He was able to get Ty Rodgers from Thornton, who is one of the top recruits in the state. It's a start.
Expert? NCAA Tournament picks
- Thread starter MC63
- Start date
Not many Kofi Cockburns or Coleman Hawkins in illinois. Recently not a lot of high level talent in Illinois. A few guys have gone to Kentucky but not done much. Schutt was never going to pass up Duke or Huff with Gonzaga. Got Mark Smith and Adam Miller but both transferred out. Recruiting Illinois is overrated in 2022. Get the best players from anywhere on the planet. I think Northwestern had 0 illinois players this year
I am not sure he can be really considered an instate kid. He lived in Michigan for 17 years before one season in Illinois.
I disagree the state hasn't turned out super stars like in years past but Max Christie and EJ Liddel both looked pretty good this year and the top 5-6 players in the state still typically go to big time programs, that's less then 15 years ago but still more than most states produce.
2019 - Liddell was the only guy that is playing at a P5. Illinois was already pretty far behind when underwood was hired.
2020- 4 players in the P5. Steward went Duke, Miller went Illinois, Martice Mitchell went to Minnesota but already transferred. Uhlis went Iowa. Don’t believe Illinois offered Mitchell or uhlis as they got higher rated players from out of state.
2021- 5 players went P5. Christie- MSU and Hopkins- Kentucky. Supposedly Illinois pushed hard for both. Bynum went DePaul and Hodges went Wisconsin. Don’t think illinois pursued either. Barnes went Michigan. Not sure if illinois was interested. Illinois added top 100 players from Wisconsin, Indiana and Florida.
2022- Rogers, Schutt, Huff and Casey were the 4 P5 guys. Illini got Rogers. Went hard at Schutt. Offered Huff. Heard they pulled offer from Casey. Illinois added the highest rated players from North Carolina and Ohio.
Overall that is around 3 P5 players a year in the last 4 years. Half of them went to blue bloods. Illinois got a couple and didn’t pursue others. It seems like a small amount. In the 1980s-2000s it seemed like every team in the big ten had a few players from Illinois. At the same time most of the Illini were from instate. I think AAU and the internet have changed recruiting.
You high on Hawkins? Bryce Hopkins would have been nice, but even as a jr high kid he had little to no interest in Illinois. You don’t have to get the very best recruit from in state every year, but you should be able to pull some gems out of every class
Agree with your overall point. The state of IL is not producing the basketball talent it once did. Also, the state loses kids transferring to other states and/or "prep" schools. An example is Jeremy Fears, who transferred from Joliet West to La Lumiere in IN. Fears is a 2023 kid, who recently signed with Michigan St.
Was just about to post this, the Rodgers kid who transferred into IL was a rarity most transfers are outbound.
Exactly, the state is still producing a ton of talent but a lot of it leaves. The #2 ranked kid in this year's class (Amari Bailey, UCLA commit) is a Chicago native now in California. He actually committed to DePaul while in Jr High but we know how that goes.
Kam Craft (#62, Xavier) played at Buffalo Grove last year but he is now in Georgia. He's ranked almost as high as Rodgers.
"Power 5" is not a very good term for basketball. If you're going to Gonzaga, Houston, Memphis, any Big East school, etc... you are a major recruit.
Also, there is an East St. Louis kid going to Missouri, no? So add him and that's 5 major recruits this year and we're not even counting the kids who left. Did you know there is a kid from Libertyville starting at USC the last couple years? Lots of talent people don't even realize.
So the guy saying there's only 3 major recruits per year on average... I would strongly disagree with that. In 2015, their were 3 seniors who were major recruits in the North Suburban Conference alone. And one of them went on to win college player of the year and lead his team to a national championship (Jalen Brunson, 2018). That's not bad.
Maybe the issue is that the Big10 is overrated.
I would bet Vanderbilt does. Also, 3 SEC schools actually operate Presidential libraries: Tennessee (Jackson), Mississippi State, (Grant) and Texas A & M (H.W. Bush). Grant's "down" at MSU seems odd?
Very true. Burnett and Bailey went from that TV show about Chicago ballers to high school in Hollywood. Taylor left Kenwood for Kanye Academy. All of those kids are looking for much brighter lights than Illinois.
The sun times published the list of the players of the year from the last 20+ years. Historically not many have picked Champaign. What I do find encouraging about the current staff is that they have been able to land talented players from out of state instead of reaching for instate players. Illinois typically had not gotten many out of state players and in the last couple years have pulled kids for Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, New York and California.
He has a lot of potential. NBA body and skill set but needs to be more consistent and stop picking up quick, stupid fouls. Underwood is very hard on him which some kids can take and others pack up and transfer.
They all probably have buildings called libraries. Probably. Whether they’re filled with books is another thing.
I went to the Tennessee/ND game in 90 and they had a bar called “the library”. To this day my parents think I spent $200 on books and sweatshirts.
What I find funny is this. Every time someone comes here saying the B1G is overrated, whether it be football or basketball, the apologists for the B1G respond with, "well they get better grades," or, "they are better academic schools than the SEC, etc."
