Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[ChiefGritty]

And right now, Illinois is being placed at the top of the way too early rankings. The thought of a bunch of teams jumping us means they’re signing multiple top 15 xfers, and there just aren’t that many to go around. Keep in mind the way too early #1 ranking FOX Sports gave us was a week prior to the Vaaks commitment.

As others have mentioned, bringing back 5 of 8 rotation players from a Final Four team is rare in this era. This isn't any old season, this is special.

I'm not sure where you are going with this

Just that it's hard, and perhaps foolish, to be certain about things at this stage.

Then they made the right decision. No question.

One trillion percent. And now we're being savvy about the situation to get the supplement the rotation needs. Our staff is good at this.

LOYALTY: I know what that means! All is NOT fine! PANIC!!! PANIC!!!

We're reaching new levels of "inventing a guy to get mad at" around here.

 

[wncillini]

Please don't give their AD good ideas. I am perfectly content with them continuing to spin their wheels.

My in-laws are all kentucky fans. Even though we have been on the whole better than them these past 7 years it really irks me that they still have recent bragging rights over us. Can we get them on the schedule now please.

 

[DReq]

I thought the early bird just got worms or something.

 

[fatboyslim]

I guess I’m not as sold on Florida as everyone else is. I wasn’t sold on them this past season either I didn’t think the SEC was very good and they beat up/dominated on a bunch of overhyped SEC teams

 

[EmeraldCityIllini]

And right now, Illinois is being placed at the top of the way too early rankings. The thought of a bunch of teams jumping us means they’re signing multiple top 15 xfers, and there just aren’t that many to go around. Keep in mind the way too early #1 ranking FOX Sports gave us was a week prior to the Vaaks commitment.

This thought that Illinois needs to go into the new season with zero competition across a national scale is weird and not feasible.

Michigan, Florida, Duke, UCONN, Lville, and maybe MSU seem the only reasonable ones with a chance.

But as you said, a few of those would both require a guy like Juke Harris to surpass, and there’s only one Juke Harris. Teams like lville and MSU even if they did, still are a discussion - you wanna talk about no depth, look at Lville.

All of this is all well and good offseason banter. But to me, my goal is I wanna be in the quadrant on the graphs that show me I’m in the “elite tier” - stack me as many of those seasons you can. If a preseason number 1 comes with it, then so be it.

 

[NJB Illini]

If I was AD … Pope would be fired …

I don’t care what it cost … Likely should be for cause … Incapable of getting the job done …

Absolute embarrassment …

Kentucky is now a national embarrassment you say? My honest reaction

 

[EmeraldCityIllini]

I guess I’m not as sold on Florida as everyone else is. I wasn’t sold on them this past season either I didn’t think the SEC was very good and they beat up/dominated on a bunch of overhyped SEC teams

I give you credit, you certainly were skeptical of them.

I thought the frontcourt was so freaking good they could survive the guards being erratic. So I won’t fall in that trap again, they need to land a big time guard for me to be all in.

 

[mysterio2525]

what this board needs is for morez Johnson to hit the portal at the last minute. that would give us all a nice laugh

 

[ILFaninFL]

If I was AD … Pope would be fired …

I don’t care what it cost … Likely should be for cause … Incapable of getting the job done …

Absolute embarrassment …

AND the Bulls coach is now available.

 

[wncillini]

I guess I’m not as sold on Florida as everyone else is. I wasn’t sold on them this past season either I didn’t think the SEC was very good and they beat up/dominated on a bunch of overhyped SEC teams

Im not sure anyone has been sold on them through 2 or 3 of their national championships. However they are the 2nd best program since they won their first. They are going to be there for a while.

 

[LFOD]

I thought the early bird just got worms or something.

Second mouse gets the cheese, in my experience

Sorry, I'm happy with our team, so I'm burning off steam with weird gifs. I'll stop soon.

 

[jamarvelous31]

So it wasnt the agent in his ear after all.

2 things can be true...

 

[AssemblyHallForever]

Let's say Morillo's ready and the top 8 is set... I'd say we need a serviceable 9th guy.

There are several in the portal who will fit. Brown would be the other option if we do not sign another guard

 

[joekam]

Has the staff reached out to Billy Donovan's camp about our backup guard role?

