whitesoxfan101

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 2, 2008 -> 09:22 PM) Too bad that never happened. Well, I guess your technically right since a few people were stupid enough to think Illinois still had a shot at Rose when Moore verballed to Purdue (late summer before signing day, August I believe). But Illinois could have easily had Moore, but said no, and thus Moore verballed to and visited Purdue. The Moore debacle is a big reason Illinois changed their entire recruiting strategy to the first come, first serve offer system now in place. If Illinois had the same recruiting system the last couple years that it has now, Moore would have had a white jersey on today, but nope, gotta keep a spot open for Rose. That entire thing was made dumber by the fact that the Eric Gordon rumors had been going on for months when Illinois declined a potential Moore verbal. I know everybody anywhere near Illinois with any sources (right down to even me), thought Gordon was still coming to Champaign since we weren't yet aware he was a liar, but it would have been wise to take an insurance policy.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 2, 2008 -> 12:15 PM) Please give me a list of names. Seriously. I fail to believe that a nationally recognized coach at a good D1 program has less connections than a local nobody in the state of Illinois. I think you lack the knowledge of how the recruiting game works. The other issue, as I pointed out in my post, is that Weber not only is offering these guys earlier, after starting connections with them earlier, but he's also handing out scholarships to 2 or 3 kids and telling them first come, first serve. In the past he put all of his eggs in one basket and hoped for the best. And please cite me some examples of kids who commit to a school and when asked why say "well, i gotta tell you, i really really love asst coach X. I mean we hit it off real good. I can't wait to play under him at practice and listen to his film sessions. BTW the real coach is cool, but I only committed because of asst coach X." I still don't know how, but Weber has become a damned if you do, damned if you don't public figure. He coaches like crazy, and gets all the accolades in the world, but fanatics apparently can tell he's not a good coach. He misses out on top recruits a couple years in a row (BIG TIME recruits, recruits that Illinois has had like 5 times in their entire history), and he can't recruit. He finally starts pulling in top 20, top 10 style classes, and he still can't recruit, some new guy on the bench should get all the credit. I can't wait until firezook.com starts up again because he's not pulling in 5 blue chip recruits every year. He can't recruit. Let's get rid of him. GMAFB. /rant Wow, that rant was a waste of time. Bruce Weber is a very good in game coach and a bad recruiter. He's finally getting a lot of good players, and about 3/4 of the reason for that is Jerrance Howard. Now, admittedly, despite the fact Howard is the reason for the recruiting revival, Bruce still got Richmond without him AND hired Howard in the first place, so he deserves some credit. But it's still complete fact that the vast majority of the reason for and the occurance of the recruiting revival is Jerrance Howard. Problem is, Illinois will not make the tournament again until either 2009-2010 or 2010-2011, so Bruce Weber is going to have a lot of negative inventory against him by then. And lol at your Zook comments, he's saved the program, so anybody that rips him for any reason other than a 3-9 season that isn't coming is stupid.

Boy, it's a good thing Bruce wouldn't take E'Twaun Moore because he wanted to leave that spot open for Rose or Gordon!!! Nice call, coach (10-12, 24 points today). Ugh, watching that team is torture, they finally get a good day at the line (30-40) and go 50 percent from the field for 75 points, and the defense forgets there is a game. Nice to see Bruce continue to NOT play Alexander as well, so that the awful at basketball Chester Frazier can continue to play. And want to laugh? Look at the old dude and the balding dude at the scorers table in that Erin Andrews picture. The looks of joy they have staring at EA are classic.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 01:08 PM) As long as McCain wins in a big way on SDOGPEIT, then I agree, McCain probably can cruise to the nomination and not have to worry about the money (in terms of the primary campaign). But if Romney keeps it close next week, then McCain will have major problems. Oh for sure, that's why I reference the WTA format as McCain's best friend. He's not going to blow out Romney in any of these states (and if he does, it'll only be a state or two), but since winning by even just 1 vote in a lot of these states gets you all the delegates, I can't see how Romney will even be close by this time Wednesday.

The WTA format in most of the states on the republican side combined with the success McCain will have Tuesday means he's pretty much got this locked up barring some complete shocking turns next week. However, he's very fortunate because the lack of money in his campaign would otherwise be a major issue obviously. Then again, he's also fortunate that Mitt Romney has run a very poor campaign, as many of the wounds he's suffered in this campaign have been self induced IMO.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 08:51 PM) i find these comments hilarious. honestly i dont think howard has done anything. yeah he's a good recruiting tool, but i think its more that weber has been recruiting and offering scholarships much earlier. Instead of hoping a senior commits, he's basically offering 2-3 so's and jr's schollies and telling them the first to commit gets to play at Illinois. Also, whats this commit mean for Young? I really liked what I saw from him. Do we still have a scholarship for him? Your recruiting comments show an amazing lack of knowledge. As fathom said, Howard has connections Weber can only dream of, and as I said, if this program gets really good again due to these recruits, Howard deserves the vast majority of the credit. And Weber offered guys like Scheyer and Gordon and Rose and Collins (etc) very early, he was even the first high major coach on Iman Shumpert. The problem was, he could not close the deal and use inside connections, but now with Howard, that is no longer an issue. And there is no room for anymore players until 2011 due to the verbals accumulated, as far as I'm aware of.

