Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

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#876      
Saturdaze
RabidDawgClassic said:
I can think of only three players in the last 40 years that standout by that standard:

1. Podz
2. Scott Pierce
3. Scott Haffner

The other players that had such “issues” at Illinois also carried them over to their other programs. Podz and Haffner dropped down a level and excelled. Pierce made a lateral move and found Final Four success as a toothless warrior. Other than that, the players that have left Illinois haven’t stood out.
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Does Nunn count since his “issues” were well documented?
 
#879      
dbeverly26
Saturdaze said:
That seems like semantics - he led his team in assists, assist %, and usage rate.
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I mean, yes. That’s my problem with the whole discourse around point guard here, people seem less concerned with how good a player is at doing point guard things than they are about having a guy who is a ‘Point Guard’ running the show. It doesn’t need to be a guy who has been a point guard before, or a guy who looks like a point guard, or even one single guy doing all of those tasks as long as you’ve got those tasks covered.

You can tell who the Football People are. What they want is a quarterback, but winning basketball doesn’t require having a guy like that on your team.

Anyway, I really don’t care about pujimski. And I don’t care to take whispers and rumors and treat them like the fifth gospel. I’m just here for the jokes, I guess.
 
#881      
Saturdaze
dbeverly26 said:
I mean, yes. That’s my problem with the whole discourse around point guard here, people seem less concerned with how good a player is at doing point guard things than they are about having a guy who is a ‘Point Guard’ running the show. It doesn’t need to be a guy who has been a point guard before, or a guy who looks like a point guard, or even one single guy doing all of those tasks as long as you’ve got those tasks covered.

You can tell who the Football People are. What they want is a quarterback, but winning basketball doesn’t require having a guy like that on your team.

Anyway, I really don’t care about pujimski. And I don’t care to take whispers and rumors and treat them like the fifth gospel. I’m just here for the jokes, I guess.
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Touché. Good point.
 
#882      
Mojoman
BashCtIllini said:
This was my first thought as well, but now I'm not so sure.

I was really impressed with Podz combine results, he tested as a much better athlete than I expected. So I look at someone like Antonio Reeves. He averaged 20 ppg and shot 39% from 3 at a mid-major, but he didn't get a sniff. Yes Podz was a little better shooter and stuffed the other stats better, but not getting a sniff vs 1st round, that's a big gap. So for Reeves, the opposite may be true and his best chance at the NBA was moving up to a bigger conference and proving he can score against better competition.

So that leads me to believe, it wasn't strictly Podz stats that gained him interest. Seeing guys with mediocre stats get drafted reinforces that. So I don't know what the heck they're looking for.

I'll go on record to predict Podz will be an NBA bust. But even if that happens, he will be many millions of dollars richer before he's bumped, and he will still get to play for pay in other leagues. And he gets to keep that money. So he's set up pretty good for the rest of his life. Also, I wouldn't have ever imagined he'd play as well as he did at Santa Clara, so maybe I'll be wrong again and he'll have a long NBA career. Guess we'll find out.
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Dunno. They traded Poole. They use their bench guys a lot there. They do have older guards. They like to shoot threes. He can shoot. My guess is they work him in games by end of year and use the G league to get him reps and some experience against the higher level. That is what they did with Poole and it turned out pretty good.
As noted he gets to keep the money and unless he is an idiot he is set for a long time.

All that said, he proved himself in workouts and scrimmages against his peers pre draft in the gym. If he had huge holes he would have been exposed.
I would have never predicted a guy like Duncan Robinson sticking so who knows.

Good luck to him.
 
#883      
PasadenaIllini
dbeverly26 said:
I mean, yes. That’s my problem with the whole discourse around point guard here, people seem less concerned with how good a player is at doing point guard things than they are about having a guy who is a ‘Point Guard’ running the show. It doesn’t need to be a guy who has been a point guard before, or a guy who looks like a point guard, or even one single guy doing all of those tasks as long as you’ve got those tasks covered.

You can tell who the Football People are. What they want is a quarterback, but winning basketball doesn’t require having a guy like that on your team.

Anyway, I really don’t care about pujimski. And I don’t care to take whispers and rumors and treat them like the fifth gospel. I’m just here for the jokes, I guess.
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Can you name a B1G champion team that didn't have a point guard? Can you even name a B1G runner up team that didn't have a point guard?
 
#885      
john1952
I am happy for the kid also, but he did not really set the world on fire while playing for the Illni.

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#886      
Illini in OC
warhog6g said:
We have the benefit of hindsight and plenty are making assertions based on that hindsight.

I agree with you that things can change and players can get better, but even still (without the benefit of hindsight) he likely wasn't starting on last year's team. Could he have been a solid bench/rotation guy, sure, but he wouldn't nearly have been as effective against Big 10 opponents as he was the UC-Irvines that he faced at Santa Clara.

The situation a player goes into is arguably one of the most important factors that determines a player's success and is often overlooked. An example that I like using is that if Tom Brady was drafted by the Cleveland Browns then he is likely out of the league by the end of his rookie contract or he is a career backup. Going to NE was paramount to his success. The situation here, with the caliber of opponents the Illini face, and the overall talent level of teammates, I think it's unlikely Podz would have ever been drafted in the first round. I don't think he "got away" as he would likely not be the same player if he had stayed here. As I said before, Podz made a good decision for himself to go to Santa Clara.
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Love the signature WarHog:
Those who can, do. | Those who could, teach. | Those who can do neither, message board quarterback.
Well said....

