Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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whatever happened to Wednesday for Cloud Watch Love?
Would love Williams honestly. 6'5 guard that can handle and defend. If he can just have a midrange game, he would be great if we can get some bucket-getters.
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
Dear God, please no more code speak on commitments for the weekend or any other dayWhat if I moved the line?
I would just like to take a moment to commend each of us on being absolutely batcrazy about Illinois basketball. No real news to speak of, yet almost 40 pages worth of posts in 2.5 days. This takes heart, it takes dedication, it takes perseverance...
No one loves basketball more than the State of Illinois. Nobody.
Sure, Carolina blood runs Blue and has lots of shiny trophies.
New York City has a great history of street ballers who are tough and talented. Philly, too.
Kansas and Kentucky live off their reputations and the advantages of 5-Star guys lining up at the door to use their always high profile to advance their ball careers.
UCLA had a great run years ago. So did Indi. And a few others.
But for pure love of the Game... there is no State like Illinois and no fans like Illinois fans at every level. We are born with a basketball in our hands and love for the game in our hearts. We live not for July 4th or Christmas or New Year’s Day... but for MARCH. And then NOVEMBER. (With Summer ball to keep us busy in between).
Illinois INVENTED March Madness. And They couldn’t steal the Trademark away from us.
Whether we’re on the tough and windy courts of Chi-town South and West Side... or the Suburban high schoolers with big gyms and big enrollment... or the Peoria Pipeline area... or the great Legacy of Downstate Ball including Metro East and The Quads Area... and every town big and small in between...
Nobody loves this game more than those who call – or once called – The Prairie State home.
Whether it is the Orange and Blue... or Simeon and Morgan... or East St. Louis... or Manual... or the Cobden Appleknockers or Collinsville or Proviso East from years ago... or ‘Your Chicago Bulls’... or the Eight Grade team from your neighborhood school on the corner...
Illinois IS Basketball. And Illinois fans at all levels are the Heart of the Game.
OWN IT, Illinois fans. It is Our Birthright.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Bash, my avatar per my 16 year old says it means..........................Skyy Clark loves..........Illinois
Not any of those guys but his defensive grades are worse than Plummer's so draw your own conclusions
Not sure this 6'2" So PG from LSU ends up in the portal, but I found this clip that came across my twitter to be entertaining. Rare defense oriented mixtape.
sacraig
- The desert
You know what they say, the top three sports at the University of Illinois are basketball, basketball recruiting, and football.I would just like to take a moment to commend each of us on being absolutely bat
madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
@pruman91 and I rely on the edible goods
... which is still better than Indiana University, where it is basketball, basketball recruiting, and Notre Dame football.
There is a lot of value in a guy who can find guys, finish in the mid range (lets face it, that was Ayo's killer ability), be an on ball defender and not turn the ball over. Especially if he also has length.
Having updated my brain on the newer realities of the money involved with being a second round pick in the nba draft, it becomes clear that some underclassmen will declare for the nba even if being a first round pick is extremely unlikely. That being said, the B1G next year could be extremely different from this past season due to a loss of talent to the nba. Below are the expected (by most) 1st or 2nd round picks from the B1G (vast majority of whom are underclassmen):
Jaden Ivey - Purdue
Trevion Williams (sr) - Purdue
Johnny Davis - Wisconsin
Keegan Murray - Iowa
Malakai Branham - tOSU
EJ Liddell - tOSU
Trayce Jackson Davis - Indiana
Bryce McGowens - Nebraska
Max Christie - MSU
Gabe Brown (sr) - MSU
Ron Harper Jr (sr) - Rutgers
Caleb Houston - Michigan
Jaden Ivey - Purdue
Trevion Williams (sr) - Purdue
Johnny Davis - Wisconsin
Keegan Murray - Iowa
Malakai Branham - tOSU
EJ Liddell - tOSU
Trayce Jackson Davis - Indiana
Bryce McGowens - Nebraska
Max Christie - MSU
Gabe Brown (sr) - MSU
Ron Harper Jr (sr) - Rutgers
Caleb Houston - Michigan
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1) Reading the defenses to better position himself for entry passes, and to create space for others. His sealing out on drives seems to have regressed. (Opinion by non-expert.)
2) Reading the defenses to better pass out of the double/triple team. The good passers know the likely options before they receive the ball; not just in theory, but based on where people actually are on the court.
3) When to dunk vs. go up light.
Kofi was dunking everything until he got blocked by some of the better defenders. He learned some lighter touch shots; quickly, and well, nice job Kofi. The next step is to learn when to dunk vs. use the lower percentage lighter shot. At the moment he is going up light far too often IMO.
4) Free throw shooting.
I, as a total basketball incompetent, learned to shoot very accurate free throws Barry style **in about an hour.** The motion is so simple that once learned, it is like riding a bicycle. You just do it. It is very low maintenance. I wish the entire team would take this on as part of their "Everyday" motto. It is an easy change that adds several points to your typical game score. For someone like Kofi, it is huge since the 90%+ accuracy makes fouling a poor strategy.
5) Work on the mid-range shot
6) Lateral work for when he needs to defend on the perimeter.
7) Stretch goal: Learn to shoot 3s.
There is also the aspect of fun. College life was pretty good while struggling to pay the bills. College life when on graduate assistantship was great. College life while buckets of NIL are rolling in? Sign me up. Unless I'm getting drafted, give me the extra covid-year, and any other year I can get.
Wrt. finances, the NIL years may be the highest earning years of his life. To earn more you need to be in the NBA, or a star on a top Euro team. Keep getting better and take the money while you can.
Tacomallini
- Washington State
Haven't read the whole thread and this has probably been posted already.
April 24 is the deadline to declare for the NBA draft, so we should know sooner than later how things will shake out w/ Kofi.
April 24 is the deadline to declare for the NBA draft, so we should know sooner than later how things will shake out w/ Kofi.
Not an insider, but I don't think Kofi staying or going would have any effect on Payne entering the transfer portal or not. From what he showed last season, I think he'd need to take some fairly large steps to be able to serviceable in B10 play even as a backup, let alone a starter. And while he certainly could make strides, I just don't think we're a good fit for him nor do I think he's a good fit for us. I think he'd be best in a zone defense system or a conference that doesn't play man-to-man. While I'm not big on throwing in the towel on someone, especially after one season, I just don't think this move worked out and it would probably be best for all parties just to move on and give him a chance to go to an offensive and defensive system that is more suitable for him to succeed.
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
Glad to see basketball back on top. Basketball recruiting was number 1 for wayyy too long
Think you might be missing one or two from Michigan (although they could be testing the waters and coming back).
If it was at 9.5 I would have a hard time picking between that.What if I moved the line?
I think Houstan could use another year in college. He had a couple really nice games, but was mostly underwhelming.
We're doomed
How did football make it on there?
BTW, @illini0440 @Indy Illini Fan, @LvilleILL, you guys are awesome. For us Blue and Orange bleeders (some 60 years like me), you guys are pure gold. Keep up the good work. Thank you! Lovin' the relevance again! This is as much fun as it has been watching the boys play.
So if things fall Illinois' way, we *could* expect good news before next weekend. I'm starting to think Williams will be the first domino.
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