Works on Safari, maybe try a different browser. Either way, it's a very very questionable list but Amani being that high is nice I guess
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
- Status
billybaroo
- Pebble Beach, CA
Haha, you're right. Works fine on my phone. Somebody's way of telling me I shouldn't be spending so much time on this board.
DICKnaggie
- Champaign
Really like the Italian pg they mention (Morieti?). He absolutely looks like Curbelo with a nice stroke from deep.
Ask John Groce about how often kids pick the coach who recruits them the hardest ....
Then their dream school / bluechip comes calling and they drop you like a red hot potato....
See TyTy to Kentucky
Cliff to Kansas
billybaroo
- Pebble Beach, CA
IDKWT(hey)A
Mom played there
drsmitty74
- Rochester
We are a much different destination than the Groce era.
And who was the lead on TY TY when we were involved?
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
I do think Ben Johnson is more respected than John Groce was though.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Pretty decent player for a B1G program vs some random division iii school. Also a good recruiter when an assistant at Minnesota and Xavier.
Groce was national recruiter of the year as an assistant at Ohio State in 2006.
Yea.... 2006 recruiter of the year at OSU and then won multiple Mac conference championships and was a couple unlucky bounces in OT against UNC from an Elite 8 before we hired him. Their resumes arent even close to comparable despite his lack of success here.
Actually, Groce won two conference tourneys. He finished 6-5-3-3 in his four seasons at Ohio. I was pleased at the time with the hire but as others noted at the time that was a red flag.
As to the resumes "not being comparable" I guess that's correct in that Johnson didn't have head coaching experience. In other ways he's ahead of Groce.
As always, each successive step up has to be rated on its own.
I will say that knowing that Christie is a legacy of sorts in kinda cool as it means that Max told Richie to go pound sand.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
I totally forgot about that. I guess he didn’t start to get disrespected till he got here for some reason.
For some reason? Just a wild hunch, but I’m guessing it’s because of his win-loss record.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
That certainly didn’t help, but I seem to recall him struggling a bit out of the gate. But perhaps I am misremembering…For some reason? Just a wild hunch, but I’m guessing it’s because of his win-loss record.
Edit: “Cliffmas” was one year out of the gate, and after we actually just made the Round of 32. So things weren’t looking so bad from an outside casual fan perspective.
Last edited:
In 2013 he put together the #13 class in the country per 247, healined by Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill, both of whom made it to the NBA (eventually).
Groce's recruiting was fine, but he was killed by failing to land a legit PG. He did a great job identifying Jawun Evans, but couldn't land him. That would have been huge. But he landed Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill in his first class. He also landed Leron Black, Coleman Lands, DJ Williams, Trent Frazier. So he landed some players.
I think he suffered from 3 things:
1. Couldn't get a good PG
2. Landed some overrated guys (maybe he trusted the rankings too much or didn't have an eye for talent)
3. Just wasn't a great Xs and Os coach
I was cool with this list until I saw Robert Dillingham listed in the 30s.. Then I saw Lebron Jr at 15.. I dont know about that.
That list is absolutely atrocious ... They don't even have kids names spelled right, height is off for half of them, and a bunch of these kids don't even belong on any list ...
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Yes I was in particular remembering the sting of missing out on Cliff, Jawun (Go TES!) and Brunson. Always being #2. But fair enough I retract my point.
Moretti is on FIBA vs Croatia right now. He is really good. A good floor general. Defensively, he's good too. He would be an outstanding late pickup. Could give 8-10 minutes as a backup PG. Concern is, who's the backup to Skyy.
There is no doubt Groce was snake bitten with PGs. There were claims that Demetrious Jackson silent verballed on his visit but then his family talked him into Notre Dame. Quentin Snider was committed literally until signing day when he changed his mind. Did recruiting Jalen Brunson make Jawun Evans look elsewhere and then end up missing on both? He also put too much faith in Dustin Ford to be able to land ANYONE from that robust Canadian pipeline.
But overall if Groce could have landed ANY of Jackson, Snider, Bruson, or Evans he would have had a much different tenure. If Kendrick Nunn didn't go all domestic on some girl, he could have had a different tenure. He still needed to be a better in game coach but he also had plenty of bad luck.
Losing Nunn while he was an underclassmen was also a significant setback. Groce never had a really good big man either. Egwu, Morgan, Finke, & Thorne were serviceable, but not quality B1G bigs. (Black & Abrams’ injuries didn’t help either)
Groce’s last couple teams really struggled to score.
- Status