Now it's, "I wonder how many SEC schools have libraries." It's their defense every time for a conference that is terribly overrated in football and, it sure seems, in basketball since no B1G school has won a national championship since 2000.
For the 1000th time, make your argument about academics when academics are being discussed. It's like you're using good academics as an excuse to be overrated and underachieving in basketball and football.
But, if you want to talk a tiny bit about academics, Duke is a pretty good academic school, wouldn't you say? Doesn't see to have slowed them on the basketball court. They are ranked #9 in the country. North Carolina is also a good academic school. They are ranked #20. Correct me if I am wrong. But aren't they in the Final Four as well? I think they are. Villanova is ranked #49 in the country in academics. I'd say all these schools are doing an outstanding job where academics are concerned.
Please stop attempting to change the subject and just accept the fact the B1G is overrated.
Now it's, "I wonder how many SEC schools have libraries." It's their defense every time for a conference that is terribly overrated in football and, it sure seems, in basketball since no B1G school has won a national championship since 2000.
For the 1000th time, make your argument about academics when academics are being discussed. It's like you're using good academics as an excuse to be overrated and underachieving in basketball and football.
But, if you want to talk a tiny bit about academics, Duke is a pretty good academic school, wouldn't you say? Doesn't see to have slowed them on the basketball court. They are ranked #9 in the country. North Carolina is also a good academic school. They are ranked #20. Correct me if I am wrong. But aren't they in the Final Four as well? I think they are. Villanova is ranked #49 in the country in academics. I'd say all these schools are doing an outstanding job where academics are concerned.
Please stop attempting to change the subject and just accept the fact the B1G is overrated.
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I know of a school down south that built a new library but forgot to account for the weight of the books.
Here I am to share a very funny story. I know nothing about college basketball. Nothing. I can't even name a single player and the only coach I know of is coach K.
I have talked about an organization I do business with who runs a college basketball tournament bracket every year. Doesn't cost anything to get it and this year 225 people participated. But there are nice cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes. Winners are determined on a point system. The first few years they did it, I didn't even bother to get in. After all, I knew nothing about the sport at that level.
But back in 2019 I figured what the hell? I finished in 7th place. Not because I knew what I was doing, but because I was lucky. I mean, 7th place with about 200 people in it wasn't too bad. Decent finish, but out of the money. Still laughable in my mind.
This year was different. I picked KU to win it all against Duke in the final game. KU did win it all but against North Carolina. I just checked the bracket and found out I finished in 3rd place this year and found myself winning a nice 3rd place cash prize. As I write this, I don't even know what the final score from last night was.
How could this be? I picked most of these games on a whim. I mean, I didn't pick St. Peters...but neither did anyone else. I did pick some teams I knew of, like Kentucky, Arizona, Duke, KU. I knew they had good teams but didn't know what their current teams were like. Things went a little south when Houston beat Arizona, but things turned for me when Arkansas beat Gonzaga because I picked Arkansas.
Now, here is the real funny part. I didn't watch a single second of the tournament. I wasn't even following my progress until well into the tournament. When I first looked at the leader board I was tied for 25th place. Who cares?, I thought. So, some more time passed and I was curious to see what teams I had left. I had 4 teams left in the quarterfinals. But I picked Duke to beat Arkansas, sooo. I watched the board a little more after games were played to see where I was. 25th, to 9th, to 7th and finally finished 3rd.
Anyway, I stuck to my commitment to not watch a second of any game. Anyone here who has been an athlete knows what it is like to continue doing the same things when you are seeing some success and to not jinx anything LOL!
Moral of the story? Go ahead and play the brackets, especially if they are free to enter. What the hell do you have to lose? If you don't know much about it Don't, I mean DO NOT take any advice from so-called "experts." Everyone and their brothers were picking Gonzaga to win it all in my pool and a ton of them fell when Gonzaga fell. Just go by your gut. Do it your way. It worked for me. But who knows, I'll probably end up in 25 place next year. Like I say, who cares? LOL!
I have talked about an organization I do business with who runs a college basketball tournament bracket every year. Doesn't cost anything to get it and this year 225 people participated. But there are nice cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes. Winners are determined on a point system. The first few years they did it, I didn't even bother to get in. After all, I knew nothing about the sport at that level.
But back in 2019 I figured what the hell? I finished in 7th place. Not because I knew what I was doing, but because I was lucky. I mean, 7th place with about 200 people in it wasn't too bad. Decent finish, but out of the money. Still laughable in my mind.
This year was different. I picked KU to win it all against Duke in the final game. KU did win it all but against North Carolina. I just checked the bracket and found out I finished in 3rd place this year and found myself winning a nice 3rd place cash prize. As I write this, I don't even know what the final score from last night was.
How could this be? I picked most of these games on a whim. I mean, I didn't pick St. Peters...but neither did anyone else. I did pick some teams I knew of, like Kentucky, Arizona, Duke, KU. I knew they had good teams but didn't know what their current teams were like. Things went a little south when Houston beat Arizona, but things turned for me when Arkansas beat Gonzaga because I picked Arkansas.
