Alex Legion leaves Illinois

[Da Coach]

Alex Legion has left Illinois.
He will transfer to another school (? maybe a midmajor like an MVC school), looking for more playing time.

http://www.sportingnews.com/college-basketball/article/2009-12-29/guard-alex-legion-leave-illinois

He spent 1 semester at Kentucky, and sat out a year, and now has played the last year at Illinois.

[jeffsu]

So he played a semester, transferred/sat out a year, played a year (spring and fall 2009) at U of I, and may transfer again and sit out a year?

Does this then give him a year of sitting out and then would be eligible second semester next year ( if he transfers now) for 1.5 years? Or is his eligibility clock at the point where he has to go D2?

[real fan]

Perfect example of a player that was overrated or just never worked hard enough to get better, I don"t see him going to another D-1 school and sitting out anymore time, maybe S.Indiana .

[Da Coach]

He graduated high school in 2007, and entered Kentucky in the fall of 2007. He transferred to Illinois in January, 2008, and became eligible in January, 2009.

Alen Legion is officially listed on the Illinois roster as a junior-

http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/legion_alex00.html

However, I he is still in just the middle of his second season of eligibility, which would leave 2 1/2 seasons of remaining eligibility.
But if he transfers to a lower division school (Division I or II) he would still have to wait until the start of next season to play, but he would then have 2 full seasons of eligibility left. D2 and D3 do not allow a transfer to become immediately eligible if they transfer in at mid-season.

If he transfers to another D1 school, he would have to sit out another year, and he would lose that entire year of eligibility, since he has already used up his 1 year to "redshirt" when he transferred from Kentucky to Illinois. So I think he would have 1 1/2 years left to play at another D1 school.

There are already rumors about where he might transfer.
There are 2 MVC schools with connections to former coaches of Legion:
SIU- where Chris Lowery has a close relationship with Bruce Weber. However, right now I doubt the Legion family is feeling closeness to Weber.
ISU- Tim Jankovich is a friend and former collegue of Billy Gillispie, who originally recruited Legion to Kentucky. They were both once assistants under Bill Self at Illinois. However, I also don't think the Legion family holds Gillispie in high regard either, as they feel he promised more playing time at Kentucky, which didn't happen, and is the reason he left there.

[Da Coach]

Perfect example of a player that was overrated or just never worked hard enough to get better, I don"t see him going to another D-1 school and sitting out anymore time, maybe S.Indiana .

I am not convinced this is true. People who are close to the Illinois program have told me that Legion frequently dominates practices, and is a great shooter. However, they feel he plays "tight" when he is in a game, and doesn't play or shoot well, and plays like a different player. But everyone who has followed him closely thinks he is a great talent.
I think if he transfers to a lower level school, there is a chance he could become a dominant player. He is a 6'5" wing player who has an NBA-type body, and is highly skilled.

[BradleyBrave]

Alex Legion has a LOT of baggage, primarily a very vocal and overinvolved mother. Good luck to whoever has to deal with that.

[real fan]

I am not convinced this is true. People who are close to the Illinois program have told me that Legion frequently dominates practices, and is a great shooter. However, they feel he plays "tight" when he is in a game, and doesn't play or shoot well, and plays like a different player. But everyone who has followed him closely thinks he is a great talent.
I think if he transfers to a lower level school, there is a chance he could become a dominant player. He is a 6'5" wing player who has an NBA-type body, and is highly skilled.

So basically what you are saying is that he is a heck of a practice player but cannot perform well in games, there are a lot of those type of players , I believe we have had some over the years.

[Da Coach]

There are reports that legion has already made a decision where he will transfer, but no announcement has been made yet.-

http://www.freep.com/article/20091229/SPORTS06/91229033/1054/sports06/Local-product-Alex-Legion-leaving-Illinois

[BradleyBrave]

There are reports that legion has already made a decision where he will transfer, but no announcement has been made yet.-
http://www.freep.com/article/2009122...aving-Illinois

He's coming to BU to play power forward?

[tornado]

I disagree, he has only his senior season left....and he won't be eligible to even begin playing his senior season until mid-year 2010-2011...
so he may have as few as just 20 games or left to play if he transfers to D-I.

Did you note that when he left Kentucky after just a few games and came to Illinois, the first game he played at Illinois was his soph season, even tho he had to wait 'til end of semester...
then this (2009-2010) is his junior year, and I contend he has only his senior season left and will have to use it next year after the end of 1st semester.
However...let's say he plays 5 games next year, then is injured and redshirts...
he could even come back in 2011-1012 to complete his eligiblty, but not if he uses his final year in 2010-2011.

[FutureBrave2013]

I disagree, he has only his senior season left....and he won't be eligible to even begin playing his senior season until mid-year 2010-2011...
so he may have as few as just 20 games or left to play if he transfers to D-I.

Did you note that when he left Kentucky after just a few games and came to Illinois, the first game he played at Illinois was his soph season, even tho he had to wait 'til end of semester...
then this (2009-2010) is his junior year, and I contend he has only his senior season left and will have to use it next year after the end of 1st semester.
However...let's say he plays 5 games next year, then is injured and redshirts...
he could even come back in 2011-1012 to complete his eligiblty, but not if he uses his final year in 2010-2011.

I agree, but if my math is correct Legion could sit out all of next year and have a full year of eligibility left in 2011-2012.

Legion has 5 years to play 4 seasons of basketball.

2007-2008 played first semester at Kentucky (freshman)
2008-2009 played second semester at Illinois (sophomore)
2009-2010 played first semester at Illinois (junior)
2010-2011
2011-2012

So either Legion could play the second half of next season therefore ridding himself of eligibility. Or he could sit out the entire 2010-2011 season but still be able to play the entire 2011-2012 season because that would only be his 5th year of college.

Regardless, Legion has either a half or full year of basketball left in college.

[jeffsu]

JournalStar agrees. They quote Weber as saying he can sit out rest of this year and all of next year, then have one full year... Or... Sit all of 2010 basically and have just the spring semester in 2011 and be done.

Will be interesting... Where's he originally from? I guess I could look it up, but I'm sure someone here knows

[Da Coach]

He is from Detroit and went to Detroit Country Day High School through his junior year. Then he transferred to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia for his senior season. He was rated a 5-star recruit, and was ranked in the Top 10 players nationally after his junior year, but dropped to a 4-star recruit after his senior year.
Here is his profile from 2007- he was recruited by and had offers from many of the top programs in the country- Michigan, UCLA, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois and others-

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Alex-Legion-30871

[SaintLouBrave22]

I am not convinced this is true. People who are close to the Illinois program have told me that Legion frequently dominates practices, and is a great shooter. However, they feel he plays "tight" when he is in a game, and doesn't play or shoot well, and plays like a different player. But everyone who has followed him closely thinks he is a great talent.

I've also been led to believe over the years that David Collins, Reggie Hall, and so on have dominated in practice...


Doesn't really hold much water with me anymore...

[BradleyBrave]

I've also been led to believe over the years that David Collins, Reggie Hall, and so on have dominated in practice...


Doesn't really hold much water with me anymore...

Jim Les said Will Egolf dominated practice this week...