Recruiting is fluid /sThought TSJ was a?
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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I disagree. They are still freshman and one is coming off an injury. The B10 and power 5 hoops isn't AAU or High School. Talented or not they will need to adjust and we need some experience that Underwood brings up all the time. I expect that we add an experienced lead guard. They clearly have been looking for one
So much for the crazy week and having our roster settled. :-D I still think we won't see much more activity until after May 1st.
As much as I love Clark and Epps, we need a vet guard
Totally disagree. To win at a high level you need a solid PG play. Freshman take time. It’s like having a rookie catcher. You always sign a veteran just in case. I don’t wanna be playing 2 freshman in a backcourt.
Has it gotten worse? I’d wager the answer would be yes, 10000 times worse.
I think the answer to being a competitive P5/6 school has always been the same. You have to play the game and I’m not talking about the sport. It’s not an end all be all thing, but now that’s paying players is a much more NCAA-legal thing, you either swim with it or sink.
I think Underwood’s got about a perfect understanding of the situation. His hires since he got here show that he knows you need serious talent at almost any cost to win big. But there are lines you have to draw. Not concerned about Illinois falling behind NIL wise or the portal having a net negative effect on us under Brad. We won’t get a protected seed every year, but the talent will continue to flow through Champaign, as will booster money.
What we really need is someone who frequents these kinds of boards to make Khan level money. Illinois would be set for life, especially if recruits liked beach houses.
Think of it this way - Players tell coaches what they want to hear and are apt to change their minds. Coaches are natural optimists and will convey that optimism to "insiders." Insiders may or may not be able to properly filter the information they receive. So depending on the insider, probably 25-50% of what they convey is real, at best. I'm glad they are on the board and avidly read their posts, but at the same time realize you can't take their comments at full face value.
It's just different. It's essentially legal to play the game now...BU has always played it....Like you said you don't hire the guys he has hired and don't. Players and their families/team can just come out and say I want this money to play here....BU isn't like that...he wants guys who are here to play basketball first.
Stevegarbs
- Mokena, IL
"A daily Loyalty lurker...over the years..." from an account created two weeks ago? Hmm.
Maybe he just found out he can avoid ads by being logged into an account.
Not according to Dishwhite, who was run off the board for “being negative,” or @IllinoisReg. Both told us this in late March.Thought TSJ was a
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There's always a few people who post, in essence, that it's not. They talk about how the athletes should be grateful for the opportunity to play for their school, get a scholarship, coaching, use of facilities, be on tv, etc.. You rarely hear those folks acknowledge the athlete's side --the countless hours and money invested in their pursuit, the family support, the long work-weeks and extra requirements, the risk that it all ends with a blown out knee, or that they ever get to a high enough level to see any tangible payback at all, etc..
Amazes me that they either don't see it, or give it lip service.
Stevegarbs
- Mokena, IL
Fair point, but I am always skeptical of hot takes from new accounts.
Fan4FourDecades
Scottsdale/Chicago
I'm also a longtime lurker and have never posted until today. I am also a long time booster (graduated in the 80's). The second I found about the Illini Guardians, I donated and will continue to do so. We agree in one sense-I don't like all the change that's happened to college basketball either, but that's the new landscape. I still love March Madness. I still love going to games in Champaign. I still love following recruiting on this site. I still love the team and I still bleed orange & blue. You asked why boosters should continue to support the program? The answer is still the same for me. I want to see them win a national championship-whether it's with a four year player, a one and done, or a transfer. Now, your donations can be pooled with others to create NIL contracts with the student athletes. Your impact can be immediate and direct. You've made your choice and I've made mine. I will continue to support, even more so than I have in the past.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
Would you call Michigan a blue blood though? For basketball?
Requiring loyalty, without providing it in return, by giving the institution rights that the players didn’t have, as the old systems did, was grossly hypocritical and at its worst abusive.
Coaches and Professors “transfer” all the time. Remember losing a math professor at Illinois I really liked because his wife didn’t like the Midwest. And the time a TA came into a class all shaken up, she had just been informed the chemistry professor she’d been working with on her doctorate for the last couple years was leaving for a better endowed position. We have a year round coaching carousel thread now. Regular students transfer all the time without penalty. Why were student athletes treated differently?
You can’t turn on the TV without seeing some college coach shilling for a credit card company. The Supreme Court weighed in and concluded the NCAA was violating students Constitutional rights, with some judges pretty much begging for the opportunity to make a broader ruling in a future case. You are literally making an argument that the NCAA violating athletes’ Constitutional rights was a good thing.
I do feel for the student athletes that are navigating this new world for the first time. Some are probably making big mistakes. In few years the kids and camps will have more data to inform their decisions. But in the long run, the changes should require athletic departments to think more about how they treat their athletes.
I think there exists and will exist enough basketball first guys that it’s not crazy to think BU will continue to have enough success here to have a chance at winning it all.
I do think he’s gonna have to bite the bullet in some situations moving forward. Not sure that scenario has presented itself yet but I think he’ll come to a crossroads at some point and that might mean success vs failure. Or at least lesser success.
I'd like to know that too.
IllinoisIntegrity is being dragged as one would expect given his comments on integrity and loyalty. Big-time college sports have always been at least a little dirty and Illinois being a role model is a heroic characterization. But his main point is that he's now choosing not to donate. I can see why.
Players are getting paid for their efforts, good. Coaches are getting paid big money now. Athletic departments rake in tens (some, hundreds) of millions per year in TV rights and sponsorships. College sports are often called 'a business'.
So why donate? What other businesses receive donations?
Players are getting paid for their efforts, good. Coaches are getting paid big money now. Athletic departments rake in tens (some, hundreds) of millions per year in TV rights and sponsorships. College sports are often called 'a business'.
So why donate? What other businesses receive donations?
15 elite eights, 8 final fours, 6 runner ups and a national title. Along with 35 AA’s. Every recruiting class since 2018 with the expectation of one (Franz Wagner was in that class) has been a top 15 class. Including multiple top 10 classes. They are a borderline blue blood but they have cache. So I’d consider them one.
Wow, talk about picking nits. But ok, I’ll tell you this, if they aren’t a blue blood, they’re alot closer to being one than the beloved. You do realize they have been in the championship game twice in the last decade (and 5 times since 1989) while also making the E8 twice and the S16 three times?
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