Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (Week of April 19th, 2021)

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#151      

RockfordIllini

R
RockfordIllini
AirNeezy said:
I completely get that college kids roadtrip to see friends all the time. However let's just imagine the meltdown on here if our best player declared for the draft while maintaining his eligibility and rumors popped up about him being unhappy with his playing position, and then he posted a picture at the spring football game of his home state school that recruited him heavily as a high schooler.

Who knows what'll happen but it just seems like an awful lot of smoke to me.
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The spring football game where the basketball team was being honored at halftime.
 
#153      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
AirNeezy said:
I completely get that college kids roadtrip to see friends all the time. However let's just imagine the meltdown on here if our best player declared for the draft while maintaining his eligibility and rumors popped up about him being unhappy with his playing position, and then he posted a picture at the spring football game of his home state school that recruited him heavily as a high schooler.

Who knows what'll happen but it just seems like an awful lot of smoke to me.
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IIRC EJ made a number of trips with Randolph to CU during high school. I don’t think him being there means anything special other than they are really close.

I am willing to be wrong btw. 😏
 
#155      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
chibar said:
if they're that close maybe they'd like to hang out more
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That was the hope originally. The Mark Smith thing certainly didn’t help. Hopefully everyone knows the real story on that by now.
 
#156      

AirNeezy

AirNeezy
Orange Krush '13 -'14
AirNeezy
TheFameProtector said:
I didn't see these -- where were they coming from/where did they pop up? B/c now I'm intrigued...
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Twitter and the like, obviously take it with a huge grain of salt but there were rumors that he and his family were not thrilled about EJ being forced to play the five and there was speculation about heavy interest with being a 4 who could play away from the basket next to Kofi (better chance to show NBA skills)
 
#157      

AirNeezy

AirNeezy
Orange Krush '13 -'14
AirNeezy
illini80 said:
That was the hope originally. The Mark Smith thing certainly didn’t help. Hopefully everyone knows the real story on that by now.
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Yeah, I'd say hopefully even Mark Smith's high school AD would admit he's a bum at this point.
 
#158      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
chibar said:
if they're that close maybe they'd like to hang out more
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4eaf4288cd0eacbed141d84a869783b6.gif
 
#159      

RockfordIllini

R
RockfordIllini
Blakes to Duke. Not the highest rated recruit Coach K has ever taken, but doubt they would take him if they didn’t think he could play. Another good ID from the staff.
 
#160      

mysterio2525

mysterio2525
mysterio2525
Ubermensch said:
From really, really bad year 1 to a #1 seed in year 4 is pretty remarkable.
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I do think if we make sweet 16 or better this year then it's clearly an A. Losing in second round was definitely a let down in only tourney appearance. (Obv another appearance was lost to covid). Still the trajectory is great!
 
#163      

KnoxIllini2

KnoxIllini2
KnoxIllini2
AirNeezy said:
I completely get that college kids roadtrip to see friends all the time. However let's just imagine the meltdown on here if our best player declared for the draft while maintaining his eligibility and rumors popped up about him being unhappy with his playing position, and then he posted a picture at the spring football game of his home state school that recruited him heavily as a high schooler.

Who knows what'll happen but it just seems like an awful lot of smoke to me.
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You sure about this? I get all my information from Dan Dakich. He said EJ hated us because we didn't recruit him out of high school. That's why he always played so well against us.

ojr1b5kz57l6ycvlwbeq


/s (for those that need it)
 
#164      

Boomauer

Boomauer
Boomauer
EJ has a really good head coach at Ohio State, have never heard him say anything but good things about his time there, and they will be preseason top10....nothing points to him leaving. Wishful thinking.
 
#165      

Dfresh33

D
Dfresh33
illinihawk16 said:
I always thought that was in reference to Nimari. If so, we'll never know for certain.
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My new head cannon is that Hutcherson got a clean bill of health around then, and that BU knows he's gonna come in and wreck the league this year**. Never could quite buy it was about Nimari. Felt weird for him to make a comment like that about someone not even in the portal yet. Seems very un-smoothe.

Just don't know that even a positive health report about a good player for next year would justify the excitement he was showing. He was jazzed up, so I hope it is something still yet to happen or Hutcherson plays his way into being a top 10 pick this year lol


**Miss me with the "whaa whaa you're over hyping him" - I know, but a man can dream
 
#166      

WhiteHorseWings

WhiteHorseWings
WhiteHorseWings
AirNeezy said:
I completely get that college kids roadtrip to see friends all the time. However let's just imagine the meltdown on here if our best player declared for the draft while maintaining his eligibility and rumors popped up about him being unhappy with his playing position, and then he posted a picture at the spring football game of his home state school that recruited him heavily as a high schooler.

Who knows what'll happen but it just seems like an awful lot of smoke to me.
Click to expand...
SUNY?
 
#167      

Illini Farmer

I
Illini Farmer
AirNeezy said:
Twitter and the like, obviously take it with a huge grain of salt but there were rumors that he and his family were not thrilled about EJ being forced to play the five and there was speculation about heavy interest with being a 4 who could play away from the basket next to Kofi (better chance to show NBA skills)
Click to expand...
I would think EJs camp would be concerned about sharing the floor and the spotlight with Kofi. If Kofi leaves EJ would probably like to be the man with Payne starting at the 5 to provide muscle and rebounding but not taking away post touches or shots in general from EJ. This is all probably a pipe dream but curbelo and EJ running pick and roll or pick and pop is pretty exciting to think about.
 
#168      

Heisenbobble

Heisenbobble
Heisenbobble
Illini Farmer said:
I would think EJs camp would be concerned about sharing the floor and the spotlight with Kofi. If Kofi leaves EJ would probably like to be the man with Payne starting at the 5 to provide muscle and rebounding but not taking away post touches or shots in general from EJ. This is all probably a pipe dream but curbelo and EJ running pick and roll or pick and pop is pretty exciting to think about.
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Don't agree with that at all. This is all speculative and likely won't happen regardless, but stars generally like to play with other stars, especially when the other stars complement their game. EJ wants to be a spot-up shooter at the 4 (similar to Paul Milsap, who he models his game after). Kofi is a dominant player close to the basket. That's exactly what EJ wants at OSU. He's comfortable as a spot-up shooter that can also bang inside as needed. He just prefers to NOT be the 5.
 
#169      

altenberger22

altenberger22
South Carolina
altenberger22
Illini Farmer said:
I would think EJs camp would be concerned about sharing the floor and the spotlight with Kofi. If Kofi leaves EJ would probably like to be the man with Payne starting at the 5 to provide muscle and rebounding but not taking away post touches or shots in general from EJ. This is all probably a pipe dream but curbelo and EJ running pick and roll or pick and pop is pretty exciting to think about.
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Two counters to that:
1. Kispert, Timme and Suggs didn't seem to have a problem playing together.
2. Stars sharing the court --- it's how NCAA titles are won.
 
#172      

Ramrod2010

R
Ramrod2010
AirNeezy said:
I completely get that college kids roadtrip to see friends all the time. However let's just imagine the meltdown on here if our best player declared for the draft while maintaining his eligibility and rumors popped up about him being unhappy with his playing position, and then he posted a picture at the spring football game of his home state school that recruited him heavily as a high schooler.

Who knows what'll happen but it just seems like an awful lot of smoke to me.
Click to expand...
Hell of a day to make a statement like that.
 
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