sacraig
- The desert
*cough* Ayo Dosunmu *cough*
I now return you to your regularly scheduled homerism.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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I now return you to your regularly scheduled homerism.
Cough I didn’t think I had to mention him by name or put //s. Cough. Guess I was wrong.
Ayo did it it for us and turned the program around. Murray was maybe thinking about the same thing. Difference is GTown already has some good talents but has not been able to turn the program around and their HC is on a hot seat.
All that defense and hard play translated to 6-25 / 0-19? They can’t be playing that hard.
That team is going to be really good next year ... Get Perkins back, Pickett, Yuri, Okoro, Nesbitt, Gibson, Hargrove, Thatch ... Man, they got some dudes.
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sacraig
- The desert
Travis Ford had some dudes at Oklahoma State, too, and still stunk. Color me surprised if the leopard changes its spots.
Were we ever 0 fer in the B10? Not in my lifetime thank God and I am old! Lol I dont think so. I get what your saying but being a bubble team and 0 fer is different. Not to mention the following and attendence at some of these other programs. Even when our attendance is down it's far better than most good teams. Last year they averaged 5200. Gotta love google.
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We weren’t 0 fer, but 4-14 the year before Ayo got here was pretty bad. That’s far from a bubble team.
We are not NW and they are better than GTown. With BP, Nunn, Hill and others we were competitive and good. I am very thankful we made the change to BU. However we had some good players, some in the NBA and in JGs defense injuries and suspensions hurt us . If you think my point that our program is close to as crappy as GTown we disagree. Ayo was a great add and helped our team emensely but to compare the two situations is a a farce.
Things were really bleak during that Groce to Underwood transition. Groce had a team with 5 scholarship seniors in the 2-deep that went to the NIT to cap off four straight missed NCAA tournaments (still ticks me off to this day that Malcolm Hill spent his entire time with the Illini and didn't make a single tournament, he deserved better). Then you had Jalen Coleman-Lands transfer who was on paper maybe the best returning player (hey worked out for him, he would have never been around for COVID year and then able to spend 7 years in college and get a national championship ring had he stayed), DJ Williams also goes (less of a loss but he was a fairly high recruit). And at a time when players weren't immediately eligible to transfer in and play right away. So you're in a situation where you just have Black, Finke, Kipper, Lucas and Jordan returning with Black the only former top 100 guy in there, and Groce's recruiting class loses two guys in Tilmon and Pickett.
Maybe it wasn't 0-20 in a single season but that's a really bad situation to be staring into if you're a player like Ayo. We're incredibly lucky that Whitman was able to open up the checkbook and that he was able to get the right guy in Underwood who in turn was able to build the right staff, we got good culture builders in Trent and Damonte that stuck with their commitments despite a coaching change and that a dude like Ayo was built differently and wanted to come in compete and get a program like ours back on track rather than opt for a path that would lead to more immediate and surefire winning (which you can't blame anyone when it's their basketball future they're gambling with). It's not hard to see how things could have gone really differently with how much was riding on that particular coaching hire and then a 10-year down period becomes a 20-year down period, and the money dries up, fan apathy kicks in, etc. (see the issues Illini football has had to overcome).
Anyways, I'll never point fun at a talented player that wants to go help try and revive a hometown school that's in a down period. I admire it. While I would have loved to have him in O&B, I wish him the best of luck at GU.
Maybe it wasn't 0-20 in a single season but that's a really bad situation to be staring into if you're a player like Ayo. We're incredibly lucky that Whitman was able to open up the checkbook and that he was able to get the right guy in Underwood who in turn was able to build the right staff, we got good culture builders in Trent and Damonte that stuck with their commitments despite a coaching change and that a dude like Ayo was built differently and wanted to come in compete and get a program like ours back on track rather than opt for a path that would lead to more immediate and surefire winning (which you can't blame anyone when it's their basketball future they're gambling with). It's not hard to see how things could have gone really differently with how much was riding on that particular coaching hire and then a 10-year down period becomes a 20-year down period, and the money dries up, fan apathy kicks in, etc. (see the issues Illini football has had to overcome).
