Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#28      

One Man Fast Break

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One Man Fast Break
Recruiting your own guys becomes more important than ever. Guys like Hawkins, Melendez... make sure that they know regardless of whomever is coming in that they're highly-valued and that they have the advantage of already having played and developing within the system.

I think we just gotta accept that 4 guys hitting the portal every year is going to be normal. And that's coming off Frazier, Williams, Plummer, Grandison, Kofi, Hutcherson all moving on from college already. And even with those losses, nobody who left is overly surprising. Some you'd like to have stayed, for sure, but this is the game now. Agreed with above post, you don't just "stay old" by having a pipeline for ex-Bench Warmers turned starters. Some programs have built up their way with that like Iowa and Purdue, and we'll have to see how they manage in the Portal era now and how well their coaches adapt. Underwood has proven to me he will adapt and recruit aggressively out of the Portal. We're only a year into the Free Portal + NIL era. It's full blown free agency now and the wild wild west with legalized bagmen calling major shots. The old way isn't what is necessarily going to hold for winning teams moving forward.

Adam Miller and Andre Curbelo saw major tick on a ONE seed as True Freshmen and Top 50 recruits, and both will be playing elsewhere next season less than two years later. You had told someone that a scenario like that a few years back would occur and you'd think this was a program in complete disarray and looking at the Conference Basement. If they can go, anyone can go... they all have various reasons. And it STILL looks like we should be ok.

This is big time basketball and a new era. Hurt feelings of guys that were only top 100 recruits can't be the priority. Every year, each player is going to do what they need to do regardless, and Illinois as a program has to do the same thing.
 
#30      

IllinoisssssssVarsity

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IllinoisssssssVarsity
illini0440 said:
With a mullet and shady mustache?
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Mayer is from Westlake (same HS as our new qb recruit) which is like the Highland Park of the Austin Area. It is as upper class suburban as upper class suburban gets. The backwoods, living out of my camper on a lawn chair look, is an interesting look with that perspective.

In terms of basketball, we played them when he was a senior. He was long and athletic and played more of a 3. In college he has been more of a 4. He was not the highest ranked recruit in his senior class, but he has had the best career.
 
#32      

GoodePodzMelendez

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GoodePodzMelendez
theNewGuy said:
Bring in Pete Nance and an upperclassman PG from a Non power conference that played 20+ min and has a urge to win.
I Feel like that's not too much to ask for right?
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How about a kid like Dae Dae Grant from Miami Ohio? Last season, averaged 17.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 0.9 steals in 33.0 minutes per game. He shot 42.3-percent from the field, 34.3-percent from three, and 85.3-percent from the free-throw line. He is a junior and fits what we need. Add Nance and we should be set with two carryovers for next year. Mid-major guy who probably wants to win and at 6-2 point guard, gives us a experienced guy who may not want to start but to get 15 minutes a game.
 
#33      

Illin618

Illin618
I forgot the last i in my username
Southern IL
Illin618
GoodePodzMelendez said:
How about a kid like Dae Dae Grant from Miami Ohio? Last season, averaged 17.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 0.9 steals in 33.0 minutes per game. He shot 42.3-percent from the field, 34.3-percent from three, and 85.3-percent from the free-throw line. He is a junior and fits what we need. Add Nance and we should be set with two carryovers for next year. Mid-major guy who probably wants to win and at 6-2 point guard, gives us a experienced guy who may not want to start but to get 15 minutes a game.

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I believe he already committed to another mid-major. Can’t recall the school atm.
 
#35      

TheDudeAbides

TheDudeAbides
TheDudeAbides
GoodePodzMelendez said:
How about a kid like Dae Dae Grant from Miami Ohio? Last season, averaged 17.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 0.9 steals in 33.0 minutes per game. He shot 42.3-percent from the field, 34.3-percent from three, and 85.3-percent from the free-throw line. He is a junior and fits what we need. Add Nance and we should be set with two carryovers for next year. Mid-major guy who probably wants to win and at 6-2 point guard, gives us a experienced guy who may not want to start but to get 15 minutes a game.
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So Close Nbc 90Th Special GIF by NBC
 
#37      

Birdus

B
Birdus
IllinoisssssssVarsity said:
Mayer is from Westlake (same HS as our new qb recruit) which is like the Highland Park of the Austin Area. It is as upper class suburban as upper class suburban gets. The backwoods, living out of my camper on a lawn chair look, is an interesting look with that perspective.

In terms of basketball, we played them when he was a senior. He was long and athletic and played more of a 3. In college he has been more of a 4. He was not the highest ranked recruit in his senior class, but he has had the best career.
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Drew Brees High School. Saw him play in high school. Also won the state.
 
#38      

Brosky

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Brosky
Monticello said:
No kidding. My dad and I were having a conversation about how impactful TSJ could be. Then we started talking about Clark. And he says, "And hell man, we already had a top notch recruiting class before we got those two!" It's a good day to bleed O&B.
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Agreed. I have no qualms about starting ultra talented freshman guards. Had I never seen Dee Brown as a frosh, Frankie Williams as a frosh and Derek Harper as a frosh, I might feel different.
 
