Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (January 2021)

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#252      

Kofiisforclosing

K
Kofiisforclosing
CurbeloYourEnthusiasm said:
You're looking at it in hindsight. People saying THT wasn't a bad miss, can only argue that in retrospect, not because Ayo is better than THT, but because THT only played 1 year of college whereas Ayo has played 3. At the time of their recruitment, nobody thought Ayo would be in college longer than THT, which was one of the main reasons many wanted THT instead of Ayo (if they had to choose 1) because people thought THT would be a 3 or 4 year college player. If THT was still in college for a 3rd year, there'd be quite a debate over who would be better for Illinois (Ayo or THT) as a 3rd year player. Especially given the makeup of our current team where we already have 2 guys in TF and Curbelo that can handle the ball. And the main piece we are missing is that athletic 3-4 role that THT can play. The best 3-4 we could have had were EJ or Timme though, so ideally we'd have had Ayo and EJ/Timme.

People arguing "Missing THT wasn't that bad", i mean the only reason you can say that is because THT was in fact SO GOOD that he left Iowa State after his freshman year, and in only his 2nd year in the NBA is playing a key role off the bench for the Lakers. Usually guys that can be labeled "not bad misses" are players that don't perform at the spot they landed in. THT performed. He performed so well that he jumped to the league. Nobody would have thought that he could accomplish that his senior year at Simeon. I have to laugh out loud those labeling THT a cancer. He was nothing but a team guy at Simeon, did his 1 year at Iowa State, bet on himself and got picked in the 2nd round, and now is a key player on the best team in basketball. He's had a huge ascent in 4 years.
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There is so much conjecture here that it's utterly hilarious. He actually left Iowa St., a year after it being a garbage program, after he got caught stealing something and it was dropped. His stats were mediocre. His actual contribution to the program was mediocre. Even if he had came to Illinois his additional contributions had been... Let me break it down for you.. Mediocre.

You type a lot without making a valid point.
 
#253      

Ga65

G
Ga65
Illini1974Ever said:
I believe EJ was the biggest miss for are current roster !!
We would be right there with Gonzaga fighting for that number 1 even ahead of Baylor in my opinion..
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Based on our current team EJ is the missing piece but would be hard to choose between he and Timme. Have to pick him as biggest miss as he is local.
 
#254      

illinitiger

I
illinitiger
N T A C F said:
Interesting take.

THT most likely would have meant very little to the big picture of Illinois basketball. He wouldn’t have dramatically improved our record the season he’d have played. Meanwhile Ayo is a likely All-American on a team that should be back in the top ten if we take care of business tomorrow. Iowa State is not good.

And we all know both of them playing here wasn’t a realistic option. The staff wanted both and did everything they could to try and make it work. THT wanted to come here but in the end we had to choose one or the other.

With that in mind, taking Ayo vs THT isn’t even debatable as it relates to the Illini basketball.
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So I guess the Lakers already know they can't draft Ayo
 
#256      

CurbeloYourEnthusiasm

CurbeloYourEnthusiasm
CurbeloYourEnthusiasm
Illini1974Ever said:
I believe EJ was the biggest miss for are current roster !!
We would be right there with Gonzaga fighting for that number 1 even ahead of Baylor in my opinion..
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i agree. And I think he hurts the most because he was the most gettable being from Belleville. I think Timme is a better player, but I think he was always a longshot so I don't put that on the staff. Losing an out of state, far away kid to Gonzaga isn't really a loss IMO.
 
#257      

FromTheLogo

F
FromTheLogo
Indy Illini Fan said:
Come Here Ncaa Basketball GIF by NCAA March Madness
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Look who is lurking in the background....
 
#259      

Calvin

C
Calvin
Illini1974Ever said:
Everything I am hearing is Kentucky
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And when Kentucky seals the deal, it's pretty much over.

Regarding THT, it boggles my mind that someone would argue that was a bad miss. At it's worst, that was a good miss. It's an unfortunate reality in college basketball that you have to be very careful to avoid issues with player cohesion eroding the program's culture. Underwood put his faith in Ayo, and it's pretty clear in hindsight why that was the better choice, even if you lament losing someone as good as THT. JMO, obviously. Ayo is all-in on TEAM, and that's especially huge given how much rebuilding we needed.
 
