Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[So ILL]

He sat 2020 at Baylor, transferred to Illinois and sat for 2021, and played for Illinois 2022.

This season will be his 4th season on a D1 team whatever you want to call it. I’m not knocking him for it, and think he’s a great player.

Baylor 2020 Basketball Commits

Baylor

247sports.com

Thanks for pointing this out and to add my two cents, I was starting to feel like I was taking crazy pills seeing all the “basically a freshman” talk. While yes, last year was his first year playing, Freshman dont play their first year of college ball at the age of 20 with 2 years of college coaching and college conditioning under their belt. Whether he took to the conditioning is irrelevant, it was still there to be had.

With that said, I really like Dain and his potential to be a great offensive player going into his age 21ish season. I love his footwork and feel with the proper spacing, there will be plenty of times we can dump the ball down and let him “go to work”. But as with Kofi, Dain will need to learn to do a better job of passing back out of the post when the double inevitably comes.

 

[phats22]

I mean, even with his mid/late season drop off he still finished with a top 10 field goal % nationally.

Teamwise, while he finished 7th in minutes/game he was still the 4th leading scorer (only 0.4ppg less than Coleman for 3rd), 2nd in rebounding (5.5), and tied for 1st in blocks 1.2.

So, however you see him (4th yr in college, functional sophomore, 3rd yr at Illinois), he had a significant impact last year and that was in the midst of what appeared to be the most toxic locker room in recent memory at multiple levels (from vets to frosh).

Count in TA working on development (whose literal job had been prepping bigs for the league)? put me in the Dain break out camp.

 

[ChiefIllinois]

Does Goode have three years left or was his recruiting class the first without a Covid year?

 

[I-L-L]

Not many Illini had more than a partial season in NBA. Even less were NBA starters.

Great NBA career
- Deron Williams
- Kendall Gill
- Nick Anderson
- Eddie Johnson

long but only started couple season
- Kenny Norman
- Nick Weatherspoon
- Brian Cook
- Meyers Leonard

TBD
- Ayo Dosumu
- Kendrick Nunn

Of our current team Coleman, TSJ and Dain are probably best prospects but none of them have had college careers even close to the Illini listed above (excluding Kendrick's career)

Can’t remember could Liberty fall into group 2. Played a number of years just don’t know if he ever started?

 

[Mojoman]

Not many Illini had more than a partial season in NBA. Even less were NBA starters.

Great NBA career
- Deron Williams
- Kendall Gill
- Nick Anderson
- Eddie Johnson

long but only started couple season
- Kenny Norman
- Nick Weatherspoon
- Brian Cook
- Meyers Leonard

TBD
- Ayo Dosumu
- Kendrick Nunn

Of our current team Coleman, TSJ and Dain are probably best prospects but none of them have had college careers even close to the Illini listed above (excluding Kendrick's career)

You left out Derek Harper.

 

[Ramrod2010]

Does anyone know if Derek Harper still has some eligibility? He might be a good stop gap to handle the point for us.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

Does anyone know if Derek Harper still has some eligibility? He might be a good stop gap to handle the point for us.

Imagine him on that 1983-84 team.

 

[STATS GUY]

I disagree on that with you. Weber messed that up. If I was BU I would take a high school athlete like Meyers was with our staff over damn near anyone and I loved the Snake. Meyers was a freak and how that staff used his abilities and skill was a joke and a waste. Plus, in spite of that he was a lottery pick and later off the court he is being paid.

Coached against Robinson (I was Freshman coach) when Myers was a Sophmore. I remember walking into the school and here is a 6' 9" guy playing hacky sack with his buddies. Freakishly athletic.

 

[STATS GUY]

Honestly the biggest issue is that he only managed to shoot 38.7% from the free throw line which means he probably is starting from the floor. However, shooting is technically a teachable skill and if he can simply become average at it I think he will play in the NBA.

Plus, his uncle is Jason Richardson who was a very good shooter over like 15 years in the NBA. He has connections where he can work with some really really good shooters.

Also if you want to be floored by something. Sencire Harris was a 20% ft shooter. It's difficult to fathom that we had two players shooting that poorly from the line when 5th graders can shoot decent percentages.

The teacher will appear when the student is ready. Gotta want to get better and change!!

 

[ElGran]

The teacher will appear when the student is ready. Gotta want to get better and change!!

Yeah, doesn't matter who is uncle is. There is plenty of good shooting instruction available to an Illini basketball player. He needs to take about 500 shots a day between now and season start. Start with 6-8 foot shots and very gradually move further away from the basket. It's a very gradual process that takes a lot of patience.

Would also be good for Sencire to do the same. Though his shot is not that bad. It's more his FT shooting. Which IMO is a tougher project because there's such a mental component to it.

 

[hoopsfan47]

Coached against Robinson (I was Freshman coach) when Myers was a Sophmore. I remember walking into the school and here is a 6' 9" guy playing hacky sack with his buddies. Freakishly athletic.

