All Things Alex Illikainen Recruitment Thread: UPDATED 11/12/18: Illikainen leaves UW

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SoMpls said:
Don't think he was a good fit for the Gophers. Did not play well this summer in the EYBL which is mostly played at an up-tempo pace. His rankings were dropping all summer and colleges were pulling offers. My guess is he that he never wanted to be a Gopher and thought he could find a better offer. As the offers grew slim, Pulley got on the phone with the WI staff and made a deal to get him an offer/commitment and he took it. Iowa was never in the picture.
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If Illikainen didn't play well in the EYBL this summer, how would you describe what Johnson did?
 

ha! love the title "Thread: Alex Illikainen settles for wisconsin schloarship".

just fix the spelling so it doesnt look like a wisky grad wrote it.
 



justthefacts said:
If Illikainen didn't play well in the EYBL this summer, how would you describe what Johnson did?
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Johnson also didn't play well, but he played very well in the Super Showcase. But what is your point? Jarvis was in the same position as Illikainen. At one point he had a Michigan St offer and Kansas was strongly considering an offer. By the end of the AAU season schools cooled on him, as they did Illikainin. Difference is Johnson did not wait around. He picked the school that actually wanted him and not a school who came in late because they have a good relationship with the Pulley program. I also respect Pitino for not waiting around. He took the commitment from Nwankwo and told Illikainen to beat it.
 

SoMpls said:
Johnson also didn't play well, but he played very well in the Super Showcase. But what is your point? Jarvis was in the same position as Illikainen. At one point he had a Michigan St offer and Kansas was strongly considering an offer. By the end of the AAU season schools cooled on him, as they did Illikainin. Difference is Johnson did not wait around. He picked the school that actually wanted him and not a school who came in late because they have a good relationship with the Pulley program. I also respect Pitino for not waiting around. He took the commitment from Nwankwo and told Illikainen to beat it.
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Your first two sentences were making the point that because Illikainen didn't play well in the uptempo EYBL he wouldn't be a good fit for the Gophers. Johnson also didn't play well in the uptempo EYBL, so I assumed I could therefore conclude he wouldn't be a good fit for the Gophers.
 

justthefacts said:
Your first two sentences were making the point that because Illikainen didn't play well in the uptempo EYBL he wouldn't be a good fit for the Gophers. Johnson also didn't play well in the uptempo EYBL, so I assumed I could therefore conclude he wouldn't be a good fit for the Gophers.
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The Transitive property of BB players does not work.
 

Not surprising but still sucks he went there. It is nice not to be too worried though since we already have a good class.

Good luck to Alex, I hope you go 0-8 against your home state team.
 



If Alex wanted to be a Gopher he would be a Gopher. he had every opportunity to sign and I have to believe Pitino would've loved what he would have brought to the team. I believe he had his mind up way before we ran out of scholarships. Who knows what the truth is right now but that is how the facts look to me.
 

justthefacts said:
If Illikainen didn't play well in the EYBL this summer, how would you describe what Johnson did?
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I'm pretty sure our backcourt commits for 2015 are better rebounders and have a better inside presence than AI. He's a SG in the body of a 4. Nothing wrong with that though.
 

I really think it was a long shot for AI to come to Minnesota after Gaston was signed last spring, I understand the need at the time, they really needed to get a couple of big's that could replace EE and Mo on board, I can't help but think that with the recruitment/commitment of Nwankwo this fall that the coaching staff believes Gaston is going to play the 4 as much or more than 5 which made the possibility of getting AI remote at best.

It just didn't work out this time, AI needed to find a fit for himself, I hate to see him at Wisconsin though, really wished he had ended up at Iowa.
 

It's highly likely that AI will end up to be Decker like in the Ryan system, perhaps not quite as athletic, but effective in a traditional Whiskey way. He made the right choice for him. Let's hope this developing, east coast Gopher offense can run AI and Bo's boys right off the Willams edge.
 



SoMpls said:
As the offers grew slim, Pulley got on the phone with the WI staff and made a deal to get him an offer/commitment and he took it. Iowa was never in the picture.
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Yeah, that's how it went down... :rolleyes: :confused: :rolleyes:
 

GameDay said:
I'm pretty sure our backcourt commits for 2015 are better rebounders and have a better inside presence than AI. He's a SG in the body of a 4. Nothing wrong with that though.
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Lol. Yup, AI has the handle, vision, speed, and quickness of a shooting guard.

C'mon GameDay, you're one of the better posters here and seem to know basketball. AI is a 4. He has range, but he's a 4. He can't even guard 3s, nonetheless 2-guards. He has some post moves down low and is a better rebounder than he gets credit for. Alex is a power forward -- not a center, not a power forward, certainly not a shooting guard.
 

thesanfordman said:
Alex is a power forward -- not a center, not a power forward, certainly not a shooting guard.
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I'm guessing GD meant to write SF not SG.

Considering Rick Pitino called King and Oto 3's playing the 4 spot he would consider Alex more of a SF too.

