CGMAN618

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I agree it looks bad and wish it would have been handled differently. Hopefully BU learns from this mistake in the future. Scholarships get yanked from players regularly and players have been steered to certain programs and anyone who thinks this hasn't been the commonplace in college hoops for the past few decades is just being naive. If Underwood is a top 10 coach as you said (and I believe as well), then winning will change everything and in a couple years, nobody outside of Illini fans and the parties involved will remember

It was more the Mac Irvin Fire camp than Ayo. There was a riff, and BU/Coleman tried to mend the fence but it wasn't happening. The timing of it is bad, but THT never really showed much interest the entire time he was recruited by BU up until his OV ended last weekend. MIF never really thought he would want to commit to play with Ayo because all signs had been pointing to ISU. THT even stated this summer that MSU was him dream offer, so if he truly had his heart set on the Illini, he could have set his OV earlier and committed before Ayo. BU was backed into a corner and had to make the best decision for the programs future. He took the 5* PG that was already committed and had been an Illini lean his entire recruitment. You take that every day of the week. For years the Illini have been getting the leftovers from the CPL and fans have been clamoring to get their best talent. Well, this is the CPL game and if you want the players, you play the game. If we take THT, Ayo likely decommits and we lose any connection with MIF, which is arguably the most powerful AAU program in the Midwest. By keeping Ayo, we strengthen our bond and have much better chance of landing Okoro, Khalil Whitney, Adam Miller & DJ Steward in the next few years who are all close friends with Ayo. I know some fans are mad because of the Simeon connection with THT, but the only players we have gotten from there this millennium are Calvin Brock, Kendrick Nunn, DJ Williams & Jaylon Tate. The last 5* we got from them was Deon Thomas back in '90 so it's not like that pipeline has worked wonders for us. We have gotten just as many MIF players during that time as well, so if Underwood wants to make his bed with them, I'm more than ok with it. If we can get any 2 of the players I mentioned before it will have paid off for us tenfold

So far that is the only way he is tied into any of this. He hasn't been implicated in it and I would think if the FBI had Evans phone tapped when he was at S. Carolina, at some point they would have had Underwood on tape too and he would have been charged already. Now, Evans could try to say BU knew or was privy to benefits as well but they would have to find the proof of that. Who knows, this thing is going to take a long time to get all sorted out. Could be a couple years before it's all said and done and every high major coach could be implicated as well. I personally don't think BU will go down in this, except for maybe a suspension or something from the NCAA for lack of institutional control. Honestly, I'm more worried that Orlando Antigua may get caught up in it

THT finished his visit today. From what I have gathered he really enjoyed it, but I haven't heard of any news about a verbal. As far as the rumors about a beef between him and Ayo, I'm pretty sure those are just rumors. When he left the Mac Irvin Fire, it was my understanding that it was done so his skills could be showcased more and any beef that was taking place was between the adults in the situation. The fact that he still came for an official after Ayo committed tells me he would be willing to play with him. I think he is an Iowa St lean but would love to have him. Kid is an all around player and is going to be one hell of a college player for whoever gets him. Seems like a really good person and has handled his recruitment very well

I would be willing to bet before it is all said and done, there will be some NCAA officials that go down for this as well

Yep. House Energy and Commerce committee wants to be briefed

He was questioning a statement I made about how the shoe exec. stated that they don't go after head coaches because they made too much money already

Never said that, and didn't mean to imply it. Just stating what the shoe exec. said and giving my opinion as to whether BU was involved. I can't imagine the shoe company was paying 2 coaches to do 1 job given what the agent stated and that they have had Evans tapped since before he joined up with BU at OSU. My opinion is if they had dirt on BU already he would have been named by now. That being said, do I think BU is going to be questioned by the FBI, yes. Do I think that 95% of all high major D1 coaches and probably many more than that are gonna be questioned as well, absolutely. I would even bet that Travis Ford gets questioned as well (not implying i think he done anything) this investigation is going to be an ongoing thing for a while and who knows how far it will stretch

Underwood hired Evans from S. Carolina when he came to OSU. From what I have gathered, they (FBI) were on to Evans and he was wire tapped at SC before he left for OSU. One would think if BU was guilty of anything they would have had that info by now and he would be named in the indictment already. I don't think there is any way that he was involved. The shoe exec. is even on record stating they don't go after head coaches because they make too much money already and won't take the risk.

What I'm hearing is daddy all of a sudden wants him to go to Mizwho. Mom wants him to stay at UI. Also, mom is/was part of the holdup with getting the release finished. She supposedly didn't get papers signed right away. I'm not sure the validity of that, not sure what/why a parent would have to sign off on it. Just rumors I have heard

Yea, maybe. Guess what though, meeting with a new coach and publicly reaffirming your commitment, then asking out of a LOI a couple days later could be considered a dick move as well. Also, going to visit your "sister" who happens to be a principal at a signed recruits (who you desperately want) school is a dick move as well

No, we are very short on big men. All we have is Finke and Black and they are both really stretch 4s but can play the post also. Kipper Nichols played some 4 this year but he is really best at the 3 spot. So we are in dire need of big men at the moment. Apparently we have reached out to Carlton Bragg and Underwood was in Kansas Saturday to see 2017 F Francesco Badocci. I will add, I am disappointed to be losing Pickett. Maybe even more than Tilmon. I think he is going to be a great college player and think he is highly underrated. SLU would be wise to try and get him if they have any ships available. It wouldn't surprise me either to see him follow Groce to Akron

Well, this really doesn't surprise me at all. With the way this whole recruitment has gone it's par for the course. If you would have told me a month ago that we had the option to keep Groce, Tilmon and the rest of the recruits, or trade Groce and Tilmon for Underwood, Orlando Antigua and keep the remaining recruits plus keep Jamal Walker ...... I will take that deal every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Illinois is trying to build a program, Mizzery is trying to buy a top 10 team for a couple years. What they have been doing stinks to high heaven and they seem pretty bold about it. Won't be long before it catches up to them and eventually people will realize that Zo isn't a very good coach. He has gotten his share of 5* talent before and turned that into a total of 2 NCAA appearances in 9 years with 1 S16 run. I don't mind Tilmon asking out of his LOI. He did commit to a different coach, and should be allowed to explore his options. He is a really good player but he is not a program changer. He's not leading anyone to a final 4 next year, or the year after for that matter. I hope he really means he is still considering IL, but will be fine if he goes elsewhere. I said a while back in a different thread that I thought you guys would be better for him than SPUMAC. BTW, someone please tell me what SPUMAC stands for. Lol, I have been dying to know

They may have talked, but Illinois did NOT offer Martin so quit spreading this false rumor. That was put out by the Martin camp and has been addressed by Josh Whitman on more than one occasion

I'm not sure if he was on Whitmans radar or not. From what I have heard, when his contract renegotiation broke down with Holder his agent made contact with JW. JW was not gonna ride this out and get into a bidding war against Indiana or any other school over one of his targets and jumped at the chance to get his coach. Very impressed with what JW has done in his first year as AD for Illini athletics @WV_Billiken no interviews had taken place before his team played on Friday. Contact had been made between his agent and JW, but the first meeting between the two didn't happen until OSU returned to Stillwater on Saturday and JW flew down there to meet him.