Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (November-December 2016)

[Illinifanatic4ever]

Looked up on Rivals what each recruits ranking was.
J. Tilmon - 25
L. Black - 38
J. Coleman-Lands - 39
T. Abrams - 58
M. Hill - 62
A. Jordan - 95
T. Frazier - 101
D. Williams - 106
D.J. Williams - 118
T. Lucas - 148
M. Finke - NR
J. Tate - NR
M. Morgan - NR
M. Thorne Jr. - NR
K. Nichols - NR
J. Pickett - NR

Rankings are great but not the end all. Interesting though on next years team 8 of the 10 that were ranked in the top 150 will be on the 2017-2018 team.

 

[Cubby Blue]

Damonte and Tilmon schedule next week at Springfield Lanphier

TUESDAY, NOV. 22
6:00 PM - CBC (St. Louis) vs. Brooks (Chicago)
7:30 PM - East St. Louis vs. Champaign Central

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 23
6:00 PM - Lanphier (Springfield) vs. Pekin
7:30 PM - Peoria Manual vs. North Chicago

FRIDAY, NOV. 25
12:00 PM - CBC/Brooks Loser vs ESL/Champaign Central Loser
1:30 PM - Lanphier/Pekin Loser vs Manual/North Chicago Loser
6:00 PM - CBC/Brooks Winner vs ESL/Champaign Central Winner
7:30 PM - Lanphier/Pekin Winner vs Manual/North Chicago Winner

SATURDAY, NOV. 26
12:00 PM - 7th Place
1:30 PM - 5th Place
6:00 PM - 3rd Place
7:30 PM - Championship

Target Tim Finke is on that Champaign Central team that JT plays in first game. :thumb: And Adam Miller on Manual (if he indeed does make varsity as expected).

 

[BirdDog9048]

Pretty good video of Tim from Mike's Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Finke_Michael/status/799472426119675904

 

[WiscIllini]

Looked up on Rivals what each recruits ranking was.
J. Tilmon - 25
L. Black - 38
J. Coleman-Lands - 39
T. Abrams - 58
M. Hill - 62
A. Jordan - 95
T. Frazier - 101
D. Williams - 106
D.J. Williams - 118
T. Lucas - 148
M. Finke - NR
J. Tate - NR
M. Morgan - NR
M. Thorne Jr. - NR
K. Nichols - NR
J. Pickett - NR

Rankings are great but not the end all. Interesting though on next years team 8 of the 10 that were ranked in the top 150 will be on the 2017-2018 team.

Looking at that it really is impressive how much improvement we've seen from Finke and Morgan. That definitely gives the staff some development chops.

 

[kuhl84]

Pretty good video of Tim from Mike's Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Finke_Michael/status/799472426119675904

He is certainly becoming a better athlete, along with being highly skilled.

 

[FiveStar]

Dang. Maroon madness must be new? Certainly don't remember that when I was there.

 

[Illininer]

http://www.riverbender.com/articles/details/swc-at-the-e-boys-basketball-games-announced-for-dec-3-16575.cfm

December 3 SWC at SIU-E

3:30pm - Granite City vs. Alton
5:00pm - Collinsville vs. O'Fallon
6:30pm - Edwardsville vs. Belleville West
8:00pm - East St. Louis vs. Belleville East

Which means Tilmon vs Pickett and potential recruit EJ Liddell against Edwardsville in the game before.

 

[ChiefIllini]

I have no doubts we get another play over 6'7", we cant have just LB, MF and JT down low.

Now IF LB could play 30 mins or if MF was good enough defensively to play 25+ mins, then maybe we could get away with it, but i dont foresee either of those things happening.

We wont get another MT, we dont have the elite playing time available he was promised, but someone who can give us 5-10 mins of solid defense should do the team just fine.

Question; Why do people think Epperson would come here now? First off why would he RS? Second, he wouldnt even get playing time sophomore year. For a guy ranked 88th on 247 couldn't he find decent playing time on a power 5 team, even next year, let alon 2018? I would love nothing more than to snag him, just dont see how we are a good fit for him.

 

[Joel Goodson]

Question; Why do people think Epperson would come here now? First off why would he RS? Second, he wouldnt even get playing time sophomore year. For a guy ranked 88th on 247 couldn't he find decent playing time on a power 5 team, even next year, let alon 2018? I would love nothing more than to snag him, just dont see how we are a good fit for him.

