Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#752      
Typically … Older guys act a lot more mature than younger guys …

Of course there is always the exception … *cough* … Matt Mayer

This team will have some leaders … Coleman is so knowledgeable that young guys struggle because they don’t get it at his level yet and that frustrated him … These older guys will pick it up quicker … Hansberry is a smart kid and has Chester and Brad to lean on … TJ saw last year what happens when you don’t lead and it’s easier to lead guys your age who know what college is like and aren’t screwing around all the time …

And please don’t bring up how I think Dra and Nico will adjust with the older guys … They are not going to play unless we have major injuries or when we play Our Lady of the Peace …
But given our wings And need to back up Hawk it looks very possible Hansberry will.
 
#753      

GallopingGhost

Denver, CO
I won’t celebrate till I see his own announcement. I feel Baylor makes a lot of sense with Flagler leaving. But maybe that’s just me trying to reverse jinx it
 
#755      
The late timing of Yuri’s announcement makes me wonder if it was tied to the next domino falling at Illinois. I doubt he ever was considering returning to SLU. But I am probably overthinking it.
 
#756      
Good Night Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
#758      
Can’t imagine Coleman and Shannon come back without a stud PG.. Baylor can’t keep up with us NIL wise and RayJ’s family lives 2 hours away… LFG we’re gonna be scary good
 
#761      
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#763      
We’re going to have a good veteran PG no matter what, I think it’ll be RayJ….

We’re going to be REALLY good next year. HOWEVER….. We’re not the only ones who struck gold this off-season. Going to be a lot of really really experienced & high level teams in 2023-24, not for certain we’ll be preseason top 25, but I like this rosters chances of reaching a second weekend or better more than the Ayo/Kofi teams based purely on experience alone. That 2021 team still gave boatloads of minutes to freshmen guards. We have the chance to have a rotation that includes 7(!) upperclassmen who either have 3+ years of Power 5 experience under their belt; or 3+ years of starting at the D1 Level and being double digit scorers……. that’s ABSURD.
If Dennis comes, we’ll have returned 60% of our minutes from last year and will also add 330 starts between the four transfers. I’m not even going to bother looking up if we’ve ever had a team with that much experience before.
 
#764      
I saw a lot of folks talking about Baylor being a better spot for RayJ to land 24 hours ago, but given the events of tonight, can anyone honestly look at their current roster and say he has a better chance of making a final 4 there?
Baylor has some quality prospects, no doubt… but…
The Illini have a bunch of grown men with something to prove.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the first few practices. There are going to be a couple very good basketball players who rarely break a sweat on tv during B1G season.
Consider us reloaded.
 
#765      
Chr
If Dennis comes, we’ll have returned 60% of our minutes from last year and will also add 330 starts between the four transfers. I’m not even going to bother looking up if we’ve ever had a team with that much experience before.
Check what I just posted in 2023-24 thread….. might answer that for you šŸ˜‰
 
#766      
I'm stoked. I think we end up with a great starting PG either way. My kiddos think Sencire is the GOAT on defense, so it's a win win. I'm just happy CoHawk and TJ are back.
 
#767      
I saw a lot of folks talking about Baylor being a better spot for RayJ to land 24 hours ago, but given the events of tonight, can anyone honestly look at their current roster and say he has a better chance of making a final 4 there?
Baylor has some quality prospects, no doubt… but…
The Illini have a bunch of grown men with something to prove.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the first few practices. There are going to be a couple very good basketball players who rarely break a sweat on tv during B1G season.
Consider us reloaded.
RayJ/TBD
TJ
Coleman
Harmon
Domask
Rodgers
Dain
Sencire
Luke
Quincy
Hansberry

2 or 3 of those guys will likely not play much during B1G play. That’s the best problem we’ve had in a long long time.
 
#768      
RayJ/TBD
TJ
Coleman
Harmon
Domask
Rodgers
Dain
Sencire
Luke
Quincy
Hansberry

2 or 3 of those guys will likely not play much during B1G play. That’s the best problem we’ve had in a long long time.
DGL too. Gonna be hard to find him minutes unless he’s truly someone special.
 
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#769      
RayJ/TBD
TJ
Coleman
Harmon
Domask
Rodgers
Dain
Sencire
Luke
Quincy
Hansberry

2 or 3 of those guys will likely not play much during B1G play. That’s the best problem we’ve had in a long long time.
There aren't many "jump off the page" guys on this roster but damn if that isn't a busload of solid competitors with some combination of experience and/or something to prove.
 
#770      
There aren't many "jump off the page" guys on this roster but damn if that isn't a busload of solid competitors with some combination of experience and/or something to prove.
If RayJ comes, that would be three guys that many considered potential 2nd round picks. How ā€œjump off the pageā€ are we looking for? I would think any of those 3 could be first team all Big Ten.
 
#771      
RayJ/TBD
TJ
Coleman
Harmon
Domask
Rodgers
Dain
Sencire
Luke
Quincy
Hansberry

2 or 3 of those guys will likely not play much during B1G play. That’s the best problem we’ve had in a long long time.
If I had to venture a guess.

Transfer PG - 28
Shannon - 28
Domask - 22
Rodgers - 22
Hawkins -28
Dainja - 15
Goode - 16
Harmon - 16
Guerrier -15
Harris - 10

I don't really think the freshman group of Hansberry, DGL, Moretti will really get much run unless they are way better than advertised or injuries.

Obviously I don't want to really mention it but injuries and guys getting banged up are inevitable but it is a deep and talented roster. It will cut down to a core group by March but early in the year I wouldn't be surprised to see some hockey style subs to try to keep guys fresh.

I think some of it will be matchup dependent but you have two returning guys in Shannon and Hawkins that played heavy minutes, 4 transfers that have played heavy minutes if you figure transfer PG, Harmon, Domask, and Guerrier, and 4 younger guys that have been in the program and imo flashed enough to get some playing time in Goode, Rodgers, Harris, and Dainja. With 10 guys there just isn't a ton of minutes to go around especially to the freshman though you figure Hansberry might play some.
 
#773      
If RayJ comes, that would be three guys that many considered potential 2nd round picks. How ā€œjump off the pageā€ are we looking for? I would think any of those 3 could be first team all Big Ten.
Agreed. But even beyond the whole ā€œpop off the pageā€ opinion…. If you can average ~20p/r/a for the entirety of a season at the D1 level, you can hang just about anywhere. We’re going to have 7(?) guys that have done that. That’s unheard of. That’s the best part about this team & what separates them from last year or the year priors squad. 7/8th, or 7/9th or 10th of our rotation however it plays out is proven. This isn’t a group built on ā€œraw talentā€ or ā€œpotentialā€ā€¦. It’s a legitimate basketball team.
 
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