Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#251      
I don't know how you watch college sports today and come away with thinking the quality of play has gone down when I think the opposite is true.
The 7 on 7 positions are much more skilled now and playing more sophisticated ball on the football side which leads to a higher "quality" game in many ways even as some of the fundamental skills of line play and tackling have declined due to concussion-related practice limitations.

In basketball though, guys can shoot better in general and the game has opened up from a refereeing perspective especially in places like the Big Ten, but lack of coherent rosters playing in the same system over time along with the dearth of NBA talent has made the quality of play quite noticeably worse I think.

But the quality of play in college has never been good, that's not why we love it. We love the tradition and the stakes and the passion. It's the strip mining of THOSE things that's really eroding the game.
 
#252      
Loved those early 2000s Kings teams. They filled an NBA void for me after MJ retired the 2nd time.

One of the best passing teams I can remember with Divac, Webber, White Chocolate, and then Mike Bibby.

A couple ahead-of- their-time Euros in Peja and Hedo.

And a couple hometown heroes in Nick Anderson then Danville's Keon Clark.

Just couldn't get past Shaq and Kobe.
100% I absolutely loved that Kings team and Peja. I thought I was the only kid in the Midwest to rock Sacramento Kings gear during that era.

I think it would be awesome on multiple levels to see Andrej end up here.
 
#255      
How much did NIL funding Ben receive for 2024-25? Will he receive more, less, or the same next season?

MORE ???

No No No GIF


Ben made over half a million here last year … No matter what we pay him it’ll be more than he’s worth IMO and should be allocated elsewhere …

Ben made more than Domask did …
 
#257      
Maybe someone like 6'2" 184-pound Sophomore George Kimble III of Eastern Kentucky?

Or 6'4" 210-pound Sophomore AJ Brown of Ohio?
 
#258      
Who are we almost assured to get soon barring the craziest thing to ever happen but seems to be 90% likely to happen?
 
#260      
Ben made over half a million here last year … No matter what we pay him it’ll be more than he’s worth IMO and should be allocated elsewhere …

Ben made more than Domask did …
I get the frustration with Ben, I think in the right role he can be helpful but I agree he was overused last season. But is this supposed to be a lot? If we paid that much to every player in a 10-man rotation it seems like we'd have one of the cheapest rosters in the Big Ten at this point.

He clearly got paid more than Domask mostly because of rapid inflation in this particular market. I mean, we're talking about role players getting paid 3x what was once considered a massive NIL haul by Nigel Pack. Dain is apparently getting offered 3x what we offered Kofi to come back after he had an All-American season in which he was possibly the most dominant player in all of college ball. I don't think these comparisons from a player's haul one year to another player in a different year will work until this market stabilizes.
 
#262      
Is it possible the donors, (or wherever the money comes from for NIL) are not happy with having gave #2 money in the B1G last year and getting a #7 result and a first weekend exit from the tournament?

Possibly they're not going to step up again in hopes that another less that great season will get BU's seat hot enough to force a change?

Just something I was thinking about since it seems we don't have the buying power that many other teams seem to have.
 
#263      
There are not many NBA players with meaningful roles making less than $4 million. And LOTS of NBA players make more than their coaches, some of them make double or more.

$4MM seems like a completely appropriate salary for a difference-making star in college basketball.

This sport is destroying itself. But it's the collapse of the connection of players to schools and schools to conferences that has done it, the size of the dollar figures involved is just noise.


To be clear, this lawsuit is challenging the "five years" part of "five years to play four". Not the "to play four" part.

Jett Elad's career:

2019 - Redshirt at Ohio
2020 - Played 3 games (their entire season due to Covid) at Ohio ---> doesn't count due to Covid waiver
2021 - Played at Ohio
2022 - Played at Juco
2023 - Played at UNLV
2024 - Played at UNLV

Per the new rules the Juco year doesn't count so he should have one more. But the rules did not extend the five year clock which started for him in 2019, so he's run out of time. It's a weird edge case.
Thank you for looking into this so I didn't have to!
 
#265      
I realize I am naive, but I don't see how this is sustainable. $4 million for Dain? I mean I consider him a good player, but that means to have a shot at the Natty, teams have to pony up $20 for a starting lineup? Plus more for a decent 8-9 man rotation? Where is this money coming from suddenly? Are the big money donors getting a return? I'm sure they didn't get wealthy by making investments with sub par ROI. How are athletic departments going to service their debt/bonds in a rising interest rate environment? Seems like just a few short years ago when it was impossible ever dream of finding the money needed to replace SFC.
 
#272      
Where do we stand with Miller and when is he planning on announcing.
 
#273      
Let's say we don't add any of Sarr, Coward, Watkins, or Stojakovic. One crazy option would be to instead add 4-5 young players, all Sophomores, and develop them! We could have them for two seasons, which would also provide continuity from the 25-26 season to the 26-27 season.

For example, here are 5 potential Sophomores available still via the transfer portal:
George Kimble III, Eastern Kentucky, 6'2" 184-pound G
AJ Brown, Ohio, 6'4" 210-pound G
Kennard Davis Jr, Southern Illinois, 6'6" 215-pound G
Nick Dorn, Elon, 6'7" 200-pound CG
Josh Harris, North Florida, 6'8" 210-pound F

Add those 5 transfers to the following 9 players:
T Ivisic
Z Ivisic
D Mirkovic
J Jakstys
J Davis
T Rodgers
K Boswell
K Wagler
J Lee

That's a decent 14-player roster, with only one player (Boswell) out of eligibility after the 25-26 season.
 
#274      
You're right. But many have convinced themselves that Adam Miller will play harder because he's from the area. Kids who meaningfully care about midwest supremacy don't spend a few years in Tempe. It just doesn't happen. The kid is a bag chaser and that at least will probably keep him away.
 
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