Illini impress again

[tornado]

The Championship in Maui will be Illinois and Butler - something not many expected - as a few of the big boys got knocked off...

Butler upset Marquette then UNC and Illinois got to walk all over Chaminade because Chaminade knocked off Texas...
Illini really have a lot of apparent weak spots but blowout wins against the last two teams make them look pretty good on paper.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

Much like the 3-0 Braves did, Illinois has a lot of work to do.

[Chico]

After watching the Illinois-USC game, I don't think we want to play Illinos.

[tornado]

I kinda agree with both points - Illinois does have a lot of kids who barely got much more interest than other mid-major offers...
In other words - the kids they have currently are not 4 & 5-star kids - they're not much more highly rated than a lot of mid-major teams have.
I know they haven't been terribly challenged but they did blow USC out by 30 pts...and they're averaging 84 ppg and their shooting percentages are extremely good
(46.3% overall and 41.3% from 3-pt - and that's with walk-ons playing a lot of their minutes thus far!)

....
they play well together - good team ball, they execute well, they make shots, and they score points...they have and USE a point guard
to hand out assists, and they limit the other teams' chances & hold the other team to low shooting pct.

I know they're gonna struggle in some upcoming games but thus far it looks very promising for the ILLINI fans.....

I would argue they are "coached up" and as proof I would point to how Ohio is currently doing --they have mid-major talent but ......
Ohio was a SWEET SIXTEEN team last year and are 5-0 this year blowing most of their opponents out by 25-40 pts...
If you don't have the studs - there are two things that can be done...
A) whine about it or ...
B) coach them up

[JMM28]

I would argue they are "coached up" and as proof I would point to how Ohio is currently doing --they have mid-major talent but ......
Ohio was a SWEET SIXTEEN team last year and are 5-0 this year blowing most of their opponents out by 25-40 pts...
If you don't have the studs - there are two things that can be done...
A) whine about it or ...
B) coach them up

Coaching up is pure poppycock.

Ohio is a talented squad, but has blown out a bunch of certified cupcakes of 200+ RPI. They returned everyone of significance from a Sweet 16 team. Jeez.

[tornado]

talking poppycock, if they were so darned good then quote me anyone who had them picked to make the Sweet 16?? Ohio was NOBODY's pick to make the Sweet Sixteen --
in fact - it took a buzzer beater for a ONE-POINT win in the MAC Tourney or Ohio would have landed NIT

we must have a different definition of "coaching up"

..someone at Illinois must have thought they were coached up -as the Illini poached the guy.....

[mrcoachdude]

He is able to go deeper in the bench than many thought and they are playing well...

If they keep playing unselfish basketball the Illini will have a better season than most thought...

[Future Walk-On]

Illinois does have a lot of kids who barely got much more interest than other mid-major offers...

Is this a joke? Illinois has 6 4 star recruits (5 in the main playing rotation)

DJ Richardson ??“ 4 star ****
Kentucky, Florida, Georgetown, Indiana, Marquette, NC State, Ohio State, Tennessee, Virginia

Brandon Paul ??“ 4 star ****
Green Bay, Loyola (Chicago), Northwestern

Nanna Egwu ??“ 4 star ****
Northwestern, Oregon St., Purdue, Wisconsin

Tracy Abrams ??“ 4 star ****
Houston, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennesee

Myke Henry ??“ 4 star ****
Baylor, Illinois St., Marquette, Nevada, SLU, Wisconsin

Mike Shaw ??“ 4 star ****
Depaul, Marquette, Notre Dame, West Virginia

Tyler Griffey ??“ 3 star ***
Kansas, Missouri, Purdue, SLU, SIU, Stanford

Joesph Bertrand ??“ 3 star ***
Arizona State, Bradley, Illinois State, Iowa, Marquette, Notre Dame, SIU, Wisconsin

Devin Langford ??“ 3 star ***
Auburn, Georgia

Ibby Djimde ??“ 3 star ***
Old Dominion

Sam McLaurin ??“ 2 star ** (5th year transfer)
Coastal Carolina

Here is a tally of their offers

High Major (36)

Marquette (3)
Wisconsin (3)
Kentucky (2)
Notre Dame (2)
Indiana (2)
Tennessee (2)
Northwestern (2)
Purdue (2)
Ohio State (1)
Stanford (1)
Auburn (1)
Georgia (1)
Kansas (1)
Missouri (1)
Arizona St. (1)
Baylor (1)
Nevada (1)
Depaul (1)
West Virginia (1)
Florida (1)
NC State (1)
Georgetown (1)
Virginia (1)
Oregon St. (1)
Iowa (1)

Low-Mid Major (12)

Illinois St. (2)
SIU (2)
SLU (2)
Bradley (1)
Loyola-Chicago (1)
Green Bay (1)
Old Dominion (1)
Houston (1)
Coastal Carolina (1)


So we end with a grand total of 36 high major offers to 12 low-mid major offers.


The reason Bruce Weber got fired is because he had this talent and finished 9th in the Big Ten as well as lost 2/3 of his 2010 class (Richmond, Crandall Head) in a non exemplary way..

[Future Walk-On]

Not trying to be rude. I was bored at work....and it was fun for me

[JMM28]

Is this a joke? Illinois has 6 4 star recruits (5 in the main playing rotation)

You just unwittingly proved his point!

[JMM28]

talking poppycock, if they were so darned good then quote me anyone who had them picked to make the Sweet 16?? Ohio was NOBODY's pick to make the Sweet Sixteen --
in fact - it took a buzzer beater for a ONE-POINT win in the MAC Tourney or Ohio would have landed NIT

we must have a different definition of "coaching up"

..someone at Illinois must have thought they were coached up -as the Illini poached the guy.....

Coached up is a generic term that people use when they don't understand what they are watching. That is my definition. What is yours?

[Future Walk-On]

You just unwittingly proved his point!

6 players in an 8 man rotation are 4 stars

and 2 of their 3 star kids had a boatload of high major offers


EDIT: don't forget 7 players from the ESPN top 100

[tornado]

Brandon Paul ??“ 4 star ****
Green Bay, Loyola (Chicago), Northwestern

yeah -- a whole boatload of hi major offers on all those guys...and lemme recall - didn't one of their coaches get canned recently in part because he just couldn't land the best in-state players and always took the 2nd tier guys.....

[tornado]

Illini play a good 1st half again and lead Butler by double digits...
Butler's game plan seems to be give it to Clarke & let him shoot..
.. a lot of those Illini guys were classic examples of kids who were 3-Star that jumped to 4-Star as soon as they verballed to a BCS school

[DeltaBrave03]

Brandon Paul ??“ 4 star ****
Green Bay, Loyola (Chicago), Northwestern

yeah -- a whole boatload of hi major offers on all those guys...and lemme recall - didn't one of their coaches get canned recently in part because he just couldn't land the best in-state players and always took the 2nd tier guys.....

You picked one of 11 players to think you just made a point. Illinois consistently gets high rated players but has not produced like they should the last few years. If Bradley landed one of any single player listed above this place would explode.