Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#177      
RollChief
The fact that this looks a bit like John Fanta makes this funnier haha
 
#178      
PeoriaIllini03
I know you typically need AA status for a jersey in the rafters, but we need to find a way to honor this kid. TF1 deserves his name somewhere permanent in SFC.
 
#179      
DB11Headband
Piotyr said:
Will Riley declares for the 2025 NBA draft:

bsky.app

Jeremy Werner (@jwerner247.bsky.social)

NEWS: #illini freshman wing Will Riley has declared for the 2025 NBA Draft Why it matters & what it means ⤵️ https://247sports.com/college/illinois/article/will-riley-declares-for-nba-draft-decision-illinois-fighting-illini-basketball-248462923/
bsky.app bsky.app
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Pretty interesting timing to announce this a day after the staff saw Sarr, hmm
 
#181      
RabidDawgClassic
RollChief said:
Thanks for the memories KJ.

All of the times I watched him get his pocket picked or watched him chuck one out of bounds are offset in my mind by the pull up 3 against Purdue (at 2:30 mark of recap below for anyone who somehow doesn’t remember this game). Absolute balls of steal.

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That shot must be immortalized in GIF form.

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#185      
Mapman
Quick question regarding NIL. Is there any mechanism in place to keep the agents from making ‘extra’ by influencing clients to some teams over others?
 
#187      
ptgrd23
Great to have two potential first rounders. Has to help us recruit with future 1 and dones :chief:

1. Face the music - Will is not coming back unless he gets injured at NBA camp. His size, handles, jumpshot and moves show great potential - George Gervin redux?

2. Sarr is not committing soon because he does not have to. Its not like we will pull the offer and give it to someone else. Bigger risk is it is hard to turn down Duke if they offer significantly more $$$. These kids are already professional basketball players.

3. I like Miller coming back. Low cost high ceiling mature player add. If things go badly and we don't get Sarr and we don't get a great 20 ppg 2/3 you could do worse.

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#192      
the juiceman cometh
Do insiders have an inclination as to whether Sarr will enter the draft? Deadline for draft entry is April 26, but the indication from some insiders has been that Sarr won't make a final decision before the end of May. So I am assuming that means he will enter the draft, participate in workouts/combine (if invited) etc.?
 
#194      
ManlyLibrarian
Indy Illini Fan said:
You’ll never hear me complaining that a kid has the freaking fire and passion to compete and win …

We could’ve used more of it last year … From the head coach and the players …
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I remember Miller as one of the few who really came to play against Loyola in the train wreck of a tourney loss against them in '21. If I remember correctly he got not much more than 20 minutes but was the only scorer aside from Kofi in double digits.
 
#196      
HensonHall71
ChiefGritty said:
But like that's the thing, right? How much did TSJ actually improve his draft stock? 10 picks maybe? On the first round bubble those 10 picks are all important, but I feel like TSJ is a classic example of someone's season-long proof of total mastery over college basketball not really changing the shape of what the NBA saw for his future.

They do not care, at all, how good of a college basketball player you are, how much you contribute to your college basketball team winning. It's about what skills and traits you show and what those indicate about the path of your development over the next 3-5+ years.
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I think TSJ improved by more than 10 slots, but we’ll never know how much the charges impacted his stock- but he also did that as a 23 year old! It clearly had an impact to come back and show on the court what he could do. Other examples from last year include Clingan and Edey- both came back, didn’t have very good athletic testing numbers but showed how dominant they could be on the court and became lottery picks! Knecht, same thing. I agree the NBA is trying to project the players attributes and skills and not looking at team success- But I think you are way underselling what having a really good year on the court and proving it in college does for a players draft stock, there are too many examples of players coming back and having a great year and their draft stock rising significantly
 
#199      
ptgrd23
Team success - Deron 3rd and Luther 24th pick - draft status was helped by great season and run to finals. Roger was not drafted

UNC
Felton 5th
May 13th
McCants 14th
 
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