#260      

Calvin

C
Calvin
fulton steamer said:
What exactly do people think THT did that would have cost us Ayo? Has it ever been confirmed that they refused to play together? I've heard tons of rumors but nothing definitive.
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If you followed their recruitments, it was pretty clear. Irvin put out some tweets that most people read that way, among other things.
 
#261      

the juiceman cometh

T
the juiceman cometh
Calvin said:
And when Kentucky seals the deal, it's pretty much over.

Regarding THT, it boggles my mind that someone would argue that was a bad miss. At it's worst, that was a good miss. It's an unfortunate reality in college basketball that you have to be very careful to avoid issues with player cohesion eroding the program's culture. Underwood put his faith in Ayo, and it's pretty clear in hindsight why that was the better choice, even if you lament losing someone as good as THT. JMO, obviously. Ayo is all-in on TEAM, and that's especially huge given how much rebuilding we needed.
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Right. I'm pretty sure consensus at the time was that if we could only have one, we'd rather have Ayo...and I think everything that has happened since has confirmed the correctness of that impression. THT was obviously very talented, but it's pretty clear Ayo has had a much bigger impact than his team and college basketball in general than THT.
 
#263      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
ok, wanted to stay out of this, but...upon further review, can't let it slide.

The premise that THT was a bad miss is an utter crock. It was perhaps Underwood's best recruitment to date. You do realize that THT had committed to us and was actually crying when told it wasn't gonna happen, right?
 
#267      

BretMyBeachHouse

B
BretMyBeachHouse
CurbeloYourEnthusiasm said:
If THT were here for 3 years, he'd be a stud. Want to know why that isn't conjecture? Because I'm fairly certain a guy in the rotation for the LA Lakers, if you put that player on a college team, would dominate. I don't think that's going out on a limb.

It doesn't matter how much contribution you think THT made to Iowa State his freshman year. I mean their 23-12 was still far better than our 11-21 season with Ayo as a freshman. So even if you just want to compare apples to apples, THT had a bigger impact on Iowa State his freshman year, than Ayo did at Illinois. So if you want to label that contribution mediocre, then how could argue Ayo's was better? It certainly wasn't.
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Your logic doesn't hold. What if they would have been better?

Read the isu boards at that time. He was considered a chucker more concerned about his nba career than his team.

He dropped in the draft because of that and his lousy shot. Seems he's back in a good way but we'll see.

Of course we'll never know if BU could have done more with him than Prohm. But there's probably no intelligent fan who would take the tht outcome over the Ayo outcome.
 
#268      

Johnny Lawrence

Johnny Lawrence
Johnny Lawrence
CurbeloYourEnthusiasm said:
If THT were here for 3 years, he'd be a stud. Want to know why that isn't conjecture? Because I'm fairly certain a guy in the rotation for the LA Lakers, if you put that player on a college team, would dominate. I don't think that's going out on a limb.

It doesn't matter how much contribution you think THT made to Iowa State his freshman year. I mean their 23-12 was still far better than our 11-21 season with Ayo as a freshman. So even if you just want to compare apples to apples, THT had a bigger impact on Iowa State his freshman year, than Ayo did at Illinois. So if you want to label that contribution mediocre, then how could argue Ayo's was better? It certainly wasn't.
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Ayo averaged more points and assists and shot a higher percentage both from three and the field overall. Not sure how you can conclude that THT had a bigger impact than Ayo just because his teammates were better.
 
#270      

logjam

logjam
logjam
Johnny Lawrence said:
Ayo averaged more points and assists and shot a higher percentage both from three and the field overall. Not sure how you can conclude that THT had a bigger impact than Ayo just because his teammates were better.
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Shouldn't we all give this a Break? Oops let me rephrase that.
 
#271      

logjam

logjam
logjam
TCTORNADO said:
EJ is certainly up there in near misses. Terrence Shannon is too and Tyler's good friend at SFA, TJ Holyfield. Maybe throw in Castleton for good measure.
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Don't forget Krutwig. By the way who is Krutwig?
 
#273      

Illini1974Ever

I
Illini1974Ever
CurbeloYourEnthusiasm said:
i agree. And I think he hurts the most because he was the most gettable being from Belleville. I think Timme is a better player, but I think he was always a longshot so I don't put that on the staff. Losing an out of state, far away kid to Gonzaga isn't really a loss IMO.
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Agree
However either one of these two put us in legit
Top 3
 
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