i have no interest in judging kids (whether basketball players, rappers, rock stars, "influencers", child actors, or whatever) for not having the maturity to navigate the world that they find themselves in (I'll reserve my scorn for those older)... but Illini fans should be proud of the fact that we have had a series over the past four years of high-level recruits who have displayed amazing maturity and focus on working to be the best they can be and make the team the best that it can be... georgi, ayo, kofi, miller, curbelo... i was disappointed that adam miller transferred and would question its wisdom, but one cannot argue that he was anything less than admirable in his year here... i have to conclude that it is not an accident that underwood recruits high-character players and will never question it when he stops pursuing someone, whatever the number of stars... he's human, so he may misjudge, but he has earned my trust
i should say, having become a season-ticket holder when Bartow took the coaching job and contining to be until 1996 when I finally left C-U for a position in Israel, we have been fortunate in our heroes (no one more than Deon Thomas, who today would have stuck with the Illini when he was told he could play basketball immediately if he just played for someone other than the Illini??)... we should be grateful that so far in this new world of college basketaball we are on a good course and the promised land is not a distant and unattainable goal