Shortly after the Illini basketball team closed up shop for the season (It happened in the early going of their Big Ten Tournament first round destruction at the hands of Michigan’s 3/4 of a team) we juxtaposed Illinois to Maryland. It made sense at the time given that the Illini and the Terps had such similar histories and equal levels of success. The Illini and Terps even ebbed and flowed at pretty much the same times.
However, now with what’s transpired in college hoops recruiting since, Illini basketball and Maryland basketball will not be on a level playing field any time soon.
With the addition of Diamond Stone, Maryland will be the Big Ten favorite next fall, while Illinois looks like a 9th or 10th place team yet again. It could get even worse for Illinois in 2016-17; because Jaylon Tate will be the only point guard on the roster when that season gets here.
This is what you think about when the state of the program falls to such depths and you have to revise your expectations downward. However, as bleak as it is now, it can still turn around just as quickly. Yes, even for a team that inexplicably wasn’t interested in playing their final two games of the season.
California finished just 15-17 last year. Like Illinois, they’re traditionally a basketball school, but have fallen on hard times lately. The video below is what California basketball will be this season. It encapsulates the feelings surrounding their recruiting class; ranked 5th overall in the nation.
If you’re a Cal fan you probably had a reaction similar to the students in the video above when you heard they landed Ivan Rabb, the #3 overall recruit in this class, and the likely 3rd overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Then you partied again when you heard Jaylen Brown, the who’s slotted #2 overall in both, committed to Berkley. Cal, with significantly less tradition and much less brand awareness than Illini basketball, found a way to close the deal in recruiting. So there’s no excuse for John Groce not to do the same.
All it takes is for a couple of the 5-star recruits he “finished second” or “third” on to finally commit. Recruiting is like the friend zone with women- you’re close, or at least it seems that you’re close, but you’re actually way off.
It’s binary, you’re either a 1 or 0 and there’s nothing in between.
Breaking the Sahara desert like drought when it comes to Illini basketball and 5-star recruits won’t be enough though. They need to be like the Golden Bears, and do it bunches. Get that first breakthrough class, and then see if you can snowball things from there.
Look no further than the examples of Cliff Alexander and Eric Gordon. If Illinois had somehow closed the deal with those two blue-chippers how much would have really changed? Gordon was 1-and-done and actually played pretty bad at Indiana when Dan Dakich took over for the disgraced Kelvin Sampson in the interim.
You know what a bust Cliff Alexander is.
Illini basketball nation freaks out over every recruiting failure, and that’s understandable and justifiable. John Groce whiffing on recruiting is a storyline that’s been rehashed more often than the “Fast and Furious” series of films.
But nothing will change until there’s a new culture and mindset in place. One that allows Illini basketball fans start to start handling recruiting flame-outs in the same manner Michigan State fans just did. Caleb Swanigan Eric Gordonned MSU last month and Sparty didn’t lose their minds about it, because they know they’ll land another 5-star soon enough.
Like Ma$e said “girls run like busses, you may miss one, but you can find another one on the hour promptly.”
Ok, not really, and that analogy, made 16 years ago in a very different political climate, is a tad misogynist, but you get the idea.
I know, this is the same old chicken-or-the-egg problem, and that makes it seem hopeless. Cal seemed to figure it out though. No reason to think Illinois can’t one day do the same.
Other wise we’ll just get ready for “Fast and Furious Part 11.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
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