CreamyGoodness
Thanks Creamy!
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...the opportunity to play in the best bball conference in America, superior undergraduate academics, a beautiful campus (with quick access to actual ocean beaches).....
Illinois hired his AAU coach. What does Ayo's father do for a living? Maybe we could find him a job with WFU or at least in W-S.
Still, when was last time we (WFU) had this much emotion about a recruit?
Still, when was last time we (WFU) had this much emotion about a recruit?
Giles.
*Yawn* Chicago is in Illinois. North Carolina isn't. And yes, Charlotte and Chapel Hill might as well be the "same place" if it's a decision between UNC and, say, Arizona. What's he "supposed to do?" If he's choosing WF, I'd say he'd not have a publicized announcement at a shoe store attended by local media. I'd say at most he'd announce at his school, and more likely just tweet the decision. But we're talking about optics, and none of it is written in stone. Interpret the signs as you will.
I get that this is a huge deal for the recruit and its cool he can make something of it. You only pick a college once - at least for most people. But no recruit save someone who is No. 1 in the country is going to generate a ton of buzz in the local media in a market like Chicago. There are just way to many sports outlets for there to be a huge buzz and the city is just way too cosmopolitan for it to feel as provincial as a city like Charlotte or Kansas City, etc. Everyone here is focused on the Cubs, the Blackhawks, the Bears, the Bulls, Notre Dame football . . . even the Omaha White Sox. Illinois basketball has a hard time creating a huge buzz here under all but the most glowing of circumstances. Yes, Chicago is in Illinois. Pretty much every Big Ten school within 250 miles of this city has a huge alumni base in town. Is Illinois a bigger deal than Indiana? Sure - just because it is in the state. But it isn't as if this is an "Illinois" town the way all of North Carolina gets worked up over the Heels. It's part of the reason other programs are able to come to Chicago and recruit with a lot of success. Illinois has never been able to fully lock up the borders of the state recruiting wise. Ever. A press conference for a really good HS basketball player is way down the list of media attention in a city like this. There will be no frenzy if he picks Illinois or Wake in the local media. There will just be a short story about the fact he made a decision. So yes, there is some built in advantage for Illinois, but this is not the same thing as say Des Moines having the number 25 recruit in the country and that kid choosing Texas over Iowa. There'd be huge pressure on that kid to stay in Iowa because the state university is pretty much the end all and be all of the entire state's sporting existence. That just isn't the case in Chicago. It's a different universe.
Tomorrow can't come soon enough. I have wasted a lot of time checking my phone and the boards the past week.