Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[Battle89]

Doesn’t sound like it.

I've probably posted something like this before. I think Illinois staff at all levels deserve a lot of kudos for being very quick and proactive over the last few years, during the NIL / portal 'transition' phase. We unquestionably had advantages due to the quick thinking and effective actions of many smart people.

But over the longer term, I don't know. Just because the money is on top of the table now, rather than under it, does not change either who has it, or who is willing to spend it. I think in the end things will largely fall where they always have, with some exceptions (I'm thinking for example of BYU, where there may have been moral hesitation to cheat in the old days, but who today seems to be spending like the end times are coming).

Big budgets require crazy rich alums with crazy willingness to support their school. We've never had an abundance of those, and it certainly does not help that with two of our richest, one supports Michigan and the other gets repeated crapped on by faculty for political reasons.

Will close here, again with deep appreciation for Josh, Brad, Bret, and the dozens of others who work hard to get us to that next level.

 

[illinifan1971]

Morez will be fine. He’ll be playing the 3.

/s

Morez will be shooting three pointers from the wing. It doesn't matter.

 

[jacekpardol]

This is insane. Need to have a salary cap.

Why so the only team that will be capped is us while all the other teams strike under the table deals?

 

[AnnaMay]

Michigan stays active in transfer portal, adds 7-foot-3 Big Ten center

Michigan added a 7-foot-3 center from another Big Ten program

www.mlive.com

Man i hate to say it but dusty maye is killing it for scum so far

You mean the donors are killing it.

 

[ptgrd23]

If Morez wants to play in NBA - regardless of where he goes to college

1. Learn to shoot passable (30%) from NBA 3
2. Learn some post moves- Kofi drop step was a thing of beauty
3. Learn to shoot free throws (70%)
4. Improve his handles
5. Improve his passing
6. Get stronger, faster, quicker
7. Learn to shoot a mid range jumper

He needs to spend 3 years at a school that will teach him this.

 

[FI_890526]

The order for radio silence on potential transfers in full effect after missing on Josh Dix.

Almost all information is coming from the player side, mostly from agents.

Big hitter Illinois donors want results this year.

Btw, no one could possibly know how many teams are spending $10m. GMAB.

 

[I-L-L 1318]

The order for radio silence on potential transfers in full effect after missing on Josh Dix.

Almost all information is coming from the player side, mostly from agents.

Big hitter Illinois donors want results this year.

Reassuring to hear!

 

[GatorMcKlusky]

If everyone is overpaying, they aren’t overpaying

The problem is that everyone in college is a free agent at the end of the season. Pro sports would be dead if it weren't for multi-year contracts.

 

[LvilleILL1]

The order for radio silence on potential transfers in full effect after missing on Josh Dix.

Almost all information is coming from the player side, mostly from agents.

Big hitter Illinois donors want results this year.

Btw, no one could possibly know how many teams are spending $10m. GMAB.

Staff is not leaking much, nor should they.

 

[RockfordIllini]

The order for radio silence on potential transfers in full effect after missing on Josh Dix.

Almost all information is coming from the player side, mostly from agents.

Big hitter Illinois donors want results this year.

I get the sentiment…I believe I’ve heard we had the second most expensive roster in the BIG this year and finished 7th and didn’t make the second weekend.

That said, we were also one of the youngest and least experienced rosters in P4 after having one of the oldest last year. Seems like in the portal era the magic formula is some combination of talent + age + continuity. So to hit that magic formula a team is bound to have a “rebuilding year” like we have where we basically lose all of a very experienced team. We could continue to just load up on senior transfers, but then we never get that continuity piece. I realize we lost a couple of key pieces to the portal anyways but a 2 year plan to go all in in 2026 still seems very much alive. We should get 40-50% of our minutes back next year which ain’t half bad in this day and age.

And as far as this season goes, maybe we didn’t quite hit our ceiling. But we were hit really hard by the injury/illness bug this year. Better luck in that department I think we probably win the 1-2 more conference games, maybe get a top 5 seeds and then maybe get the second weekend. KJ clearly wasn’t right after his injury. The last month makes it easy to forget how he carried us in November and December. A crazy ride with the huge wins and the Blowout losses but still fun overall.

I appreciate the staff playing the long game in completing the roster. I’m sure we will get 2-3 more good pieces. And hopefully we get a new coach that can help us with defense. Think we are poised to make a run next year.

 

[IlliniFan42]

The order for radio silence on potential transfers in full effect after missing on Josh Dix.

Almost all information is coming from the player side, mostly from agents.

Big hitter Illinois donors want results this year.

Btw, no one could possibly know how many teams are spending $10m. GMAB.

Couldn't anybody with transfer portal access estimate based on transfers accumulated so far? I thought the dollar amounts were transparent in the portal itself.

 

[Illiniindian]

The order for radio silence on potential transfers in full effect after missing on Josh Dix.

Almost all information is coming from the player side, mostly from agents.

Big hitter Illinois donors want results this year.

Btw, no one could possibly know how many teams are spending $10m. GMAB.

so basically Doners have become owners of the programs as they determine the payroll of each team.
Interesting

 

[mhuml32]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1910735080919888313

This is aligning with comments I made earlier this spring. This isn't a traditional market. Worrying about over-paying, return on investment, etc. are not rational thoughts.

 

[ptgrd23]

I get the sentiment…I believe I’ve heard we had the second most expensive roster in the BIG this year and finished 7th and didn’t make the second weekend.

