Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#2,801      
From the cheap seats
Second place is 1st loser said:
I'm going to make this comment, then I'm going to keep it at basketball.

Anyone getting upset with BU or these players are short-sighted, lack the ability to put themselves in someone other's shoes, have no financial skills management and put their own need to be entertained up against life's reality.

There are VERY few of these guys that will play in the NBA and make millions. When you take ALL of the transfers into consideration, we're talking about less than 1%.

Now, let's just be honest. Our players didn't come here for an engineering or finance degree. Players aren't going to Michigan for a law degree. The value of the scholarship being the driver of a great education and job placement for life after basketball is really more of a focal at the mid major level and obviously some at the high major level, who don't play. Those guys aren't getting a bunch of money thrown at them and they are fully aware that the value of the degree matters.

A LOT of these guys have a four year earning period, which sets them up and gets them off to a good life start. There is not ONE parent here that if school X offered $750,000, but school Y offered $2,000,000 wouldn't be sending their kid to school Y. Not one, so quit the hypocritical BS. If Morez can put $6,000,000 in the bank over the next three years versus $2,250,000.....he would be an idiot not to do it.

People want to bury Brad, bury the player's loyalty and come up with the offensive game plan being THE driving force. Is it a consideration because they feel that a different offense enhances their chances at getting to the NBA? Absolutely, but that's all things(money) being equal.

How many people actually believe that guys like KJ, TI, Riley, etc. had dreams of leaving beautiful areas of the world to live in central Illinois for 2 years? That's ridiculous and obviously not the case. It's money and it's the promise to be the focus to get to the NBA in one year. You don't think our offense, which gave everyone the green light to shoot the ball(NBA offense), was a huge recruiting tool? Of course it was.

Does anyone really believe that Sarr wouldn't want to come here to enjoy the scent of the south farms? No, he'd come here for a major payday and a green light to launch.

Morez, is making a ton of money and will be given the chance to square up and let it fly. That's his one and only shot to ever be sniffed by a pro team. That said, does everything remember how we had no depth on the paint? We had Ben as a big coming off the bench. That wasn't good for anybody. Knowing that and getting information that our only physical big wants to play outside of the paint.....nobody sees that as a problem? Morez's biggest value to our roster was staying in the lane, getting offensive rebounds, keeping plays alive and finishing with putbacks. He doesn't want to do that anymore. Well, that does us NO good and weakens what we had. At that point, why not just bring Ty back at half the price?

Some(not close to all) of the people here need to grow up and think things through before saying ridiculous things. The portal rules and NIL is what it is. It's driven by money and guys who have a four year window to max out on profits.....unless they have some family wealth, they'd be absolutely stupid to not start a bidding war. These coaches know this and have to cover their butts.

Brad is going to put a good team together by ripping off another team's players, that fix gaps and are comfortable in roles. That's why bringing Ben back makes sense. If he's cool being 3rd off the bench, that's a perfect fit. If we're at a point where he's starting, it's a failure.

It's easy to be fans and play with someone else's money and their dreams. It's also easy to sit back and criticize the coach for not agreeing to everything every player wants.

Step off the ledge, take the fan hat off and quit acting like ANYONE here can put themselves in the players and coaches positions. It's easy to sit in the cheap seats and criticize when the millions aren't underneath your noses.
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I’m surprised at Morez leaving, but probably shouldn’t be. I was surprised when Tre said he was coming back.
I’ll reserve my opinion until the roster takes shape. And my user name certainly is appropriate for my opinions anyway.
 
#2,807      
RabidDawgClassic
Second place is 1st loser said:
I'm going to make this comment, then I'm going to keep it at basketball.

Anyone getting upset with BU or these players are short-sighted, lack the ability to put themselves in someone other's shoes, have no financial skills management and put their own need to be entertained up against life's reality.

There are VERY few of these guys that will play in the NBA and make millions. When you take ALL of the transfers into consideration, we're talking about less than 1%.

Now, let's just be honest. Our players didn't come here for an engineering or finance degree. Players aren't going to Michigan for a law degree. The value of the scholarship being the driver of a great education and job placement for life after basketball is really more of a focal at the mid major level and obviously some at the high major level, who don't play. Those guys aren't getting a bunch of money thrown at them and they are fully aware that the value of the degree matters.

A LOT of these guys have a four year earning period, which sets them up and gets them off to a good life start. There is not ONE parent here that if school X offered $750,000, but school Y offered $2,000,000 wouldn't be sending their kid to school Y. Not one, so quit the hypocritical BS. If Morez can put $6,000,000 in the bank over the next three years versus $2,250,000.....he would be an idiot not to do it.

People want to bury Brad, bury the player's loyalty and come up with the offensive game plan being THE driving force. Is it a consideration because they feel that a different offense enhances their chances at getting to the NBA? Absolutely, but that's all things(money) being equal.

How many people actually believe that guys like KJ, TI, Riley, etc. had dreams of leaving beautiful areas of the world to live in central Illinois for 2 years? That's ridiculous and obviously not the case. It's money and it's the promise to be the focus to get to the NBA in one year. You don't think our offense, which gave everyone the green light to shoot the ball(NBA offense), was a huge recruiting tool? Of course it was.

