Page 2 of 153 FirstFirst 123451252102 ... LastLast
Results 16 to 30 of 2288
  1. #16
    NJ Net Fan For Life. wang4three's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    11,775

    Default

    Illinois '07. Enjoying my senior year to the best of my abilities.

  2. #17
    Decent playground baller ThaKing's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Topeka, Kansas
    Posts
    355

    Default

    ^^^

    You'll be enjoying it without Derrick Rose. He eliminated you guys from his list. Stil has Kansas, Depaul, Indiana, Memphis, and UCLA. Good luck to the remaining 5 schools.

  3. #18
    Decent college freshman TheGame414's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Zookville
    Posts
    2,747

    Default

    Anyone who's been paying attention has known for at least a month that Illinois was out of the picture. I was hanging on to that last shred of hope that we weren't, but not by much. Anyway, it is absolutely zero coincidence that all five of the schools he's considering are adidas schools. The Illinois staff did all they could, but changing our shoe company from Nike to adidas isn't something they can do.

    If anyone thinks that's "sour grapes" or anything of the sort, you're being very, very naive about college basketball recruiting. I'm not upset about this, in part because I think the roster we'll have in 2008 is capable of winning a national title with or without Rose. Unfortunately, I think the Illinois staff is somewhat naive about it too, which significantly reduces our chances of ever getting guys like Rose or Collins. However, whenever handlers like Reggie Rose or Anthony Longstreet are involved, there's a price to pay for their services, one way or another. Part of me wishes our staff would accept the realities of college basketball and play that game. Part of me can't blame them for not going down that road.

    The only thing that worries me about that list is Indiana being on it- let the Rose and Gordon to Indiana rumors begin- but again, no surprise. It's one of adidas's highest-profile programs. All things considered, I'll still be surprised if it's anyone besides Memphis.

    On another note regarding Indiana, this shirt is pretty funny (yes, I bought one):



    The back reads: "IU basketball: Please call us....we can't call you."

  4. #19
    Decent college freshman TheGame414's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Zookville
    Posts
    2,747

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by IlliniFan
    Its not the offense that im worried about really. Our defense has been horrible...We always get down by 40 and teams start putting in their backups on offense. Its really embarassing. I actually got excited when we won our first 2 games but that quickly faded when we lost the rest. I think one of teams we beat was good. Rutgers? i dont know.
    Well, the good news, I guess, is that after ranking at or near the bottom in the nation in almost every defensive stat, there truly is nowhere to go but up.

    We've signficantly upgraded our speed and athleticism on defense with the '06 class, maybe even moreso than offense. Juco transfers Justin Sanders (safety) and Antonio Steele (linebacker) have already earned starting jobs and will immediately make our defense better. I hope Melvin Alaeze (DE) gets his NCAA Clearinghouse stuff taken care of quickly and can get on the field, because he's a beast. He's capable of being a contributor immediately, and it all starts up front, so not having him would suck. Doubly so, because or DTs are gonna suck, still.

    So with Justin Sanders and Justin Harrison, I feel good about our safeties, but the big wildcard to me is whether or not any of the stud freshmen CBs can contribute this year. It's a hard position to play as a freshman; I've been hearing good things about Vontae Davis, though.

  5. #20
    NJ Net Fan For Life. wang4three's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    11,775

    Default

    I don't want a player that doesn't like Nike.

  6. #21
    Decent college freshman TheGame414's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Zookville
    Posts
    2,747

    Default

    Meh. I wouldn't say that...I'd still take Derrick Rose under most (not all...we aren't win-at-all-costs-no-matter-how-shady Memphis) circumstances. But like I said, even though I can't say I'd operate the same way if I was a college coach (then again, I don't have a moral compass and I'm definitely going to hell, if there is one), I can't blame our coaching staff for not playing that game. It's a slippery slope. As long as we can get the occasional superstar like Eric Gordon every few years, along with consistently getting very solid (if not spectacular) 3-4 year guys like Pruitt, Semrau, Carlwell, McCamey, etc, Illinois basketball is always going to be in the national picture.

  7. #22
    Decent college freshman TheGame414's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Zookville
    Posts
    2,747

    Default

    I hope someone, someday, years from now, writes a book about the Derrick Rose recruitment. It's one of the most compelling sagas I've ever followed in sports. Unfortunately, it also shows how shady the world of big-time amateur basketball- high school, AAU and college- is, but we already knew that.

    This also shows that if you pay close enough attention and have the ability to filter the BS from the legit stuff, that even with a recruitment like Derrick Rose's, you can figure out what's going on no matter how dumb they play with the media. A month ago at an alumni event in Chicago, Steve Bardo (former Illini player, former Illini color commentator, now with ESPN) told everyone to forget about Derrick Rose. I think it's fairly clear that Weber leaked that to him. There's been smoke coming out of Memphis for months and months. We've also heard for a long time that it wasn't Derrick's decision, that Reggie was handling his recruitment. Hell, Derrick himself acknowledged the latter part of that; it isn't like he was going to flat-out say that he wasn't making the decision, but he definitely wasn't. Before the Memphis stuff starting surfacing, his two favorite schools- not the two favorites in the recruitment, not the schools winning Reggie's bidding wars- were Illinois and North Carolina, and not necessarily in that order.

