Leave it to Illinois to bring European pro-ballers to college basketball
- Thread starter BigD
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thedukeofearl
Well-Known Member
DAMN
From the article:
llinois doesn’t seem so worried about their relationships with Chicago Public League coaches these days. College basketball rosters are no longer built from nurturing high school recruits over four years. In this era, roster building is a year-to-year proposition, not unlike the way it is in EuroLeague. The Illini have found a market inefficiency by going to Europe and offering top players more money, a better lifestyle, and renewed interest in their NBA hopes. College basketball is an all-new ballgame, and Illinois’ roster proves it.
Seems a bit underhanded
From the article:
llinois doesn’t seem so worried about their relationships with Chicago Public League coaches these days. College basketball rosters are no longer built from nurturing high school recruits over four years. In this era, roster building is a year-to-year proposition, not unlike the way it is in EuroLeague. The Illini have found a market inefficiency by going to Europe and offering top players more money, a better lifestyle, and renewed interest in their NBA hopes. College basketball is an all-new ballgame, and Illinois’ roster proves it.
Seems a bit underhanded
BigD
Well-Known Member
I will take a stab at this one.
High end prostitutes riding on the high school buses after games and using rolled up one hundred dollar bills to light up cigars (edit; ROACH CLIPS) for the four and five star recruits. I am visualizing open bus windows with smoke pouring out the windows as they drive down the street.
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Fryowa
Administrator
Hate to break it to you but this is absolute genius. By the way, Underwood shouldn't be vilified for this; he should be praised as being an innovator. This isn't NCAA basketball or football anymore, they are both pro leagues. If you can't come to terms with that it's ok, but it's also time to take up basket weaving or stamp collecting as a hobby. I'll repeat..."college" basketball and football are not college sports anymore. That's a euphemism now. "College" basketball and football are dead. Time to either accept it or move on.
You do whatever you can do under the current rules or you die off, it's as simple as that...and that's what Underwood is doing to survive. In other words, don't hate the player, hate the game. Underwood is playing chess when most other coaches and programs are playing checkers.
I'll also add this...would all of you who are mad at this stop watching Hawkeye basketball if all the sudden BMC had a bunch of 6'10" 250lb NBA prospects from the Baltic region signed to play ball? Hell no you wouldn't.
Yeah the days of landing the Jeff Horners and Dean Olivers who commit their freshman yrs in HS and play at the same college for 4 yrs are long over. Things have just gone to the ultra extreme. If a player plays 3 yrs at once place it'd be surprising. So yeah everything is yr to yr now so programs are figuring out how best to do that. The pressure for those top teams to just shuffle in the most talented guys is off the charts.
If schools like Iowa can recruit well develop guys and KEEP them that can give them a leg up. Team continuity is certainly a thing too on the floor. Having talent is great and all but if they don't jive well as a unit they can still be beat. We've seen lots of examples of that over the yrs
It really is genius. Cause IL is a program that's closer to Iowa in terms of stature and NIL then they are the Dukes/Kentuckys/Kansas type blue bloods. Will it work? Who knows maybe. What's the difference between that and us going to Australia to land punters all the time now? Iowa had a kid just down the road that wanted to punt for us that was like the #1 punter recruit a yr or so ago but we didn't offer him so he went to GA. All because we have a pipeline to Australia.
SwirlinLingerie
Well-Known Member
In the past, could Euro players have any pro experience and be eligible for the NCAA? I'm guessing no, that it is a change, but I don't really know.
trj
Well-Known Member
Yep.
Rutgers is a great example. Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey are projected to be the 2nd and 3rd pick in the NBA draft, and Rutgers was dogshit this year.
Kentucky under Calpari is another example. You could have a roster just with ex-Kentucky guys under Calpari, and they would immediately be a NBA championship contender this year. Yet, Calpari only got one championship during his run at Kentucky.
Continuity isn’t a buzzword, it does matter.
trj
Well-Known Member
I will be up front…I did not read the link @BigD posted yet.
Luka Doncic was this phenom, prodigy type basketball player, who was playing pro ball at 16, 17 years old. So are we saying these dudes have an option to play in college a year or two?
Nikola Jokic is the best player on the planet, and he was a 2nd round pick. So if he was 18 or 19 now, he would definitely be considering college. That is insane to me.
Fry is correct, it is a good move on Underwood’s part. There are no rules on where you get talent, and how you get it. So I am not going to go on some ‘holier than thou’ rant.