Does anyone really believe that Sarr wouldn't want to come here to enjoy the scent of the south farms? No, he'd come here for a major payday and a green light to launch.

Morez, is making a ton of money and will be given the chance to square up and let it fly. That's his one and only shot to ever be sniffed by a pro team. That said, does everything remember how we had no depth on the paint? We had Ben as a big coming off the bench. That wasn't good for anybody. Knowing that and getting information that our only physical big wants to play outside of the paint.....nobody sees that as a problem? Morez's biggest value to our roster was staying in the lane, getting offensive rebounds, keeping plays alive and finishing with putbacks. He doesn't want to do that anymore. Well, that does us NO good and weakens what we had. At that point, why not just bring Ty back at half the price?

Some(not close to all) of the people here need to grow up and think things through before saying ridiculous things. The portal rules and NIL is what it is. It's driven by money and guys who have a four year window to max out on profits.....unless they have some family wealth, they'd be absolutely stupid to not start a bidding war. These coaches know this and have to cover their butts.

Brad is going to put a good team together by ripping off another team's players, that fix gaps and are comfortable in roles. That's why bringing Ben back makes sense. If he's cool being 3rd off the bench, that's a perfect fit. If we're at a point where he's starting, it's a failure.

It's easy to be fans and play with someone else's money and their dreams. It's also easy to sit back and criticize the coach for not agreeing to everything every player wants.

Step off the ledge, take the fan hat off and quit acting like ANYONE here can put themselves in the players and coaches positions. It's easy to sit in the cheap seats and criticize when the millions aren't underneath your noses.
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Excited Season 6 GIF by The Office
 
#2,808      
ChiTownIllini23
Second place is 1st loser said:
How many 5 star recruits does Matt Painter have on his roster. He's a believer in system recruits and development. Our fans here would want to DESTROY Brad if he didn't bring in a top 15 class with NBA prospects.

Izzo does the same thing. You don't see MSU chasing one and dones. He's a system guy that is only interested in guys who commit to the program and not the NBA after one year.

Our fans wouldn't accept that style of recruiting. This off-season is a great example. Here we are again with our main targets who want to be drafted in a year. What do you expect is going to happen?

How many players off of Purdue are going to be drafted? They'll be back for year four because they committed to the program, not the NBA.

Our fans would absolutely lose their minds with an off-season like that. They have coaches that don't believe in the portal and lean on development.

That's not us. We're chasing Dame Sarr and are trying to come up with 7 figures to bring other transfers in.
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This is such an apologist post for Brad. And no, the fanbase is not to blame for him not being able to retain his players. If he was able to retain and develop his recruits - Miller, Curbelo, RJ, Podz, Goode, Epps, Clark, Morez, etc like Painter did then he didn’t have to bring in guys like Plummer, Domask, Guerrier with limited eligibility.

Don’t even get started on MSU. They’re able to recruit higher ranked prospects AND able to retain them.
 
#2,809      
Illiniindian
illiram said:
Ok this is becoming a joke. How long until college basketball becomes the NBA, and people stop watching? The NBA became a snoozefest, and we sadly aren't far behind. No one is acting quickly enough to establish some rules, parameters, contracts, etc. to stop this nonsense. If i was age 18-23, I would take the money also if someone threw a 7 figure amount at me. Anyone in their right mind would. The NCAA is and always has been a disgrace, and it continues to show. The leadership punts on hard issues, and looks the other way.
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It will work itself when TV ratings collapse and fans stop coming to games. Sad
 
#2,810      
Second place is 1st loser
OneTime3 said:
I won't be worried IF we get Sarr. Kid looks like a beast and plays exactly like what I would expect us to want for our "system".
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And when he leaves for the NBA a year from today, how will you feel? Your comment is at the crux of the problem. We're not interested in recruiting system guys. Our fans want one and dones, then get pi$$ed when they're one and dones.
 
#2,812      
HailtotheChief
TheodoreRex said:
Let me put in a sentence- Underwood doesn't build the type of culture and rapport with players that inclines them to want to keep playing for him... There is such a massive difference in the culture of our football and women's basketball program than in our men's basketball program- and it's a big time problem.

But please, do add your own version of what you think the them is (I'd love to hear it)
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I don't think it matters if Tyler does well or not as a coach. I do not think Head Coaches making the type of money they do an their assistants do should be allowed to hire their children. It is a major conflict of interests plus can lead to other issues on the staff and with players. I am not saying this happenned at Illinois. I know I have had leadership positions and could not hire my kids. I actually agree with this policy and if Tyler ever leaves I hope uts one Josh Whitman implements going forward. Tough to do now.
 