    UNC stopped recruiting Rose a long time ago, and it's now obvious why.

    Call me nuts, but I don't see them switching brands any time soon. They're North freakin' Carolina and can quit recruiting whoever they want whenever they want, because they can go get someone else just as good. Even when we're talking about Derrick Rose. If that means they hold the schollie so they can go get both Tyreke Evans and Delvon Roe in '08, well, I think they're willing to do so.

    Illinois can't do that. Aside from UNC, only Duke, and possibly Kansas, are in a position to do that if they so desire. Just completely walk away from a talent like Rose. Anyone else, especially the home school that badly wants the top in-state guy...we couldn't quit no matter how stacked the deck was. Sure, we could've had Alex Tyus had we walked away from Reggie's games, but as talented as he may be, you can always find guys like Tyus. Our staff apparently thinks Mike Tisdale is a better player than Tyus anyway, and I think for good reason.

    I also wonder if the "done deal" everyone was talking about a month ago wasn't specifically with Memphis, but just with adidas, period. If it was with Memphis, why not just commit to Memphis? Then again, nothing about this makes a whole lot of sense, except the money, and anyone who's paid any attention knows to pay any mind to anything out of Reggie Rose's mouth.

    If adidas has as much say in this as I think they do, I don't see why they wouldn't want him at UCLA, with Kevin Love. Talk about hype.

    Well...let's go get A.J. Stewart- or hell, Dar Tucker. This can still be a blockbuster class (not like it ain't already a damn good one).

  8. #23
    Decent college freshman TheGame414's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Zookville
    Posts
    2,747

    Default

    Speaking of Darquavis Tucker, he was in Champaign this weekend on an unofficial. Good news, I suppose. He was supposedly a lock for Louisville a few months back, but appears wide open at the moment. With Rose out of the picture, I could certainly see us getting in the picture for Tucker, as he's a likely candidate to be our No. 1 target for the remaining '08 scholarship. I hear he and Gordon are friends.

    One of the nation's top 2008 PGs, Anthony Crater, was also in Champaign this weekend. It would come as quite the surprise if he chose someone besides Ohio State, but Illinois is now reportedly his second-favorite school (if that matters...like I said, the kid is OSU-bound).

  9. #24
    Saw a basketball once
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    5

    Default

    Im a gopher fan myself

  10. #25
    Decent college freshman TheGame414's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Zookville
    Posts
    2,747

    Default

    And?

  11. #26
    NBA rookie of the year IlliniFan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    DMV
    Posts
    6,275

    Default

    I guess its ok that Rose isn't coming. McCamey is listed as a pg anyway...and I don'y think anyone here cares that you're a gopher fan..especially since we're gona kick their ass again this year. (in basketball) About Tucker though...scout.com says he has no interest in Illinois. http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=192&p=8&c=1&nid=1313138
    Last edited by IlliniFan; 08-28-2006 at 04:54 PM.

  12. #27
    Decent college freshman TheGame414's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Zookville
    Posts
    2,747

    Default

    Scout.com profiles are hardly a reliable source of information, even if they aren't out of date- which they usually are.

    Who knows what Tucker's real interest level is in Illinois, but he was on the campus this weekend. And with a scholarship no longer being held for Derrick Rose, our interest level in him is likely to pick up.

  13. #28
    Banned KrispyKream's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    New Orleans
    Posts
    9

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by IlliniFan
    I guess its ok that Rose isn't coming. McCamey is listed as a pg anyway...and I don'y think anyone here cares that you're a gopher fan..especially since we're gona kick their ass again this year. (in basketball) About Tucker though...scout.com says he has no interest in Illinois. http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=192&p=8&c=1&nid=1313138
    Illinois is a joke. Seriously, this team ain't ready to compete. They need to add solid players!!!! I also hate their colors. Orange, White and black ain't a good color mix expect for black which is my favourite color in the whole wide world. So until Illnois could fix up those problems, maybe than i'll look into them. But for now, i rather eat an expired apple pie than watch this team play.

  14. #29
    Saw a basketball once IlliniiFan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    VA
    Posts
    6

    Default

    I guess its ok that Rose isn't coming. McCamey is listed as a pg anyway...and I don'y think anyone here cares that you're a gopher fan..especially since we're gona kick their ass again this year. (in basketball) About Tucker though...scout.com says he has no interest in Illinois. http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=192&p=8&c=1&nid=1313138

  15. #30
    Decent college freshman TheGame414's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Zookville
    Posts
    2,747

    Default

    Illiniifan, usually when you create a username that's meant to confuse people into thinking it's someone else's, you say something interesting instead of just copying a previous post.

    Illinois is a joke. Seriously, this team ain't ready to compete. They need to add solid players!!!! I also hate their colors. Orange, White and black ain't a good color mix expect for black which is my favourite color in the whole wide world. So until Illnois could fix up those problems, maybe than i'll look into them. But for now, i rather eat an expired apple pie than watch this team play.
    And I had to learn from a retarded kid on the internet Illinois no longer wore orange and blue.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •