Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

#353      
They bumped him up even higher?

He's 13th now and 17th in composite (maybe I'm out of the loop and he got this bump already...)
No this is as of today.

Morillo and Zens moved up as well.

Coleman is obviously impressing the heck out of everybody on the all-star circuit. I hope he makes Team USA, that would be great experience for him.
 
#355      
They bumped him up even higher?

He's 13th now and 17th in composite (maybe I'm out of the loop and he got this bump already...)
Just updated today...and now has that 5th star.

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#360      
They are getting wise to our staff's scouting ability. The whole Wagler thing has to be a bit embarrassing if you run one of these organizations...
Well even Wagler was reportedly considering redshirting (not sure what the staff thought about that), and no other good programs wanted him. Unless you think they were swayed by recruiting websites, I just see it as a great story for Wagler and Illinois rather than an embarrassment for anyone.
 
#362      
They are getting wise to our staff's scouting ability. The whole Wagler thing has to be a bit embarrassing if you run one of these organizations...
I was joking but in reality that's how human perception works. if you see success and good decision making, you expect that going forward. we truly are simple creatures.... I know I am.

I'm just loving the momentum we are building and feel this is the reckoning the college basketball world avoided during the Webber years. it's our time now!
 
#363      
Well even Wagler was reportedly considering redshirting (not sure what the staff thought about that), and no other good programs wanted him. Unless you think they were swayed by recruiting websites, I just see it as a great story for Wagler and Illinois rather than an embarrassment for anyone.
Keaton was killing it all summer. He arrived at Illinois more ready than I think anyone outside of the Wagler household believed he would be. He dominated the HS circuit in Kansas for two years. The same questions we hear about his athletic profile in NBA scouting, dogged him as a prep. The kid just knows how to play.

Rating over 140 guys better than a kid who averaged almost 30 points a game, went undefeated, won the 6A state title in Kansas, and was POY in the state is a bit egregious. He wasn't some kid they found lighting up old guys at the YMCA. If you are a scout, you can't judge it as anything but a miss.
 
#364      
Well even Wagler was reportedly considering redshirting (not sure what the staff thought about that), and no other good programs wanted him. Unless you think they were swayed by recruiting websites, I just see it as a great story for Wagler and Illinois rather than an embarrassment for anyone.

for the recruiting services it is a major embarrassment, absolutely no doubt about it. that there were mitigating circumstances (no shoe circuit AAU ball), doesn't give them a free pass
 
#367      
it certainly seems that the major recruiting services are showing a lot of respect to the illini staff, likely in part earned secondary to the KW ascension
 
#370      
for the recruiting services it is a major embarrassment, absolutely no doubt about it. that there were mitigating circumstances (no shoe circuit AAU ball), doesn't give them a free pass
Keaton was killing it all summer. He arrived at Illinois more ready than I think anyone outside of the Wagler household believed he would be. He dominated the HS circuit in Kansas for two years. The same questions we hear about his athletic profile in NBA scouting, dogged him as a prep. The kid just knows how to play.

Rating over 140 guys better than a kid who averaged almost 30 points a game, went undefeated, won the 6A state title in Kansas, and was POY in the state is a bit egregious. He wasn't some kid they found lighting up old guys at the YMCA. If you are a scout, you can't judge it as anything but a miss.
My opinion is that recruiting websites' job is to sell clicks. I expect top programs to have better resources and talent evaluators, and I think the recruiting websites are mostly reacting (like dropping a guy who signs with us) and/or parroting what they hear. So I think it's more embarrassing for other programs than these websites (meaning I agree with your bolded statement, just that I don't consider media to be scouts).

And was Keaton (or at least his family) not considering redshirting?
 
#371      
My opinion is that recruiting websites' job is to sell clicks. I expect top programs to have better resources and talent evaluators, and I think the recruiting websites are mostly reacting (like dropping a guy who signs with us) and/or parroting what they hear. So I think it's more embarrassing for other programs than these websites (meaning I agree with your bolded statement, just that I don't consider media to be scouts).

And was Keaton (or at least his family) not considering redshirting?
The big issue is that even scouts/websites that make an honest effort to actually evaluate prospects and then rank them can't see every basketball player in the country. They end up focusing on the big AAU tournaments where they can see a ton of players at the same time/place. Wagler didn't play on an AAU team affiliated with the shoe companies, so he didn't play in many of those tournaments, so they just didn't see him play. Scouts don't base as much on high school play because the talent levels can be so uneven.
 
#372      
...and I get how this discussion about Wagler's recruiting can trigger some strong opinions. To say nobody could have possibly seen his potential makes it sound like we just got lucky.

I think the truth is likely some of both- we probably got lucky that we even stumbled upon him in the first place and gave his film a serious look, then applied some good talent evaluation (especially regarding the type of player we want), then got lucky that he turned out to be even better than we imagined, then we did a really good job at developing him and our offense around him.

I don't expect a repeat of that extreme upside in many/any of our recruits going forward. And that's just fine if we can grow our resources and reputation and get some upside from some recruits/transfers on a regular basis (while putting together and coaching up players who fit well).

In other words, getting modest upside from #10-30 recruits/transfers is a better long-term plan than thinking we have some exceptional ability to find stars who everyone else overlooks.
 
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#374      
I vividly remember DJ Williams and Aaron Jordan having a photo together on the football field in chairs sitting in front of a final four trophy. I remember thinking that would be a possibility. How far we have come in our mentality about the program and how real it is now that we can have that expectation. Little did I realize how far off we were at the time.
 
#375      
The big issue is that even scouts/websites that make an honest effort to actually evaluate prospects and then rank them can't see every basketball player in the country. They end up focusing on the big AAU tournaments where they can see a ton of players at the same time/place. Wagler didn't play on an AAU team affiliated with the shoe companies, so he didn't play in many of those tournaments, so they just didn't see him play. Scouts don't base as much on high school play because the talent levels can be so uneven.
This. There are just too many players to legimately rank them. It's not too hard to see say a Lebron and recognize that there're elite, but after those obvious types it's almost impossible.
 
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