Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[PleaseMakeABowlGame]

Are you going to pay him the 4M he'll want? Then, once you write that check, who are you going to tell that they're playing time got cut by 3/4?

He's not coming back. With Andrej, we moved on.

It's all moot because he's not coming out of the draft unless he completely melts down at the combine.

For arguments sake, let's say Riley completely bombs at the combine. I mean, he totally melts down and goes from top 20 to maybe top 40. Let's take it a step further and say he wants to remove him name from the draft.

Who's going to come up with that money to bring him back? Are they going to go to the donors and ask them to lock in a few additional million?

Equally as important, who do you tell to transfer at his position? Do you tell Andrej to keep looking? Do you tell Ty thanks, but no thanks and the rest of the roster that you brought in from overseas, whose goal is to go to the NBA.....that their minutes got cut in half?

Everyone's hands are tied here. Brad couldn't wait on this decision and I don't blame him. You have to move on as if he wasn't coming back and all involved have to understand that.

1. Illinois has the NIL support. Very obvious at this point. We need to stop arguing the contrary - It's not true, and was never true.

2. Who would I kick off the team? No one.

Starters:
Bos
Petrovic
Will
Stoj
Tomi
(none of these guys are leaving)

Ty, Mirk, Z can be first off the bench and then Ben and Jake. None of these guys were established "no doubt starters" to begin with and if that's what they thought coming here, then they were wrong. And hell, if one of them wants to go, so be it. Will Riley if he comes back is a potential B10 POY candidate. Don't know what the reason would be to turn him down. And overall, that team would have a shot at being the top team in the country imo talent wise.

It's due to ignorant arguments like these Illinois hasn't reached the top of the top of college basketball, and may never will. It's always "I won't take this player, because it will take the minutes of this player" rather than looking at the quality aspect and aiming to build the best team you can. It's just simply not how you become a national contender.

 

[BWA]

Wasn’t fears on board as a 2025 though? I thought the issue was whe. We got KJ we told fears we couldn’t take him as a reclass.

 

[BalloonsTheElephant]

There were a lot of rumblings about Fears reclassing prior to his decommitment from us. Once you take KJ, you know that losing Fears was a possibility, but also not having a PG was a possibility. You can't wait for that guy because the only season that matters is this one.

You have to take what's available when it's available. Obviously both ended up being really good and will be lottery picks, so it's a rare win-win-win-win.

Also, Brad looks like an ace talent evaluator to the point he chose to not take a true freshman lottery pick in exchange for a euro true freshman lottery pick.

 

[NarrowJ]

Wasn’t fears on board as a 2025 though? I thought the issue was whe. We got KJ we told fears we couldn’t take him as a reclass.

He was on board as a 2025, yes

The part about telling a dynamic, playmaking guard we couldn't make room for him is false... we had 12 scholarship players and 2 walk ons... we had a spot, but wouldn't you rather go to Oklahoma and be 'the guy'?

 

[illinibbcz]

1. Illinois has the NIL support. Very obvious at this point. We need to stop arguing the contrary - It's not true, and was never true.

2. Who would I kick off the team? No one.

Starters:
Bos
Petrovic
Will
Stoj
Tomi
(none of these guys are leaving)

Ty, Mirk, Z can be first off the bench and then Ben and Jake. None of these guys were established "no doubt starters" to begin with and if that's what they thought coming here, then they were wrong. And hell, if one of them wants to go, so be it. Will Riley if he comes back is a potential B10 POY candidate. Don't know what the reason would be to turn him down. And overall, that team would have a shot at being the top team in the country imo talent wise.

It's due to ignorant arguments like these Illinois hasn't reached the top of the top of college basketball, and may never will. It's always "I won't take this player, because it will take the minutes of this player" rather than looking at the quality aspect and aiming to build the best team you can. It's just simply not how you become a national contender.

I don’t think we have much rebounding with that starting five.

 

[IlliniFan42]

Fears decommitted because we let Will Riley reclassify but not him, so he had to go elsewhere to reclassify.

 

[madillini4]

Easiest purchase I’ve made in quite some time

https://twitter.com/x/status/1918344563984617643

 

[NarrowJ]

Fears decommitted because we let Will Riley reclassify but not him, so he had to go elsewhere to reclassify.

Link?

Stop making things up jfc

 

[GoodePodzMelendez]

I’m guessing Adam’s currently in that recruiting no man’s land where the teams he's interested in are more interested in holding onto their remaining dollars as they wait to see who exits the NBA draft. Why pay a million dollars for someone when you might need two million for someone you’d rather have?

He has painted himself into a corner. The music stopped and there is no place for him to sit. His handlers messed up by being greedy.

 

[Combo]

1. Illinois has the NIL support. Very obvious at this point. We need to stop arguing the contrary - It's not true, and was never true.

2. Who would I kick off the team? No one.

Starters:
Bos
Petrovic
Will
Stoj
Tomi
(none of these guys are leaving)

Ty, Mirk, Z can be first off the bench and then Ben and Jake. None of these guys were established "no doubt starters" to begin with and if that's what they thought coming here, then they were wrong. And hell, if one of them wants to go, so be it. Will Riley if he comes back is a potential B10 POY candidate. Don't know what the reason would be to turn him down. And overall, that team would have a shot at being the top team in the country imo talent wise.

It's due to ignorant arguments like these Illinois hasn't reached the top of the top of college basketball, and may never will. It's always "I won't take this player, because it will take the minutes of this player" rather than looking at the quality aspect and aiming to build the best team you can. It's just simply not how you become a national contender.

I agree we absolutely would benefit from having Riley back. Duke, Kentucky, et al figure out a way to get all their top 10 recruits on the court, so we certainly could. I think in that case, Petrovic wouldn't start ( but would still play a lot). Will and Andrej would be our 2/3. But I think it's no more than a mental exercise as Riley will stay in the draft (as he should if he's guaranteed 1st round).