IU might have some problems the rest of the year. They can lie about it and deny it all they want, but Gordon has a hairline fracture in his left wrist and it's going to limit his driving ability and thus, ability to get to the free throw line for the rest of the season, and that's a big part of IU's game.

There is a distinct possibility that the Illini are going to be really good again in a couple or few years, and Bruce Weber should tithe to Jerrance Howard if so. The difference in recruiting between now and pre Jerrance is astounding, he might be saving Weber's job. I will say however credit is also due to Jereme Richmond who started this snowball effect in recruiting, as well as the new Weber strategy of first come first serve offers, which is a big reason this is happening as well.

McCain wasn't great tonight, but he continues to distinguish himself from Romney and Huckabee, which is the whole reason he's in the lead in the first place. He's simply playing to his base IMO, which is probably going to get him the nomination since Romney and Huckabee keep splitting the whacky, Limbaugh right winger votes, and Huckabee won't drop out before next Tuesday.

Awesome, the coach gives out the epic marketing quote. I love it.

Well, it was good to see the two mid majors I most want to see in the dance won tonight and remained in first in their leagues. UNC Asheville, with 7'8 Kenny George, remained perfect in league play. Also, Chief Kickingstallionsims and Alabama State won on ESPNU. http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/players/39030 Love that name.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 26, 2008 -> 05:56 PM) Have you gotten a chance to see Crandall Head yet? Because he is freaking amazing as well. Same type of talent as Richmond, maybe just a small notch below. Yeah I have, Richmond just impresses me more since he's taller. I know it's not fair, but that's kind of the tiebreaker for me, they are both insanely good.

Richmond is an amazing talent, he had 23 points and about 20 rebounds by my unofficial count. However, the team they were playing stinks, his teammates stink, and his attitude appears to stink. However, he's as hell of a talent and still only a sophomore, so in that respect I am very impressed.

I'm seeing Jereme Richmond in person tonight, I'll report back with what I see.

Wow, that sucks. I do my best to stick to embarassing myself with my thoughts, but usually I'm good with the grammar. Oops.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 24, 2008 -> 05:31 PM) Michigan threatened to pull Cissoko's offer and ND was using that strategy this year as well. There was no chance in hell Michigan was ever going to pull Cissoko's offer, that was posturing. You are correct on ND however, but you have to be very picky and keep people away from other places when your coming off a 3-9 year and don't play in a conference, so that's understandable.

I'll say this, if that list of medications they found in Ledger's apartment from TMZ is accurate, I would not be surprised at all if this was an accident due to a bad mix of pills/taking an extra couple of sleeping pills to get some shut eye. I don't know much about 3 of the 5 meds they found in his place, but mixing xanax and ambien is in itself a very bad idea, and that doesn't even get to the other 3 drugs, which might be much stronger for all I know. I don't think mixing xanax and ambien can be fatal, but it can mess you up pretty damn bad, and if you add the other 3 meds into the mix, that makes things worse.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Jan 24, 2008 -> 04:17 PM) For the most part you are correct. However, Texas uses that recruiting style. They pressure the top kids in state to commit early and stay firm or they will move on, and always end up with a great class before everyone else gets started. Well you are right, but Texas basically just offers the top 50 kids in Texas, tells them there are 25 spots open, and says it's first come, first serve. As a result of that, along with the popularity of HS football and the Horns down there, they have 25 verbals and a top recruiting class by about March every year, way before almost anybody else in the nation. Thus, as a result, if a guy or two strays (which does happen), they just pull the offer and have plenty of time to get somebody else. So while your correct, that's kind of a unique situation.

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Jan 24, 2008 -> 01:28 PM) Most schools do that. Not the ones that are good at recruiting. If you want really good players, you have to deal with some sniffing around at other places after they verbal. Some kids just love the process of being wanted.

QUOTE(gbuk @ Jan 24, 2008 -> 02:21 PM) Far and away the best team? That's stretching it. Name me one close, because I haven't seen them yet. The "closest" team is Memphis, and I just don't trust a team playing in a league that awful.

UConn is one of those teams that will make the tournament as an 8 or 9 seed and give some #1 a scare in the 2nd round IMO. Tons of talent, but very young, if they can keep that group together for next year they'd be very dangerous. IU should beat them, especially since the game is in Bloomington though, but it's a dangerous team to play, and very fun to watch.

Couple nice pickups for Illinois, even if they are only 2 stars. NIU got some kid from Florida who is 6'0, 240 and runs a legit 4.53 in the 40 yard dash. He isn't rated by the major recruiting sites, but with those measureables, he's more than welcome to come play ball here.

Noah is starting to look like a real NBA player, which is nice and somewhat surprising. A lot of people compared him to Tyson Chandler when he was at Florida, and at least for one night, we saw why.

Kansas is so far and away the best team in the nation right now......I don't even think Self can do his traditional die in the elite 8 thing with this group. And I think hell is going to freeze over when Drake and Baylor, both in the top 25, make the dance in the same year.

What she said was out of line, EVEN FOR A ROAST. With that said, anybody who is swigging vodka from a belvidere bottle and being offensive at a roast, if nothing else, has my respect for being bat s*** crazy. I always have and will think she's a no talent, but at least she has a personality, even if she's nuts and messed up.