we did well this spring, but that doesn't make it a sustainable practice, & well this spring is heavily biased by what is left.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
And maybe what we're seeing now is just a byproduct of that approach to roster construction, I dunno.
As has been pointed out, it's not like we're going 0-for. It's just that we seem to be chasing shiny objects and getting caught flat-footed. I sneered at the concern of us burning through our OVs, but that seems to be of a piece with this approach, as well. And it would seem our OVs are not exactly lighting the world on fire.
It's hard to explain the Braun result as anything other than a misread of what that kid was interested in.
Underwood has spoken in these terms publicly.
That wouldn't be entirely dissimilar from what goes on at WVU.
So maybe.
Trouble is, the horrible talent imbalance between our backcourt and frontcourt is tough to fix through a Creaning carousel of spring flyers.
sacraig
- The desert
I'm just quoting this so that anyone who skipped it the first time might read the quoted version. Everyone here needs to take a chill pill and maybe have a beer.
Joel Goodson
- dawgville
This. Making mountains out of molehills is what we do. Don't be that guy.
Braun saw a better fit elsewhere. So be it. Columbia is a heckuva lot closer to home than CU is. Be very careful drawing conclusions about our program from the Braun recruitment.
Well, it would probably be similar to out current class, but without Ayo, Giorgio and Jones. Maybe even Griffin.
This board is hilarious. I liked Bruan, but Kipper would have still started at the 4 even with him on board. I never expected us to run two legit bigs so maybe that's why I haven't been in panic mode about our frontcourt recruiting. If any of the "projects" turn out to be good defenders that can stay on the floor, I think we're okay. Our ceiling is limited without a proven guy but I completely disagree that we have a lot of holes in our roster.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
that is clever
illinifaninwi
- DeForest, Wisconsin
I need a break from recruiting. I should know better after coaching high school baseball for nine years. Never try to predict what 15-18 year-olds will do, even 10 minutes in the future.
There is a tremendous difference and actually that is why there is a fall signing period. The majority of recruits commit and sign in the Fall. From the rest, there are always some top recruits who will wait, primarily driven by either shoe company wars or more likely, waiting to see how the roster of some blue bloods and top schools end up after the season when some players declare for the draft. Those top recruits usually end up at those schools.
The pool of the rest of highly ranked recruits tremendously shrinks after Fall, there is a much smaller pool, and schools with huge gaps (like Illinois the last several years) often end up scrambling to find some 5th year guys who can help, or forced to take chances with "projects." It is a clear indication that your main recruiting strategy is not working, and has been happening for several years now.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
The panic isn't because they lost a great prospect. The panic is because what it potentially represents.
illinifaninwi
- DeForest, Wisconsin
+1, Mom said, boy, you go to mizznoz, Mark Smith will show you how it's done. All the great players want Clownzo to coach them. Moving on.
This recruitment is pretty clear. Mom went to Mizzou - God only knows why. Cuonzo offered grayshirt opportunity (pay first year and then scholarship). Braun will sit first year and be recruited over. Braun will transfer to UMKC and average 3 points per game as a senior for the Kangaroos.
In Underwood I trust, hopefully. Oh come on we're due to win again!
Deleted member 29907
D
Guest
+1 - nothing to see here folks - move along. Its not like we were on this guy for the last 3 years for crying out loud.
Most independent college basketball analysts will disagree, however, with this assessment (given current roster with no significant additions). They will definitely not pick us to make the tournament (which we desperately need), so that means they see gaps in our roster.
It does not mean that this team can't surprise and overachieve, although that would not be a unique attribute to Illinois. Bottom line is that in order to build a consistent competitor in the B1G, you need a team that is consistently "expected" to make the tournament (not just by Illini fans) rather than the occasional overachievement or underachievement.
Govoner Vaugn Fan
- New Orleans
I am more than happy with the spring signings. The pool of talent is smaller in the spring and it would have been great to fill all the slots last fall when a lot more good players were in the pool, but remember last fall no one knew we would have four transfers this spring. Hard to sign replacements in the fall for players you don't know will leave.
Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
Not quite fair to lump 1 full recruiting cycle at Illinois for Underwood with the "recruiting strategy" of several years with his predecessors. He got his main guy in the fall in Ayo, which is a pretty great get for being on the job for all of 6 months or so, and trying to fix a program and instill a new culture in the program. Our class next fall will be better and we will continue to grow this program.
Lots of reasons why recruits go to different schools. If they don't want to be hear, so be it. Good luck to wherever they land. Move on to the next guy.
Sure, Spring recruiting is far more difficult, but we still only filled only one out of the 3 available scholarships in the Fall and we had gaps to begin with. Furthermore, some added attrition was expected and unavoidable (not all 4) which by default would have added more pressure in the Spring. There will definitely be defections next year as well, no doubt.
I never said that BU has the same blame in Fall recruiting, and never assigned him the same responsibility on how we got here. As I said, it was a failing recruiting strategy for years now. However, I am not giving him a pass and saying that BU has done great recruiting (or even coaching) so far. He has not, he has to pick it up.
We need a strong 2019 Fall recruiting class, beyond just depending on a single play and the MIF/Chin connection for better recruits. Last year, the main talk and optimism was on the additions of Liddell and Okoro. Now Okoro has gone elsewhere and there are major clouds with Liddell and much of the recruiting optimism resides with getting just every better recruit from MIF (mainly Whitney and Miller)... a single play/source. Personally, I love the MIF connection despite the criticism that many on this bothe MIF's best interest to send all top prospects to UI moving forward, so I have doubts it happens.
I expect us to be a tourney team the following year so call it a talent gap, youth, whatever but I think fans would find the next few years more enjoyable if they can be satisfied with growth. If we do worse this year than I woudlnt blame them on giving up though.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
The Braggin' Rights game keeps getting more interesting.
I never said that every player Illinois got is a project, so not sure where you got that. That is not for previous staff as well. But as someone else posted, when the average ranking of a recruit ranks as 10th in the B1G, that means that we do have quite a few projects (lower ranked recruits).
I do not disagree with that view, not different than mine actually. But saying we have a "talent gap, youth, whatever" and saying " I completely disagree that we have a lot of holes in our roster" are kind of contradictory. If you say that we have a talent gap, youth gap, or whatever other gap, we do indeed have holes in our roster.
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