illinilaw08 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 02:33 PM) This could be the situation, or they could have been talking to Ayo's camp about this and got the impression they didn't care. The clearest evidence of this is that Illinois continued to recruit THT and set up an official visit with him just days before Ayo was going to commit. If this is such a big deal to Ayo's camp, why isn't this communicated to Illinois? "i'm not committing if you still intend to recruit THT." But maybe the answer there is that Ayo's camp wasn't going to make a big deal of it unless it had to. THT has been an ISU lock for a while. The visit apparently sold him on Illinois. So once those rumors got out they felt compelled to make their position known. Who knows, the whole situation is f***ed. I'm behind them choosing Ayo over THT given the upside going forward. But you're right, if they whiff on those guys the next year or two at Morgan Park they're really setting themselves up for more Chicago recruiting failure (although it's been that way for decades, so it's not like this staff is any different than any post-Henson) It was pretty well known that there was an issue between THT and Ayo since THT left the Fire. The staff thought they could smooth things over because everybody cares about winning. That's been well sourced all summer. Under these circumstances, obviously you take Ayo over THT because it became a binary choice. And MIF has a lot more kids in their pipeline than Simeon does at the moment. You have a couple years to repair those relationships, and in the meantime, hopefully you get some of the MIF kids in the next couple classes. By the time, Simeon's kids are back, Underwood should have the program winning again (knocks on wood). But the point is that this is a PR nightmare only because IL backed off of THT at the 11th hour. The staff was confident they could smooth this over and get both. That was an obvious misplay, and it turned this thing into an ordeal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 I'm worried about the PR hit, but I'm really worried about this Ayo situation going forward. He just (and yes, it's on him though I understand the adults carry a large burden of this) denied a recruit that the staff REALLY wanted, how the hell do you have any confidence for the future with him now? How do you not expect him to pull some other s*** at some point? And to those saying it's not on the kid, come on man, you're telling me if Ayo stood up and told his parents and coaches to get over it, he wants to play with THT, etc that they would hold their ground? Ayo holds the cards, those coaches are dependent on kids like him, if he wanted the hand to play differently he could've changed it. I'm just really hoping that at this point his tenure at Illinois is as smooth as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 I wonder if this becomes an Irvin against the rest of Chicago situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 10:21 PM) I'm worried about the PR hit, but I'm really worried about this Ayo situation going forward. He just (and yes, it's on him though I understand the adults carry a large burden of this) denied a recruit that the staff REALLY wanted, how the hell do you have any confidence for the future with him now? How do you not expect him to pull some other s*** at some point? And to those saying it's not on the kid, come on man, you're telling me if Ayo stood up and told his parents and coaches to get over it, he wants to play with THT, etc that they would hold their ground? Ayo holds the cards, those coaches are dependent on kids like him, if he wanted the hand to play differently he could've changed it. I'm just really hoping that at this point his tenure at Illinois is as smooth as possible. Underwood played all the cards he could to get Ayo (i.e.: Chin). He better pray Ayo is worth it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illinilaw08 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 04:21 PM) I'm worried about the PR hit, but I'm really worried about this Ayo situation going forward. He just (and yes, it's on him though I understand the adults carry a large burden of this) denied a recruit that the staff REALLY wanted, how the hell do you have any confidence for the future with him now? How do you not expect him to pull some other s*** at some point? And to those saying it's not on the kid, come on man, you're telling me if Ayo stood up and told his parents and coaches to get over it, he wants to play with THT, etc that they would hold their ground? Ayo holds the cards, those coaches are dependent on kids like him, if he wanted the hand to play differently he could've changed it. I'm just really hoping that at this point his tenure at Illinois is as smooth as possible. Honest question - this incident aside, have there been any issues with Ayo? Jereme Richmond ended up being a headache for Weber, but there were a lot of red flags in his HS career. Ayo deserves to take some of the hit on this one for all the reasons you laid out. Hopefully this is smoothed out when he gets onto campus... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boogua Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 05:28 PM) Underwood played all the cards he could to get Ayo (i.e.: Chin). He better pray Ayo is worth it Not just Ayo, but the future Mac Irvin Fire players as well. If they get guys like Okoro, Miller, and Whitney it will have been well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanne Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 QUOTE (Da_Goob @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 04:38 PM) Not just Ayo, but the future Mac Irvin Fire players as well. If they get guys like Okoro, Miller, and Whitney it will have been well worth it. Not a given by any means...and I really think it sets a crappy precedent caving to these scumbags (if this was honestly the case). Really puts a ton of pressure on Ayo too...with people thinking it's on him. Really a s***ty situation all the way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 05:31 PM) Honest question - this incident aside, have there been any issues with Ayo? Jereme Richmond ended up being a headache for Weber, but there were a lot of red flags in his HS career. Ayo deserves to take some of the hit on this one for all the reasons you laid out. Hopefully this is smoothed out when he gets onto campus... Besides