Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#1,753      
Chief84
LvilleILL1 said:
Make no mistake, this sucks, but now you can go all in on building around Tomi next year and a bunch of money freed up.
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You don’t think he will try and make the leap to the NBA, with his early 2nd round projection?
 
#1,755      
TheodoreRex
Sure, there is often two sides to a story.. By why on earth couldn't the staff have just gotten it right? For real, handling Morez correctly wasn't flippin rocket science. Start the kid over Ben, play him meaningful minutes that he deserved. Offer him a bag and a continued starting job in the offseason. Prioritize him clearly and publicly, especially more so than Underwood has for Ben.

There continues to be mismanagement by Underwood and it's getting ridiculous. He's paid like a top 10 coach, he has top 10 NIL funds, and our program is in the Big Ten, with top 10 facilities, and an unbelievable pool of money for our assistant coaches.

We deserve better results than Underwood is delivering..
 
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#1,757      
azillini1
IlliniJeevs said:
Except Morez WAS playing over Ben by the end of the season. Our highest rated recruit in program history came off the bench, and Morez thought he wouldn’t?
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He didn't against Kentucky. Rez didn't get in until 11:37 left in the first half.
 
#1,759      
idoc13
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Pretty wild how many minutes Ben got this year…
 
#1,762      
zoiks
If Morez Johnson can get paid more elsewhere, then he should leave and would be crazy not to do so. The only exception to that rule would be players that are locks to be NBA draft lottery picks. Those players could accept less money to play for a school with a coaching staff that has a history of churning out players that have success in the NBA. Anyone suggesting players shouldn’t try to maximize their pay for the few years they’re able to do so are crazy, and all of the talk about loyalty and assistant coaches is nonsense.
 
#1,765      
Birdus
How do you know? Are you his agent? Just curious. You seem to know a lot.
 
#1,766      
ILL1616
IlliniJeevs said:
Except Morez WAS playing over Ben by the end of the season. Our highest rated recruit in program history came off the bench, and Morez thought he wouldn’t?
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It’s not 1997 anymore. 4+ star recruits often play right away, particularly because our talent was slim outside of the freshmen. If they don’t they can and should leave. That’s the game.

Ignore Morez - Humrichous started over Will Riley for most of the year. Think about how awful that is.

Part of this is on the staff.
 
#1,767      
sacraig
DB11Headband said:
This is what happens when you play Ben Humrichous over a talent that is going to be All-Conference Floor/All-American ceiling good by the time his college career is over.

This is avoided if he plays as much as he deserved from Day 1, not halfway thru the year.

In this day and age, it's all about managing the egos of players, and FAR more importantly, their respective inner circles.

Hate to be blunt, but this was 100% avoidable. And our staff continues to fumble these situations. Mind-boggling and beyond frustrating.
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The Office Thank You GIF
 
#1,768      
PrandonBaul
What's even the point of a freshman anymore? It seems the overwhelming majority at the high-major level are only at your school for a single season, whether that be to the draft or to the portal. Might as well just try to get old and get guys on a two year cycle and repeat. It's way less exhausting for a fan that way at least, lol.
 
#1,771      
Trueblue777
Brad better be on the phone to the best assistants money can buy and replace Baby Brad, Hamer, and Kwa Jones NOW.
 
#1,773      
the national
NorthShoreIllini said:
This x 1000. Morez’s minutes early on when he was clearly an impactful player were comical.
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He was great, no doubt. And I don't want to undersell that he was my favorite player on this team. But he fouled a lot. And we were rolling in November and December. But everyone could see his upside; we were waiting for the game to slow down for him, for him to dominate, which was obviously going to happen.

Then he broke his hand. His inner circle being mad about Hum's minutes seems petty.
 
#1,774      
DB11Headband
LvilleILL1 said:
Trying to bite my tongue. Typical characters doing what they do. Both sides are at fault a little bit here but everyone fully blaming the staff doesn't know what the heck they are talking about.
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If Brad Underwood plays Morez as much as he should have played, none of this happens. Period. That is on the coaching and staff. Anyone else arguing otherwise needs to wake up.

Why should players show loyalty when coaches and programs don't, especially a program who has shown they will never hesitate to replace incumbents if they think they can "upgrade". Future promises be damned-those are just words. What would inhibit Brad from treating Morez's playing time the exact same way in '25/'26 as he did this szn?

Morez was insulted by Ben playing over him. That (plus the bag he is about to get) is ultimately what drove him away. And I don't fault him 0%, as much as it sucks and as awesome as I know he is going to be at his next stop.

Who's got the Tylenol?
 
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