Illinois basketball fans

[wang4three]

If this is the only issue with a team member this summer, I'll be satisfied.

[Posterize246]

while looking through some old threads I found this post by TheGame414

Tyus's recruitment the last few weeks was an interesting one. His three finalists were Ohio State, Illinois and Florida, yet a couple weeks ago, he didn't actually have a scholarship offer from any of them.

He was set to visit OSU before Thad Matta essentially pulled a power play on Evan Turner, telling him that Tyus was visiting shortly and that if he (Turner) wanted to play for Ohio State, he needed to accept the scholarship now. Combine that smart, businesslike recruiting with guys like Kosta Koufos telling Turner to come play with them, and with Turner's dad living in Ohio, and it's easy to see how Ohio State got the surprise commit from him, instead of Illinois. (Considering Illinois ended up with McCamey the next day, thus giving us a very good point guard and being able to put the full-court press on Derrick Rose, it ended up working out okay. The decision of taking Turner and McCamey and closing out the '07 class with that was taken out of our staff's hands, and while that would be a better class on paper than any of Self's at Illinois, you just cannot give up on Derrick Rose.)

So with Ohio State out of the picture for Tyus, he reportedly said the only school he was thinking about at the time- about two weeks ago or so- was Illinois. Reportedly, Tyus called the Illinois staff and told them he was ready to commit, but still not having a scholarship offer from Illinois, Weber and Co. told him that they couldn't accept his commitment at that time, because they had "other plans."

That other plan, of course, being Derrick Rose. Now, if the staff told a Top 50 guy with traits we don't quite have in this otherwise very good class- big-time athleticism from a big man, inside scoring, shotblocking- that we wouldn't accept his verbal commitment, combined with Rose and Eric Gordon playing like they've been together for years at the Peach Jam, that leads me to be a little more optimistic about his recruitment.

Florida was supposedly Tyus's favorite school all along. So if the staff had any idea they were about to offer him, which they obviously finally did, then it was doubly smart to not take the verbal from him because he'd probably have quickly changed his mind anyway.

Of course, if Derrick Rose ends up elsewhere, I'll sure wish we'd have taken Tyus.

Anyway, take that all with a grain of salt, but it comes from a source I consider reputable.

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5173

So with Tyus deciding to transfer from Florida do you think there's a chance he would consider Illinois again?

[YAH trick YAH]

Ive read its being reported by Rivals he has interest in us, don't know if its mutual. I don't think we have any way to give him a scholarship.

[IlliniFan]

I've also heard he has interest in Illinois. Not that it matters, because we have absolutely no room unless someone transfers.

[TheGame414]

while looking through some old threads I found this post by TheGame414


http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5173

So with Tyus deciding to transfer from Florida do you think there's a chance he would consider Illinois again?

No room for him.

Considering we ended up with Mike Davis in that class instead of Tyus, I'd say it worked out fine.

[IlliniFan]

Martez Wilson is a beast.

[TheGame414]

Scout's new 2010 rankings has Richmond at No. 6 overall, Leonard at No. 29 and Head at No. 37.

Not surprised that Crandall dipped a little bit. He had a bit of an up-and-down junior season but could regain 5-star status with a big summer. Regardless of where he ends up ranked, he has a huge ceiling and elite athleticism, just a matter of putting it all together.

With no one being a clear-cut No. 1 player in 2010...hell, I'd like to see Richmond have a huge summer and senior year and take a shot at being No. 1 in the nation. Why not? Van Coleman recently said he wouldn't rule it out, though I'd say it's probably an outside chance.

[TheGame414]

Good article on Mike Davis from Mark Tupper. Talks about him participating in Team USA trials, Weber wanting him to lead the nation in rebounding, and working on his ballhandling skills.

[wang4three]

Ball handling skills with his jumper and athleticism? Sounds good to me. It sounds like they're turning him into a face up player which I think would be best for him.

[TheGame414]

He already kind of is a face up player, with the catch-and-shoot baseline jumper being so much a part of his offense. I'd like to see him add 10-15 pounds and see his post game get better in addition to that. Really, even with as rapidly as he's already improved, there's no reason his whole game can't continue to improve across the board.

[ThaKing]

Game, What do you know about Bradley Beal? Kansas and Illinois are apparently very close to the top of his list of possible schools.

[TheGame414]

I haven't even watched any video of him, but from what I've read about him he's a big-time scorer and has deep range. He scored 53 points or something like that in a game this past season. Seems like he's cut from the Eric Gordon mold, though maybe not quite as physical (then again, Gordon himself wasn't built like an NFL tailback when he was a high school sophomore, like he is now).

I know he's said he really, really likes Illinois but might be concerned with the possible lack of immediate playing time with D.J. Richardson, Brandon Paul and Crandall Head ahead of him on the depth chart. But guys as good as he is- and it sounds like he's a likely 5-star- usually don't worry about that when it comes down to it.

He may not be making a choice anytime soon and his recruitment will probably end up involving just about everyone, but Illinois and Kansas were two of the first to the table and that can't hurt either of them.

[TheGame414]

One more thought, not specifically about Beal and where he may go, but just about Illinois' recruitment of him: with all the recruiting success for the '09 and '10 classes- and the great start to '11 with Tracy Abrams' commitment- one thing this staff has not done is win a high-profile recruiting battle that goes on to the very end.

Every single one of the eight signees/verbals in those four classes committed before their junior season started except Tyler Griffey, who was midway through his junior year. Crandall Head and Abrams were in the middle of their sophomore seasons. Richmond committed as a freshman before his first high school game. As a quick aside, while it seemed absurd to some people to offer a kid that young, it's looking pretty good considering he's likely to finish his high school career as one of the top 5-10 players in the nation.

Speaking of Gordon, even he was the same way; when he committed to Illinois originally, it was at the beginning of his junior season.

So recent history would suggest that the longer Beal's recruitment goes, the less likely Illinois is to be the destination.

[TheGame414]

Also, for whatever it's worth, Illinois beat writer Paul Klee expects the Illini to get either Beal or Rock Island (IL) guard Chasson Randle in the 2011 class (but definitely not both; this will not be a three-guard class). Randle isn't as high-caliber a prospect as Beal, but he's a very good prospect and a similar player: a high-scoring combo guard.

Illinois has five scholarships for the '11 class but is likely to only use four. Ideally, I think the staff wants something like this for 2011:

-Tracy Abrams, PG (already committed)
-Beal/Randle, SG (pure scorers, both would fit well alongside Abrams)
-Mike Shaw, F (maybe not the mega-prospect everyone thought he was a year ago but still a likely McD's AA candidate)

Then one of these two:

-Nnana Egwu, C (a raw 6'9" center that's blossoming into a high-level prospect, likely to be a defensive force; already has scholarship offers from Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin and Oregon State)
-Sam Thompson, F (a 6'6" high-flyer who could be a versatile combo forward)

There are obviously plenty of others they're still recruiting (Quincy Miller and Dejuan Marerro are a couple of names I've heard thrown out there, similarly athletic swingmen to what Thompson is), but those are the top targets. Since we seem to be living in some strange world where Illinois is actually landing their top targets in recent classes, I'll remain quietly confident that we can land at least a couple of those guys as long as Jerrance Howard remains on the staff.

[TheGame414]

And for no particular reason- not that one is needed- I again present Frank Williams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93LVdrhW6sM&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ8Hp...eature=related