I am just a bit skeptical these days. I will believe that Rose is coming to IL AFTER he signs on the dotted line.
It now is vogue for these top recruits to play IL like a drum. No top recruit will end up here because they know about the "LOSING CULTURE" IL is not serious about winning national championship in basketball
GDD,
"IL is not serious about winning national championship in basketball."
Last I checked, they came within one basket of doing just that two years ago. That sounds pretty serious to me.
I beleve this kid is good enough to help any team, but Illinoise and him would be a perfect fit.
the bigs we have in the program would help him showcase his awesome pg skills.
Common GGD. Spew your venom somewhere else. The only loser at Illinois is you.
My own speculation:
1. He's not happy with what Adidas is offering, and he's yanking their chain a little bit in the hopes of landing a better package.
2. He's yanking Illinois' chain just to be evil.
3. He doesn't want to play in Jackass Gordon's shadow at Indiana (this could of course be solved by going to Memphis, so I'm not sure I buy it).
4. He's genuinely interested in attending Illinois (not sure I buy that either, but I'm a pessimist by nature).
I'm with wpr. It's a nice story, but I'm not getting excited about anything until his name is signed to that LOI.
JMHO, but after spending months looking at Indiana and Memphis, I doubt Rose is going to sign with UIUC based on a single visit a week before his announcement. I don't know what made him come to MM, but perhaps the speculation about making Memphis jealous (or whatever) is true.
I'd prefer to concentrate on the recruits who are realistic about the Illini-but right now, I don't think there's any '07 recruits on the horizon.
Great t-shirt at www.all-wear.com that says "HEY KELVIN" at the top with the middle finger sticking up below it. The t-shirt is orange with navy writing. Perfect for the Illinois basketball game against Indiana or just to show how you feel about the Eric Gordon thing. Indiana has a few oral commitment. Why doesn't Weber go after them now????? The sh.. has only just begun to hit the fan.
I agree, he should give Indiana a feeling they gave the illini faithful. I guess this means Weber really wants to kick Sampson's ass this year on the court and he probably wants to off the court as well. He already has his trouble with recruiting and when he basically locked up Gordon, Sampson came in and screwed it all up. I wonder how much stuff Bruce broke after this happened?
I'm pumped about the season! I attended the game last night against Lewis, and thought we looked mechanical, but played with a lot of energy. Defense looked good, minus rebounding. Offense looked rusty. Once we get rich and brian back, we'll be good. Well, if you need a little inspiration to clear your mind of all the recruiting schlop, I posted a tribute to the Orange Krush, and to one of the great moments in UI basketball history, on the latest entry on my homepage. Should be a great season!
Sorry Wonk...I have to disagree with you. One final four appearance every 25 years or so doesn't cut it any more. They now have to win the national Championship to be credible. IL is one of the few major universities (and sadly the only one in Big Ten...save Northwestern) that has not won a national championship in either basketball or football. IL is not serious about winning a national championship...thus the "losing culture" that prohibits the top recruits in these two sports to come to IL. Please forgive me to be so blunt and say it like it is....but, it's the fact.
Rose commits to Memphis. This really sucks. All that time spent to Gordon and Rose only to see them spurn the U of I.
Oh Darn. I am so surprised. What ever will I do now? Memphis is the perfect place for Rose who will come in for a year or two and then leave for greener $$$$$ pastures.
Well one of these days Weber will land a big name player. Until then he will just have to do the best he can with role players who aree willing to pay the price.
I figure Rose knows it would have taken him his Fr year to learn the offense if he were to come to IL and he doesn't want to invest that much time and effort. Memphis is easier for him to use as a stepping stone.
There are no surprises here....as I've been saying it for sometime...Untill and unless we wipe-out this culture of losing that Ron Guenther has established with our sports, no top recruit in B'ball and f'ball will come to IL. These top recruit kids and their parents are watching for their own future and they know much better than us die-hard fans/alumni that IL is not committed to excellence and national championship in these sports. So, here is the solution..fire RG as AD...the sooner the better.
Lack of national championships in football and basketball? If you don't count our four national championships in football, then yes. But frankly, I'm very happy with where our basketball program is, and the football program seems headed in the right direction.
I don't know if anyone remembers, but nobody was making a fuss over deron williams, or james augustine, or luther head when they committed to IL like they are with eric or derrick. The great thing about the IL program and weber especially is that we dont need the best recruits--let duke and unc have them, not that id not like to have one once in a while, but thats just not our style. i looked at the high school recruiting ratings for deron, luther, and augustine, and none of them were top 50 in their class. dee was an exception, but i dont think he was even the best in the class.
all i am saying is that we get so caught up in these "great" recruits, when we forget about guys like jamar smith, and possibly some new guys that could end up being better for the IL program than if we did get rose or gordon.
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