For reference, Sencire is listed at 160.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Homecoming 2019
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What's that in dog years?
Epsilon
M tipping over
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Man I miss that guy. Didn’t realize until I looked it up that we lost him in ‘97. Absolute genius.
Nick Weatherspoon's scoring...
A little over 22.
Ayo is already there, NBA bound? Probably Podz, then some possible late second round guys if they are lucky and improve.
If you're talking about Hawkins and shannon I'd say late first early second if they improve. Both did well at this year's combine and they both will likely really improve on that if we have a more cohesive group of players this year.
Tell me, how many years should a coach get without a Sweet 16 appearance when you’re receiving one of the highest salaries in the country? It’s great that he’s raised the floor of the program but if he doesn’t make it this year, it’ll be a taller ask when you lose two potential draft picks after this season. There would be a bit more patience if he had a Sweet 16 under his belt at Illinois but here we are. Making one Sweet 16 appearance in 6 years is not shooting for the stars or comparing our program to blue bloods.
Well the party line for next year will be that with Morez coming in the Illini will be a magnet for next year's portal talent. Time will tell if that pans out but I think that's a better bet than firing Brad and then having Morez transfer as a result.
Aleks Alston=Coleman Hawkins. His shot looks much better though, how does Kenwoid get so many balls and football athletes?
New principal cares about sports knew it’d help the school hired an Irvin for hoops and a guy connected to biggest Chicago 7v7. What their doing in football is more impressive IMO
I think his pay was just an adjustment for inflation. /s
if you were to create the perfect Illini basketball player what attributes of Illini legends would you build this player from? (for example Dee's speed, Myers Length, Richards Keenes 3 ball, Derons vision, Lucas Johnson's aggression)
Shawn Pruits free-throw shooting and Olaf Blabs footwork.
Shawn Pruits free-throw shooting and Olaf Blabs footwork.
Winning a B1G tournament is a bit harder than a sweet 16, winning a B1G title is harder than sweet 16. In a way , I think he has raised the expectations, then we cherry pick NCAA success and ignore everything else. Feel like if we only had the NCAA run without the regular season excellence then we would mark it off as lucky. I get the NCAA, but we have been a very good team, number 1 seed good. Keep playing at that level and NCAA will come,
I am glad we have Hawk and TSJ. However the reason they came back is they were not assured or even likely to make an NBA roster. I hope that changes after one more season. If it doesn't its iffy at best they stick in the NBA. We have seen that happen to several very good players before them. They need to get better to stick and thats why they came back to make assured cash and improve their chances next year
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RichardKeenesCousin
Richard Keene's Cousin
your statement is not a recruiting question either.
Apparently not. We have won a B!G title, should have been twice but Warren helped Michigan. The goal is not to just win a conference tournament championship Or the regular season. It’s to make a run, year in and year out to the Final Four. Kids commit to KU, Duke etc to get exposure as these schools have a track record of getting to the second weekend and beyond. Not to be satisfied with a conference championship. Brad’s seats is not just warm, it’s hot. His complete failures to get what CoHawk mentioned after the Arkansas game is ridiculous. Brad has made several missteps over the past two seasons which is why we are without a veteran PG. He is paid in the top 10 and only him and Kevin Willard have failed to get to the 2nd weekend. That is not why we hired him. Granted, we are better but not elite. I like Brad but this season will tell how warm the seat really is. Josh is not the type to keep the Status quo. He has a short list and has money to bring in someone else if the season goes awry. I compare us to Texas, another program that underachieves. Football wise and basketball wise. I like Brad but time is running out unfortunately. We need to get to the 2nd weekend Coming season.
Kipper Nichols dunking abilityif you were to create the perfect Illini basketball player what attributes of Illini legends would you build this player from? (for example Dee's speed, Myers Length, Richards Keenes 3 ball, Derons vision, Lucas Johnson's aggression)
Shawn Pruits free-throw shooting and Olaf Blabs footwork.
Does anyone actually care about winning a Big Ten tournament? I remember ripping on Steve Alford for bragging about winning the Big Ten tournament. Sure I'd rather win it than lose the first game, but it generally has minimal affect on seeding and many teams would rather rest up for the tournament, because like it or not, everyone places a lot of importance on the NCAA Tournament.
I don't understand why some are so beholden to Underwood. Some are just, he's our coach so I love him, but I think some are basically saying, we hadn't won a conference title since 2005, he did it, he's the greatest coach ever, if we lose him, we're right back to the Groce years. To that I say, well if we replace him with a coach that never finished better than 3rd in the MAC, then you could be right, but I highly doubt Whitman will do that.
Like it or not, it's hard to separate Underwood's tenure here from Ayo and more importantly Kofi. Our defense was pretty pathetic until Kofi showed up, and it wasn't great after he left. Having a 1st and 2nd team All American on our roster gave us a great season, but an extremely disappointing tourney result. The question is, does Underwood need that level of talent to win?
I think you can replace Ayo. Kid was a stud, but there are lots of stud guards out there. They're not the easiest in the world to land, but they're there. Now replacing Kofi, a genetic freak that could dominate on both ends of the court, that's much harder. So does he need a mismatch to win? Last year with a lot of talented players we were pretty meh. Middle of the pack in the Big Ten, middle of the pack seed in the NCAA Tourney, and yes we'd rather be there than playing in the NIT with John Groce, but that's not where we want to be as a program.
So Underwood has taken a different approach this year. Going with guys that are older to counter the struggles we had with Fr. last year, going with guys that are maybe less talented overall but more willing to play team ball, to counter the issues we had with Mayer, but it's hard to say our talent level is at the same level of last year. And of course we're currently looking at a hole at the PG position. So if Underwood wins big next year, top 3 or 4 in the Big Ten gets a 5 seed or lower, and actually wins some tournament games, people will be happy and say good job coach, we'll see you next year. If we have a season similar to this past year or worse, people will start saying Ayo and Kofi aren't coming back coach. You need to win without them or we'll find someone else.
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These "fire Brad" folks just make me laugh. The NCAA tourney has always been about who is hot at the end and who gets favorable matchups. We all want Illinois to reach the promised land and win a natty. But, you've got to get there to win. What Brad Underwood has done in his brief time here is amazing. He brought UI out of the worst stretch of basketball they've seen since before Lou Henson turned the program around in the 80's. Underwood has brought us to a point where we are a destination for great talent, we challenge for championships in the Big Ten every year, and we are in the mix of a top four NCAA tourney seed. No one could ask for more. Unless you are Connecticutt or Villanova then you have a complaint about NCAA results over the last 10 years. Last year definitely showed why the success of programs can't be based solely on NCAA results.
Firing Brad Underwood would put us back in the Groce era. No one wants that.
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Great post. You are 100% right. Should Calipari be fired first? There are so many "bluebloods" that for the recruiting class they bring in every year are big-time underachievers. And, most of them have lost in the NCAA tourney in much bigger upsets over the years.
I ignored you after this comment so I won't see your reply I guess but how would firing BU put us back to Groce era? You really think a Groce level coach is the best Josh could do as a replacement? Have you been paying attention to the other coaches he's hired? I am not arguing for firing BU but to say firing him sets us back that far is laughable. Yes, this is my first post, so flame away.
I’m kinda surprised they haven’t already. That seat has gotta be extremely warm; considering what Kentucky $hell$ out for basketball. Yes, he probably should be.
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