#39      

Ga65

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Ga65
Worry less about the freshman guards than our projected center with no significant time after two years out of HS. He certainly looks good but think we need a strong alternative in case he gets in foul trouble or just doesn’t play to projections.
 
#40      

NC ILL

N
NC ILL
I will say. I think the staff has earned some credit on developing guards and wings. But I’m still cautious when it comes to their big development. Kofi was a 4 star. Obviously they improved him to an AA level. Giorgi was okay. But a lot of the fliers (lieb, Hamlin, vesel, ebo, Higgs, bbv) haven’t really panned out yet. Brandon lieb has double the amount of college points that Dain does. I’m very excited about this roster. But not having an experienced quality big worries me. Really hope to land a big that played 15-25 minutes in a quality conference for some insurance on dain.
 
#41      

JMoser16

JMoser16
JMoser16
Feel like there is some notion to believing that Illinois has a shot at every major name that enters the portal. While I don't doubt feelers have been sent out, legitimate interest is a whole another story.
 
#42      

theNewGuy

theNewGuy
Dallas, TX
theNewGuy
goillini30 said:
While I agree with this take in theory, I do have some issues with the idea of constantly losing the bottom 3-4 players on the roster in that it will never let a team "get old and stay old" as BU likes to say. Look at the rotations of the Final Four teams from this year based on who actually played when it mattered in the tournament:

Kansas: SR, JR, SR, SO, SR, JR, SR
UNC: JR, SO, SR, SO, SR, SO
Duke: FR, JR, SO, FR, SO, FR, SR
Villanova: SR, SR, SR, SR, JR, JR

Duke was the outlier, but their freshmen were ranked #2, 18 and 19 in RSCI so that level of talent can maybe be expected to make up for experience.

Maybe in the era of free transfers and NIL it's no longer realistic to end up with talented and experienced rosters, but I think in recent years that has been the key to most championship level teams.
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This is almost exactly my point. It is brad underwoods job to convince these kids to stay to be part of that championship caliber team or they can leave early for more playing time. Either way Brad is going to bring in good experience from the portal, or already have his good experienced players on the team.

This is a Win for the illinois basketball program as a whole and any team that is consistently good and has a strong NIL bucket $$.
Continuing to bring in Talent and win is whats on BU's mind. Putting the best team on the floor this season is whats on BU's mind. Figuring out how not to hurt coleman hawkins or luke goode's feelings so they don't leave next year is NOT on BU's mind.

As for the fans who love seeing kids grow with the program, you will still have a few here and there but this is a new era.
 
#45      

Illini808

I
Illini808
Epsilon said:
6’9” 225lb guard?
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Mayer played with Dain for a year and a half. Relationship is there. Mayer has interest but this is another McCullar story. He probably won’t end up an Illini but there might be some mutual interest.
 
#47      

WingedWarriors

WingedWarriors
Leesburg, FL
WingedWarriors
ChiTownIllini23 said:
Last week was a big week for us landing both TSJ and TJS and moving Goode to the 2 spot in the process. Let’s keep the ball rolling this week and reel in Bryce Hopkins, and maybe let’s also check if Ayo has entered the portal.
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Saying Goode and #2 spot in the same sentence here will bring discontented reactionary wrath by a few here. Say "wing." The truth is Goode really does not have the ball handling skills to be a #2 spot in the truest sense of the word, I'll give them that. But keeping him out of the starting lineup is imho, at least for the first half of the season, is a mistake. I have read that the coaches are really working on RJ's ball handling skills. RJ and Goode need to play together and heavy minutes. They are best friends, and Goode is going to be a vocal leader. Ty Rodgers is more of a true #2, but he is a freshman. We'll see how the starting lineup progresses as the season unfolds. Trusting the coaches.
 
#49      

rtbritt

rtbritt
rtbritt
WingedWarriors said:
Saying Goode and #2 spot in the same sentence here will bring discontented reactionary wrath by a few here. Say "wing." The truth is Goode really does not have the ball handling skills to be a #2 spot in the truest sense of the word, I'll give them that. But keeping him out of the starting lineup is imho, at least for the first half of the season, is a mistake. I have read that the coaches are really working on RJ's ball handling skills. RJ and Goode need to play together and heavy minutes. They are best friends, and Goode is going to be a vocal leader. Ty Rodgers is more of a true #2, but he is a freshman. We'll see how the starting lineup progresses as the season unfolds. Trusting the coaches.
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Nope. He is a 3/4 in college that MIGHT be able to bring the ball up in a point-forward type of role.
 
#50      

TheFameProtector

TheFameProtector
Champaign
TheFameProtector
Brosky said:
Agreed. I have no qualms about starting ultra talented freshman guards. Had I never seen Dee Brown as a frosh, Frankie Williams as a frosh and Derek Harper as a frosh, I might feel different.
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Don't even need to go back that far either. The team as a whole wasn't as good then, but both Ayo and Trent performed well as freshmen PGs (or nominal PGs). Also helps that, unlike in their freshman years, we have a lot of guys in the frontcourt that are capable passers. And TSJ is probably a tad underrated as a passer too, and I expect him to continue to improve in that department as he has every year in college.
 
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