Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[Illini 993]

Jamir Watkins is in the portal. He is considered a possible 2nd rounder in the NBA Draft. If he stays in college, he might be worth a look. Listed as a 6'7" 210 lbs SF, he played last year at Florida State, with 15.6 pts (on 10.5 shots/game,) 6 RBs, 2.8 assists, 50.4eFG, .500 on 2s, .344 on 3s, .795 on FTs, and throw in .8 blocks, playing 28.1" per game.

 

[CentralILLini]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1786065053239640503

Not sure if this is new or not... Think we were pursuing at one time at least.

Trojans going for that preseason #1 ranking.

 

[Battle89]

No I think @IllinoisRebel got it right. Another equation: post #70 and I'll owe you one = favorite number.

 

[Battle89]

I don’t understand why this one wasn’t a focus for us. Holding out hope we are getting someone better though.

Not bad for ramen

 

[tell it like it is]

My great uncle just shipped me a new bottle of scotch. Macallan 12 year Double Cask. I will be cracking into that tonight.

Thanks for the great idea. I have anew bottle of Blantons I have been thinking of opening. Tonight sounds like a good night for such activity. Cheers!

 

[CentralILLini]

Not bad for ramen

Small-Devries-Sincere

I will be checking out their games this year for sure.

 

[ChiefGritty]

Trojans going for that preseason #1 ranking.

They're doing well and all, but I like the Kentucky and Indiana groups better, and there's a long way to go.

Claude is pretty overrated IMHO.

 

[Bert2022]

I'm not so sure. We have 4 open scholarships right now, I believe. For the sake of argument, let's assume we use 2 of them for the European targets (I know it's not a done deal yet, especially for the second one, but here's hoping...) That leaves just 2, and presumably 1 of those will be used for a wing type player from the portal. So for the final spot, would you rather have Hansberry or Butler or just keep it open? Or would you rather have Hansberry or Butler over someone else that we've already gotten? I don't think I would, personally. (Nothing against them, but I do like who we've gotten so far)

I think Hansberry will end up being a solid starter. I think Butler will end up being exceptional... on both ends of the court. Wish we still had him.

 

[CoalCity]

Right now we have the 11th ranked transfer class. Great! The problem is we have kept almost no one from last years team. If we went into the season with the current roster +Dainja, Goode, Hansberry, Harris and Butler I would be feeling pretty good about where we stand. Hopefully the guys we get to fill out the roster look better than that group that we lost.

They already do look better than the guys that transferred out.

 

[More3s]

I think Hansberry will end up being a solid starter. I think Butler will end up being exceptional... on both ends of the court. Wish we still had him.

Fair enough, both of those things may turn out to be true.

So would you rather have one or both of them over any of the guys we've gotten through the portal so far? (if so, who, out of curiosity?). Or if it were up to you (and they weren't already committed elsewhere, for the sake of the thought experiment), would you use one of our 4 remaining scholarships on one or both of them?

 

[Bert2022]

Are you saying our current team of 5 transfers, 2 vets and 2-3 walk-ons would beat our Elite 8, top five Illini team of the past 25 years, 9 out of 10 times?

I don't know that I would even say that if we got David Jones, PJ Hall and the best Euro out there. Maybe I'm misunderstanding....

Welllll... when you say I like THAT.

 

[Frank]

How I imagine @sacraig recommends detoxing from portal season:

How I will proceed after following this board for the past two days:

Don't worry, I have no bowling pins within easy reach.

 

[CoalCity]

Goodman is the worst. On Avila’s announcement cliffhanger “this one just might surprise some people”…. Avila does exactly what everyone expects. Now this Coleman cliffhanger that I’m sure will be a nothing burger when the whole quote is out there.

47 minutes

 

[Bert2022]

Fair enough, both of those things may turn out to be true.

So would you rather have one or both of them over any of the guys we've gotten through the portal so far? (if so, who, out of curiosity?). Or if it were up to you (and they weren't already committed elsewhere, for the sake of the thought experiment), would you use one of our 4 remaining scholarships on one or both of them?

Very good (and tough question). I don't know if I can answer that informatively against transfers we've already gotten, so I'll take the easy way out and say 1 of 4 remaining (especially if the plan was to save one). Made tougher by the fact that getting them younger doesn't really guarantee that you'll have them for 3 or 4 years (or even 2).

 

[More3s]

Very good (and tough question). I don't know if I can answer that informatively against transfers we've already gotten, so I'll take the easy way out and say 1 of 4 remaining (especially if the plan was to save one). Made tougher by the fact that getting them younger doesn't really guarantee that you'll have them for 3 or 4 years (or even 2).

Fair enough, once again. Might be interesting to do the thought experiment again once we actually know who we end up getting for those remaining 4 scholarships (or 3 if we do save one).

 

[WhiteHorseWings]

No no, see you need to be your post number minus one since Dan takes post number 1. The first commenter is technically post number 2 but is called 1 since they are the first responder. Therefore, you are #32

Very clear that you are not going to fall for the banana in the tailpipe

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

The only dude I'd feel good about adding from Europe is Egor Demin. Anybody else (like Big Z's brother) might be good as a simple "add" to the roster but not sure if them playing a big role is that great of a thing.

 

[Birdus]

Trojans going for that preseason #1 ranking.

They will be good. Could wind up number 1 in the big. Muss can recruit and coach. He's building something special there. Bronny would get less p.t. on that team coming in. That's fur sure.

 

[pruman91]

I don't remember this particular LP , but I had a couple of QMS 8 tracks that I grooved to in my 69 Camaro ragtop..............Happy trails memories are the best kind.....they really really are....................

ooo-oo-oo , take another hit of fresh air............ooo-oo-oo , take another hit ................

 

[goillini30]

Very clear that you are not going to fall for the banana in the tailpipe

 

[pruman91]

Loyalty has a nontrivial OCD component. The basketball-related signal amps up in April and May.

 

[Big Jack]

 

[pruman91]

I am proudly blocked by both Goodman and gottlieb.

 

[rmjohnson22]

The drumbeat of skepticism has increased since that comment, but I still don't think I see any "freaking out".

The staff has definitely pivoted a few times, but I don't think there have been many (if any) "misses" based off what the insiders are saying. Somewhere along the process of recruiting a kid, the staff realizes they aren't a fit OR a better opportunity comes along. Just gotta trust Brad's vision since it hasn't let us down so far (sans Monster Matt Mayer)

Edit: Also can't "miss" on a guy that never entered the portal. Feel like some posters here need to remember that

 

[ThePortalMadeMeDoIt]

With a team roster that has 4 open spots, winning 17 games would be kind of impressive. Why don't we wait to pass judgement on preseason projects until after our roster (and that of every other team we play) is finished? Seems like a reasonable thing to do.

I am not judging one way or another. I just want us to win. I trust in Brad I do but I just feel we have missed out on to many alphas and a chance to build upon an elite 8 run. hope I am wrong.