LadyLoyalty
- Indian Wells, CA
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Would we have similar leverage with Dame Sarr's decision to come here vs Duke as we had with Will Riley when his options were here or Kentucky?
iirc (and correct me if I'm wrong) but one argument for Will to come here was that he would be able to make an instant impact and have a lot more opportunity for minutes than if he went to Kentucky.
If Dame goes to Duke, will he have the same ability to showcase his skills as he would if he came here?
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
Elite reference here LLYessir
Go back to the end of the season where I stated that both KJ and WR will enter the draft. Dropping out of it was never a possibility.
I think that is problematic, though. If he was sold on Illinois, presumably he would just commit. Waiting just gives more teams a chance to throw out bigger and crazier offers. As teams start to miss on their top targets, that will free up money for a guy like Sarr. I'm sure the closer it gets to commitment time, the higher the amounts of money teams throw at kids, and we seemed to get outbid a fair amount last year. Why should we feel confident about not getting outbid with Sarr this year?
I typically refrain from weighing in on these types of discussions, but I do think it’s fair to observe that our in-game coaching adjustments could have better supported KJ. Once opposing defenses began countering our initial offensive scheme - particularly by jamming the pick-and-roll and disrupting passing lanes - it didn’t seem like we had a clear response. Their confidence was understandably bolstered by our low three-point shooting percentage, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to consistently make them pay for that strategy.
We're not exactly dealing from a position of strength here. It's simple economics. Supply and demand. With Will gone, I'm not seeing big time 2's and 3's that are readily available or any that are interested in us. Our supply is minimal, but our demand is high.
We're not in a position to play poker here, especially if a school like Duke could potentially get a seat at the table.
Lock him up and let's move on. That said, this won't be anywhere near that easy.
Yeah I mean this is where Duke doesn't make a ton of sense.
4 top 25 recruits coming in, including 5-star Shelton Henderson who would likely be a direct competitor for minutes with Sarr. There's a chance Tyrese Proctor comes back. Could Isaiah Evans come back? Could Sion James be back? Could Caleb Foster? Nobody from Duke has hit the transfer portal yet as far as I can see, so outside of Flagg/Maluach/Kneuppel there's a decent chance they get back a good chunk of minutes from returning players in addition to 4 freshmen who are expecting big minutes right out of the gate.
If I'm recruiting Sarr I'm pointing out that Isaiah Evans was the #13 recruit in the nation and he got just 14 minutes a game and is now showing up 2nd round on mocks. Patrick Ngongba was #21 and he just got 10 minutes per, and isn't even on mocks.
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This is my biggest complaint. Loyola did it to Ayo. We still haven't figured it out. Easy answer is to short roll, putting your screener behind the two defenders. Now it is 4v3 and when you have a Sarr or Will type player, it's an easy finish or a kick out for three. We teach this in 4th grade.
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
Will’s progression through his likely one year here was, honestly, everything you’d hope for. The B1G is a grinder. After some early success, he hit a lull like so many freshmen do, but he fought through it and became the absolute killer we all knew he could be by the end of the season. Sure, I’d love to have him back, but he has nothing more to prove in college. He's got an incredibly intriguing bag of offensive tricks. He's got the height. The rest of it isn't gonna get much better with another year in college. I hope he kills it at the combine and finds the right landing spot in the draft. Watching him play in the orange and blue was a joy. I'm happy to have him represent us at the next level.
Sometimes it takes leaving home to realize what you had at home.
Would be pretty neat if Will ends up landing around where ESPN has him (#15 prospect) and seeing the Illini have two players drafted top 20. When was the last time that happened? Ever? We had two players drafted in the first round of both the 1989 and 2005 drafts but they weren't both in the top 20 (11th and 27th for '89 and 3rd and 24th for '05).
These highlights feel like they are from 10 lifetimes ago….
We have a huge sell for recruits... both kids upped their draft stock in a major way... KJ wasnt a lotto guy prior to Illinois and don't think Will was even on radars until he suited up for us
In 1957 George Bon Salle was picked #7 and Harv Schmidt was picked #11. That #11 pick was in the second round though (only 8 teams).
RichardKeenesCousin
Richard Keene's Cousin
Step back JakThat shot must be immortalized in GIF form.
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
I think we did. It was Tre and Will streaking to the basket for feeds from Tomas. They neutralized KJ by doubling him and leaving Tomas free. As a result Tomas took more 3 points (and hit them) as well as replaced KJ as main playmaker.
Side effect was more turnovers when KJ tried to force it thru the double team. When Iowa State double teamed Marcus in sweet 16 Marcus was strong enough to step thru the double team and hit the open man. KJ was not.
Unlike the elite 8 team, this year we were neither experienced nor strong. Physical teams took advantage of that (Michigan State, Duke, Kentucky).
Side effect was more turnovers when KJ tried to force it thru the double team. When Iowa State double teamed Marcus in sweet 16 Marcus was strong enough to step thru the double team and hit the open man. KJ was not.
Unlike the elite 8 team, this year we were neither experienced nor strong. Physical teams took advantage of that (Michigan State, Duke, Kentucky).
Has Mama's attitude changed, or is he now mature enough to no longer listen to her?
Or we have a bigger NIL bag to spread around, and Mama's still gonna mama.
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