@illini0440 @Indy Illini Fan @LvilleILL1

Speaking of Donovan, curious to see how NBA job openings (sounds like Kerr is leaving GS too) impact college coaching and in turn new portal entries.

 

[illiniguy24]

Do we know who this is in reference to?

99% sure it is about Donnie Freeman from ‘Cuse who committed to St John’s

 

[mysterio2525]

I give you credit, you certainly were skeptical of them.

I thought the frontcourt was so freaking good they could survive the guards being erratic. So I won’t fall in that trap again, they need to land a big time guard for me to be all in.

assuming Aberdeen isn't coming back, then they are a decent shooting guard from being really scary. fland could take a jump and we already know what they have in the front court. if they got milan from Iowa State then that's a super team and clear preseason 1

 

[bavanga3]

And right now, Illinois is being placed at the top of the way too early rankings. The thought of a bunch of teams jumping us means they’re signing multiple top 15 xfers, and there just aren’t that many to go around. Keep in mind the way too early #1 ranking FOX Sports gave us was a week prior to the Vaaks commitment.

This thought that Illinois needs to go into the new season with zero competition across a national scale is weird and not feasible.

Somebody was talking about strawman the other day. Now what YOU just said is a strawman. People don't expect zero competition. Nobody said that, thats the way you implied it. They just are seeing the weak spots and wanting us to build as strong a roster as possible so when we get to March we aren't outmatched because of things we could've done this summer. There were a few teams clearly a tier above us last year and we are in the position to not allow that to happen again, which improves our chances in the tourney. So let's keep getting better.

 

[illiniguy24]

Transfer Portal 101: NIL Market Trends + Roster Strategies

Podcast Episode · The EvanMiya College Basketball Show · April 20 · 31m

podcasts.apple.com

Good quick listen for the fellow nerds curious about the current NIL market. I also think it will provide a lot of clarity as to how the staff approached this portal season.

 

[AssemblyHallForever]

Yeah, but once we get that serviceable 9th guy we’re gonna want a serviceable 10th guy. Where does it end??

If we have 10 guys who can play, we won’t have the issue we had last year with lack of depth.

 

[Illinicpa14]

But who is Floridas 9th man???? Once fland blows out his knee they are probably a 9 seed unless they convince Blackwell to back him up for 10 mpg

What happens when haugh regresses like TKR and nobody else on their roster gets better over an entire summer???

 

[fatboyslim]

Im not sure anyone has been sold on them through 2 or 3 of their national championships. However they are the 2nd best program since they won their first. They are going to be there for a while.

 

[illiniguy24]

AND the Bulls coach is now available.

I can’t imagine Billy wants to go back to the SEC to coach against Florida after the laughing stock Kentucky has become this spring.

Kentucky will be back, eventually, no doubt. But their stock is pretty low at the moment.

 

[EmeraldCityIllini]

assuming Aberdeen isn't coming back, then they are a decent shooting guard from being really scary. fland could take a jump and we already know what they have in the front court. if they got milan from Iowa State then that's a super team and clear preseason 1

Agreed - shooting or point guard, doesn't really matter to me. I'm not really the biggest Fland guy, but he certainly has the talent to improve.

If Christian Anderson enters the portal and goes there as was rumored... Lord.

 

[PleaseMakeABowlGame]

1. Mirk
2. Tomi
3. Drej
4. Coleman
5. Vaaks
6. Jake
7. Big Z
8. Morillo
9. Brown

I get why you don't want to count Brown but for the same reason you don't count him, people on here were not counting Wagler and Davis. Which brings us down to 8 being the rotation in most people's minds last year at this time. Don't believe me? Here's what the discourse was like:

View attachment 50034

The post just says lower his minutes. Davis counts. If Morillo counts this year Davis counts last year.

Davis proved he could be playable on the 25 team. Brown hasn’t proven that. Outside of Wagler - which will never happen again - who’s the last freshmen outside the top 100 to get real minutes here? We saw it with Lee, it ain’t easy (and quite the gamble to be counting on it).

 

[ChazzReinhold]

If I was AD … Pope would be fired …

Why? I like his direction for the Catholic Church plus he's a Chicago guy