I love the talent coming in and what we may yet get out of the portal, but needing to replace all 5 starters + 3 other players in the rotation qualifies as a rebuild. The only returnee who played any quality minutes last year is CoHawk; the rest are long on potential and short one experience
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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This is a reload. We have a core group and we can get 4 solid pieces that will be better than who left. Not worried in the least.
Bryce Hopkins... the prince who was promised
People can keep talking about a plan and such. Guys, every team in D1 has a "plan", it is a zero sum game. If their plan works, ours will not and vice versa. The players our coaches want in the portal are going to be ones that have a lot of options. Things will not magically fall into place just because we hope that they do. It's ok to be very skeptical about next season right now. If the freshmen are not ready to play at a very high level or we don't find an absolute hidden gem that other teams are overlooking, the season will likely be a tough one. That's just a fact. I'm not being negative, we just need to step back and ask how an objective observer from the outside is going to look at Illinois next season. If this were any other team, nobody would look at this sort of team as it stands today April 27, 2022 and think "likely big ten contender". I am crossing my fingers as much as anybody that Underwood is a Gard and can lose a bunch of contributors and shock everyone despite low expectations, but we need to consider what those expectations should be right now.
You think we have a chance as love his gameOne to keep an eye on ...
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
My definition is based on where our coaching staff believes we are going to finish in-conference next year. If they think our performance is going to drop off significantly, resulting in us finishing in the bottom half of the B1G, because we need to invest toward the future, then that's a rebuild. If they think we're going to be in the mix for another top-3 finish, that's a reload. I don't care how inexperienced the roster is; it all comes down to expectations for how competitive we will be this upcoming season. Are we taking a big step back or are we keeping our spot at the top of the heap?
He who remains... In our hearts
More like a remodel.
I doubt that happens though. Scott Richey just said on sports talk that Underwood said he likes keeping one spot open like he did for Dainja plus Richey even said he may keep 2 open because how many will actually play and he wants people happy, especially if we get very good players
Sounds terrible, Coleman hasn’t proved anything to be talking like that.
For me the question is "will we have a team that should expect to make the NCAA tournament?" I think we will, so we aren't rebuilding. I do not think we will win the conference, so it is likely a step back. I do fully expect this group to be able to win the conference in 23-24.
Unless there are silent verbals from players in the portal that our coaches know about and we don't then NOBODY knows how this team will do next year because we only have half a team currently on our roster. I am personally very hopeful for our season next year as Underwood had done a very good job with the portal in the past but if that does not work out for next year we could be in the bottom third of Big 10. We absolutely need a couple big time transfers.
I do not feel Coleman is a solid 5. Nor do I think it's best for Coleman's best interests if he wants to be a pro to play the 5 spot. Playing him at the 5 instead of developing him hopefully into a stretch 4 would in my opinion be a reason for him to transfer elsewhere where he can play the position he needs to in order to be a pro. Plus hell Coleman just said he "thinks" he will be here. I hope he will and I hope he gets to play his natural position or he may not be for more than a year.
The coaches have always been able to move for a better opportunity and fit, not to mention more money. Now players can too. That is a big deal.
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217sports
- Springfield
Your take away of all that was to be negative of Coleman?
I'm probably one of Coleman's biggest fans, ask @illini0440, but no he hasn't earned to talk like that. Why would you say this the day after your merch drop? I believe Coleman will be back AND contribute next year no matter who comes in, but this was in poor taste. He remains one of my favorites and expect a solid jump in his JR year
Today is not ideal, but I will patiently wait until the end of this musical chairs game before I think about how the team is going to do next season. Brad and crew have earned my trust.
I think the difference between rebuild and reload is semantic at this point. What is a reload if not just a fast and successful rebuild?
To clarify don't think anyone isntalking about a rebuild of the program...just the roster. There's no doubt the roster is going to look vastly different next year, and without Kofi will play different. Regardless of how successful it is, how is it wrong to call that a rebuild?
And for context in BU's first year he had just 5 returning scholarship players. That was a rebuild, nobody denies that. We currently have 4 returning scholarship players from last years team (I'm not counting Dain since he wasn't eligible to play)
That sounded pretty odd:
1) Who does he think we're going to get in the portal that would limit his Playing Time, there isn't someone out there that would take his spot that we are in on right now
2) He has to enter the portal by 5/1, so he doesn't have that long to make up his mind and we likely won't know who's transfering in by then
So, it was definitely confusing to hear him waffle a bit about coming back - that he "needs to see who's coming in" he must not be feeling the love yet that he has a critical role next year
2 open scholarships with Lieb already on scholarship is lowkey disastrous. Hate to read tea leaves too much but that is honestly a bit concerning. Thing with this year and Dain is we had Covid eligible guys whose scholarships didn’t count so it’s not too comparable. We need to have depth and options. Especially with injuries.
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
Any other approach than this means you don’t know how the current game works. People losing their minds over the turnover aren’t cut out for it. This team is not even remotely close to being finalized.
I think rebuild has a connotation that you weren't successful so it's time to rebuild - reload is referring to a successful program that has a lot of turnover from one year to the next. I'm not sure we've earned the right to call it a "reload" situation either, but it's not a rebuild, that is for sure - I'll go with "remodel"!
This basically means if someone like Pete Nance comes, I'm gone. To which I say, the cream rises to the top.
You "earn" the right? He's being honest, I'm guessing. Depending on how the roster shakes out he might change his mind.
Are you ready for big boy fandom? Because this is what we'll be facing for the future.
That's fair, its not necessarily "earned", poor choice of wording on my part. More so just in poor taste to say something like this bc he doesn't feel his role is big enough. I believe Coleman has earned a bigger role and I think Brad agrees with this, but it doesn't mean he won't recruit someone better
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