Bigtex
- DFW
2022 Kylan Boswell Born April 2005
2024 Morez Johnson Born January 2006
2025 Will Riley Born February 2006
2025 Jeremiah Fears Born October 2006
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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2024 Morez Johnson Born January 2006
2025 Will Riley Born February 2006
2025 Jeremiah Fears Born October 2006
The kid that SIU recruited worked out pretty well, just saying. Kids are put into situations alot where they are underrecruited or just don't get eyeballs on them like the top prospects.
Thanks for the clarification.
If this has already been addressed, just disregard, but would Riley be like Edey in the case that NIL can be an issue? I know he plays in the states now, but just curious if the two cases are similar.
In addition to his age despite reclassifying that has been pointed out, Riley is at a higher level than those Illini have been pulling in of late. That said, expectations might be a bit high for him, but he should still have a strong impact on the team.
I also wonder if with this being the last of the COVID year players and NIL “prices” going up, if the get old, stay old approach is the secret serum for success. The “old” won’t be as old now with few 5th year guys and even less 6th year guys. Freshmen will be more likely to compete at a higher level not facing so many older players.
I think Brad and company have found the sweet spot in roster construction. Bring in top level first year guys and kids with multiple years of eligibility who have had some success and have potential. You’re not going to be able to keep everyone the next year, but work hard to keep those that performed and fit the culture. Probably in a lot if cases a better use of NIL budget and supplement the roster with seniors/grad transfers. While Illinois seems to have a fairly large NIL budget, we don’t have a bottomless bag of cash. Have to optimize impact of the money we have, and I think this approach will do that.
Maybe it’s been talked about before on different threads, but i was listening to 670 the score today and Jeremy Werner was on and “reported” that Coleman wanted to come back, if things didn’t work out in draft process. Illinois basically said we need an answer now if you’re using your extra year of eligibility here or elsewhere, because we have a ton of holes to fill and we can’t promise you’ll fit in with the roster we build while waiting on whether or not he was staying in the draft or coming back to school. I’d imagine this is why he tweeted about fixing the deadline to decide date… because it sounds like he didn’t want to leave. Interesting.
Was this on Bernstein's show? I only heard him say that Coleman got a bag & IL got ~4 quality players for the price of Coleman, which seemed consistent with what we've heard.
I think the key word is "relying". If Will comes in and doesn't prove it in practice, there are plenty of other guys on the roster worthy of those minutes.
A few weeks ago, a lot of people thought we were done recruiting when we landed Jakucionis. The emergence of Riley's interest was the sort of opportunity for which BU was saving that spot. I don't think Riley was part of the initial plan. He's the proverbial cherry on top of the milkshake.
Yes. But re-listen to it, he says very subtly, “Coleman wanted to come back” and then talked about him getting his bag. Werner made it sound directly after that, that he wanted to come back but was unsure of what the roster was going to look like when he actually came to make the decision, because he fully intended to stay in the draft process. I think that is the point in time they “mutually” decided the route they both were going to go. Re listen on the Audacy app. I almost missed it too.
Brad and company played this 100% correctly. When you literally have to rebuild the entire team, you can’t afford to wait on anybody and watch tons of quality options come off the board.
IF IF IF Riley commits on Sunday, I’d be hard pressed to give the staff anything but an A+ for the offseason.
I know they have to play the games and they are young. I get it. However, the talent on the roster is undeniable. We’ll see how it all meshes.
For reference, Riley is older already than a lot of the elite guys in the '24 class (Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper, etc.). Apparently specifically in Ontario, Canada....kids have an option to take a "Class 13 year" if they want to have an extra prep year for college.
Ultimately, if he was an American he'd most likely be in the '24 class from the start.
I wonder if we'd ever go back that direction...
Illinois HOFer and Flying Illini member Kenny Battle says Hi.
RichardKeenesCousin
Richard Keene's Cousin
I want to thank the poster who brought Cedric Coward to my attention, was hoping Illinois will land him but turns out we are solid with Kasparas and potentiallly Riley. I will be keeping up with him this year and predict big things. He committed to WSU to follow his previous coach at EWU. If you took a hybrid of Brandon Paul with Tevian Jones (Southern Utah version) you would have Cedric Coward.
Some kids probably need to go that level where they can develop though.
Now I'm not saying that Domask wouldn't have succeeded if he went to a bigger school initially but I think being able to step in and immediately be a focal point of SIU made him a better player.
Honestly, I like Goode and appreciate what he did for the program but from a purely basketball perspective I feel like he could've possibly been a better all around player had he started at a mid major as a focal point of an offense(the lost sophomore season due to injury didn't help either).