Luka Doncic was this phenom, prodigy type basketball player, who was playing pro ball at 16, 17 years old. So are we saying these dudes have an option to play in college a year or two?
Nikola Jokic is the best player on the planet, and he was a 2nd round pick. So if he was 18 or 19 now, he would definitely be considering college. That is insane to me.
Fry is correct, it is a good move on Underwood’s part. There are no rules on where you get talent, and how you get it. So I am not going to go on some ‘holier than thou’ rant.
Fryowa
Administrator
I know this is just semantics in a sense, but there’s no one in D-1 that doesn’t have pro experience anymore. All athletes are paid now so there’s no distinction. The act of being paid makes them a professional. It’s the definition of the word.
If you said previous paid experience that’s one thing, but it would be pretty absurd to have a rule that says “you can play here, but only if we’re your first paid job.”
BigD
Well-Known Member
No,
Just a thought here. Your attending Iowa as a student, Likely many have held jobs of some kind to same up and help their parents afford the expense of attending at Iowa. It's very demanding as you work toward your degree. You decide to attend a basketball game since you came across free or discounted tickets.
You go to the game and find out that most of the players never grew up in Iowa and aren't there because of educational pursuits. Also, most of them are at or near at a millionaire status because their getting paid that kind of money to play the game you are about to watch. Are you going to relate to those players in any way, shape, or form?
Ben is going to have his work cut out for him.
If he is wise he will get those guys involved in the communities across Iowa. The fans need to feel they can relate to these players in some way or another.
It was always cool in the past when the Iowa football players would go over and high five Iowa fans after a win. It was their way to say thank you to the fans for their support. Ben is going to have to figure this one out. Maybe a visit to Blank Children's hospital on the cancer ward (I think that is the third or forth floor), It's been a while since I have been there. It's a life changing event to see the kids and their parents. Maybe do a car wash for a great cause.
Service projects like that. A way to show that they are good kids who care about those in the community.
Great statement! It matters and contributes not only to success but it is or I guess was important to the fans. They don't care about the fans but the fans loved seeing players and a team grow and improve and take the next step as they grew into bodies and gained experience both playing together and against the conference they were in. People don't like that much change and turnover. More turnover is a bad thing. Crappy retail and fast food jobs have more turnover. College sports shouldn't have even more of it. If you are among the majority you don't see that much time as a freshman so it is 2 or 3 meaningful seasons barring any issues or injury anyway. Do you give a framed jersey on Senior day to a guy who only played one season for you?
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
As the lack of guardrails festers, inequities like this will continue to degrade college sports to the point where fans walk away. I don't blame the coach. He is following what few rules remain in place and is competing aggressively. But, at some point, college athletics is just going to be a water down version of the pro league with college jerseys on their chest. The younger generation is already less into sports. If they lose old farts like us, the game will become boxing and horse racing in a generation.
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
Somewhat serious question. Could Lebron James, who has never played a minute of college basketball, retire from the NCAA, enroll at Akron to get his degree, and play for the (I think it is Zips?)? How long is it before washed out NBA guys who did not exhaust eligibility crawl back to college ball for NIL money?
Not sure how that works but I thought once one was considered 'professional' and cashed checks it blew up their amateur status. But nowadays with that line being blown all to hell as to what makes one a pro or not the hell if I know what they'll use to differentiate the two now. All it'll take is someone to challenge it to force the courts to define it.
Yeah... As an old fart I've found myself more and more just watching highlights and not even watching full games on tv as much anymore. I'll always try to watch Iowa's games live but beyond it's tough to carve out the time when you can recap 95% of a 2 plus hour long game in a 30 second-1 minute long clip.
Add in the folks that take the time and spend the $ to attend games dropping and yeah they always gotta be cognizant of how fragile keeping fans engaged can be. My whole childhood I was always longing for more. I grew up on a farm in NW Iowa with no cable TV. I had limited access to watching much sports on tv between my friends and Gparents. I listened to many more games on the radio then anything until I was an adult.
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
Its not up to the kids to understand this concept, but the old saying that Pigs get Fat, Hogs get Slaughtered, applies here. These kids absolutely deserve to make money for a product that they are an integral part, but if the pendulum swings too far and the sport no longer is legitimate, it will die a slow death. Its up to the adults in the room to figure out a balanced system that pays all parties involved, but keeps the heart of the sport intact. If there are any adults left in the room.
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