 

[IlliniFan42]

Link?

Stop making things up jfc

Will Riley reclassifies and signs with the Illini, a week later Fears decommits and publicly announces his intention to reclassify and find a team. It's not hard to connect those dots. There were rumors all over this board last year around that time that this was the risk of the Will Riley decision as Fears' desire to reclassify was known to the staff and he might not take kindly to the fact that he was told no but the staff welcomed Riley.

 

[dwpittman]

It is disappointing it turned out the way it did. I was really excited about the redemption story. But with the way things turned out for us, it really is no concern for us. If his crew is still a problem, that’s great we don’t have to deal with them. Still, I hope things work out for him.

I think we should offer Adam one last time. Take it or leave it.

 

[Emerson Bigguns]

He has painted himself into a corner. The music stopped and there is no place for him to sit. His handlers messed up by being greedy.

He will find a seat and probably make quite a bit of money, but it will be on yet another 13-20 type team. HIs chance to make big bucks AND be on a really good team has likely passed.

 

[RichardKeenesCousin]

Fears decommitted because we let Will Riley reclassify but not him, so he had to go elsewhere to reclassify.

this is the way I remember it.

 

[NarrowJ]

Will Riley reclassifies and signs with the Illini, a week later Fears decommits and publicly announces his intention to reclassify and find a team. It's not hard to connect those dots. There were rumors all over this board last year around that time that this was the risk of the Will Riley decision as Fears' desire to reclassify was known to the staff and he might not take kindly to the fact that he was told no but the staff welcomed Riley.

So you have no idea and you're 'connecting dots'

Also, "rumors"... alrighty then

We had an available scholarship and you just think we said 'no thanks' to a dynamic, playmaking lotto pick guard?

Got it, lmao

 

[IlliniFan42]

So you have no idea and you're 'connecting dots'

Also, "rumors"... alrighty then

We had an available scholarship and you just think we said 'no thanks' to a dynamic, playmaking lotto pick guard?

Got it, lmao

We said no thanks to a 4-star guard who was in the 20-40 range of 2025 freshmen and as a result of reclassifying moved down into the 50-70 range (these are recruitment rankings, not draft projections). Calling him a lotto pick has the benefit of hindsight.

 

[NarrowJ]

We said no thanks to a 4-star guard who was in the 20-40 range of 2025 freshmen and as a result of reclassifying moved down into the 50-70 range. Calling him a lotto pick has the benefit of hindsight.

We had an open scholarship lol we did not tell him no

Either prove it or don't, up to you

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

I agree we absolutely would benefit from having Riley back. Duke, Kentucky, et al figure out a way to get all their top 10 recruits on the court, so we certainly could. I think in that case, Petrovic wouldn't start ( but would still play a lot). Will and Andrej would be our 2/3. But I think it's no more than a mental exercise as Riley will stay in the draft (as he should if he's guaranteed 1st round).

They played a lot this year with Will at the 3 and Tre at the 4. Think you could do the same with Will and Stoj. Just gives you the ability to have your best five out there.

As far as the bolded, I think a lot will depend on the combine, especially those "guarantees." We'll shall see... obviously it's more unlikely than likely he comes back, but worth the watch.

 

[Weatherspoon1]

1. Illinois has the NIL support. Very obvious at this point. We need to stop arguing the contrary - It's not true, and was never true.

2. Who would I kick off the team? No one.

Starters:
Bos
Petrovic
Will
Stoj
Tomi
(none of these guys are leaving)

Ty, Mirk, Z can be first off the bench and then Ben and Jake. None of these guys were established "no doubt starters" to begin with and if that's what they thought coming here, then they were wrong. And hell, if one of them wants to go, so be it. Will Riley if he comes back is a potential B10 POY candidate. Don't know what the reason would be to turn him down. And overall, that team would have a shot at being the top team in the country imo talent wise.

It's due to ignorant arguments like these Illinois hasn't reached the top of the top of college basketball, and may never will. It's always "I won't take this player, because it will take the minutes of this player" rather than looking at the quality aspect and aiming to build the best team you can. It's just simply not how you become a national contender.

This

 

[PleaseMakeABowlGame]

We had an open scholarship lol we did not tell him no

Either prove it or don't, up to you

Rumor here last here (buy or not) was that we did

 

[NarrowJ]

Rumor here last here (buy or not) was that we did

Mkay...

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

Surely we're not hairbrained enough to just tell a kid of that caliber to kick rocks because he wanted to reclass.

Why are you so sure?

The insiders buzz was that his shot wasn't great and size too small and that he wouldn't contribute as a reclass.

We called it wrong as to his ability. Not the first or last time.

But if had reclassed in April we likely don't get KJ. So for last season it probably isn't a huge difference.

 

[NarrowJ]

Why are you so sure?

The insiders buzz was that his shot wasn't great and size too small and that he wouldn't contribute as a reclass.

We called it wrong as to his ability. Not the first or last time.

But if had reclassed in April we likely don't get KJ. So far last season it probably isn't a huge difference.

I'm not so sure and that is the point

I have nothing to prove, he made the original assertion, I didn't... he can either prove it or not

He is saying we had a schollie open and told a 4 star recruit no (and nobody can prove this either way so what is the argument about?)

 

[Joel Goodson]

We had an open scholarship lol we did not tell him no

Either prove it or don't, up to you

I *think* we did, but I defer to those that actually know

 

[Battle89]

I agree that it’s incredibly unlikely to happen. I have a better chance of dating Florence Pugh, but the chance isn’t 0 and until it is zero you let it play out.

Get in line