A good friend of mine who writes blogs on the UCONN men’s team and has press privileges said they are not going after Coleman. Take it for what it’s worth.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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… George Washington was elected president.Will Riley would be our highest ranked recruit since....?
Jeremiah fears (per ESPN)Will Riley would be our highest ranked recruit since....?
…Jesus was a baby.
Disagree. He did stay and stick it out. He played an entire 4 year college career here.
I think Coleman is probably smart enough to realize this but he's best off if he's going to a situation where he can be a role player and be the 3rd or 4th option offensively.
If he simply picks the biggest payout possible and it's not the right situation then it could get ugly with a fanbase expecting more offense from their big transfer portal target.
Honestly, if Creighton could afford him he would fit in very well next to Kalkbrenner and playing for McDermott might be the best thing for his development.
Dont really understand UNC either as that would force him into playing the 5 again. Arkansas is a great fit next to Aidoo and Big Z but do they have enough cash left over with everything they've spent? UConn would be a good fit but painful after how last season ended.
I would be more disappointed in the current college NIL environment than the NBA. Hawkins is going to make more next year through NIL than he would with a non guaranteed NBA contract. I bet he would have gotten drafted because he feels like he'd be a better NBA player than college player, but surely no team was willing to promise him guaranteed money at this point in the process.
Loyalillini10
- Urbana, IL
Coleman will see a 7 figure payout.
Will Riley, Illinois Fighting Illini, Small Forward
Will Riley is a 6-8, 178-pound Small Forward from Malvern, PA. He is ranked No. 22 in the country by 247Sports. Riley is the No. 2 recruit in Malvern, PA...247sports.com
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
Mongolian MIke ain't happenin'
LouHenson
- Naples Florida
I for sure see it completely different. Coleman really wanted and believed he would get a guaranteed NBA contract. He did everything he could to let Brad build a team knowing he would not be in Champaign early. That was a huge favor Coleman did. If he knew 2 months ago he was coming back to college for sure I am thinking we don’t get hummdinger and Coleman is in that role.
In todays college game, I would say he is the epitome of what a great Illini legend should have done?
I know that we were told by the insiders a while back that if Coleman did not stay in the draft and returned to college, he would go elsewhere.
I am beyond confused by this. The guy has been in the progam for 4 years and improved every year. He would have been a hugely valueable piece for this coming year. Why again would Brad not want him back? And if Coleman loved Illinois as much as I thought he loved Illinois, why would he not want to return to Illinois? Expecially knowing there is a pretty good roster.
Just don't get it.
I am beyond confused by this. The guy has been in the progam for 4 years and improved every year. He would have been a hugely valueable piece for this coming year. Why again would Brad not want him back? And if Coleman loved Illinois as much as I thought he loved Illinois, why would he not want to return to Illinois? Expecially knowing there is a pretty good roster.
Just don't get it.
Sounds like you don’t think much of his NBA prospects. Certainly finding a good fit is important, but I doubt the feedback he got was find a team where you can be the third or fourth offensive option to show your stuff. But I agree that he would not excel as the alpha on offense.
I actually don't think it negatively impacts his NBA prospects. He is role player type that can stuff a stat sheet a bunch of different ways without needing the ball in his hands a lot.
NBA teams already have stars that can dominate the ball. They need roleplayers like Coleman that can shoot the ball(space the floor), defend multiple positions, and is a willing passer.
I don't think Coleman necessarily has the highest ceiling but I think he has a role on a lot of teams if he can shoot the ball well. I'm honestly surprised that he's returning and NBA teams weren't interested him the early 2nd. I keep seeing Tyler Kolek and Ryan Dunn getting mocked in the late 1st/early 2nd and I think Coleman has a higher floor than both.
Marcus Liberty was a #1 recruit, don't remember who was president at the time. LOL
He gets to play college ball for one more year for probably around a million bucks, then he might get drafted higher than he would have this year, who knows. Anybody posting here make a million bucks a year? I sure don't LOL
I can't hate that though. I know some don't like what the landscape's become, but I can't oppose players getting paid, because that's really the core of the matter. Players are getting paid to stay in school vs. risking going undrafted/unpaid. If the NBA cared they can afford to guarantee the rookie minimum salaries for the whole draft. NIL already successfully killed the G-League Ignite so it's the NBA who needs to act now.
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Agreed, but this offseason feels like we’re loading up for the 2025 season not this upcoming season as much. Insiders can correct me if I’m wrong but if we keep most of the core players after 2024 (which in todays college bball is a thing if it’s own) we will have:
Starters-
Kylan: a 20 y/o senior PG with tons of experience
KJ: Incredibly talented lead guard next to Kylan with now a year experience playing and adjusting to basketball in the US
Ty: Senior, leader, menace
Booth: 6’10 stretch 4 and NBA prospect
Big T: 7’1 MAN with year of experience playing basketball in US
Bench-
DGL: Junior, bigger, stronger, offensive prodigy
Fears: 5 star, future of program without a ton of pressure playing with these other lead guards
Morez: Year of experience and fine tuned his offensive game, absolute beast rebounding and defensively
Tre White: Reached his potential playing on a much better team than Louisville
Davis: 3 point specialist with beautiful locks
Now I do want to say, I don’t think in todays college bball we would be able to keep all of Kylan, KJ, DGL, and Fears since there is only so much ball to go around and they’re all going to want the ball in their hands. May be a transfer or maybe one leaves or NBA or whatever, but I doubt we have all 4. I also doubt we have both Tre White and Ty. Different types players yes but same position and I have a feeling neither is going to want to be coming off the bench.
That being said, yes I’d love to win this upcoming season and think we will, but the team I just named in 2025 would be the best team in Illini history and I think easily the best team in the country.
Bigtex
- DFW
Besides why would the NBA want someone like Hawkins when Bronny James is available?
Bingo! Just Bingo.
It looks like Watkins is visiting Michigan this weekend and St. Johns and Michigan are the two favorites right now - I would certainly hate to see him go to Michigan for obvious reasons
I love KJ's potential, but Watkins would have been such a great fit for our team this year
I love KJ's potential, but Watkins would have been such a great fit for our team this year
theNewGuy
- Dallas, TX
KasparasWill Riley would be our highest ranked recruit since....?
Now with the news of heavy interest in Riley, it looks like, ever since that Egor ship crashed, the dream plan in the staff's mind all along was Riley and Kasparas. Riley - they worked that one pretty quietly and it seems they're on it now. They seemed heavily interested in Watkins but seemed to cool...
So basically you're talking two five stars vs 1 guy who at best is a All BIG 1st team level guy and taking the risk to put all the eggs in one basket.
Also, if they landed Egor, they wouldn't have gotten Kasparas nor would they have a shot at Riley - wouldn't have the $$ left and...not sure it'd seem appealing to him to come here if another lotto-pick type guy was coming through the door as well at the 3/wing spot...
With Kasparas the fit makes a lot more sense...
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