Can someone explain to me why I keep reading that the main force working in Groce's favor is the potential of the 2017 recruiting class?
This explanation for retaining Groce has been out since the team started the season losing to North Florida. Today Jeremy tweeted out "Whiteman kept him bc best chance at a bright future with program-changing 2017 class." This isn't a post to advocate firing or not firing Groce, and I have no problem with Whitman focusing on football first especially with the knowledge today of the quality of moves he was able to make to put Lovie in place. But, what are people seeing in this class that I'm missing?
It's tough for me to comprehend the reasoning behind this line of thought. Other than the fact that it has the potential to be a better class then anything Groce has been able to bring in up to this point in his tenure, why is everyone so excited?
Right now (pending attrition) Illinois has five scholarships to give in the class of 2017. Two of five scholarships are already accounted for by Williams and Pickett. Most people's realistic "Dream Class" includes Jeremiah Tillman and Jordan Goodwin. That would mean four of the five open scholarships are spoken for and it includes a total of ONE top 50 player.
Now obviously it looks like attrition is very possible on the current roster, opening up more opportunities. But, are there some top 30-40 recruits that are realistic possibilities that we haven't heard much about waiting to give John Groce their commitment? There are other players people talk about (Negron/Smith/Verge), but none of these guys are even top 100 guys at the moment.
This "potential class" is a good class to build around, and if you can stack classes of top players around it you could turn back into a respectable program. But, in reality this class would be different then the typical Illinois class because of one player, Jeremiah Tillman. Without him this is classes that we have gotten many times the past ten years, and have produced the results we are seeing now.
I hope these kids are all foundation pieces for a future Illini resurgence, but how is a POTENTIAL class of this kind really being talked about like it's the next Okafor/Jones/Winslow or Oden/Conley/Cook immediate impact/coach's job saving class?
Please someone talk some sense to me, because right now I feel like Mugatu in Zoolander ().
This explanation for retaining Groce has been out since the team started the season losing to North Florida. Today Jeremy tweeted out "Whiteman kept him bc best chance at a bright future with program-changing 2017 class." This isn't a post to advocate firing or not firing Groce, and I have no problem with Whitman focusing on football first especially with the knowledge today of the quality of moves he was able to make to put Lovie in place. But, what are people seeing in this class that I'm missing?
It's tough for me to comprehend the reasoning behind this line of thought. Other than the fact that it has the potential to be a better class then anything Groce has been able to bring in up to this point in his tenure, why is everyone so excited?
Right now (pending attrition) Illinois has five scholarships to give in the class of 2017. Two of five scholarships are already accounted for by Williams and Pickett. Most people's realistic "Dream Class" includes Jeremiah Tillman and Jordan Goodwin. That would mean four of the five open scholarships are spoken for and it includes a total of ONE top 50 player.
Now obviously it looks like attrition is very possible on the current roster, opening up more opportunities. But, are there some top 30-40 recruits that are realistic possibilities that we haven't heard much about waiting to give John Groce their commitment? There are other players people talk about (Negron/Smith/Verge), but none of these guys are even top 100 guys at the moment.
This "potential class" is a good class to build around, and if you can stack classes of top players around it you could turn back into a respectable program. But, in reality this class would be different then the typical Illinois class because of one player, Jeremiah Tillman. Without him this is classes that we have gotten many times the past ten years, and have produced the results we are seeing now.
I hope these kids are all foundation pieces for a future Illini resurgence, but how is a POTENTIAL class of this kind really being talked about like it's the next Okafor/Jones/Winslow or Oden/Conley/Cook immediate impact/coach's job saving class?
Please someone talk some sense to me, because right now I feel like Mugatu in Zoolander ().
