next year or next season?
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Can’t even tell he’s a lefty until he shoots a three. Wow.
We need our new commit to show Kofi how to pass out of the post more
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Harris is a killer. As are Epps and Rodgers. Dawg city.
Pretty sure Dainja is 6’9 but has a 7’7 wingspan… get this dude in shape by next year and
Noice, welcome home, Dainja!
And hopefully Fears is right behind...Boswell also. We seem to be in early on so much talent...it's fun to speculate.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
What can Brown do for you, um, us?
rmlsr
- El Paso,IL
glad we got this Transfer. Let him practice with team and be ready for next year
- I love that he will get a whole semester and summer in with the team before he plays a game
- He seems like the type of kid that will greatly benefit from a college strength/ conditioning program
- Hes very skilled.
Other thoughts
- I don’t think we will have room for him but Ty Pence is a heck of a player. I could definitely see a Schutt style rise in rankings. I don’t think he’s as good of a shooter but he’s a better slasher/ finisher.
- He seems like the type of kid that will greatly benefit from a college strength/ conditioning program
- Hes very skilled.
Other thoughts
- I don’t think we will have room for him but Ty Pence is a heck of a player. I could definitely see a Schutt style rise in rankings. I don’t think he’s as good of a shooter but he’s a better slasher/ finisher.
getting some Kendall Gill vibes watching Harris....
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
And yes you are correct, we do have an open scholarship. With Covid exemption, 15 allowed, including DaMonte & Trent.
Not sure it's yet perfectly clear if he's eligible to play for us in the 2021-22 season. (Seems unlikely.)
Doesn’t seem to play much defense but very skilled offensively including passing. Hopefully “Body by Fletch” will translate into energy. Great potential!
Hey guys, as the interloping Baylor fan around these parts, figured I'd give you some insight on your newest commit (writing this while sitting on the tarmac at SPI). First off, congrats on nabbing Dain.
The thread from Baylor's board linked earlier in this thread is a pretty accurate summation of the collective Baylor reaction. Dain has a TON of potential. Whether he'll ever be able to realize that potential is the million-dollar question.
The Good:
Crazy skilled on the offensive end. Elite post-up moves. Length for days. As mentioned earlier, took a redshirt last year, but was engaged from the bench in every game and seemed from all accounts to be a great teammate. I had high hopes he would give us 10-12 minutes/game this season.
The Not-So Good:
Took the redshirt because of academic issues. Injured his foot (never a good sign for a guy his size) and got very out of condition while rehabbing the injury. Couldn't crack our rotation this year despite the fact that we lost 4 starters from last season. He looked pretty doughy in his limited appearances for Baylor this year.
Bottom Line:
Dain was a bit of an odd fit for the way that Baylor has constructed rosters the last several years. He's a traditional big who needs post touches, which isn't really the way we route our offensive system. We also usually prefer to have hyper-athletes who defend multiple positions in our "switch everything" defense. Dain has the length to be a good defender, but the word was he maybe wasn't the most willing defender, and didn't seem to be super motivated to put the work in that would be necessary from a conditioning/weight room standpoint.
Obviously, take that with a massive grain of salt, because I don't have firsthand knowledge of his work ethic, and it's easy to sound like sour grapes with a guy who just didn't work out, which is absolutely not what I want to come across as.
Last thing - I saw some references to the Illini S&C program and the hope that he can improve his body/conditioning with time in the program. I would note that Baylor's program under Charlie Melton is no slouch, as evidenced by our complete bodying of Gonzaga in the championship game last year. So, it's not as though he's coming from a program that didn't have high-level S&C. For whatever reason, he wasn't able to benefit from it. Maybe all he needs is a change of scenery. Best of luck to him, and to you all this season!
The thread from Baylor's board linked earlier in this thread is a pretty accurate summation of the collective Baylor reaction. Dain has a TON of potential. Whether he'll ever be able to realize that potential is the million-dollar question.
The Good:
Crazy skilled on the offensive end. Elite post-up moves. Length for days. As mentioned earlier, took a redshirt last year, but was engaged from the bench in every game and seemed from all accounts to be a great teammate. I had high hopes he would give us 10-12 minutes/game this season.
The Not-So Good:
Took the redshirt because of academic issues. Injured his foot (never a good sign for a guy his size) and got very out of condition while rehabbing the injury. Couldn't crack our rotation this year despite the fact that we lost 4 starters from last season. He looked pretty doughy in his limited appearances for Baylor this year.
Bottom Line:
Dain was a bit of an odd fit for the way that Baylor has constructed rosters the last several years. He's a traditional big who needs post touches, which isn't really the way we route our offensive system. We also usually prefer to have hyper-athletes who defend multiple positions in our "switch everything" defense. Dain has the length to be a good defender, but the word was he maybe wasn't the most willing defender, and didn't seem to be super motivated to put the work in that would be necessary from a conditioning/weight room standpoint.
Obviously, take that with a massive grain of salt, because I don't have firsthand knowledge of his work ethic, and it's easy to sound like sour grapes with a guy who just didn't work out, which is absolutely not what I want to come across as.
Last thing - I saw some references to the Illini S&C program and the hope that he can improve his body/conditioning with time in the program. I would note that Baylor's program under Charlie Melton is no slouch, as evidenced by our complete bodying of Gonzaga in the championship game last year. So, it's not as though he's coming from a program that didn't have high-level S&C. For whatever reason, he wasn't able to benefit from it. Maybe all he needs is a change of scenery. Best of luck to him, and to you all this season!
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Great write up Mitch! Thanks for the drive by! Hope you got off the ground in SPI!
I think we can all hope that a change of scenery will do this young man some good with the potential he has.
This is an example of rooting for the kid instead of against his previous squad.
There is zero chance he sees the floor here if he doesn't buy in 100% to defense so I'm guessing BU and Co. would have to be pretty confident that he's ready to put in the work.
Hopefully he can make the House of Paign more Dainja'rous!
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