+1

Much as I'd love to land Epperson, other schools can offer him a much clearer path to early playing time. As such, think this will be an uphill battle.

 

[illini8507]

I am in if there is a local bar close to the venue so I can watch our beloved (attempt to) take down Indiana first.

Several, just drive around during town, you'll find one. Most bars in Highland are in the older south part of town though, and the high school is on the North edge. E.L. Flanagans would be the closest, probably.

Make sure u buy tickets online well in advance, you won't be able to just show up, they'll sell out for sure.

 

[nwebb1]

Several, just drive around during town, you'll find one. Most bars in Highland are in the older south part of town though, and the high school is on the North edge. E.L. Flanagans would be the closest, probably.

Make sure u buy tickets online well in advance, you won't be able to just show up, they'll sell out for sure.

A couple years ago when Tatum was matched up with Charles Mathews a few of my buddies and I got to the games a little early and saw that Tilmon was out for ESL. He was the reason i was wanting to go to the earlier game. We decided to go to Flanagans and didn't end up making it back for the Tatum game after a long day.

 

[WesterveltVictoryCigar]

Epperson would for sure get us into the Top 10. Especially since I think his, Frazier's, and Tilmon's rankings will rise even more this year as they'll get more exposure again this season. I think if DMW plays with more consistent effort this year, his could rise again, too. The talent is there with all of these guys, regardless of ranking.

Doubtful that anyone's individual ranking will change much as their AAU careers are over and the website gurus don't get to see them play much in HS. Not to mention the marketability of signed players is near zero for them, they are going to be focused on the remaining unsigned 2017 kids and then the next classes.

And I agree in the end it doesn't really matter. We addressed 2 huge needs with Tilmon and Frazier, plus picked up 2 good wing prospects.

Very, very excited about this class and if Kentucky gets 5 or 6 burger boys and duke gets 5 or 6 and villanova gets 1 or 2 then we end up with a top 5 class I think. Really think this Illini class is way under valued like others have said

Top 5? In the conference? It will be better than that, top 2 at least. In the country? No, see previous discussion, we're already outside the top 5 and won't move up unless we add more players. Even then, top 5 is out of reach.

 

[IlliniOX08]

I have no doubts we get another play over 6'7", we cant have just LB, MF and JT down low.

Now IF LB could play 30 mins or if MF was good enough defensively to play 25+ mins, then maybe we could get away with it, but i dont foresee either of those things happening.

We wont get another MT, we dont have the elite playing time available he was promised, but someone who can give us 5-10 mins of solid defense should do the team just fine.

Question; Why do people think Epperson would come here now? First off why would he RS? Second, he wouldnt even get playing time sophomore year. For a guy ranked 88th on 247 couldn't he find decent playing time on a power 5 team, even next year, let alon 2018? I would love nothing more than to snag him, just dont see how we are a good fit for him.

In terms of immediate playing time, couldn't agree more. But ranking isn't always an indicator of college readiness. I think he needs to RS b/c he doesn't appear physically ready, at least for B10 (or power 5). Then again, I'm on a message board

Big men, unless truly elite level big men, need time to develop in a lot of cases. If JFG can convince him that chasing immediate playing time may not be to his long term benefit then I think UI offers him a tremendous opportunity. Of course, convincing a well-ranked kid to not chase immediate playing time is no easy task. Let's see how it plays out - at this point it feels like the program is playing with house money anyways.

 

[IlliniTilDeath]

In terms of immediate playing time, couldn't agree more. But ranking isn't always an indicator of college readiness. I think he needs to RS b/c he doesn't appear physically ready, at least for B10 (or power 5). Then again, I'm on a message board

Big men, unless truly elite level big men, need time to develop in a lot of cases. If JFG can convince him that chasing immediate playing time may not be to his long term benefit then I think UI offers him a tremendous opportunity. Of course, convincing a well-ranked kid to not chase immediate playing time is no easy task. Let's see how it plays out - at this point it feels like the program is playing with house money anyways.

He's listed at 6-10, 220. I think physically he'll be fine given there are few true centers in college basketball.

 

[IlliniOX08]

He's listed at 6-10, 220. I think physically he'll be fine given there are few true centers in college basketball.

