Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
#201      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
BashCtIllini said:
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.
Click to expand...
Probably true that one of those PG's would have given one or more of Groce's Illini team the small bump to push them on the right side of the bubble.

So thank goodness he missed on all of them, because we'd be unimaginably worse off if he'd survived. Nunn is the perfect example as to why, a huge recruitment that Groce won, and after three years of floundering under Groce's tutelage he immediately explodes into an NBA regular the second he leaves.

In five years at the helm Groce never made the most of his players individually or collectively, especially at the offensive end. There was never an easy bucket against even the weakest opponents, just constantly pulling teeth.

Nice guy, good recruiter, represented the University with dignity and I wish him the best. If he stays somewhere where his player acquisition ability can give him a sizable talent advantage he'll do very well. But if whiffing on Jackson, Snider, Brunson and Evans in rapid succession was down to luck, it's the best luck Illini Basketball has ever had.

And as ever, analytically there are absolutely zero points of any kind for finishing second in a recruitment under any circumstances whatsoever, period, end of story. Do or do not, there is no try.

(Man am I happy Illini Basketball isn't this doe-eyed narrative of recruits we almost landed anymore. Bless you Brad)
 
#203      

BretMyBeachHouse

B
BretMyBeachHouse
Epsilon said:
That certainly didn’t help, but I seem to recall him struggling a bit out of the gate. But perhaps I am misremembering…

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.
Click to expand...
He got Nunn out of the gate.
 
#204      

Epsilon

Epsilon
M tipping over
Pdx
Epsilon
BashCtIllini said:
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.
Click to expand...
Ah yes, some more fun names for the missed-out-on PG salad.
 
#209      

Epsilon

Epsilon
M tipping over
Pdx
Epsilon
TCTORNADO said:
7/31/Sunday start
Click to expand...
Is Miami a legit threat? Just curious. I actually got to hear Jim Laranaga speak once at the company I worked for when I was in DC and he was coaching for James Madison. He was very charismatic and seemed like the nicest guy. I could see why kids would want to play for him.
 
#210      

The Galloping Ghost

The Galloping Ghost
Washington, DC
The Galloping Ghost
Epsilon said:
Is Miami a legit threat? Just curious. I actually got to hear Jim Laranaga speak once at the company I worked for when I was in DC and he was coaching for George Mason. He was very charismatic and seemed like the nicest guy. I could see why kids would want to play for him.
Click to expand...
FIFY
subLARRANAGAdress-articleLarge.jpg

Hell of a Final Four run. Will always have nothing but respect for him and Mason for pulling it off.
 
#214      

BackThatPassUp

B
BackThatPassUp
BashCtIllini said:
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.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think Groce gets an unfair wrap and its primarily due to the number of times he was the maid of honor. People often undermine how solid he was at seeing talent before it blew up. Just off the top of my head i can think of him trying to get on Juwan Evans, Demetrius Jackson, Landry Shamet, Shake Milton, Montaque Gill-Ceasar, Tyler Ennis, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Doral Moore, Kris Wilkes, and Jamal Murray all before others saw their full potential.
 
#215      

PIT_ILL

P
PIT_ILL
BretMyBeachHouse said:
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.
Click to expand...
Groce was borderline a great assistant under Thad. Not all good assistant make good HCs although he is doing pretty well with Akron.
 
#216      

PIT_ILL

P
PIT_ILL
Emerson Bigguns said:
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.
Click to expand...
I'd take Egwu on the current team in a heartbeat
 
#217      

Combo

C
Combo
Epsilon said:
Is Miami a legit threat? Just curious. I actually got to hear Jim Laranaga speak once at the company I worked for when I was in DC and he was coaching for James Madison. He was very charismatic and seemed like the nicest guy. I could see why kids would want to play for him.
Click to expand...
He's a really good coach.
 
#222      

TCTORNADO

TCTORNADO
TCTORNADO
BackThatPassUp said:
Yeah I think Groce gets an unfair wrap and its primarily due to the number of times he was the maid of honor. People often undermine how solid he was at seeing talent before it blew up. Just off the top of my head i can think of him trying to get on Juwan Evans, Demetrius Jackson, Landry Shamet, Shake Milton, Montaque Gill-Ceasar, Tyler Ennis, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Doral Moore, Kris Wilkes, and Jamal Murray all before others saw their full potential.
Click to expand...

This is an absolutely great post for we historians. :)
 
#225      

Idea Gardener

Idea Gardener
Idea Gardener
For Amani Hansberry, a previous insider comment indicated it's between Illinois and PSU at the moment. That comment also seemed confident in Illinois over PSU.

Do we have a sense of what he values and what would drive his decision to PSU vs. Illinois? PSU obviously means more playtime, Illinois is a higher level program where he'd need to earn time. Do we know what he values most in his school selection?

Also, I think at one point there was mention he's waiting on a school to offer that would be his top choice. Could have been FSU but I might be mis-remembering. Any update or clarification there?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.