If everything turns out the way we we all hope, how are you going to celebrate? I mean, I have a guess but I want to know. I really, really do…
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Technically, if I’ve read the ruling right, this is not the last of the Covid year players. Under the recent ruling, players such as Andre Curbelo and Adam Miller, who lost a part of any year as a multi-transfer player before the NCAA declared them eligible, will get one more year. This covers a five year window, so this means some players who would’ve otherwise exhausted their eligibility will be given an extra year. Not saying those players will want to transfer from their current schools, but given the NIL bags available, it wouldn’t be surprising.
Oh I’m not disagreeing with your first point. Brad and Co played it right because of how many holes they had to replace in terms of all levels of production, not just scoring.
I *assume* they had a meeting and decided that if he didn’t stay in the draft that they’d go their separate ways, but i think if he could’ve (i don’t blame him for being optimistic for himself) just committed to coming back In that meeting, it sounds like it could’ve happened, but he really was set on trying to get drafted and wanted to come back.
I love the team we have and Coleman went to one of the three schools i was ok with. Coming back to Illinois, Oklahoma state (i went to undergrad there), or K-state (sister graduated from there, so i cheer them on). Both sides made a good decision but it’s still slightly a bummer.
NIL won’t be a problem …
Tev was a DUDE at Southern Utah … Wish that kid would’ve figured it out here …
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
Goode got an A+ for team guy, effort on floor, underated rebounder and great stationary shooter. Unfortunately he was on team with 2 alpha scorers TSJ and Marcus along some other very good offensive players - Coleman, Dain and Quincy. Great culture guy, never complained. Always gave 110%.
If you look at next year potential starting lineup Boswell, KJ, Ivisic, Humrichous, White/Rodgers with Morez, DGL, and Booth coming off bench its hard to see a SR Goode getting more than 20 mpg. That is even before Riley
possibly comes on board.Goode wanted to play for his dream school IU. He is getting his chance plus probably some nice NIL$. I would have liked him to stay but he graduated in 3 years played on B10 champs, BTT champs and elite 8 team. Hopefully he will have some fun in Bloomington.
JMO Luke should have transferred to IVY league or Stanford, averaged 20 ppg, and started his business career.
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Unless Ivy League made what I thought was a one-year waiver (COVID) allowing grad students to play sports permanent, Luke couldn’t play in that conference. And no way in hell he averages 20 ppg in ACC. I understand the thought process — get yourself strong education — but I think he did the right thing. He’s 21 or 22 years old. That age should be about checking off things from the dream list. If Indiana is his dream school, tick that item off — especially cuz he will never have another chance. Positioning himself for rest of his career can wait. Plus I’m guessing the Illini network will be a valuable asset for that stage in his life too.Goode got an A+ for team guy, effort on floor, underated rebounder and great stationary shooter. Unfortunately he was on team with 2 alpha scorers TSJ and Marcus along some other very good offensive players - Coleman, Dain and Quincy. Great culture guy, never complained. Always gave 110%.
If you look at next year potential starting lineup Boswell, KJ, Ivisic, Humrichous, White/Rodgers with Morez, DGL, and Booth coming off bench its hard to see a SR Goode getting more than 20 mpg. That is even before Riley
Goode wanted to play for his dream school IU. He is getting his chance plus probably some nice NIL$. I would have liked him to stay but he graduated in 3 years played on B10 champs, BTT champs and elite 8 team. Hopefully he will have some fun in Bloomington.
JMO Luke should have transferred to IVY league or Stanford, averaged 20 ppg, and started his business career.
splitter
- and not Nebraska
Luke always dreamed about wearing those clown pants. /s UofI degree so only has to wear them for one year and gets that master's degreeGoode got an A+ for team guy, effort on floor, underated rebounder and great stationary shooter. Unfortunately he was on team with 2 alpha scorers TSJ and Marcus along some other very good offensive players - Coleman, Dain and Quincy. Great culture guy, never complained. Always gave 110%.
If you look at next year potential starting lineup Boswell, KJ, Ivisic, Humrichous, White/Rodgers with Morez, DGL, and Booth coming off bench its hard to see a SR Goode getting more than 20 mpg. That is even before Riley
Goode wanted to play for his dream school IU. He is getting his chance plus probably some nice NIL$. I would have liked him to stay but he graduated in 3 years played on B10 champs, BTT champs and elite 8 team. Hopefully he will have some fun in Bloomington.
JMO Luke should have transferred to IVY league or Stanford, averaged 20 ppg, and started his business career.
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