Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#401      
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?
Fly Illini Fly! said:
From my understanding (mainly reading the insiders comments) — is that the Blackwell buzz was very strong UNTIL the Andrej announcement.

He announced his return, and either we backed off on Blackwell or his camp backed off on us (I guess it’s been said his camp backed off on us).
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If he backed off on us then why didn’t he back off on Louisville and Duke? Those are just as, if not even more talented teams. If he doesn’t see the fit on our team - then he wouldn’t be considering those schools either.

I think the staff probably thought we don’t need to spend 4-5mil on a transfer (which… kinda sucks).
 
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#402      
Det_Illini_fan
Fly Illini Fly! said:
From my understanding (mainly reading the insiders comments) — is that the Blackwell buzz was very strong UNTIL the Andrej announcement.

He announced his return, and either we backed off on Blackwell or his camp backed off on us (I guess it’s been said his camp backed off on us).
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Honestly, if he can’t see his (solid) fit in this roster, then he wouldn’t see the vision of the staff and system. His chemistry would be off, and money obviously could become a bigger influencer on his mind the whole time. Therefore he’d hold us back; so all power to him elsewhere. This year won’t be about any one player, it’ll be about the team as a whole. The talents will shine brighter that way.

Bye.
 
#403      
Lakes333
Fly Illini Fly! said:
From my understanding (mainly reading the insiders comments) — is that the Blackwell buzz was very strong UNTIL the Andrej announcement.

He announced his return, and either we backed off on Blackwell or his camp backed off on us (I guess it’s been said his camp backed off on us).
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Oh well. His loss. Its too bad adults are driving these kids recruitments. If it's fear of competition then we do not want you. I understand money is a driving force behind alot of this. We have one talented group of freshmen coming in so it should not be of concern.
 
#404      
My2Cents
One thing I keep going back to and I could be misremembering , but it was the oddest thing when Big Z had the mask on. It seemed it really threw his balance off to the point he was falling down for no apparent reason on a rebound, simply lost his footing and fell to the ground for a travel call. Oddly though it seems his 3 point shooting seemed to get worse after the mask. I could be way off on those stats but it has me thinking, do we need to make him a Phantom of the Opera style mask... maybe balance the vision and balance his footing out a lil :)
 

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#407      
ThePortalMadeMeDoIt
If he backed off on us then why didn’t he back off on Louisville and Duke? Those are just as, if not even more talented teams.

I think it’s definitely plausible the staff thought we don’t need to spend 4-5mil on a transfer.
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Yep, the staff was like why would we want to put ourselves in the same tier as Michigan, Florida and Duke. We will go ahead and stay here in tier 1B
 
#408      
WxIllini
Like has been said repeatedly, Blackwell’s camp is feeding him this agenda that he won’t get the usage he is looking for here.

And like has also been said many times, I was and will always be a huge fan of keeping Stoj over getting Blackwell.

IMO, the more I heard about how Blackwell and his camp are handling his situation, the more I’ve wanted him as far away from Champaign as possible.

I’m extremely happy where this team is already at and no doubt that Brad and Co. will find an additional player who will fit with the team.

Excited as hell for this next year, this team has some unfinished business and they’re hungrier than ever.
 
#409      
EmeraldCityIllini
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:
If he backed off on us then why didn’t he back off on Louisville and Duke? Those are just as, if not even more talented teams. If he doesn’t see the fit on our team - then he wouldn’t be considering those schools either.

I think the staff probably thought we don’t need to spend 4-5mil on a transfer (which… kinda sucks).
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We'll see. My guess is if Duke brings back Foster and Evans (they're not confirmed like our guys), then he wouldn't go there. If Evans or Foster leaves, it makes a lot of sense

And I certainly wouldn't call Lville more talented than us. Sheldstad is fine. Bidunga is really good. People seem to like Knox, but he was hurt last year and his stats are okay. Wooley coming back helps, but they gotta fill out a roster that pretty much saw everyone go.
 
#410      
QuackQuack
Saw some rumors floating around on X that Boswell could potentially return since the eligibility rules could change. Any truth to that?

I’d love to have him back. Guy seemed to be an awesome leader and great teammate
 
#411      
wc_illini
My2Cents said:
One thing I keep going back to and I could be misremembering , but it was the oddest thing when Big Z had the mask on. It seemed it really threw his balance off to the point he was falling down for no apparent reason on a rebound, simply lost his footing and fell to the ground for a travel call. Oddly though it seems his 3 point shooting seemed to get worse after the mask. I could be way off on those stats but it has me thinking, do we need to make him a Phantom of the Opera style mask... maybe balance the vision and balance his footing out a lil :)
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I think he wore the mask starting with Southern and ending with USC. If so, he was 34% before the mask (but with a handful of Q4 opponents), 30% with the mask, and 10% after the mask.
 
#416      
My2Cents
wc_illini said:
I think he wore the mask starting with Southern and ending with USC. If so, he was 34% before the mask (but with a handful of Q4 opponents), 30% with the mask, and 10% after the mask.
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Thanks for the stats, so he actually did get worse after the mask and I am almost certain he averaged at least one random loss of footing and travel call for a stretch of games wearing the mask. It was all very odd.
 
#417      
fuggles
none of the major sports books have updated the championship odds since april 5th.
 
#419      
logjam
hoopsfan47 said:
Somewhat interesting.

Now imagine a panel of 5 wise, sage, retired big time college coaches choosing a home for his last collegiate season for him. If you were staking your life on their decision, would you pick any other than Illinois?

However, there are a myriad of influencers selling some very shiney bottles of snake oil.

We truly have no idea what parameters must be met....and they seem to change daily...although that may not be the case. Bottom line at this point is that he may not fit the culture of an unselfish team that only wants to win. But who knows? That also may not be the case.

Maybe this will be another rare case where he ends up at a school not yet mentioned for about half what he could have had. And that also may not be the case.
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I'll have what you are having...
 
#422      
HouTexIllini
We had no one playable after 8 last year and it worked out. Has Brad ever played more than 8?
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The only unplayable players were Jaksyts and Ty. The staff didn’t develop other players who they recruited to the point where they felt comfortable playing the style they want to play and there is no change of pace or style to fit those player’s strengths.
 
#424      
wc_illini
none of the major sports books have updated the championship odds since april 5th.
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How do you know? I see "4/5/27 5:50pm" on BetMGM, but that's the date of next year's game, not when they last updated
 
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