Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#2,101      
Illini89
Thanks Brad you not playing him for half the season as he should of been caused this. Maybe you can bring Brickhouse back for another year. Great job Brad you should be on the out.
 
#2,103      
Oracle21
illiniguy24 said:
From Fighting Illini Facebook group:

Sorry for the long read, but, worth it…

Now that it's official, here's what has transpired. On Wednesday, I received a phone call from Morez Johnson Jr. We talked for 10 minutes before he brought his dad into the conversation. Here’s what took place.
Morez and his dad were genuinely upset with how Illinois used him as a player. In Morez Jr. words:

"Mr. Prince, I am not just a guy who can rebound, set picks, and dunk. I am more than that, but the person running the offense didn’t believe in me. No matter how many times I showed it in practice, it wasn’t enough. I can't allow my career to end up like Kofi (Cockburn) and Dain Dainja. Their development was hindered. If you remember, Kofi was asking to do more, but they wouldn’t let him. Look at the year Dain had, tell me they couldn’t have used that this season."

I replied by encouraging him to talk to the coaches and urged him to be patient.

Morez Sr. then added:
"No, we're not doing that. We played 30 games here, we know what they think of my son. Go back and look at the Kentucky game, KP. My son took his first mid-range shot of the season, missed it, and was immediately taken out. He sat for the next 9 or 10 minutes. They told Tomislav Ivisic to come back, and the offense ran through him again. Look at how they used the Gibbs boy, he could score, but they had him sit in the corner. Or Tre, he couldn't shoot mid-range shots only threes. Or Ty Rodgers, he can shoot, but they didn’t let him. I can’t put my son in that position again. We respect Coach Underwood, it’s not him he's a great coach, but he doesn’t control the offense."

Morez has received some bad advice from someone, which could lead to a poor decision if he ends up at a particular destination. He has already been offered $1.8 million. I’ll add more details as questions arise.
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I don’t think ending up with at least 1.8 million next year is taking bad advice. Sounds to me he’s maximizing his worth. And is going scorched earth on the staff. Ugly situation for Illinois basketball.
 
#2,109      
Dee_4_Three_83
msphdillini said:
#3 may not be true.
Unless Tyler is replaced, I do not see improvement in NIL.
BTW, Tomi most likely gone (NBA 2nd round)
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If 3 is not true now, it will be true later after an extended period of mediocrity. NIL is the monster every top-tier CBB program is trying to tame. You don't tame it by starving it. Let's keep feeding it and skip the whole mediocrity thing.
 
#2,110      
Illini89
They are going to turn. Brads inability to play guys who should be playing will cost him his job at Illinois. Him sticking with Brickhouse cost us Morez.
 
#2,112      
Luwdoo
BashCtIllini said:
I think Underwood has been pretty bad at adjusting to the new world of college basketball. He has absolutely recruited over guys and just said, oh I won't cut you, I'll just take some guy exactly like you and sit you on the bench, unless of course you'd like to leave on your own. No one can possibly say Underwood has shown loyalty to his players. So when the players don't show loyalty in return should we really be shocked.

People have asked, how does Painter do it? Well Painter has always been a system recruiter. He will not bring in guys he thinks could damage the team culture. He would rather bring in Braden Smith ranked #200 who has the skillset he wants and develop him instead of a top 50 guy that will demand the ball and cause problems in the locker room. So when you bring in that type of guy, and build a culture of team development, and of course when you win a lot, it's much easier to keep guys around.

We don't do that. We bring in, whomever Underwood thinks he can get. If that forces the hand of Goode, Harris, Hansberry, Rodgers, Dainja, etc to leave, that's the way it has been. I think the past year he made some real bad evals. I have no idea why he went after Booth. I personally never liked what I saw from Humrichous, Jake Davis made me scratch my head. Underwood has shown no interest in developing who he's got.

We have absolutely got to return Boswell, Ivisic, and White. History has shown, you can't bring in 3 or 4 new starters and expect to have a great season, no matter who those starters are. Unfortunately, it looks like we're headed that direction AGAIN.
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I think BU has been pretty good at adjusting to the new world of college basketball. The list of incoming transfers far outweighs the list of outgoing transfers.
 
#2,114      
DevILLDawg
mhuml32 said:
Not making grand statement, just want to point it out: You can't get a bigger split than this guy's home and road splits.

Home:
40.4 FG%
29.9 3FG%

Road:
47.3 FG%
50.0 3FG%
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His road % is better than our returning PG...
 
#2,115      
Tables@EddieMunster
ILLInNashville said:
If the donors turn on Brad, we're in some deep trouble.
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1743210980081.gif
 
#2,116      
TooHot4Tots
Any truth to Rez and Tre not liking Tyler…..apparently a few dust ups in practice and those 2 tired of his mouth?
 
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#2,119      
Dragons89
I will miss Morez but what the portal taketh, the portal giveth. There will be plenty of options. It won’t be as quickly as we all like but patience wasn’t all bad last year. Storr….thats all I will say.
 
#2,120      
squeezegame
i feel like the other freshman, especially will and kasparas, got a lot of attention, and this may be an adjustment for someone of Morez' background... I saw Underwood complimenting Morez and trying to hold it together for the future, but it can be an adjustment... people get in your ear, and next thing you know, he's gone. definitely a bummer
 
#2,121      
Battle89
sacraig said:
Oh, if we have near 100% roster turnover again, that's a massive, massive red flag. For a team that is allegedly top 10ish in its NIL cap and has had a really nice run of success to have wholesale turnover year in and year out, that is an obvious sign of organizational dysfunction.

To be clear, in this ear, I expect some turnover. Even 50% turnover. But 100% when you are allegedly one of the destination programs, not a feeder program... unbelievable and unhealthy.
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#2,122      
Todd99
I wonder when the day will come that we’ll get a “Breaking News” alert and find out Whitman has become B1G Commisioner or the president of a university somewhere. It’s going to happen.
 
#2,123      
doowink
NoRival said:
We recruit a different type of player. There is NO ONE on Purdues roster that I want on our roster. Frankly, they can keep their guys because that is the best offer they can get. 4 star guys have more options then 3 star guys. John Groce's players would not have joined the portal, either.

Just like Humrichous would love to come back...
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Yet the Boilers play in a few moments with a chance to advance to the Elite 8....while we watch and !!!!! about the portal system, etc
 
#2,124      
jamie13197
IlliniUnited said:
Sommerville an option? He battled Morez in high school.
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I never understood why we didn't push for him. I'll agree with the Morez family and some posters. Dainja as a example would make a mistake and get subbed out immediately. Memphis left him in games all year unless foul trouble. He averaged 18 and 9, plus nearly 70% from free throw line. He was a huge reason for quite a few of their wins. Loss in tourney. DancingBear went for 23 pts. 13 boards, 3 blocks, and 3 steals. 2 fouls. Brad takes certain players out in a split second. Having Ben on court for long stretches at end of games late in season gave me high blood pressure. Tre would be going off and he'd be forgotten on bench for 10 minutes in 2nd half. After pushing us in 1st half. No expert, but rotation management this year was mind numbing.
 
#2,125      
nichi
BalloonsTheElephant said:
There's a quote from Kofi saying that he'd like an expanded role, but Brad's only using him to win, not improve. Seems to be a common concern. It's a fair argument from both sides. Brad is here to win now, Morez is here to develop into a professional player.
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The time to develop individual skills is during the off season. When you are part of a team, during the season, you sacrifice personal goals for winning.
 
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