Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[HensonHall71]

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.

True - it is unbelievable how this is life changing money for these kids still in college - even the ones that will never sniff the NBA can earn 7 figures in college.

But we are supposed to be one of the "winners" in this era given we are one of the "haves" in the NIL era and a good coach with proven results. It should be benefiting us long term

 

[Mapman]

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.

One could argue that this is how the Cardinals handle free agency, too.

 

[ChiefGritty]

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.

There's truth in this, but it also seems like we held back from doing what it would take to land Storr because we incorrectly thought the price would wind up seeming unreasonable relative to other players.

We DO have a lot of money. Not as dominant relative to our peers as we hoped, but we're not a minnow in this thing by any means, imagine being Seton Hall or Minnesota.

That perceived market dominance made us a bit overconfident in letting some of our existing structure walk away.

But really, we're one last nice pickup away from looking pretty darned good here, all is far from lost. We just need to really take the lessons of this process to heart going forward.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

What could've possibly happened? It seems like the obvious question to ask but...there really isn't another question to ask regarding Egor.

What could've possibly flipped a full 180 to go from optimistic, pretty much everything settled $ wise, to go to this? I trust that things were good at the time, I absolutely do, but what could've possibly happened to go from more or less a settled deal $ wise and basketball wise to him asking for an absurd price and everything just crashing within moments?

For all that, is it just a message offering a bigger bag?

Lord knows...

Sooooo...

Someone happened to make an absolutely absurd offer and that's what led to yesterday night happening and it was BYU making the offer not anyone else - is that fair to assess at this moment in time?

 

[purcy51]

Just bizarre on so many levels. Honest to god, does Egor Demin know what a Mormon is?

Does he have to obey all the campus rules? Do they make an exception if he's not Mormon? Was part of the sell that he has to convert if he's catholic or something else? So many questions

 

[ColSLU69]

I still like Coward as our SG, does everything.

I too like 6'6" Eastern Washington guard Cedric Coward. He averaged 15.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists this past season. He also shot 56.5% from the field, including 38.3% on 3s, and shot 89.5% from the line. I know that Eastern Washington doesn't play high D-1 competition, but I would hope that type of shooting would carry over to the Illini.

I also like 6'6" Campbell guard Anthony Dell'Orso a LOT. He averaged 19.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.9 assists this past season. Born in Australia, Dell'Orso shot 49.2% from the field, including 38.0% on 3s, and shot 80.9% from the line. (He also shot over 68% at the rim.) Dell'Orso looks very good on videos, albeit versus less than high D-1 competition. It looked like his shooting, and his overall game, would translate to Illinois basketball.

 

[BackThatPassUp]

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.

This is not necessarily mutually inclusive to us being outbid by another suitor. It just merely means we are more judicious with our funds. The point of spending money is to generate more wins. At some point you reach a diminishing return, particularly for speculative players who's talent might not seamlessly translate to both the style of the team and style of play within both college and our league.

I think the market has grossly overvalued some players this offseason and created a bubble. Many teams will feel burned by overinvesting in some star players while not appropriately leaving enough for an effective supporting cast. I wouldn't be surprised to see a correction at the end of next season with more teams being a little more conservative in their approach to some of these more "marquee" recruits.

 

[IndyILL]

There's truth in this, but it also seems like we held back from doing what it would take to land Storr because we incorrectly thought the price would wind up seeming unreasonable relative to other players.

We DO have a lot of money. Not as dominant relative to our peers as we hoped, but we're not a minnow in this thing by any means, imagine being Seton Hall or Minnesota.

That perceived market dominance made us a bit overconfident in letting some of our existing structure walk away.

But really, we're one last nice pickup away from looking pretty darned good here, all is far from lost. We just need to really take the lessons of this process to heart going forward.

Nice take Gritty!!!

 

[WyattEarp]

Please tell me that isn't Ron Jeremy riding a sausage, is it? LOL.

No, I don’t believe it is. Just some misc. goonball. lol.

 

[ptgrd23]

 

[ColSLU69]

I think that 6'7" FSU forward Jamir Watkins is a VG player, and (if he withdraws from the NBA Draft) that he would probably become an even better player in one season at Illinois. Someone said earlier that Watkins might draw NIL money in the range of $1.5M. If true, how many of you think that Illinois would come up with that money? And how many of you think that no other school would offer more than that amount for a Watkins transfer? Does Antigua or any other Illinois coach have any sort of connection to Watkins that might lead to a Watkins to Illinois transfer? It seems to me that Illinois has a 6'7" athletic forward/wing, Tre White, that has already transferred to Illinois. How much did we pay for White? How happy would White be if recruited over at this point?