Anyways, I'll never point fun at a talented player that wants to go help try and revive a hometown school that's in a down period. I admire it. While I would have loved to have him in O&B, I wish him the best of luck at GU.
TheFameProtector
- Champaign
Giorgi is a guy that I don't think gets enough credit for his role in our rebuild. It's often viewed as --> Ayo --> Kofi = success (with Trent/DMW as the bedrock), yet Giorgi came in and had a great freshmen year on the court, but more importantly has this gregarious personality that makes people want to be around him and was great as a program ambassador alongside the bigger name star (Ayo). I know there were a lot of factors influencing Kofi's decision to come here, but given that he and Giorgi ended up being really close, I have no doubt that he played a big role in making Kofi feel like this could be home and an easy fit for him. I remember from my own recruiting trips back in the day that the person who was your guide/host for the weekend often made as big a difference as any other factor in how you viewed the program and school. Gotta think that Giorgi would be a coach's dream for fulfilling that role.
3 years before Ford:
11-21
11-21
12-21
Fords Tenure:
First-year: 17-16
Second-year: 23-13
Third-year: 23-8
Fourth-year (COVID): 14-7
Fifth-year: 23-12
I wouldn't say he's "stunk" at SLU ... And he's done it using a lot of recruits that we would have taken
I’m just disagreeing with your point that Ayo was joining a bubble team. We finished 12th in the B1G and went 4-14. That’s closer to Georgetown than being a bubble team.
soupy17
- MI
For those like me curious about how Jordan Goodwin turned out...earned himself a preseason spell with the Wizards after doing well on their Summer League team, then spent this season with their G-League affiliate and was second on the team in scoring.First-year: 17-16
Second-year: 23-13
Third-year: 23-8
Fourth-year (COVID): 14-7
Fifth-year: 23-12
I wouldn't say he's "stunk" at SLU ... And he's done it using a lot of recruits that we would have taken
sacraig
- The desert
He's been a top half of the A10 coach consistently at SLU, but he's done that with talent that easily could have played at a high major. His teams have been pretty far ahead of his competition in terms of talent. That still smells like underachieving to me.3 years before Ford:
11-21
11-21
12-21
Fords Tenure:
First-year: 17-16
Second-year: 23-13
Third-year: 23-8
Fourth-year (COVID): 14-7
Fifth-year: 23-12
I wouldn't say he's "stunk" at SLU ... And he's done it using a lot of recruits that we would have taken
Tacomallini
- Washington State
I never realized until now that Saint Louis sits on the shores of the Atlantic.
Agreed
Sure there's a difference in degrees of terribleness of the situation, but the general gist of it is the same. Hometown kid with tons of choices chooses to stay home at down in the dumps program. I'm sure there were plenty of Wake Forest fans who thought Ayo was a sucker, just like some of us on here are talking about Murray. Just because one program is in the 9th circle of hell and the other is merely in the 6th doesn't make one guy a sucker while the other's a hero.
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Not when you lose an NBA player like Nunn and other good players. We had good players and were good before that. One year doesn't define a program. Losing Nunn and others kinda hurt dont you think? Things happened that lead to that. Was not a lack of talent. They were at least a bubble team. T if we sucked that bad I highly doubt Ayo comes to the illini. things just happened. This years team dealt with a bunch of issues but that one did too.
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sacraig
- The desert
The Mississippi empties into the Gulf of Mexico, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean.
LOL...well it is BASKETBALL! What I did not mention was the rest of the team who could score two baskets if they were locked in the gym all night doing layup drills. But if you ever need a brick home put together, give them a call.
I think losing Nunn killed our 16-17 team. We had a good team returning with Nunn, Abrams, Black, Hill, Coleman lands and Morgan. Plus Thorne looked very good before getting hurt early on, was never healthy and struggled. Kentucky wanted him and that injury also hurt our chance emensely. . Not outstanding but a solid team that was certainly capable of making the tourney and likely would have. Just wasn't in the cards. It's not like GTown .
Maybe he thinks he can turn them around. Maybe he couldn’t find the Iversion era throwbacks in his size and this was the only way he could get them.
This is far from the craziest recruiting decision a college age kid has made.
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