Now, here is the real funny part. I didn't watch a single second of the tournament. I wasn't even following my progress until well into the tournament. When I first looked at the leader board I was tied for 25th place. Who cares?, I thought. So, some more time passed and I was curious to see what teams I had left. I had 4 teams left in the quarterfinals. But I picked Duke to beat Arkansas, sooo. I watched the board a little more after games were played to see where I was. 25th, to 9th, to 7th and finally finished 3rd.
Anyway, I stuck to my commitment to not watch a second of any game. Anyone here who has been an athlete knows what it is like to continue doing the same things when you are seeing some success and to not jinx anything LOL!
Moral of the story? Go ahead and play the brackets, especially if they are free to enter. What the hell do you have to lose? If you don't know much about it Don't, I mean DO NOT take any advice from so-called "experts." Everyone and their brothers were picking Gonzaga to win it all in my pool and a ton of them fell when Gonzaga fell. Just go by your gut. Do it your way. It worked for me. But who knows, I'll probably end up in 25 place next year. Like I say, who cares? LOL!
Illinois has three sweet-sixteen appearances over the course of the last 20 NCAA tournaments. Here is a list of the 31 schools having four or more appearances over that same time span.
1. Duke - 14
2. Kansas - 13
3. North Carolina - 11
4. Kentucky - 11
5. Arizona - 10
6. Michigan State - 10
7. UCLA - 9
8. Gonzaga - 9
9. Syracuse - 9
10. Wisconsin - 9
11. Villanova - 8
12. Michigan - 7
13. Oregon - 7
14. West Virginia - 7
15. Xavier - 7
16. Florida - 7
17. Louisville - 7
18. Connecticut - 7
19. Purdue - 6
So there are 19 programs with at least twice as many appearances as the Illini.
20. Baylor - 5
21. Tennessee - 5
22. Butler - 5
23. Oklahoma - 5
24. Ohio State - 5
25. Pittsburgh - 5
26. Texas - 5
27. Texas Tech - 4
28. Florida State - 4
29. Indiana - 4
30. Marquette - 4
31. Memphis - 4
There are ten other schools having the same number (3) of appearances as Illinois, all of whom have appeared more recently than Illinois. They are: Miami (Fla.), Houston, Iowa State, Virginia, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Maryland, Wichita State, North Carolina State, and Washington.
Here is a list of state schools that have made sweet-sixteen appearances in the last twenty tournaments.
1. Illinois - 3
2. Loyola - 2
3. Southern Illinois - 2
4. Bradley - 1
In total, 90 different schools have made a sweet-sixteen appearance in the last twenty tournaments. Northwestern is still trying.
Note: When ranking the various teams, ties were broken based on the most recent appearance. And if the most recent appearance was in the same year, then the next tie-breaker was the team that advanced further in that tournament.
For those who are interested, here is a compilation of sweet-sixteen appearances by conference over the last twenty tournaments. It is based on the conference's current composition. So, for example, Maryland's 2002 national championship is credited to the Big Ten even though Maryland was a member of the ACC at the time.
Major Conferences
1. Atlantic Coast Conference - 67 (15 different teams; eight national championships)
2. Big Ten Conference - 47 (8 different teams; one national championship)
3. Big Twelve Conference - 46 (9 different teams; three national championships)
4. Southeastern Conference - 39 (11 different teams; three national championships)
5. Pacific Twelve Conference - 37 (9 different teams; zero national championships)
6. Big East Conference - 35 (8 different teams; five national championships)
Mid-Major Conferences
7. American Athletic Conference - 11 (4 different teams)
8. West Coast Conference - 11 (3 different teams)
9. Atlantic Ten Conference - 7 (7 different teams)
10. Missouri Valley Conference - 6 (4 different teams)
11. Mountain West Conference - 5 (3 different teams)
12. Mid-American Conference - 2 (2 different teams)
13. Conference USA - 2 (2 different teams)
Other Conferences
14. Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference - 1
15. Summit League - 1
16. Atlantic Sun Conference - 1
17. Ivy League - 1
18. Horizon League - 1
Major Conferences
1. Atlantic Coast Conference - 67 (15 different teams; eight national championships)
2. Big Ten Conference - 47 (8 different teams; one national championship)
3. Big Twelve Conference - 46 (9 different teams; three national championships)
4. Southeastern Conference - 39 (11 different teams; three national championships)
5. Pacific Twelve Conference - 37 (9 different teams; zero national championships)
6. Big East Conference - 35 (8 different teams; five national championships)
Mid-Major Conferences
7. American Athletic Conference - 11 (4 different teams)
8. West Coast Conference - 11 (3 different teams)
9. Atlantic Ten Conference - 7 (7 different teams)
10. Missouri Valley Conference - 6 (4 different teams)
11. Mountain West Conference - 5 (3 different teams)
12. Mid-American Conference - 2 (2 different teams)
13. Conference USA - 2 (2 different teams)
Other Conferences
14. Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference - 1
15. Summit League - 1
16. Atlantic Sun Conference - 1
17. Ivy League - 1
18. Horizon League - 1
This is verbatim Northwestern’s excuse why their hoops program has sucked @$$ the last 120 years. LTHS could not have stated it any better.
My parents had no doubts about where I was spending my money. They just stopped asking after awhile.
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