choosing to play for the Irvin's and this THT grudge he's never had any reported issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 05:26 PM) I wonder if this becomes an Irvin against the rest of Chicago situation. Just not gonna happen, but I really wish that family would go away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Oct 27, 2017 -> 12:10 AM) Just not gonna happen, but I really wish that family would go away. If anything, today made them more powerful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heads22 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 THT to ISU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanne Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 05:22 PM) If anything, today made them more powerful yeah...kinda disappointed with Underwood with this one. Of course if I don't know the whole story and there really is a riff between the two personally. But if it was due to the Irvin scumbags...I'd be disappointed if Underwood didn't tell them to shove it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 QUOTE (Heads22 @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 06:39 PM) THT to ISU. Hope he kills it there, great classy kid that honestly Illinois didn't deserve with the way they treated him. Love what your coach has done in recruiting, really impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boogua Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 07:22 PM) Hope he kills it there, great classy kid that honestly Illinois didn't deserve with the way they treated him. Love what your coach has done in recruiting, really impressive. He'll probably be my favorite non-Illinois player in all of college. Just an awful situation. I hope he destroys and makes the league. His mom seems classy too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 05:21 PM) I'm worried about the PR hit, but I'm really worried about this Ayo situation going forward. He just (and yes, it's on him though I understand the adults carry a large burden of this) denied a recruit that the staff REALLY wanted, how the hell do you have any confidence for the future with him now? How do you not expect him to pull some other s*** at some point? And to those saying it's not on the kid, come on man, you're telling me if Ayo stood up and told his parents and coaches to get over it, he wants to play with THT, etc that they would hold their ground? Ayo holds the cards, those coaches are dependent on kids like him, if he wanted the hand to play differently he could've changed it. I'm just really hoping that at this point his tenure at Illinois is as smooth as possible. Irvin runs a top school and top aau club. If he says take THT and you get no more guys I coach, that's above Ayo. This was bigger than one player. This was Illinois changing it's Chicago recruiting efforts. I love Illinois fans that have been b****ing for years that the coach isn't recruiting Chicago properly. Underwood just did. He hitched his wagon to the coach with the best access to the best players the next 2 or 3 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 I’m with Russ. Bird in hand worth two in the bush. This is a big damn country full of good basketball players. Plenty of pipelines to open up with right assistants. Losing a single AAU program isn’t a deathknell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boogua Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 (edited) QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 08:27 PM) I’m with Russ. Bird in hand worth two in the bush. This is a big damn country full of good basketball players. Plenty of pipelines to open up with right assistants. Losing a single AAU program isn’t a deathknell. The Illini have a bird in the hand already. They were shooting for Ayo and a future of Okoro, Miller, and Whitney (the first two whom I would be pretty surprised if they didn't end up at Illinois) instead of THT and nobody. If it was just Ayo's family doing this, I would have taken THT probably. Since it looks like the Irvin's are behind it, you can't side with THT IMO. Edited October 27, 2017 by Da_Goob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 QUOTE (Da_Goob @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 08:33 PM) The Illini have a bird in the hand already. They were shooting for Ayo and a future of Okoro, Miller, and Whitney (the first two whom I would be pretty surprised if they didn't end up at Illinois) instead of THT and nobody. If it was just Ayo's family doing this, I would have taken THT probably. Since it looks like the Irvin's are behind it, you can't side with THT IMO. That’s what I’m saying. You can’t say it wasn’t Ayo himself that would not play with THT, because of it’s just handlers you take him IMO. Have a hard time believing two solid lean IL players would drop out even after guy they are tight with is...still there. And if that did happen there are still plenty of 19 targets to make up class. But if Ayo truly would have been fine himself if they forced the issue it is a mistake to turn down this guy for 19 recruits you think are coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 What I pretty much thought. https://www.suntimeshighschoolsports.com/20...-horton-tucker/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Bowing to an AAU program is pretty dangerous IMO. Especially when AAU is as crooked as it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heads22 Posted October 28, 2017 Share Posted October 28, 2017 But the important part is it all worked out for Iowa State in the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 30, 2017 Share Posted October 30, 2017 NCAA outdoing itself with this Braxton Beverly situation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted November 4, 2017 Share Posted November 4, 2017 Fire Underwood? Refs? I kid, I kid. Just getting ready for season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted November 4, 2017 Share Posted November 4, 2017 Officially worried about this season, knew it was a rebuild year but this could be a disaster. The defense has been terrible so far, a lot of guys will need to step up just for this team to have a bit embarrassing season. And that eval is on all 3 exhibitions not just this loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Getting pumped for Mizzou/Iowa St. on friday. Take it easy on me if we lose, heads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.