Joel Goodson
- dawgville
not surprised, but that certainly augers well. if Brad conjures the right alchemy (and we stay healthy and Tomislav is cleared), sky is the limit
Illini Basketball 2024-2025
not surprised, but that certainly augers well. if Brad conjures the right alchemy (and we stay healthy and Tomislav is cleared), sky is the limit
Not sure where to post this:
50/50. He should be cleared at worst by end of November
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Brad is not lying. He, and his staff, and the DIA, don't know. Which means the insiders don't know.
The reality is that while this COULD be happily resolved tomorrow, the NCAA dragging their feet through a bunch or most of a season is a very common occurrence in these cases, that happened to Ivisic's brother last year at Magical Blue Blood Kentucky, and the chances this is resolved with the NCAA declaring that he's NOT eligible are higher than the market is pricing in at this point.
We have a gigantic hole at center and no assurances when or if it will be filled. That is reality.
On a West Virginia board.
Ain't that the truth? We need to go back in time and post some memories when recruiting was going on this past summer. Seems to always be the same people.
You realize that Butler lost 3/5 of their starting five right?
Seems stupid to me to predict with no amount of uncertainty that we're going to get beat "like a rented mule" to a team that got bounced at home to Minnesota in the 1st round of the NIT and is relying on new pieces as well.
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Yup, don't forget these same people (oftentimes seems to be the same *person* ) had gigantic meltdowns when we missed out on RayJ and we all saw how that one turned out.
Once you realize some people are way happier expressing their fandom through dooming, makes it all the easier to ignore.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
They return their two leading scorers and several others who played a lot and added Patrick McCaffery who's like 25.
Dramatic difference between the two teams in age and experience playing together.
And Underwood is telling whoever will listen how bad we are defensively.
It is a GOOD thing, a great opportunity and smart coaching to put that green team that doesn't understand high-major college intensity into a situation where an old experienced team is going to ruthlessly exploit everything they're doing wrong, in secret, before they have to do it for real.
But Loyalty decorum rules mean we have to pretend this bunch of teenagers is playing veteran basketball in mid-October when they've all just met each other, despite our coach loudly declaring the opposite, sure, whatever.
Which ever one produces the most makes per player. They just want guys to be comfortable in their release while having the basic fundamentals and positions down. There’s no one size fits all for shooting form.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
I will never understand why the NCAA can't just do their research and deal with these cases quickly. If it was UConn, Duke, North Carolina, etc., I'm sure we would have a resolution shortly if not already have one by now (and I'm pretty sure it would be a favorable one).
The USA Today theory is hard at work in this case (i.e. Illinois is a big enough program that this will get some media attention to let the NCAA say "see, we're doing something!" while not being a big enough program to really move the needle on TV ratings or licensing revenues.)
Nah, Loyalty decorum is more so just calling you out for talking in absolutes about things you have no way of knowing.
We might win, we might lose....regardless it should give us some insight into where we are as a team before the start of the season. But saying unequivocally that we're going "to get beat like a rented mule" by a team that just finished 8th in the BigEast and lost the majority of their starting five because it makes you giddy that you'll be able to doom for a couple weeks is just plain dumb. Sorry!
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
It took Kentucky quite awhile to get his brother approved…but does speak to the ineptness of the ncaa which isn’t news to anyone.
Maybe Illinois will be a bubble team just like last season?
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
I appreciate the sentiment but, in this particular instance, you're demonstrably incorrect. Ivisic's brother committed to Kentucky on Aug 1, 2023, and wasn't cleared by the NCAA until Jan 20, 2024. One would hope that our process ends up being shorter, but the process taking a long time is definitely not unique to us (due to ratings, cachet, or any other factor that might come to mind).
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Underwood has his ways of doing things. He wasn't happy with the defense last year and wants this group to be better on the end. Acting like Patrick Mccaffery is a better basketball player than several guys on our team regardless of age is also funny.
I honestly think their unnecessary feet-dragging is just their way of imposing a partial penalty in advance. Meaning in the end he will play but they want him to sit some of the season as their idea of a fair solution. Tin-foil hat for me maybe, but that is sure what it feels like. Because on the face of it, there are rules and protocols, and he (and his brother, and all others like this) either qualify or they don't. It should not take months to figure that out.
GallopingGhost
- Denver, CO
It’s (not so) secret scrimmage season. Can’t wait to overreact to box scores with y’all.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
What I take as an absolute is that BU is a smart coach who knows how to build and develop and motivate a team, and the scheduling of this secret scrimmage sounds to me like a wise opportunity to work on the things he's been discussing publicly.
I am not as inclined as others to require insider whispers (because that's all we'll get, remember) that we're better than Butler in mid-October to feel like we can be successful this season.
Wherever we are right now, we will be playing much better basketball in March than today. That's the nature of the kind of team we built.
To be fair, the question of "was this player on the fully professional senior basketball team SC Derby in Podgorica, Montenegro, paid in excess of his reasonable living expenses?" is kind of a difficult one to prove with documentation that can be produced and understood by a bunch of English speakers.
I HOPE his brother (with Antigua's help) having done so successfully gives us a leg up. But there are any number of reasons why Tomislav's situation might have more complexities.
Yeah tbh I kinda believe that too.
The NCAA does not want college basketball to be taken over by European pros, and they shouldn't. It will, and fast, if the barriers to that route are flattened.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
While you could very well be right, that just seems like such a chicken-poop way to impose a penalty. It's so wishy-washy.
I'm with you - it shouldn't be hard to figure out one way or another. Policies should be in place, and you measure the situation up against those policies. It's not like we're trying to split the atom here.