Nice analogy in the bold above. OTOH if Tim Couch goes to NE instead of CLE, perhaps he becomes the GOAT instead of who he became in that sh*t show.

Good (Great!!) for Podz. He went to SC and killed it. Great for him. Happy for him. Congratulations. Well deserved.

Podz optics may be bad for the beloved, but BU makes his playing choices based on best judgement and projections for the future.
The Goode injury last year was HUGE. Did we fail to adjust? Perhaps (probably)

Who knows how much different things might've been for Skyy, RJ and Epps if Goode had been able to play and assert his leadership all season? Maybe Mayer would've been more locked in? Maybe TSJ and CH don't need to play as much hero-ball. If, if, if....

I trust BU to do what's best. I think he's a great coach who represents us well, loves it here and deserves the $$$ he makes.
Is he John Wooden? No. Is he Coach K? No. Is he Mark Few? No.
More importantly, is he Samscum? Satan? Juwan? Huggins? No.

I think BU is building the program that I want:
Recruit tough talented players that positively represent the University.
Make the dance every year.
Be dangerous every year.
Be REALLY REALLY dangerous every 4-5 years.
With enough at-bats and the occasional Ayo recruit, the FFs and natty will eventually happen.
 
#887      
vabeachbear
For those of you complaining about talking about this, especially in a recruiting thread, if you don't think this will be used on every recruit Illini are battling for right now, and certainly in the future as long as Underwood is here, you have never been involved in the sales process.

This would be the top point I would build my pitch against the Illini and for my program.
 
#888      
BretMyBeachHouse
RabidDawgClassic said:
I can think of only three players in the last 40 years that standout by that standard:

1. Podz
2. Scott Pierce
3. Scott Haffner

The other players that had such “issues” at Illinois also carried them over to their other programs. Podz and Haffner dropped down a level and excelled. Pierce made a lateral move and found Final Four success as a toothless warrior. Other than that, the players that have left Illinois haven’t stood out.
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Awvee Storey. I certainly never saw that one coming.

Brett robisch.
 
#889      
MDchicago
RabidDawgClassic said:
I can think of only three players in the last 40 years that standout by that standard:

1. Podz
2. Scott Pierce
3. Scott Haffner

The other players that had such “issues” at Illinois also carried them over to their other programs. Podz and Haffner dropped down a level and excelled. Pierce made a lateral move and found Final Four success as a toothless warrior. Other than that, the players that have left Illinois haven’t stood out.
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Outside of the 40 year window and before my time, but I still wince thinking about all of the talent that left Illinois due to the slush fund fiasco in the 1960's, including:
- Steve Kuberski, transferred to Bradley (where he averaged 23/10, got drafted by Red Auerbach, 9 year NBA career including two championships)
- Rich Jones, HS AA, transferred to Memphis (where he averaged 22/11, went on to spend 8 seasons in the ABA/NBA (twice an ABA All-Star), won the last ABA championship with the Nets, and scored the last basket in ABA history).
- Ron Dunlap, from Farragut HS, left Illini and played professionally in a minor league until becoming eligible for the NBA draft in 1968 draft, where he was drafted by the Bulls as the 19th overall pick. Spent most of pro career in CBA and overseas, including Maccabi Tel Aviv, before becoming a distinguished HS administrator in Wisconsin (after his passing in 2019, school he served as principal was renamed after him; WI PTA Administrator of the Year award is named after him).
 
#891      
FrankNitty30
Bigtex said:
Bolded sentence says a lot about underwood and staff. Obviously the staff didn’t think podz could contribute by the number of minutes he received. No one thinks podz became Superman last summer. There were several who got put in timeout in 21/22 for inferring Williams should have received about half the number minutes when the 3 talented freshman hardly got off of the bench.

the dysfunction of the 22/23 team chemistry, offense & defense, and results.

And for 23/24 roster construction looks good minus a capable point guard.
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Damonte was a tremendous defender. Most good coaches default to defense.
 
#895      
FrankNitty30
Chickenmane said:
Podz has the talent to be a first round pick in the NBA, if he wasn’t going to be put in position to succeed because the coaches couldn’t identify his ability thats on them.

That being said it’s a mistake plenty of coaches make.
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Meh. The kid showed zero to warrant anything other than playing at the low D1 level. Not one coach outside of Santa Clara was kicking down doors to keep him.

Kudos to Podz for putting in the work. Wish him nothing but the best.
 
#899      
amillini#2
Grandpa said:
Only one NBA player on your list, lol
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Shame on me for dipping my toe in here

Illinois does not play in the NBA. They play college basketball in the Big10. Underwood’s job is to win college basketball games. I would be quite content with some final fours and a natty with no NBA players on the team.

I know they play different positions, but, Kofi went undrafted, this kid went top 20. Which would you rather build a college, and specifically, Big10 team around?

This kid excelled out west, probably wouldn’t have happened here and the other 13 Big10 coaches who didn’t take him out of the transfer portal agreed at the time.
 
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