Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (September 2018)

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#1,201      

IlliniDent

IlliniDent
Chicago, IL
IlliniDent
KrushCow31 said:
From college. I was in 8th(?) grade when Illinois went to the championship. I didn't like Illinois basketball and rooted against them when I was 14 because of the bandwagoning. If I watched the championship game, I don't remember any of it. I became a Illinois fan once I went to Illinois. I didn't go to Illinois because I was a fan. My point is that my entire mental history of Illinois basketball is as a pretty mediocre to bad team. And I graduated Illinois 5 years ago. Don't get me wrong, I obviously love Illinois basketball, but that's my perception. Didn't stop me from getting in like hours early to sit front row for Krush. However if they are a mediocre to had team in my eyes, I can't imagine someone in HS now. They are like 8 or 9 years younger than me and were in like Kindergarten or 1st grade when we were in the championship.
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The thing is that people that followed Illinois basketball for any meaningful amount of time know Illinois is not a bad program. The issue is we are not recruiting players who are old enough to have followed Illinois during that span. No one really cares all that much about history if it isn't relevant history, especially if you aren't already a fan. However, a lot of the people around these kids know about Illinois basketball which does mean something.

That all being said, the plus side is that this is basketball and you only really need to convince a few kids to make the jump and they have control of their own destiny. You don't really have to sell EJ on being the first piece as he is good enough to help to complete a well rounded team. Plus if he jumps on board we definitely have a better sell to get one of our top 3-4 bigs.
 
#1,203      

Newman

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Newman
ChiefIllini said:
They went 12-20 last year. Not that we did any better if you consider neither team made the tournament. Yes Vandy has had some more success in making the tournament recently than us, but they haven't won a game since 2012 in the tournament. Last time we won was 2013. There's always gonna be arguments and counterarguments but the fact is I still think theres more clout around our program than Vandy, or at the very least equal.

Another, even better example might be UNLV. When's the last time they made tournament noise? Recently they've pulled a top 15 kid in McCoy/Zimmerman, the best juco in Juiston, and a few other's ranked 50-150. This has happenned within the past 3 years. They've been a good MWC (or WAC can't recall) team, but nationally relevant they are not.
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You're making this way too complicated. They made the tournament recently, that's a much bigger factor because it means they had better seasons than us.

As for UNLV, they made the tournament 6 out of 7 years starting in 2007, so I would say that is being nationally relevant. A couple years later they opened a top notch practice facility and then they started reeling in some pretty good classes, with almost every other class being top 15 in the past 10 years. They had some down years in the past 2-3 seasons but they made a coaching change with a well respected coach out west. UNLV was a bad example. They have a historically strong program and recent success. Plus it's Las Vegas.. talk about flashy things.
 
#1,204      

illini4fan

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illini4fan
wettsten said:
DISCLAIMER: completely hypothetical poll so forget about the reality of recruiting

if you could have one and only one of the following three centers (as listed by 247), which would it be: Tshiebwe, Timme, Cockburn
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After watching that last mix tape? Tshiebwe! But I do love Cockburn.
 
#1,206      

PtownIllini8

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PtownIllini8
NewFan2011 said:
"a lot of places"?

How about a few places, like Kentucky. Don't know how things stack up for WV, but are you really saying that he won't be able to start for them?
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I am saying he wouldn't start at UK. Seeing as Konate their starting center is only a junior, ya, I think it would be a major stretch to say he'd start next year in Morgantown. I checked 3 early NBA draft projections and Konate was listed in only 1 of the 3, going 22nd or so to the Pacers.
 
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#1,207      

PtownIllini8

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PtownIllini8
Obelix said:
Oscar T will start at most places indeed and get significant playing time. But one of my personal pet peeves was the original statement of "one of the great public institutions" which I have seen quite a few times in the past from posters. For the general public, it matters because tuition and cost can be different. But for a highly ranked recruit, public and private make little difference as they will be on scholarship/stipend independent of original cost of tuition (that often varies greatly between some public and private institutions).
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OK, let me amend that. Illinois is one of the world's great universities, period.
 
#1,209      

Deleted member 643761

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Deleted member 643761
PtownIllini8 said:
I am saying he wouldn't start at UK. Seeing as Konate their starting center is only a junior, ya, I think it would be a major stretch to say he'd start next year in Morgantown.
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As noted above konate is likely gone. Projected first rounder right now.
 
#1,211      

ChiefIllini

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ChiefIllini
Newman said:
You're making this way too complicated. They made the tournament recently, that's a much bigger factor because it means they had better seasons than us.

