Recruiting - 2018 class

[3star_recruit]

Illinois has been getting owned in Chicago for the past 15 years.  At least they're getting a top 30 recruit out of the deal.

[mechee89]

Not sure where this would fit, but Christian Williams was granted a release from his scholarship at Iowa, requesting to transfer. I believe there was some SLU interest at one point.

 

 

[RiseAndGrind]

Man, Brad Underwood looks like a f'n punk here 

https://www.suntimeshighschoolsports.com/2017/10/26/why-illinois-passed-on-simeons-talen-horton-tucker/

[Box and Won]

59 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

Man, Brad Underwood looks like a f'n punk here 

https://www.suntimeshighschoolsports.com/2017/10/26/why-illinois-passed-on-simeons-talen-horton-tucker/

How's Roy Schmidt handling all this?

[JMM28]

Just now, Box and Won said:

How's Roy Schmidt handling all this?

Really well. He just threw his Nintendo 64 controller against the wall and woke his dad up. Grounded for 2 weeks, I hear. 

 

@prepbullseye: Idiots at the primary newspaper in Champaign for Illini sports coverage doing nothing but hurting their state school's recruiting efforts. Do they even realize it?

[CGMAN618]

3 hours ago, RiseAndGrind said:

It the staff really backed off of THT because ayo told them to, they are going to get owned in chicago 

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

[RiseAndGrind]

27 minutes ago, CGMAN618 said:

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

TL;DR he let a kid and the kids aau team dictate his roster. Ayo isn’t even on campus yet. BU hasn’t even coached a game yet. BU will end up being fed to the wolves.  He played it wrong and looks like a bum. Illinois fans can try to spin it any way they want but it’s a horrible look and even worse leadership. 

(if you think I am an Illinois or BU hater - I’d like to point out that I called him a top ten coach a week or so ago.)

[CGMAN618]

35 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

TL;DR he let a kid and the kids aau team dictate his roster. Ayo isn’t even on campus yet. BU hasn’t even coached a game yet. BU will end up being fed to the wolves.  He played it wrong and looks like a bum. Illinois fans can try to spin it any way they want but it’s a horrible look and even worse leadership. 

(if you think I am an Illinois or BU hater - I’d like to point out that I called him a top ten coach a week or so ago.)

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

 

[JMM28]

6 hours ago, CGMAN618 said:

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

 

I think he’ll learn that hiring Chin Coleman might lead to short term recruiting “success”, but long term it divides the team and causes lots of issues. The same playbook was used when Chin helped destroy the Bradley program with the help of Mac Irvin’s Dumpster Fire. 

[615Billiken]

If this Mac Irvin Fire and THT riff is true and did lead to Illinois rescinding the offer, then I think Illinois fans should be more worried about the type of program and team dynamics they are setting up rather than being bummed about losing THT. 

College should be a fresh start, and a period of professionalization and growth for students. This high school beef shouldn't matter. It doesn't surprise me that AAU people are beefing with a kid, it does surprise me that Illinois let those beefs continue on to college. 

[Pistol]

Lost in the THT weirdness, two other SLU offerees committed in the past two days: Omar Silverio chose Santa Clara over UMass and Fordham and Trey Jemison committed to Clemson; Alabama, Georgia, and Harvard were thought to be his other leaders.

[RiseAndGrind]

4 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Lost in the THT weirdness, two other SLU offerees committed in the past two days: Omar Silverio chose Santa Clara over UMass and Fordham and Trey Jemison committed to Clemson; Alabama, Georgia, and Harvard were thought to be his other leaders.

If you have the chance to go to Harvard you do it. But maybe that’s just me 

[615Billiken]

3 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Lost in the THT weirdness, two other SLU offerees committed in the past two days: Omar Silverio chose Santa Clara over UMass and Fordham and Trey Jemison committed to Clemson; Alabama, Georgia, and Harvard were thought to be his other leaders.

I understand that the priorities of athletes are different. But I've never ever ever understood athletes who decline offers from Harvard and other top academic schools. 

I get it, Clemson as better facilities, fans blah blah blah. But damn...

[JMM28]

Our buddy Roy is saying that Talen Horton Tooler might not sign in the fall and wait until spring. 

[Pistol]

16 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

If you have the chance to go to Harvard you do it. But maybe that’s just me 

 

16 minutes ago, 615Billiken said:

I understand that the priorities of athletes are different. But I've never ever ever understood athletes who decline offers from Harvard and other top academic schools. 

I get it, Clemson as better facilities, fans blah blah blah. But damn...

Yeah, but we also have the perspective of people who are out of college now. Who knows what's being prioritized by a 17-year-old, 6-11, 230-pound center from Homewood, Alabama,? He may look back in ten years and go, "Damn, Harvard?! Missed my chance."

We have some offers out to a few 2019 players also being recruited by Harvard. Amaker is mixing it up at a higher level talent-wise than Ivy League schools normally recruit. He asked for a little wiggle room academically and they gave it to him. Harvard also just renovated the basketball arena and adjacent facilities. Looks sharp.