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#2,814      
LasVegasIllini
TriangleIL said:
Does this not feel like the deflating years after 2005 for Bruce though? We realized he wasn't adapting, at the time I was a long term hold on Bruce, maybe too long. Now I see programs like Louisville move quickly and improve quickly. With the resources available to us, and in Josh I trust. We should be able to have more program stability.
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I totally agree with you and please I’m so tired of people bringing up The John Groce years like the only basketball coaches to choose from Is Groce or Underwood. John Groce hasn’t been the University of Illinois men’s basketball coach in 9 years . Brad has been the Illinois men’s basketball coach for 9 seasons and Brad has the luxury of NIL and the Transfer Portal something Groce and Weber didn’t have. Some of us fans see the writing on the wall with Brad Underwood. High player and assistant coach turnover. Players leaving because they don’t want to play for Brad or Tyler Underwood. Brad being stubborn not firing Hammer or his son. Too much drama not enough winning
 
#2,815      
One Man Fast Break
Second place is 1st loser said:
How many 5 star recruits does Matt Painter have on his roster. He's a believer in system recruits and development. Our fans here would want to DESTROY Brad if he didn't bring in a top 15 class with NBA prospects.

Izzo does the same thing. You don't see MSU chasing one and dones. He's a system guy that is only interested in guys who commit to the program and not the NBA after one year.

Our fans wouldn't accept that style of recruiting. This off-season is a great example. Here we are again with our main targets who want to be drafted in a year. What do you expect is going to happen?

How many players off of Purdue are going to be drafted? They'll be back for year four because they committed to the program, not the NBA.

Our fans would absolutely lose their minds with an off-season like that. They have coaches that don't believe in the portal and lean on development.

That's not us. We're chasing Dame Sarr and are trying to come up with 7 figures to bring other transfers in.
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The only reason fans would lose their mind is because they know anyone brought in is probably leaving in a year anyways. If Illinois targeted multi year guys, made development and retention a focus, people would be all for it because they had a proven track record and “trust” in the process regardless of anyone’s star rating. As is, everyone leaves anyways so you may as well just get the most talented guys available. There is zero reason to ever trust Underwood can build a multi year program in the present day.
 
#2,819      
ChiTownIllini23
RabidDawgClassic said:
Last year in the portal we lost:

Luke Goode
Coleman Hawkins
Sencire Harris
Amani Hansberry
Nico Moretti
Dain Dainja
Brandon Lieb

Only one of those players played in the NCAA tournament this year.

The previous year we lost

RJ Melendez
Jayden Epps
Skyy Clark
Benjamin Bosman Verdonk

Two of those players never again played in the NCAA tournaments. The other two had to transfer to a third team for that to happen.

Even before that we lost

Adam Miller
Andre Curbelo
Jacob Grandeson

Miller and Curbelo flamed out at multiple schools. Grandeson rode the bench for Duke. He did see tourney action though.

So you’ll excuse me when I don’t wring my hands over players going out when those coming in have all had consistent trips to the NCAA Tournament. I mean, Tre White’s only tourney experience came this year. I’m pretty sure he’s replaceable.
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They went on worse teams/smaller schools for bigger roles. But doesn’t mean they couldn’t have developed into better players and collectively moved the team forward had they stayed.
 
#2,820      
derrick6
ILL1616 said:
To BU’s credit, they did seem to shift the offensive approach towards the end of Feb.

But how come we never (rarely) see designed sets or out of bounds plays setting up easy buckets for bigs? See this play from Houston

https://twitter.com/x/status/1905843922057777213
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Teams don’t let guys circle around freely without getting bumped and held up so that rhythm play is not there. Surprisingly poor defense by Purdue.
 
#2,821      
Ryllini
I hope we are checking in on our incoming freshman. It's been talked about 1 of them developing for a year. This board will really lose it if we build them up as a redshirt and watch them walk out.
 
#2,822      
NarrowJ
One Man Fast Break said:
No the offense largely failed to do what it was supposed to but the personnel covered it up via rebounds which are a result of physical ability.
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The scheme (attack the offensive glass) worked, but the personnel failed because they couldn't make shots

Its honestly a bit of a chicken vs egg problem

Regardless, top 3 offense, top 15 offense... we're gonna fire him?
 
#2,823      
21ChampaignSt
Second place is 1st loser said:
Our fans would absolutely lose their minds with an off-season like that. They have coaches that don't believe in the portal and lean on development.

That's not us. We're chasing Dame Sarr and are trying to come up with 7 figures to bring other transfers in.
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This is exactly the cause for all the consternation. It's painfully obvious to everyone that we need to chase shiny objects less and develop more. Saying that we would lose our minds if the staff retained and developed players is wild.

Michigan State has 7 RSCI top 50 players on their roster. So talent and continuity isn't an either or thing. You can do both well.
 
#2,824      
WyattEarp
One Man Fast Break said:
The offense was only good this year because they dominated offensive rebounding which leads to a ton of high percentage second chance looks. The team's scheme actually kind of sucked. They basically just missed a lot of threes and as we saw in the RO32, turned it over a lot. I'm not giving the Assistant Coach credit for a lot of offensive rebounds. That's a personnel thing more than any X and O.
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The Bolded: Not necessarily…it’s also a strategy/coaching philosophy thing, too.
College Basketball Sport GIF by NCAA March Madness

As to our scheme. I’d have to agree that it was overall kinda vanilla. But I do think we did run some good stuff here and there. If we got good consistent execution it wouldn’t have to be super complicated.
 
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