As for UNLV, they made the tournament 6 out of 7 years starting in 2007, so I would say that is being nationally relevant. A couple years later they opened a top notch practice facility and then they started reeling in some pretty good classes, with almost every other class being top 15 in the past 10 years. They had some down years in the past 2-3 seasons but they made a coaching change with a well respected coach out west. UNLV was a bad example. They have a historically strong program and recent success. Plus it's Las Vegas.. talk about flashy things.
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UNLV hasn't been to the tournament since the same year as us (we made it to the second weekend, they did not). You've essentially stated any years current HS seniors were in grade school or before are moot. Fine. Then everything before 2012ish should be tossed out. Can you not make a similar claim to us re: the bolded above? I looked back at their tournament results, they haven't made it passed the first weekend since 07. There success is almost identically recent as ours. UNLV is almost a perfect example.

Facilities, quality of opponents/conference, location, etc. are all points im willing to concede about any team, those are way more opinion based than results. My point is we are in similar company to the Vandys and UNLVs of the world. One or two more tournament appearances might be the difference for some recruits, but if we're talking current ability/chance to land 5* recruits, we have been and are currently in the same company as teams that have shown recently they can pull those kind of kids. I started this whole discussion basically trying to say there are other colleges that haven't been perennial powerhouses that have pulled 5*s. Not trying to say anymore that and as the university and program stand right now, we are just as capable to do so. I'm pessimistic about landing any, but I thought it was a good idea to share other teams considered mid/low tier that have had recent success recruiting. There are plenty of other examples.
 
#1,213      

PtownIllini8

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PtownIllini8
NewFan2011 said:
As noted above konate is likely gone. Projected first rounder right now.
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As I said above, Konate was listed in the 1st round of early draft projections on only 1 of 3 cites I Googled. So that's hardly set in stone at this point. If I'm Oscar I can't look at WVA thinking it's anywhere near a guarantee that I start there as a freshman.
 
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#1,218      

infamous

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infamous
Top recruits dont really care how who is at the university they are going to, because they all feel they are better then them and will get the playing time. Name recognition(University) is usually the majority (not all) of the reason a guy goes where he goes.
 
#1,219      

GortTheRobot

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North Bethesda, Maryland
GortTheRobot
coryfor3 said:
I'm afraid that is a precursor to his own announcement for Misery.
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That’s a tough one. If he goes to Mizzery, it will be much worse than losing him to OSU, from a perception standpoint. The downside of him going to OSU is that he will be even more dangerous if well-coached.
 
#1,221      

TheGMan

TheGMan
TheGMan
TCTORNADO said:
Tough for him to visit with the tOSU whispers gaining momentum.
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Oh I fully expect him to go to tOSU. I accepted that a long time ago. I just like when we get real information on this site, good or bad.
 
#1,222      

Berg88

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Berg88
NBB1979 said:
Did you graduate from HS or Illinois in 2013? If you graduated from college, and was a fan, i'm not sure how you didn't watch the NC game - you should have been in 8th/9th grade. However, I get your overall point - and that's what I was trying to get at. The history of Illinois basketball has been great - but since 2007 (a kid entering his Sr year in HS would have been 10 years old or so) Illinois has been mediocre at best. People "my age" or older aren't deciding to go to UI based on its rich history. They haven't seen any of that - that's what BU needs to recreate

Make Illinois Basketball Great Again!
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Since I enrolled 12 years ago, Illinois has played in 6 NCAA tournament games.
 
#1,223      

Hoppy2105

H
Little Rock, Arkansas
Hoppy2105
GortTheRobot said:
That’s a tough one. If he goes to Mizzery, it will be much worse than losing him to OSU, from a perception standpoint. The downside of him going to OSU is that he will be even more dangerous if well-coached.
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Yup, it’ll suck to lose him to Miznoz. But if I have to choose, I’d rather him go there and not tOSU.

As we know, Martin will squander his talent and underperform based on his coaching track record.

Holtmann may very well be a star and I don’t want tOSU getting any more help from downstate Illinois kids. That trend has to stop.

In the end, my gut says tOSU for EJ.
 
#1,224      

Deleted member 654622

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Deleted member 654622
Any actual news?
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Nope. K. Be back later
 
#1,225      

Peoria Pipeline

Peoria Pipeline
Peoria Pipeline
Twitter follows never a good idea to predict recruits but always interesting. Liddell follows: Isaiah Williams, Illini Basketball, Ryan Evan, The Champaign Room, Derek Piper, Writing Illini, Scott Richey, Patrick Schulte, J.Werner, Marcus Liberty, J.Walker. He's definately interested in what the illini are up to at least 😁😁 PS: I'm super bored during a rain delay
 
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