nustudent

Good point...you could bring him in and go 12-19 or something. Not sure we are in any position to be turning down (assuming he'd even be interested in us) 19 PPG scorers. Especially at a position where we just lost our best player and is the weak link on the team right now.

A talented guard at a position of need?

New Mexico G Elijah Brown (ave 18.8 ppg) transferring and eligible immediately. Hopefully Chris can steer him our way.

While true...but he obviously felt comfortable enough with location. Dynamite pickup, but hope we are exploring backup options.

Would make sense. Wasn't he committed there for baseball?

Departures Impacting Big 10 teams thus far: Ohio State: Tristan Thompson (declared early for the NBA draft, believe agent was hired so he can't comeback) Penn State: Terrance Samuel and Isaiah Washington (reserves/role players transferring)

John Groce did...howd he do at Illinois? I think Underwood is a good coach. Point is....it's not a guarantee

I can name some guys at Butler, UTEP and Colorado State where it didn't translate

Think Underwood is a good coach. And it may end up being a good hire for Illinois. Certainly not a wow or splash hire though

Agreed. And why are we reserved to the idea that the 13th guy has to be a guy to fill a spot or a stretch. Why can't he be a talented guy? AJB is right in that the rotation is usually 8-9, maybe 10 guys. But personnel never goes as expected here. 1 guy flakes, 1 guy transfers unexpectedly, 1 guy gets hurt...now those 12th and 13th spots become relevant. No such thing as too much depth

Losing a starter didnt help them either

After my trip through Champaign earlier this fall....this could be considered an improvement

Yep.

You can view it as taking shots...but its just the truth. The fact is he wasn't a major conference player but yet started and played a lot of minutes his junior and senior year. Not surprisingly, we struggled. Appreciate his effort, but that doesnt change the fact that when he is starting and playing 25+ minutes a game for you...it means you are pretty thin at guard and probably not very good. And our results supported that. Had a Biggs or Hawkins or Smith or even Webster early on, panned out...Parker plays fewer minutes and we probably have more wins.to show for it

While possibly true....a couple of points... A. Copeland has yet to play 1 minute here. Im super excited for him and think his ceiling is through the roof...but lets keep things in check until he produces here. B. To play devil's advocate, couldn't we say that had we done better at filling needs and holes earlier, maybe the need for Copeland wouldn't be as much? C. Or maybe we wouldn't have taken Taylor and had an opening for Copeland. Point being...a lot of what ifs in this area.

This will probably end up being his undoing. The swings and misses here caused depth, inexperience issues and lesser talented guys like a Parker to play further into Miles tenure than they shouldve. He's upgraded the talent, but the fact he missed early and now also isnt having success with the better talent bases are things you can't combine.

They might not be as bad of defender's but we have our fair share of guys who routinely got lost/beaten defensively. Let's stop pretending that Horne was the only one who struggled. And considering some of the variables (freshman. position change/adjustment) that's understandable. And yes...McVeigh is not a good defender. Has decent length. But not quick, explosive or strong.

Backup point guard Shooting off guard in no order but both are equal needs

While true, I'd argue that he doesn't have the time/security to hold one back for 18-19. He needs all the help he can get now

While true, much rather try to get a skilled guy to buy in than not. Also that mindset argument could probably be applied to others on the squad too

I don't think losing Horne is a make or break deal for us. But I don't think it is a good thing. While his percentages weren't good (relative), I never felt he was a bad shooter. Weird way to say it, but I never felt bad about him taking a shot. Where as I didn't feel that way about others. Similar to Glynn his freshman year. Much has been made about his body and defense. While it is true that he was not a good defender, we also have upperclassmen that the same can be said about. Give me a skilled offensive guy over defender any day. You can teach a guy to play defense. Especially when the guy has to reshape and transform himself. Let's keep in mind, he's not a wing or at least has never really played it before. We recruited him with that body type. There were going to be growing pains with him in adjusting to a different style/position. I certainly think we can replace him. I also think he's a guy with some skills. And we don't have enough of them. On the surface right now, it doesn't appear we need him...but one unexpected transfer and/or set back on Copeland's back injury suddenly makes him a need again. Long story short....I'd just assume have him as not. Odds are, we aren't replacing him with someone better this offseason. I wish him luck and hope like heck we can find someone to replace him.

Agreed. I kept hoping/thinking that McVeigh would move on the pro offer which opens up more minutes for Horne

Sounds about right

Gonna guess it's not about deserving it. Its about logjam and the role that appears to be set for him and the competition with other players that he doesnt feel are better for the same minutes. Again..guess only. But willing to bet if you there was legit talent in front of him taking those minutes, it'd be different

My guess is went something like this. Has meeting set up with coaches. Discusses with family and HS/AAU coach. Decides he wants to transfer. HS/AAU coach goes to Bossi. Bossi reports it on Rivals. Rivals calls Horne.