Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
- Status
I really like our adds.
White - very athletic. Thrived in good program USC.
Davis - great shooter, ready to step up to P5 competition
Boswell - proven elite team starter. Maybe underutilized due to AZ playing 2 PG a lot.
Booth - very athletic, good size. Only 1 season experience on bad ND team. Need to be utilized more effectively like Quincy. Cut to basket, crash the boards.
Humrichous - great shooter, will be 22 next season, already played 4 years college ball
Ivisic - great size 7'1, nice post moves and 3 point shot, will be 21 next season, has played pro in Europe for 3 years
No super star added but remember TSJ only scored 10 ppg his last season at TT before transferring to UI. All 6 of our transfers averaged around this.
Would I like to add a proven 16 ppg scorer. Yes . However if we don't I am confident that one of the 6 will take the role - best gues Boswell or Humrichous
White - very athletic. Thrived in good program USC.
Davis - great shooter, ready to step up to P5 competition
Boswell - proven elite team starter. Maybe underutilized due to AZ playing 2 PG a lot.
Booth - very athletic, good size. Only 1 season experience on bad ND team. Need to be utilized more effectively like Quincy. Cut to basket, crash the boards.
Humrichous - great shooter, will be 22 next season, already played 4 years college ball
Ivisic - great size 7'1, nice post moves and 3 point shot, will be 21 next season, has played pro in Europe for 3 years
No super star added but remember TSJ only scored 10 ppg his last season at TT before transferring to UI. All 6 of our transfers averaged around this.
Would I like to add a proven 16 ppg scorer. Yes . However if we don't I am confident that one of the 6 will take the role - best gues Boswell or Humrichous
Fan Since '70
- OBS, Florida
Nothing wrong with having two (or more) players that can be playmakers, especially one who has such open court prowess, good handles and is 3-level scorer like a Demin. Makes everyone around them better.
DReq
Always Illini
- Central Illinois
Not a response specifically to you. Others have said the same. I could certainly see some bigs and shooters who want to see a distributing PG on your team before coming to join it. They need someone to get them the ball when they need it. Thus, Boswell first. I have no inside info but this perspective seems to fit what has been said about other recruitments.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Hindsight 20/20 and all that. Nobody really knew what was going to happen when this wild west portal season began. To be fair, as one poster alluded to we thought we had Storr locked up until we didn't, but then nobody thought the bidding for alpha scorers was going to escalate so quickly, and by that time a number of schools had probably already back-channeled and had connections to whomever they ended up getting and we were left holding the bag (literally). So yeah, Storr pretty much jerked us around, but at the same time it probably wasn't necessarily the worst strategy to wait and see who else popped up in the portal after a number of other schools blew their NIL wads already. It's not over yet and seeing who backs out of the draft may still prove to be a sound strategy. Either way, it will be live and learn for this portal season and schools will have a better understanding of the ideal strategy in this new world going into the 2025 portal season.
Please tell me that isn't Ron Jeremy riding a sausage, is it? LOL.I’m not gonna worry until it gets down to Mini-Mart Mystery Meat levels
If they are correct, we are a little bit stuck right now. It's either overpaying for lesser players or pray we are lucky enough to pick up a fringe NBA guy after the combine.
I don't know, I think this might still be too early to call. In my opinion, the biggest pickup of the offseason is going to be Ivisic, from a roster building perspective.
Now, to be clear, I'm not saying I think Ivisic will end up being our best player next year or anything like that, but I think his addition just gives you so much flexibility and acts as an anchor for what Brad and the staff are trying to do with the rest of the team. Like @SescIllini noted above, I'd be much more concerned if we hadn't locked in a starting center yet. And while Ivisic obviously comes with some risk with how his game will translate and how he might do with higher usage, he has the potential to be an incredible college player, and the fact that we might have a realistic shot at getting multiple years out of a 21 year old freshman... (It actually seems better for Illinois that NBA scouts are higher on his brother)
But of course I do still really hope we can land a high-impact wing that can serve as our best player next year. I'm not saying that doesn't matter. I just think there's more to choose from there that can work.
Our star is still out there. It’s just a matter of convincing him to come back.
Which player would you rather have? I think player B by a pretty good margin in my mind
| Player | MIN | FG | FG% | 3PT | 3P% | FT | FT% | OR | DR | REB | AST | BLK | STL | PF | TO | PTS |
| A | 28.8 | 6.0-13.8 | 43.4 | 1.3-4.2 | 32 | 3.5-4.3 | 81.2 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 16.8 |
| B | 28.2 | 4.8-10.5 | 45.7 | 1.0-2.9 | 34.4 | 4.9-6.2 | 79.5 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 6 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 15.6 |
In the new NIL era, the statistic missing in the comparison is $ per PTS. If you tell me that it might sway my vote.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Indeed. B is a much better defender, has a better A/TO ratio, and is a more efficient scorer.
A is Storr
B is Watkins
The point is - we really need Watkins to drop out of the draft and then we will be much better off than if we had gotten Storr to begin with.
Not so sure about that. PG and C are key positions and we filled those nicely. I do agree that a potent SG looks like a glaring need currently. And in retrospect we maybe should have offered more to guys that fit that description, but I'm not privy to those deals.
Not judging one way or another but does anyone know if Coleman is still on campus? Using the basketball facilities? Working with Fletch ?
Or has he packed up and left?
Or has he packed up and left?
Watkins played for an atrocious FSU team and Storr played for one of the best teams in the Big10
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
They still played against similar levels of competition. And FSU wasn't what I'd call atrocious. They were mid-pack in the ACC, finishing 10-10 in conference. Wiscy was 11-9 in the B1G. Not much better. It's not like FSU was Louisville bad.
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Wouldn't it be more important who they played against than who they played for? If you play for a crappy team all the focus of the opponent's defense is against the one good player and statistically they should be worse with no one good around them.
Illini in Indiana
- Indiana
This NIL era seems to be great for the 18-22 year old ballers! Used to be there was only about 60-70 high paying positions available every year (NBA). Now there is 10 fold the number of high paying positions.
The bidding wars are going to get more insane every year.
I hope we can prove we are ahead of the curve and be a program that will develop the player for the NBA.
The sad truth will be 90% of the NIL (6 digit plus $$) kids will have to make their bank in college. Life is going to throw them away soon after, hopefully the education they get will come in useful and be important again.
With all that said - Let's go pay Cam Christie - $1M (delay the NBA for a year) I think that kid can be special
The bidding wars are going to get more insane every year.
I hope we can prove we are ahead of the curve and be a program that will develop the player for the NBA.
The sad truth will be 90% of the NIL (6 digit plus $$) kids will have to make their bank in college. Life is going to throw them away soon after, hopefully the education they get will come in useful and be important again.
With all that said - Let's go pay Cam Christie - $1M (delay the NBA for a year) I think that kid can be special
Doesn't that make Watkins efficiency more impressive?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
My brain is so poisoned by this process I knew who both of these were.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Ha ha! Same.
Putting aside the comparison, why shouldn't we expect to rinse and repeat the same thing that has happened every time Illinois zeroes in on a high-impact player?
1. Signs are positive
2. Signs are positive
3. Signs are positive
4. Other teams might be involved but Illinois is in a good spot
5. Watkins is asking for too much money! We'll get someone else
6. Watkins goes elsewhere
7. Repeat steps 1-6 for someone new
The market is crazy and Illinois does not appear to have the money to measure up, at least as far as elite talent is concerned.
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