Kind of looks like the Wisconsin Dells.

Well sucks to be in the SEC then.

So how many NPOY’s will 7’9” Oliver Rioux get in his career?

I’m just saying if Chet stayed four years he would easily get a NPOY and accolades up there with Edey.

Zion and Chet are the only ones in the same conversation based on dominance. Only a handful of players have 2x NPOTY. And I believe Edey is tied for second most points in a single March run. None of those players come close to the total resume of Edey.

Great college players not becoming great NBA players is a weird reason to hate college basketball.

But Kaminsky was a stretch big typical of what you would find in the NBA. Why would his play style make you despise college basketball?

Do you have him confused for Jahlil Okafor or Zach Edey maybe? He is one of the more agile big men with a decent bag of post moves that also happened to shoot over 40% from 3 his senior year.

No need to rewrite history just because he didn’t live up to his draft pick.

Could you elaborate on this?

I think that will depend on whether bigs at the high school/college develop into shooters. I don’t see many bigs in the W that can play out on the perimeter and pull the other bigs out of the paint.

Your Chicago Terrapins

Outside of Coleman Hawkins what homegrown talent can they hang their hat on since the NIL/transfer portal era began?

Wasn’t really arguing one is better than the other. Just was saying I don’t blame any freshman for avoiding Illinois right now. They clearly prefer the transfer portal to developing homegrown players.

I agree. But my whole point of this is Brad brings in so many transfers that it pushes talented freshman to the bench. It’s not surprising that so many freshman have been transferring from Illinois when they are the 9th or 10th option.

Isn’t Dainja a transfer?

They have 5 incoming transfers, 2 returning contributors from last year, and 1 stud freshman. That’s already 8 deep. Is Illinois really going to roll with 10-11 man lineups night to night?

Dude those guys are all vets in their respective pro leagues. During the NIL/transfer era Brad does not develop nor really play freshmen.

Simple, go through their recruiting classes from 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Outside of one player, Coleman Hawkins, there is not much there. A lot of highly rated players, very little to show for it.

If I am a highly rated player, why would I be excited for that lack of development. Especially when I know Brad is bringing in 3-5 transfers every year?

Those are all guys from the 2019 class or earlier. Outside of Coleman, name a freshman that has thrived since that 2019 class with Kofi?

Coincidence that the NIL/transfer portal opened up around that time 🤔

Last years Purdue team was built on homegrown players who all contributed as Freshman when they initially came in.

This year?

I believe it when I see it. But we have like 5 years showing us guys like Humrichous, Booth, White, and Davis will be Brads go to options.

I don’t know what I’m missing. He’s got some great bigs coming in this year, but he also has essentially a starting roster of transfers also coming in. Are any freshman going to play big minutes outside of Morez? I guess not.

Since the transfer portal/NIL explosion there isn’t really a great case to be excited to come to Illinois as a freshman. All of the guys you listed all transferred out. That doesn’t even include guys like Curbelo, Podziemski,Sky Clark, and Morretti. It’s clear Brad values the portal over developing.

But all of your top prospects are bigs. Just saying it’s been awhile since Illinois has had a homegrown recruit contribute.