I know what he's listed at. Watching his highlight videos though I think he looks like a pretty typical high school kid physically. He does appear to have plus athleticism (somewhere between probably right in the middle of Tisdale and Leonard) for a kid his size. Again, I think big men in most cases need time to develop. Now, he can either develop in a RS year (potentially) or develop playing immediately. It's JG's job to convince him of the opportunity UI affords him.

I think back to Shaun Pruitt. While he didn't RS, he barely played his freshman year and didn't really make a true impact until his Jr. year. He was similarly ranked to Epperson coming out of High School and had 25-35 lbs on Epperson (depending which site you reference).

 

[Foggy Notion]

I know what he's listed at. Watching his highlight videos though I think he looks like a pretty typical high school kid physically. He does appear to have plus athleticism (somewhere between probably right in the middle of Tisdale and Leonard) for a kid his size. Again, I think big men in most cases need time to develop. Now, he can either develop in a RS year (potentially) or develop playing immediately. It's JG's job to convince him of the opportunity UI affords him.

I think back to Shaun Pruitt. While he didn't RS, he barely played his freshman year and didn't really make a true impact until his Jr. year. He was similarly ranked to Epperson coming out of High School and had 25-35 lbs on Epperson (depending which site you reference).

With only three other bigs on the roster, I doubt he would redshirt.

 

[Illinimobile]

Top 5 uncommitted 2017 Centers per Verbal Commits site:

http://verbalcommits.com/players/brandon-mccoy

http://verbalcommits.com/players/ikechukwu-obiagu

http://verbalcommits.com/players/isaiah-stokes

http://verbalcommits.com/players/andrew-haeffner

http://verbalcommits.com/players/joey-st-pierre

 

[Golfer63]

Epperson would have a very good chance of getting playing time here next year. It would make us 2 deep at both the 4 and 5 spots like we are this year. LB and MF at the 4; JT and JE at the 5. It would also allow MF to stay at his natural position.

 

[ChiefIllini]

With only three other bigs on the roster, I doubt he would redshirt.

Agreed. We cant afford him to sit, like we could ala Finke. Only way he could sit is if we grab a 5th year big too.

It makes zero sense to me how an 18 yo kid can be convinced that redshirting at a mediocre (sorry but its true dating back ~6 years) school is the best for his long term development. Assuming he does RS (big assumption if you ask me) then there are a lot of other schools that give him more immediate playing time in 2018 (Riding the assumption JT plays at least 2 years, which leads to an even bigger if, if JT stays 3+ years).

I also think the April signing period tends to heavily favor blue bloods snagging prospects like Epperson-- someone who may be more raw but with larger upside, mainly due to the fact they might have missed on blue chip players.

 

[BirdDog9048]

Epperson would have a very good chance of getting playing time here next year. It would make us 2 deep at both the 4 and 5 spots like we are this year. LB and MF at the 4; JT and JE at the 5. It would also allow MF to stay at his natural position.

I could see minutes working out something like this:

4: Black 25 minutes, Finke 15 minutes
5: Tilmon 20 minutes, Epperson 10 minutes, Finke 10 minutes

It's easier said than done though. Trying to convince a kid to commit when you can only offer 10 minutes for 2 seasons is a hard sell.

 

[Cubby Blue]

I have no doubts we get TRY TO GET another play over 6'7", we cant have just LB, MF and JT down low.

fIfy. I too think a 5th year is where we try to do that. Nothing is guaranteed though.

 

[BirdDog9048]

Only scenarios where he does are if he wants too and if we also get a 5th year big or DJ adds another 40 pounds this offseason.

I don't think that is in his best interest, as he is likely our starting 3 next season...

 

[ChiefIllini]

fIfy. I too think a 5th year is where we try to do that. Nothing is guaranteed though.

Very true, especially considering the only thing we offer is a depth role. Hard to get guys to commit to a final season of bball with just the hopes they like the name on the university, assuming Finke steals minutes at the 5.

 

[Joel Goodson]

Absolutely no way will we land Epperson with a plan to redshirt him first year.

Epperson will play ~15 mpg right from the jump. But it will almost exclusively be as a 5. And that tick will largely be a ceiling for his first two seasons. Going to be a hard sell.

 

[89illinigrad]

I think we might have a better chance with a guy like Kenny Wooten--prospect outside of the top 100 who we can sell on our ability to develop him into a BIG caliber center (a la Mav).

A quick look at 247 has Kansa as his leader, but if they land some of their higher ranked targets, we should have a shot (DePaul is the only other team listed).