Great memories of the Robinson gym where I scored the first basket as a fifth grader playing for the Jr. High team....a few decades prior to Meyers showing up.

 

[EyeoftheIllini]

It was not the quality of competition he played against but more a about a lack of quality passers on the team who couldn't even make simple passes into the post.

That certainly played into it too, but teams were defending him differently once a scouting report was available on him. One could see that when he did get the ball.

I like him and could certainly see a big step forward for him. Obviously I’d like to see him improve his free throw shooting, but the big area of improvement needed is consistency on both ends of court.

 

[skyIdub]

I lived there three years, the last year in the new section. Can't beat it for your ability to just roll out of bed and be on the quad in 5 minutes

 

[Kramerica Industries]

Stuck the landing

 

[201154JC]

Tisdale was a beast. Loved watching him play.

I was at the game played in Key Arena when Tisdale and the boys kicked Gonzaga's butt. It was a beautiful thing!!!

 

[altgeld88]

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

Imagine him on that 1983-84 team.

Welch was hurt that year as well

Led by sophomores, a modest center with a huge heart.

Arguably the greatest coaching job in illinois history.

 

[PepeSilvia]

Yeah, doesn't matter who is uncle is. There is plenty of good shooting instruction available to an Illini basketball player. He needs to take about 500 shots a day between now and season start. Start with 6-8 foot shots and very gradually move further away from the basket. It's a very gradual process that takes a lot of patience.

Would also be good for Sencire to do the same. Though his shot is not that bad. It's more his FT shooting. Which IMO is a tougher project because there's such a mental component to it.

Based on the current landscape of professional sports being littered by former players kids/relatives think you're a bit too dismissive of bloodlines.

Yes he's a D1 basketball player he's obviously going to have a ton of people to work with but being Jason Richardsons nephew is another advantage. Also, certain coaches can do a better job with some players than they do others, it might take someone else looking at a problem to help find a solution.

 

[FI_8905]

As posted in the previous thread, Illinois (and the NIL collective) wasn't really bought in on Mulcahy and prefer Antonio Reeves.

Mulcahy had a team in mind when he entered the Portal, so if was probably futile anyway.

A lot of circular reporting on Mulcahy / Illinois, but all smoke no fire.

 

[Wrightandjohnstreet]

Do insiders on this board still think we will be a “major player” for Mulcahey? @Indy Illini Fan

 

[LvilleILL]

Discussions were had, they prefer Reeves. Will make a huge push for him, and the Chicago ties will help

 

[Combo]

As posted in the previous thread, Illinois (and the NIL collective) wasn't really bought in on Mulcahy and prefer Antonio Reeves.

Mulcahy had a team in mind when he entered the Portal, so if was probably futile anyway.

A lot of circular reporting on Mulcahy / Illinois, but all smoke no fire.

Is there some news you’re referring to?

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

Discussions were had, they prefer Reeves. Will make a huge push for him, and the Chicago ties will help

Well, that's not encouraging to me.

With the talent already on the team, I'm not sure why anyone would pick Reeves over Mulcahy.

 

[Mojoman]

As posted in the previous thread, Illinois (and the NIL collective) wasn't really bought in on Mulcahy and prefer Antonio Reeves.

Mulcahy had a team in mind when he entered the Portal, so if was probably futile anyway.

A lot of circular reporting on Mulcahy / Illinois, but all smoke no fire.

I am behind here. So we are not involved at all with Mulcahy now??

 

[BashCtIllini]

Based on the current landscape of professional sports being littered by former players kids/relatives think you're a bit too dismissive of bloodlines.

Yes he's a D1 basketball player he's obviously going to have a ton of people to work with but being Jason Richardsons nephew is another advantage. Also, certain coaches can do a better job with some players than they do others, it might take someone else looking at a problem to help find a solution.

Bloodlines give you size and athleticism, which Rodgers has. They don't give you shooting form. What are Michael Jordan's nephews doing? Dare I say it, Larry Bird's?

Having an uncle that was a pro is only an advantage if said uncle is spending time working with you. Bloodlines, in terms of children is more of a thing, because from an early age dad was helping them learn the game. With Rodgers, his uncle was pretty busy being a pro in a different city and state until Ty was 11. Did Richardson then say, ok I'm retired with millions of dollars time to go help my nephews with their shooting? I'd be pretty amazed if that were the case.

To me, Chester is probably a good guy to be working with Rodgers. I say this because Chester was an awful shooter. Teams literally didn't bother to guard him from 3. And while he wasn't anything terribly special, he went from shooting 28% from 3 Fr-Jr years, to 38% as a Sr. Granted he only tool 68 3s as a Sr, but if Ty could make a jump like that, Chester was 5 for 32 (16%) as a Fr., that would go a LONG way to getting him into the NBA.

Don't know who the shot doctor was for Chester, but hopefully he remembers what he learned and is helping Ty do the same.