Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[WhiteHorseWings]

It was always a love - hate relationship between Coleman Hawkins and Brad Underwood. No one should be surprised that it didn't make it to year 5.

Hawkins was encouraged by his family to stick it out at Illinois for four years and he realized that it was in his best interest. It wasn't his preference if he had a better option, though.

But this doesn’t fit well with the new Coleman is an Illini Legend lore. Get with the program.

 

[WhiteHorseWings]

No. 1 ranked AJ Dybantsa will make unofficial visit to BYU

The nation's top ranked player in the class of 2025 will take an unofficial visit to BYU this weekend his father confirms to 247Sports.

247sports.com

What's really up with BYU? Goodness...

Hope we get a visit too. Piper said we'll have to pay him around 2 mil (maybe even more). Whether that's worth it or not is another deal...

but hope he visits here as well - it's been said on here he will.

What is the Over/Under on years before they charge for a visit? Maybe 4.5?

 

[BalloonsTheElephant]

What is the Over/Under on years before they charge for a visit? Maybe 4.5?

Kids have been paid to NOT go on visits. Taking the under here.

 

[MustangWally]

I was at a grocery store in Champaign the other day and ran into Zack Hammer. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

Is this about Zach Hammer the baseball player? Zach Hammer the rock climber? Or Zach Hamer, our basketball coach?

 

[JSpence]

Sounds like the attitude of every Vandy grad I’ve met.

Come on, that's a mischaracterization. Name one Vandy grad that's gonna wink at a townie.

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

If he continues to improve as much as he did between years 3 and 4, he will be a heck of a player, alpha or not. He should go somewhere like UConn where he has a chance to win it all. Make a lot of money and win a championship would be good justifications for a 5th year of college.

Lots of guys have had outlier years where they look great from the arc. That was Hawkins this year. If he repeats it this year I think it will really improve his stock.

 

[Combo]

Lots of guys have had outlier years where they look great from the arc. That was Hawkins this year. If he repeats it this year I think it will really improve his stock.

I'm guessing he repeats or even improves it. A lot of the improvement came from better shot selection. He could be an important part of a very good team. He needs to go to a really good team that badly needs a versatile PF. Obviously he wants to get a nice NLI package, but if I were him I'd try to go to a top 10 calibre team with a hole at the 4 spot.

 

[SeattleSlim]

Big $$$ and legal sports betting. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Jamaal3]

Hopefully Hawk doesn’t go to the Heels. It’s been 20 years but still stings

 

[OskieWowWow]

From the article:

Louisville has no more open scholarships do dish out, so how would they potentially land Hawkins? Rutherford says that he was told UofL still has "some excess NIL funds lying around," stemming from the fact that their international signees can't make NIL the traditional way.

"I'm told that Louisville is at least going to Coleman Hawkins and saying, 'We might be able to make upwards of $2 million work for you.' That's the number are tossing around out there," Rutherford said.

"Might" is the key word. They can say whatever number they want. If you're a guy with one year left, you probably want that number guaranteed