Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Don’t know if our fan base can take another day before new news. Once we see the Denzel gif, it’s refresh city until it happens.
Carey booth
Regarding Booth compared to Amani, can anyone comment on whether Booth is a meaningfully better perimeter defender than Amani? If the concern with both of them is that they don't quite have the size to really excel as a 5, I'm wondering if being a better on-ball perimeter defender becomes more of an issue since they need to match up with big athletic wings. If Booth is appreciably better in this regard, it might be part of why the staff likes him a bit more.
Great news.
It would be awesome if we could add an assistant coach who's known for developing big men...
It would be awesome if we could add an assistant coach who's known for developing big men...
I've tried to argue this point with friends...Remember that before the portal/NIL all of this was under the table and only the blue
bloods got by with it. Everybody else ended up on probation. In a way, albeit perverse, we've leveled the playing field for the schools
who want to compete with those blue bloods every year. money talks. The mid majors get hurt the most unless they have one of the
billionaire alums or they team with a big spender and become their minor league..
That’s fair. I actually thought Amani showed great instincts and really good, active hands in drop coverage to the point where I think he would have taken Dain’s minutes had he not gotten injured. But maybe we didn’t want to rely on a below the rim player who is probably generously listed at 6’8 to be our primary option in drop. I have no idea if Booth is a better perimeter defender or more versatile than Amani but that seems likely.
Still think Amani is going to be a heck of a college player. One of those guys who doesn’t do anything to wow you but all of a sudden you look up and he’s got 17 and 11 and his team won the game.
One thing I have learned over the years, take every practice clip with a grain of salt
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
That’s fine, many levels makes sense, a natural evolution, but none of the team based professional athletic organization allow open ended, no limits free agency/portals.
Clunky fit as in, trying to have Booth play the 5, Amani the 4, and Rodger the 3?
LarryGotFouled
- Plano, TX
and who could bring a 7 footer from his current locale...
It's the wild west right now. The court injunction allowing immediate transfer threw a bunch of rules out the window. There has been no time to react. Eventually, the NCAA or the developing Super Conferences will step in and restore order, but they first have to establish what parameters of oversight would be permitted and standup in court. April will continue to be crazy until something changes...
Amani and anyone else had/has to understand, If Illinois didn't recruit another player at his position and Amani was out weeks because of his back. People would immediately wonder how we were not prepared with Amani already experiencing back issues causing him to miss multiple game. A back injury is not an injury I would want to have to hold out hope on every game. I think he has all the potential and seems like a great kid, hope it works out for everyone!
But wouldn’t this bring on major lawsuits?
Not to mention the concept of ’athletes as employees’ becoming a bigger issue with Dartmouth and other pending cases.
I haven’t watched Booth much defensively, but based on the way he attacks closeouts and drives to the rim, he certainly looks more mobile than Amani in a perimeter-oriented way.
Werners pod talking about how Shrewsberry is a huge Amani fan and could see this being a Booth for Amani swap which would be a very interesting thing to watch play out of who wins that one.
the limit will be 5 years for grad students or +-1 year of redshirt /injury as soon as covid is over. id love to say this gives kids a better
chance for a degree....
Don't know if there's any clarity, but I'm seeing a few SOLID 5's transferring into the conference. Are they seeking a hight level, plug and play guy? I don't want to see us get steamrolled on the boards this year. The Clingan game is still very real
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
We obviously have known this one was coming for a little while but still …
I agree. Amani for Booth is a good trade for us.
Frankly, I never saw from Amani anything that made me think he'd be a future starter. He always looked extremely slow to me (possibly due to injury). And he seemed to fit the glue guy, dirty work, role player mold better. But clearly, and understandably, he's looking for more than that.
I'll be rooting for him as I do all our guys not named Skyy. But Booth has more potential and seems to be a better fit for us.
Kramerica Industries
- Greenville, SC
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