"I think he's doing a great job," said Rick, whose career college record is 681-239. "I wish he had a little bit more frontcourt help in terms of power forwards. I think he's playing two small forwards at power forwards, and that's what happens when you rebuild -- you're void of certain positions.
"
http://www.twincities.com/gophers/ci...pitino-stay-at
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
Yeah, that's how it went down... :rolleyes: :confused: :rolleyes:
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You would be surprised.... Since you have the answer why don't you tell me why Illikainen would get a late offer from WI when other schools are pulling offers from him and he just so happens to commit there soon after. I guess it's a coincidence huh?? Coming from the same AAU program who sends teams to the Badger Team Camp every summer and has had multiple players players play for WI. You are quite naive my friend.
 

SoMpls said:
You would be surprised.... Since you have the answer why don't you tell me why Illikainen would get a late offer from WI when other schools are pulling offers from him and he just so happens to commit there soon after. I guess it's a coincidence huh?? Coming from the same AAU program who sends teams to the Badger Team Camp every summer and has had multiple players players play for WI. You are quite naive my friend.
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Ha. Yeah, Alex had nothing to do with the decision to go to WI and him being a top 100 player that fits their system is all do to the amazing HP staff... Pulley sent him there by 'making a deal'!
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
Ha. Yeah, Alex had nothing to do with the decision to go to WI and him being a top 100 player that fits their system is all do to the amazing HP staff... Pulley sent him there by 'making a deal'!
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Where was the offer a year ago? 6 months ago? 3 months ago?
 

SoMpls said:
Where was the offer a year ago? 6 months ago? 3 months ago?
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SoMpls said:
Where was the offer a year ago? 6 months ago? 3 months ago?
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They were talking to him and following Alex back then. Go ahead and give all the credit to Rene, Errol and Tony if you think they pulled all the strings.

You act like they wouldn't want a top 100 player when they have holes to fill and had been following him for some time. Did HP staff talk to WI on the phone? Sure, probably, big deal.

TRPwithWisconsin.jpg
 

SoMpls said:
Where was the offer a year ago? 6 months ago? 3 months ago?
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The UW staff does not put a lot of offers out, as their approach tends to focus on just a few guys in each class. Alex did not have an early offer from UW because there are two top 25 bigs in the state of Wisconsin in the same class. When it became clear that UW was not going to get Henry Ellenson, UW moved on to Alex, who they have been watching for a couple years.
 


UWOle said:
The UW staff does not put a lot of offers out, as their approach tends to focus on just a few guys in each class. Alex did not have an early offer from UW because there are two top 25 bigs in the state of Wisconsin in the same class. When it became clear that UW was not going to get Henry Ellenson, UW moved on to Alex, who they have been watching for a couple years.
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Don't be naive. The Pulley folks had to pull a lot of strings to 'make a deal' with Bo to get Alex a committable scholarship.

UWOle said:
I think it's fair to say Minnesota has recruited Alex harder than has UW, but UW has been involved with Illikainen for three years. Alex commented in an article this morning that UW has been recruiting him for a long time, such that the late offer is not a big deal.
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This. They were recruiting Alex long before he joined the HP AAU team for one summer.
 

They loved him so much, they waited three years to offer him.
 

SoMpls said:
You would be surprised.... Since you have the answer why don't you tell me why Illikainen would get a late offer from WI when other schools are pulling offers from him and he just so happens to commit there soon after. I guess it's a coincidence huh?? Coming from the same AAU program who sends teams to the Badger Team Camp every summer and has had multiple players players play for WI. You are quite naive my friend.
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I wouldn't say teams were pulling offers from him it was that they got a commitment from a player at the same position as him and were full at that position which probably influenced AI's interest in that school as well or they were out of scholarships and didn't want to over sign. Wisconsin had been on AI a long time but he was a little bit of a backup plan to Ellenson and I believe there was another player who committed elsewhere too.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
I wouldn't say teams were pulling offers from him it was that they got a commitment from a player at the same position as him and were full at that position which probably influenced AI's interest in that school as well or they were out of scholarships and didn't want to over sign. Wisconsin had been AI a long time but he was more a little bit of a backup plan to Ellenson and I believe there was another player who committed elsewhere too.
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I'd like to make fun of Wisc. Let's face it, pretty good back up plan to Henry and good recruiting by or neighbors to the east.
 

98VQueens said:
I'd like to make fun of Wisc. Let's face it, pretty good back up plan to Henry and good recruiting by or neighbors to the east.
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If we're being honest, though, a 3*/low 4* power forward recruit who had a pretty terrible AAU summer wouldn't exactly light our fire if we were coming off of a final four run. This guy is a respectable recruit, and I'm sure he'll be a perfectly respectable Mike Brusewitz clone for them. I just hope getting emasculated by Josh Martin doesn't cause him to develop a drinking problem that would affect his future career as a bartender at Grand Casino Hinckley.
 

AI just has to hope he doesn't turn into Evan Anderson or JP Gavinsky. Not every highly touted big man amounts to something at UW. Both those guys turned into towel wavers that eventually gave up their scholarships for the "good of the program."
 


Many posters seem very angry at AI’s commitment to UW. I’m disappointed too. I was hoping that he would be wearing maroon and gold someday. I hope most of us recognize the fact that SoMpls and the other bashers actually have no idea the conversations between AI, Pulley, Pinto,and UW. With that being said… As MN basketball fans, we should be PROUD that many of our players are making to the next level. I’m looking forward to watching Tyus at Duke, Reid at Stanford, and Macura at Xavier. :cool:
 

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