Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (October 2017)

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#1,001      
JUCO still has to graduate to be eligible (unless that's changed) so that's at least a 2-year wait.

Only if he wasn't a qualifier out of high school, which I believe was the case with Verge. If he was a qualifier out of HS he can transfer whenever.
 
#1,002      
James Harden went to ASU. We played a James Harden lead ASU team during the Maui Tourney 2007 and won.

Yep...

19illinois2_650.JPG
 
#1,004      
I'd like to know the last time this board thought a recruit we watched/offered/visited/ wouldn't have been a good pick up (at least in the beginning)?

Do you mean the consensus of the board? If so, yeah that might be hard to come up with. When we had our offer out to Pearson might have come close.

But if you are just looking for some on the board who weren't excited, i think that is pretty common really. I don't think i am imagining both Conditt and Castleton having detractors as soon as we expressed interest. Even THT was actively doubted by a few when mentioned prior to his AAU season performance. I seem to recall him being labeled a 'mid-major' guy by a vocal minority in the spring.
 
#1,005      
Preface: You're post was very well written and had fantastic insight, but I need to nitpick the above.

I'd like to know the last time this board thought a recruit we watched/offered/visited/ wouldn't have been a good pick up (at least in the beginning)? I get being excited and all for these kids, but seeing as ASU is our main competition in this, I can't imagine this kid is on many radars (not saying thats always a bad thing, but it's at least moderately telling, at least until this staff has sometime to show they can develop guys).

Guess Tim Finke falls in the category, but there was plenty of love for him up until a few months ago. Or maybe I'm just being a downer.

Kid can play. Also, the main reason ASU is our competition in this is because they and us were the only two schools to go out to Finland and do an in-home visit with him. They obviously were impressed with this and are giving us the courtesy of visiting the two schools that showed the most interest. I like it, and it shows that this staff will leave no stone unturned to find players that will fit and that they want. Honestly I'm thinking that Landers and Valtonen were likely Plan 1A and 1B. They actually have pretty similar games (very good shooters who can pass and score in others ways also). I'd actually give the edge to Valtonen defensively right now given that I've seen several blocks in his highlight vids. Elias would really be a steal if we can nab him. I like that our visit is second. I just hope the weather is nice when he visits C-U. It's only supposed to be a pleasant (for AZ) 92 for a high in Tempe on Sunday.

Another point in our favor: we are definitely the academically superior school, which I think will be important to him and his family if he's going to go to college overseas and get a degree after four years. UI certainly holds more weight internationally than ASU.
 
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#1,007      
Motion to retire this sentiment. And image.

I’ll just go claw my eyes out.

The image is definitely bad, but which sentiment do you wish to retire: mine or the one I was ridiculing?
 
#1,008      
Preface: You're post was very well written and had fantastic insight, but I need to nitpick the above.

I'd like to know the last time this board thought a recruit we watched/offered/visited/ wouldn't have been a good pick up (at least in the beginning)? I get being excited and all for these kids, but seeing as ASU is our main competition in this, I can't imagine this kid is on many radars (not saying thats always a bad thing, but it's at least moderately telling, at least until this staff has sometime to show they can develop guys).

Guess Tim Finke falls in the category, but there was plenty of love for him up until a few months ago. Or maybe I'm just being a downer.

Michael Orris?
 
#1,009      
I'm not certain of timeline on some of the recruits that we recently heard no from, but how many of those were initially recruited by Groce at Illinois prior to Underwood coming? If recruiting is based upon relationships -- with the coaches and/or the school -- it seems to me that Underwood and team might have been trying to play catch up establishing relationships. How many of those first-year coaches that were listed with their recruits either were already recruiting those players for their prior school before moving to their current team or joined schools were the prior head coach had been recruiting those players hard so they had the schools on their radar? As for Wyking Jones at Cal, he was an assistant there and has probably been recruiting those kids two years. And I hope the original poster isn't mad because we haven't signed a 2* and Non-rated recruit like NC-Wilmington.

Yes it would be nice to have a couple of recruits signed, but there is plenty of time left and our top targets are still on the board -- as are more than 40% of the top 300 rated recruits by Scout. I'm not a huge believer in the "have to win before you can recruit well" way of thinking, but maybe a combination of circumstances have left us in that position for whatever reason. I'm excited about the upcoming season and the prospects for success, and I think we'll get there on the recruiting side too.
 
#1,010      
Ryan Evan‏ @ACIlliniRyan
Been confirmed: #illini will be hosting '18 6'6 Elite scorer Elias Valtonen from Helsinki,Finland middle of next week. Obviously a big deal


I know how some feel about the source, but just giving you the info.


Sorry if already mentioned in this thread, but check out this quote from his coach in Finland. I can see why our pitch is attractive to him:

"Elias is model for a modern positionless basketball player that we all look for these days"
 
#1,012      
tht on his visit to Georgia Tech this weekend, they are really selling the "Atlanta's team" pitch, looks like he visited the Inside the NBA studio



I can tell you that outside of current students and alumni, nobody cares much for GT basketball here in Atlanta.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#1,015      
Sorry if already mentioned in this thread, but check out this quote from his coach in Finland. I can see why our pitch is attractive to him:

"Elias is model for a modern positionless basketball player that we all look for these days"

"We love to play positionless basketball and we have a lot of playing time available at your position." :D
 
#1,019      
We just need to recruit a 5 man starting lineup to include a group like these guys...

[YOUTUBE]LJkHm2WtSsk[/YOUTUBE]

P.s. oops some language in there I forgot about...
 
#1,021      
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

The image is definitely bad, but which sentiment do you wish to retire: mine or the one I was ridiculing?



Yours.

And the first one.
 
#1,022      
Trust me. I know. [emoji41]

Hey, it was actually hotter down here in Tucson yesterday than it was in Phoenix. I was not a fan of that. Take your heat back (and preferably some extra when Valtonen is on campus).
 
#1,024      
Ok. So we are now focusing on...

Ayo
Valtonen
THT
?

Anyone else?

No joke, I would use it on Kezo Brown with all kinds of contigencies. What a great PR move for Illinois and CPL. We don't use our 13th man anyhow. Time to get some positive momentum in this program.
 
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