That said, we were also one of the youngest and least experienced rosters in P4 after having one of the oldest last year. Seems like in the portal era the magic formula is some combination of talent + age + continuity. So to hit that magic formula a team is bound to have a “rebuilding year” like we have where we basically lose all of a very experienced team. We could continue to just load up on senior transfers, but then we never get that continuity piece. I realize we lost a couple of key pieces to the portal anyways but a 2 year plan to go all in in 2026 still seems very much alive. We should get 40-50% of our minutes back next year which ain’t half bad in this day and age.

40%-50% minutes back

I went to Illinois and Carnegie Mellon business school.

Illinois alum Khan owns Jacksonville Jaguars 4-13
Carnegie Mellon business school alum Tepper owns Charlotte Panthers 5-12

Not sure I want succesful alums running our basketball or football program

 

[illinifiedler]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1910735080919888313

This is aligning with comments I made earlier this spring. This isn't a traditional market. Worrying about over-paying, return on investment, etc. are not rational thoughts.

Isaac Trotter said Mailk Moore's asking price was over $1 Million... LOL

 

[SVSTORM]

The order for radio silence on potential transfers in full effect after missing on Josh Dix.

Almost all information is coming from the player side, mostly from agents.

Big hitter Illinois donors want results this year.

Btw, no one could possibly know how many teams are spending $10m. GMAB.

Your updates, even when vague, are feeding families. Thank you.

 

[NarrowJ]

I get the sentiment…I believe I’ve heard we had the second most expensive roster in the BIG this year and finished 7th and didn’t make the second weekend.

That's the thing: nobody knows what anyone is spending

From how everything worked out last year and this year so far, constantly being outbid for players, seems our NIL is closer to the 20-40 range than top 10

 

[Iamgroot]

You mean the donors are killing it.

Yea that's without a doubt there donors have definitely stepped up both in basketball and football over the past year

 

[FloridaMan]

The order for radio silence on potential transfers in full effect after missing on Josh Dix.

Almost all information is coming from the player side, mostly from agents.

Big hitter Illinois donors want results this year.

Btw, no one could possibly know how many teams are spending $10m. GMAB.

Wonder what grade they gave our team for the season? This is the point many have been making. How long will they continue writing checks, and can they get us to the top tier? It is good to hear there is a reason for very little solid news; just discouraging seeing Michigan having so much success right out of the gate.

Edit: writing the post as others were posting salaries info. I have a hard time believing donors will not eventually tire of modest results for premium contributions but maybe the supply of donors is unlimited?? And NIL isn't supposed to be "salary." It's become a ridiculous auction to the highest bidder, but nobody knows who is bidding what.

 

[Illinicpa14]

That's the thing: nobody knows what anyone is spending

From how everything worked out last year and this year so far, constantly being outbid for players, seems our NIL is closer to the 20-40 range than top 10

I think it’s more how others are constructing the rosters. A team with half our NIL can still bid against us for their 1-2 higher end guys that may be our 4th highest.

It’s really an equation of total dollars in the top 50 or so programs divided by the top 100-200 or so players. That’s how you get your average “value”

 

[Heisenbobble]

Isaac Trotter said Mailk Moore's asking price was over $1 Million... LOL

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidiculous!"

 

[NarrowJ]

I think it’s more how others are constructing the rosters. A team with half our NIL can still bid against us for their 1-2 higher end guys that may be our 4th highest.

It’s really an equation of total dollars in the top 50 or so programs divided by the top 100-200 or so players. That’s how you get your average “value”

There's literally no equation at all, because nobody knows. If other teams are happy paying $1.5M for two guys and then fill out the rest of their roster with $100k guys, then you're right, it makes it harder for us to get those $1.5M guys (who are then also being sold on a larger role on those other teams as well).

 

[IlliniInSturgisMi]

I get the sentiment…I believe I’ve heard we had the second most expensive roster in the BIG this year and finished 7th and didn’t make the second weekend.

That said, we were also one of the youngest and least experienced rosters in P4 after having one of the oldest last year. Seems like in the portal era the magic formula is some combination of talent + age + continuity. So to hit that magic formula a team is bound to have a “rebuilding year” like we have where we basically lose all of a very experienced team. We could continue to just load up on senior transfers, but then we never get that continuity piece. I realize we lost a couple of key pieces to the portal anyways but a 2 year plan to go all in in 2026 still seems very much alive. We should get 40-50% of our minutes back next year which ain’t half bad in this day and age.

And as far as this season goes, maybe we didn’t quite hit our ceiling. But we were hit really hard by the injury/illness bug this year. Better luck in that department I think we probably win the 1-2 more conference games, maybe get a top 5 seeds and then maybe get the second weekend. KJ clearly wasn’t right after his injury. The last month makes it easy to forget how he carried us in November and December. A crazy ride with the huge wins and the Blowout losses but still fun overall.

I appreciate the staff playing the long game in completing the roster. I’m sure we will get 2-3 more good pieces. And hopefully we get a new coach that can help us with defense. Think we are poised to make a run next year.

If we were getting a new coach wouldn't we have done so already? I was so hoping for Stephen Gentry.

 

[Ryllini]

The order for radio silence on potential transfers in full effect after missing on Josh Dix.

Almost all information is coming from the player side, mostly from agents.

Big hitter Illinois donors want results this year.

Btw, no one could possibly know how many teams are spending $10m. GMAB.

How do you feel our dollars and sense guy, Neel Ganta, is performing up to this point?
@LvilleILL

 

[RabidDawgClassic]

I recognize that every player, at some level, is concerned about his role on the team and his dollar value, but on the coaching side, there has to be a value on the player’s desire to win conference and national championships. I would hope that would be part of the psychological equation the Illinois staff considers when recruiting. We’ve had our share of players who seem to be happier being “the guy” on lesser teams and I wonder if there’s a tried and true method for detecting that.