What if I told you, the last two full-time Illinois basketball coaches had similar average recruit ratings throughout roughly four recruiting classes?
That is what we are sitting with today. Brad Underwood is currently on his fifth class – class of 2021 – and has landed his first recruit in Luke Goode. 247Sports rates each recruit, and Underwood landing Goode raised his average recruit rating to 0.92231875.
How does Underwood’s average recruit rating compare to the previous regime in John Groce? Well, in the four classes Groce brought into the program, he had an average recruit rating of 0.92549167. Yes, that means Groce had a better average recruit rating than Underwood currently sits with, as he tries to build the class of 2021.
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Why does this seem stunning, though? Let me tell you, there is way more nuance to this whole recruiting thing than what meets the eye. Let’s start with recruiting misses.
Underwood has gone after a lot of recruits, but when it came down to landing the big fish, he has been able to close. I can’t think of too many players we were right there in the mix for that went elsewhere. There isn’t one glaring example. With Groce, it was a different story.
There were numerous times Groce got to the finish line with big-time recruits but couldn’t land them. A few players that come to mind include Demetrius Jackson, who had the Illini in his final two but committed to Notre Dame. Cliff Alexander had Illinois as one of his finalists but infamously committed to Kansas. That actually might have been a blessing in disguise. Quentin Snider was another miss. He was committed to the Illini but Groce couldn’t hold onto him, as he decided to flip to Louisville.
The recruiting misses really put a stain on Groce’s run with the Illini. If he would have been able to land a few of the misses, then he is probably still the coach of our program today. I believe recruiting home runs are another aspect of why Groce and Underwood’s recruiting runs have been drastically different.
Underwood has landed some big-time recruits so far through four years. The first two that stand out the most are Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn. Getting a leader like Ayo and one of the best big men in the country in Kofi was huge for the program. But Underwood’s successes go deeper than those two.
The emergence of a sub-300 player in Giorgi Bezhanishvili into a player who can give us solid minutes is impressive. Having a player like Alan Griffin, who was a sub-125 player, become one of the best bench players in America is incredible. These recruiting successes translated into an NCAA tournament team this past season.
Groce’s successes were few and far between. Malcolm Hill was probably the best get for him during his tenure. Kendrick Nunn was really good, but he got kicked off the team. Leron Black wasn’t developing quickly. Jalen Coleman-Lands and DJ Williams weren’t the players that the rankings showed either. While Groce was able to land top 100 players, their rankings couldn’t translate onto the court.
The average recruit rating is roughly the same between Groce and Underwood, but that doesn’t tell the actual story. Underwood has been able to land top players who fit in well together. This is something Groce couldn’t do. We couldn’t land a point guard or a big man under Groce. I believe this ended up being his downfall, among other things.
Illinois basketball is on the rise once again. We have been able to land top players over the last decade, but we finally have a coach in Underwood who can snag the big fish who work well together. On paper, the average recruit rating might be the same, but on the court, everything is different.