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

I mean...all that we know has happened (or could've happened at most) was that BYU offered him a deal that we can't top. Okay...?

No decisions have been made to go to BYU, stay where he currently plays, etc, etc.

We might be done with him but...Are we sure we're truly at a "surely no" state with Egor.

 

[ILLI die hard]

If Demin is actually Russian, it may be worth the ticket to watch him bang underneath with some Ukrainian transfers. Bound to be a few playing college ball in the States....

 

[WhiteHorseWings]

I’d love to know how many of the innumerable experts on here opining on whether or not Demin is worth his asking price had actually even heard of him before he was raised by insiders a week or so ago. I know I sure hadn’t.

I’m taking the under, without even knowing what the line is.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

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.

This doesn't seem true tbh. It really doesn't. It doesn't really seem like we haven't been able to outbid people because we're being held back by financial limitations. It seems that's the case because we've held back paying absurd totals.

 

[OB positive]

Don’t always agree with these guys but on this specific one it’s hard to argue with their point that this roster was built in reverse. You lock up your star then build the role players around him that fit now you have the rest of your roster and trying to throw money and whatever “star” is left and will probably overpay

That's a good point. It would be much easier to fill out our roster with complimentary pieces right now instead of needing to get an alpha or two.

 

[ColSLU69]

For those in the know, is there any way possible that Cam Christie, when/if he withdraws from the Draft, would consider transferring to Illinois? I honestly think that he would improve his game a lot as a player in one year at Illinois, while also improving his positioning/ranking for the 2025 Draft. But I wonder if Illinois could win a monetary competition for his services....

 

[NashvILLe05]

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.

Nailed it.

Regarding Coleman, I’m frustrated we didn’t offer him more money last year so he was happy and because it was the right thing to do regardless of a potential 5th year decision. This would also establish Illinois as a program that takes care of its top guys. Recruits are watching Coleman say what he said about it. He’s one of the highest impact players in the portal now. Maybe it was the right time to part ways but it’s not a good look and I’d take him as our 4 any day.

 

[One Man Fast Break]

This has been a BRUTAL offseason, objectively speaking, I've perused a few other places with different fanbases involved and everyone agrees we're gonna take a big step back.. but sometimes it's ok to come in with lower expectations. UConn was only picked to finish third in the Big East and they didn't just repeat but ran roughshed an entire season. Not saying that's what'll happen or anything like that, but important to remember it's all fluff, speculation and guesswork until the season actually tips off. I've been as vocal as ANYONE but I will be supporting the team next season.

 

[ever]

TJ was not an All-American at this time last year. TJ couldn't go right. TJ didn't shoot well enough. TJ needed to tighten up his handles. TJ needed to play with consistent effort and not take so many quick shots.

TJ turned himself into an All-American last summer.

True, but I think he was better two years ago than any of our transfers were last year

 

[mysterio2525]

Our star is still out there. It’s just a matter of convincing him to come back.

I feel like we've gone from

To more of this

 

[Deacon05]

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.

It's more about there are a lot of teams out there and only so many high profile players. A team like illinois who just got 6 players in the portal isn't going to have the money or willingness to pony up 2 million for 1 player, vs a team who has only signed 1 player in the portal with money to spend. Just a lot of factors. The guys that we got so far i guarantee some other teams fanbase was complaining about how Illinois got their guy and they couldn't afford them or whatever.

 

[Highlander]

I too like 6'6" Eastern Washington guard Cedric Coward. He averaged 15.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists this past season. He also shot 56.5% from the field, including 38.3% on 3s, and shot 89.5% from the line. I know that Eastern Washington doesn't play high D-1 competition, but I would hope that type of shooting would carry over to the Illini.

My only concern about picking up Coward is that Pru might be triggered. It really, really is.

 

[Combo]

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.

This is so exaggerated. We zero'd in on a quality PG, C, and PF and got all three (Boswell, Ivisec, and Humichrous). I doubt any of the three were cheap. We also got two forwards with some talent in Booth and White.

Yes we have a huge hole at SG (unless DGL makes a gigantic leap), but we're not done yet.

I do agree that we seem to have over-rated our NIL wealth vis-a-vis other programs. But all in all, this has been a pretty successful portal campaign, and we will likely add at least one more guy.

 

[BoiseBaller]

Massive failure? Yeah I don’t think so.

lots of people were tepid on our adds last offseason and they ended up working perfectly together. Trust in Brad and staff and the guys he is bringing in.

I think last year wasn't as much about who we brought in but who we brought back. Domask ended up being a diamond in the rough, but QG and especially Harmon were hit or miss as transfers.

I'm going to follow close as heck and cheer my arse off of course, but I'm not expecting anything like this past year given all the additions and subtractions.