Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[CoachHooleyHoo]

Apparently the people that get paid to do this disagree with you.

I'm not saying there should be blind faith, but come on. So many "armchair-national-championship-pedigree" college basketball coaches on this forum. When we need our next men's bball coach, Josh should look straight to this forum. /s

These kinds of comments crack me up.

 

[willillini]

So the Tray Woodbury talk was a big nothing burger.

HE CAN DEFINTELY SHOOT. quickness leaves a lot to be desired. we can be dogs on defense, he cannot.

 

[Zorak]

"Elite shooter" Coleman Hawkins

 

[Old Farm Illini]

I'm sure he can play by start of this year but Achilles injuries usually take a lot longer to get back to even 90%. May not see his full potential until the following year. Would he still be asked to be a starter? If so, I will be skeptical until I see him actually on the floor

This is based on much older athletes though since the injury isn’t that common for people under the age of 30 so we’re working with a very small sample size when trying to predict any outcomes.

The good news is that he’s about to turn 21 and age usually makes a significant difference in the healing process. He’s a veteran with great size and frame and played in a way that didn’t rely that much on explosiveness. He might lose some burst that he’d need if he wanted to play pro but his size at the position will make that less of a need in college. The more tape I see, the better I feel about him being a good point guard for us. He plays under control even when his teammates were a little sloppy, controlled the pace, good body language, played unselfishly, and always kept the ball moving. If he’s eligible right away, I’m feeling better about the season.

 

[SkyysNotFalling]

Who just won the national championship? UConn. Did they have a true PG? No.

I think 1-4 we would be very similar to that UConn team… I will say what put them over the top was they had as big & hood of a 5 spot rotation as anyone.. we don’t have that size but Hawkins/Dainja/Guerrier is a pretty good big rotation.

 

[chudaman]

Buck Harris, Shannon, Williams, Ty, and Trollman is about as good as it gets on the defensive end of the floor at the college level imo.

This line up would struggle to score 50 points in a game. Need at least one of Dainja/Domask/Harmon/Goode/Hansberry to have better spacing and scoring.

 

[NarrowJ]

are these the same paid experts that had Purdue finishing 8th last year?

Not talking about Sports Illustrated writers. Was meaning our coaching staff.

 

[NarrowJ]

 

[Keisersose]

HE CAN DEFINTELY SHOOT. quickness leaves a lot to be desired. we can be dogs on defense, he cannot.

Sounds like he might not even be an option. We needed a Sean Harrington type last year though. Maybe that’s Goode?

 

[chibar]

wasn't it said that williams was a depth commit? now hes a starter? a far cry from the guarantees we would be ecstatic once the transfer period comes to a close

 

[Chickenmane]

I’m getting strong Chicago Bulls vibes from this team. You can have all the scoring talent/depth that you want but if you don’t have a proper point guard you are going to be in trouble in most cases.

I’m happy to be proven wrong but I’m going to have to see it from Williams before I believe it especially since Achilles injuries are no joke.

 

[Illini9089]

Does anyone believe DGL will get serious minutes and contribute?

 

[PassingBy]

Based on past data, I am not confident that we are a second-weekend team.

Yet.

And, I hope Coach refrains from using "elite" until we reach F4 at least twice in a row.

 

[Sedino]

Who just won the national championship? UConn. Did they have a true PG? No.

I think 1-4 we would be very similar to that UConn team… I will say what put them over the top was they had as big & hood of a 5 spot rotation as anyone.. we don’t have that size but Hawkins/Dainja/Guerrier is a pretty good big rotation.

Uhhh they actually had TWO PG in their starting lineup. You could make an argument that Newton was more of a combo guard, but Andre Jackson is absolutely a true PG.

 

[21ChampaignSt]

Man, we need the season to get here. This place is getting weird. Lol

 

[Thompson]

What’s the standard for this program? Are we just happy to be somewhat relevant? Or do we want a championship?

 

[DAM1298]

Quote from Greg Waddell of Sleepers Media:

“There are rumblings that with Jeremiah Williams in the fold, Justin Harmon will never walk through the door in Champaign.”

Any truth to this, insiders?

 

[Nuke Dukem]

Quote from Greg Waddell of Sleepers Media:

“There are rumblings that with Jeremiah Williams in the fold, Justin Harmon will never walk through the door in Champaign.”

Any truth to this, insiders?

Maybe Waddell reads the comments here?

Edit: I am definitely not an insider. Just another smarta$$ed dumba$$ who hangs out here.

 

[Flight33]

If the coaches want to go into the season with this roster (and LVille says with this roster they think we have final 4 potential) then that's good enough for me and I'm good to roll with it. Don't need the approval of (while obviously very intelligent & well-spoken yada yada) fans who don't know a lot about actually coaching the sport at a Div 1 collegiate level.

Plus, no one knows, other than the coaches, how good these guys are now. They've recruited them and seen them in practice.

 

[othawhitemeat]

If the roster is set and we’re not removing or adding anyone else, is Luke starting at the 3? He would be the shooting we need and our lineup would once again be tall and long with our shortest starter being JWill at 6’4.

Domask too. I think he is severely underrated in all of this.

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

If the coaches want to go into the season with this roster (and LVille says with this roster they think we have final 4 potential) then that's good enough for me and I'm good to roll with it. Don't need the approval of (while obviously very intelligent & well-spoken yada yada) fans who don't know a lot about actually coaching the sport at a Div 1 collegiate level.

Actually, that was LVille's opinion. And of all our insiders, he's always the most optimistic/pollyannish. We don't really know what the coaches want, other than they wanted Dennis, and they didn't get him.

Of course, no one is here to give "approval". We're here often to give our opinions. Sometimes the opinions of people here actually turn out to be better than that of insiders and coaches.

Last year at this time, we were built for March. Have no fear of the young point guard who was on his umpteenth school. He'll lead us to the FF. Some people were concerned. They were right.

 

[Illini90]

Quote from Greg Waddell of Sleepers Media:

“There are rumblings that with Jeremiah Williams in the fold, Justin Harmon will never walk through the door in Champaign.”

Any truth to this, insiders?

Waddell also said Shannon and Hawkins weren’t coming back per his sources. Wouldn’t read too much into what he says.

Harmon will be in Champaign

 

[SCMART Illini]

So we are hoping that Underwood’s offense is the key to our success as long as the players run it properly?

No, the team and the players are the key, but the team and players get much better looks when all 5 guys run the offense. You can like or not like Underwood's offense, but the team is better if everyone buys in to it.

 

[Kenny67]

Don't forget we have sincere and Dre Gibbs and the Italian PG. This team is loaded. Pre-Season rank #20, one spot ahead of Baylor.

Morretti is the man ... sta al gioco. Ci vediamo tutti alla buca di beppo.

 

[Epsilon]

So we are hoping that Underwood’s offense is the key to our success as long as the players run it properly?

To their point, hero ball kills all basketball. Unless you are an NBA all-star.