[kmbilliken]

If this was because of Ayo, I would be concerned about having him on the team with such an egocentric attitude. If this is a MAC Irvin Fire thing, that is sad. They are depriving one of there former players of going to the college of his choice because they are 1. mad at him because he chose to plat elsewhere or 2. making a power play to show other players not to dare try such a move, or both. Underwood should have never gave in. 

[RiseAndGrind]

2 hours ago, 615Billiken said:

If this Mac Irvin Fire and THT riff is true and did lead to Illinois rescinding the offer, then I think Illinois fans should be more worried about the type of program and team dynamics they are setting up rather than being bummed about losing THT. 

College should be a fresh start, and a period of professionalization and growth for students. This high school beef shouldn't matter. It doesn't surprise me that AAU people are beefing with a kid, it does surprise me that Illinois let those beefs continue on to college. 

This is essentially my point. Underwood is letting the beefs of an AAU program run his program. What a backbone. What happens next time AYO or the MIF make a demand? If I was Underwood I would have told Ayo to take a walk. Yes, i know he's a 5*, but god damn, have some balls Underwood. 

[brianstl]

How solid is Ayo's commit if this happened?  It can't be all that solid after all this.  That is what would really scare me if I was an Illini fan.  So what happens the next time something happens that Ayo and his people aren't onboard with 100%?  Does he hold off on signing in the fall to make sure they don't offer anyone he doesn't like in spring?  I wouldn't be surprised if the Illini end up missing out on both Ayo and THT now.

[MattyMo213]

What if THT waited to make his announcement until Ayo officially signed, and then he signed himself. Would be a sly move...

[3star_recruit]

Chicago's high school basketball culture is more akin to the mafia than it is competitive sports. If the Chicago basketball community wanted to stop this nonsense, they would stop sending their kids to the Irvins. But they won't because they're too self-involved to see the long-term damage this mafia-don approach to leadership is doing to their kids. Nick Irvin is going to get away with this.

[JMM28]

3 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

Chicago's high school basketball culture is more akin to the mafia than it is competitive sports. If the Chicago basketball community wanted to stop this nonsense, they would stop sending their kids to the Irvins. But they won't because they're too self-involved to see the long-term damage this mafia-don approach to leadership is doing to their kids. Nick Irvin is going to get away with this.

This is a great post. 

[DeSmetBilliken]

3 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

Chicago's high school basketball culture is more akin to the mafia than it is competitive sports. If the Chicago basketball community wanted to stop this nonsense, they would stop sending their kids to the Irvins. But they won't because they're too self-involved to see the long-term damage this mafia-don approach to leadership is doing to their kids. Nick Irvin is going to get away with this.

Check out this article on the Irvin basketball family.

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/meet-the-irvins-the-south-sides-basketball-dynasty/

Notice the name of the late father “Mac” Irvin: MacLother Irvin. It sounds like there’s a son named Mac too. Any chance he’s the guy that played for SLU in the early 90’s? Was he the guy who quit the team during a game?

[615Billiken]

55 minutes ago, DeSmetBilliken said:

Check out this article on the Irvin basketball family.

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/meet-the-irvins-the-south-sides-basketball-dynasty/

Notice the name of the late father “Mac” Irvin: MacLother Irvin. It sounds like there’s a son named Mac too. Any chance he’s the guy that played for SLU in the early 90’s? Was he the guy who quit the team during a game?

I went to the Mac Irvin Fire website. It reeks of self-absorption particularly the documentary video that they have on their relaying the history.

[Quality Is Job 1]

53 minutes ago, DeSmetBilliken said:

Check out this article on the Irvin basketball family.

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/meet-the-irvins-the-south-sides-basketball-dynasty/

Notice the name of the late father “Mac” Irvin: MacLother Irvin. It sounds like there’s a son named Mac too. Any chance he’s the guy that played for SLU in the early 90’s? Was he the guy who quit the team during a game?

MacGlother Irvin was a juco transfer who played briefly for the Billikens during the tumultuous 1991-92 season that led to Rich Grawer's dismissal.  Midway during the season, after Melvin Robinson and Carlos Skinner had quit the squad and freshman sensation Brian (?) Grant had suffered a season-ending injury to one of his surgically-repaired knees, Irvin came out of a game and walked past the end of the bench and quit the team in the middle of a game.

[STL Hoops Insider]

13 minutes ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

MacGlother Irvin was a juco transfer who played briefly for the Billikens during the tumultuous 1991-92 season that led to Rich Grawer's dismissal.  Midway during the season, after Melvin Robinson and Carlos Skinner had quit the squad and freshman sensation Brian (?) Grant had suffered a season-ending injury to one of his surgically-repaired knees, Irvin came out of a game and walked past the end of the bench and quit the team in the middle of a game.

I learned something