I get it. We haven’t had tourney success. But I’d still would say we have had success on the court for the past 4 seasons. Yes last season was very frustrating and difficult but we still won 20 games
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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This football season has made me realize last years basketball season wasn’t so bad
Ayo… the media darling, however, missed shoot around freshmen year.
If Fears comes in and falls flat you've got to ask what your plan is to keep him.
Ayo and family were fine though
Yeah they were great and love Ayo. THT might disagree.
Speaking of adults causing headaches.
Yeah. That one really sucked! Although, sounds like the drama would have been ok without some loose lips from people who should have known better……
This is looking a couple classes ahead but I really like this Aleks Alston kid in ‘25. Big wing and it looks like he can shoot lights out which is what we need to open the floor for Morez in his 2nd season. Does anyone have any info on Alston or if he likes us early on in the process I haven’t really seen his name talked about much on the thread.
From the sound of it, that's not on Ayo and camp so much as past assistants sticking their foots in their mouths.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
VG get for Woodson. That said, given a choice, I'd rather have Morez.
LMAO. Tim Anderson compares Fears to Kyrie. I think he's a better shooter. He'll do fine in college in '24 or '25 but the family is being thoughtful about the reclass. They have not made up their mind yet, and will decide in the next 2-3 months. Academics are annoying/manageable but really the decision has to do with his body and how he responds to the grind of the HS circuit, adding weight lifting to his routine, etc. He's a HUGE gym rat and works out 4-5x/day at AZ Compass.
When he got down there, he was supposed to share the PG spot with 4star Vyctorius Miller but Miller panicked when he saw how good Jeremiah is and that he'd be his backup. Ultimately left the program. So you'll see that he NEVER left the floor against Montverde this weekend, they don't really have a good backup PG at all and it affected his numbers/output. Also, Montverde might be the best HS team ever assembled with Flagg, McNeeley etc.
NIL is not the driver, but sure it matters. Either way, he will wear orange & blue on his way to the league
From your lips to God’s ears…..
Fears was 2-15 from 3 over the weekend. Sub 30% from 3 during the EYBL. Kyrie is one of the greatest shooters ever, please tone down the hype.
My bad, you're right. Those 2 games, one of which against Cooper Flagg and Montverde, are probably indicative of his overall shooting ability and a strong predictor of the rest of his basketball career. We should hang it up now and move on to a lower ranked player. He was also barely a Top100 player a year ago and currently Top25.
BTW, he cooked Mikey Lewis last night too...
It’s like you completely glossed over the EYBL numbers… He also shot 27% at the top 100 camp too. And bringing up strength of competition makes less sense when he wants to compete against 21 and 22 year old Division 1 players next year. That’s why he shouldn’t reclass
Honestly, if Brad doesn't have a plan in place already to retain the vital pieces of our roster, he's not doing it right and hasn't quite learned from the past few years regarding player retention.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
you realize that having a great retention plan might not matter at all, right?
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I would rather they have a promotional plan....like to the next level in a couple three years
That’s fair and I am definitely here for the Chin slander. However, THT wears #25 without Ayo and his camp.
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
As I said in another thread, we are 4th in the conference in returning minutes at 69.9%. The narrative that Brad is bad at player retention is just straight-up wrong. He's better than most coaches at it. And for every Epps and RJ, there's Hawk and TSJ. The world is simply different now. Fans have been slow to realize.
Not sure how that percentage was calculated, but doing some quick math based off sports reference the returning minutes gets us to a shade below 59% returning. Not trying to say that’s some massive gap (because it isn’t) but I assume that moves us down from a top 5 minutes returning team.
I agree with your statement overall. Brad feels at least an average at retention. Outside of Podz and Tevian Jones, I don’t think we’ve truly lost someone whose become an even ok college contributor. Maybe Epps and Clark fit that bill but honestly all four of the situations mentioned above were seemingly out of Brads hands. I don’t think retention is a check in the cons column of his tenure here.
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