Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Total Tournament Appearances 1942-2023: 33
Sweet 16 Appearances
2005 - National Championship Game
2004 - Sweet 16
2002 - Sweet 16
2001 - Elite Eight
1989 - Final Four
1985 - Sweet 16
1984 - Elite Eight
1981* - 32 teams total, started in round of 16
1963* - Elite Eight, 18 teams total
1952* - Final Four, 16 teams total
1951* - Final Four, 16 teams total
1949* - Final Four, 8 teams total
1942* - Elite Eight, 8 teams total
Since the start of the 64-68 team field, Illinois has been to 6 Sweet 16 's in 38 tournaments held. That's 15%
The tournament started in 1939. Of the 84 tournaments held, Illinois has been one of the 16 or better teams standing 13 times... also 15%. (Six of those tournaments, Illinois started in the round of 16 or better)
So I guess this all comes down to what your defintion of "uncommon" is. Websters defines "common" as "occurring or appearing frequently."
Is 15% freqeunt?
A team with no point guard. I feel like we just saw this show.
Sweet 16s from when the tournament had 53 or fewer teams are more or less irrelevant.
The tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Since then, we have made the S-16 six times. Henson, Self, and Weber twice each.
Guess we should've hired his girlfriends brother as water hydration specialists! If only we had known
If TSJ and CH stay in the draft, make that no PG with no proven scorers. Haven't seen that show for a long time.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I didn't say they were from Kentucky originally, but they live here now.......imported from all over the world.....Pru there aren't that many hot babes in all of Kentucky let alone Paducah
They really really are.....
And there I go, melting again...
Now about that 'crootin thing, is that some kind of new hair cut or somethin?
Not that I care anymore but RayJ still hasn’t announced. Lol
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Yep. It's called recruiting. No program gets every player they want. It doesn't make sense, but if he wants to take less money to play at a lesser program because his old coach is there- not a lot we can do about that?
Vs. Go to Utah instead because they're... a better developmental program??
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Not sure what point you guys are arguing here, but the bolded comment above is totally inaccurate.
Is this kid really a ‘hire an assistant to get’ type talent? I understand the move to land a top 5/ blue chip HS recruit. But a transfer from Toledo?
I would say Sweet 16s when the tournaments had 18 or fewer teams is irrelevent. Certainly the 8 team tournaments are.
Mulcahy is a proven contributor at the Big10 level and imo has a better chance to play in the NBA than RayJ does.
I wanted RayJ. I think he will have success in a power conference but it's not like we lost out on the second coming of Deron Williams. There are a lot of pgs that could bring comparable value(I think Tyger is better).
RayJ is a not a big PG and from what I've seen isn't very explosive or athletic. His shooting has improved year over year but he's still more of an average shooter. He also was pretty inefficient against Michigan which is the only power conference team he played last year which maybe nothing or maybe shows that he might struggle to finish at the rim consistently at the power conference level.
I think there is a role for him on a good team but I don't think he's a star. Mulcahy is already a proven good role player.
drsmitty74
- Rochester
Pru, NL#8 has a little Rachel McAdams vibe goin' on. Nicely done my friend.
IIRC he had as his last scheduled visit, a second visit to us which apparently was cancelled.
Next man up.
They will find another guard in the portal. Regardless they're still set up better than last year if Shannon and Hawkins return.
Last year it was basically just Shannon and Hawkins that tried to initiate the offense. They've already added Domask and Harmon who have proven they can handle secondary ball handling duties and I think Rodgers could take a step into a point forward role. They will have more ballhandlers on the roster this year.
For example, Domask would have been the team leader in assists on last year's Illini team and Harmon would have been 2nd right after Coleman.
They will find someone in the portal and I don't think they need it to be a ball dominant point guard because they will have far more players on the roster that are capable of handling the ball.
With Shannon on board, I would take Mulcahy over Dennis in a heartbeat.
In 1981, there were 48 teams. We made the sweet 16 by defeating Wyoming in our first game. We lost to KSU in our second game. That S16 is more irrelevant because we only won only one tournament game.
In 1984 there were 53 teams. We one two games to get to the Elite Eight and then got hosed. Due to winning 2 games, that is less irrelevant, because it's was an equivalent of a sweet 16.
I'm in Utah multiple times a year for the last 20 years. Never have smelled anything like that.
Sergio can handle it
1) Yeah 15% is fine. Once or twice a decade is a pretty low bar but I'll take it as a minimum standard.
2) The spirit of the debate is to understand our historic water level under "normal" circumstances. When our program is healthy and in competent hands, what should we reasonably expect to achieve? I would argue that the late Henson years were not "normal" due to the sanctions. So those years shouldn't count against us when grading our program, IMO. Debatable on whether the Groce years should be thrown out as an outlier as well. I like the guy, but not sure I'd call him competent. So the fact that we go to Sweet 16s on a 15% clip doesn't tell the whole story of how good we really are when we aren't facing some kind of weird adversity.
3) Kind of a weird argument that it used to be harder to even make the tournament so S16s should matter less. But I can see your side of it, I guess.
4) Not sure why this debate is in this thread. Sorry.
This would create a dilemma in my brain. The most punchable face in the big 10 the last few years now wearing orange and blue??? How have we gotten to this point? Please God….no Mulcahy.
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