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Rosy article about the Illini in Sun Times today.... sounds like they need some bigs to round out class
Illini Nation was in celebration mode Tuesday, a run of 11th-hour disappointments in recruiting finally having come to a blessed end. Jalen Coleman-Lands, a combo guard from Indianapolis ranked among the top three dozen players in the Class of 2015 by nearly every national recruiting service, pledged his commitment to John Groce and Illinois, becoming the highest-rated player to say yes to the program since Groce arrived in Champaign in 2012.
Along with Simeon swingman D.J. Williams and Plainfield East shooting guard Aaron Jordan, Coleman-Lands — considered one of the best three-point threats in the country — gives the Illini a 2015 class that’s already a near-lock for a top-10 ranking. Point guard Jawun Evans and power forward Elijah Thomas, elite players from Texas, both continue to have Illinois high on their lists. The potential is there for Groce to corral what would instantly be considered the No. 1 class in program history.
So you’ll have to excuse Illini fans if they’re a bit over-the-top with giddiness for what’s to come beginning two seasons from now. Who can fault them for closing their eyes and seeing flashes of 1989 and 2005 and newly cut-down nets? Better days are coming, and fast. Right now, hearing the names of the ones that got away — Cliff Alexander, Quentin Snider, Jalen Brunson — hardly even stings.
For Starks, it’s now or never
You know what stung Illini Nation a little? Watching its team lose 15 times last season. Watching it stumble for eight consecutive Big Ten games and finish 7-11 in league play, tied for eighth place, and miss the NCAA tournament. Big things weren’t necessarily expected of Groce’s second Illini team, but fans certainly hoped for better.
The news last week of senior point guard Tracy Abrams’ injured anterior cruciate ligament stung, too. Abrams, a three-year starter, will miss the entire season, casting doubt upon the Illini’s chances to do in 2014-15 what so many now expect them to do the following season and beyond. Will Year 3 under Groce be more than just a forgettable bridge on the road to better times ahead?
Enter Ahmad Starks and Jaylon Tate. Before we see the influx of blue-chip perimeter players in Champaign, we’ll get one season from Starks, a senior who sat out last season after transferring from Oregon State, and a prove-it-or-lose-it sophomore campaign for Tate, who moves into a larger role after Abrams’ injury. Both are from Chicago — Starks from Whitney Young, Tate from Simeon — and they’re the only point guards on Groce’s roster.
‘‘Neither one of them, by any means, is a soft guy,’’ Groce said. ‘‘But would I like for both of them to be a little bit tougher? Yeah. I’ve coached 20 years, and Tracy is in that top echelon of tough guys.’’
The question isn’t so much if they can replace Abrams, who starred at Mount Carmel. It’s will they allow Groce to tweak the Illini offense so it more closely resembles what he ran with success at Ohio? Groce loves players who dribble and pass like point guards yet stroke it like shooting guards. Starks is exactly that sort of guy. Tate is working hard to get there. Abrams is more of a rabid defender and crafty penetrator, probably not a natural fit for what Groce endeavors to do.
Starks, 22, is Oregon State’s all-time leader in three-pointers made (185). In the Princeton offense former Beavers coach Craig Robinson ran, Starks didn’t get to do a lot of creating for others, but he says he’s merely an improved version of the player who averaged more than six assists a game as a senior at Young and was named first-team all-state by the Sun-Times.
‘‘I’m a point guard,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m a point guard who can shoot.’’
By the end of his third solid season at OSU, Starks knew Robinson’s system wasn’t quite for him. And he longed to be closer to his grandmother, Mazola Robinson, in Chicago. Robinson, suffering from the effects of Alzheimer’s and dementia, helped raise Starks.
‘‘He sits with my mom now, and it’s a wonderful thing,’’ said Don Starks, Ahmad’s father. ‘‘Though she doesn’t always know he’s there, she feels it. She may not know his name at times, but she feels him there.’’
Starks is happier in Groce’s system, too.
‘‘There’s a huge difference,” he said. ‘‘It’s a different vibe from the coaching staff. Everything is more difficult, more intense, but in a better way. It’s very good for me.’’
Tate goes to work
Tate played double-digit minutes in every nonconference game as a freshman, when he was Abrams’ primary backup. By season’s end, he was scarcely seeing the floor. His slight frame made it difficult for him to finish plays on the offensive end. His shooting and decision-making weren’t ready for prime time, either.
He believes he has largely remade himself during the offseason. Comfortable for the first time in the weight room, Tate has added more than 10 pounds of muscle. Determined like never before to work on refining the individual parts of his game, he made 14,000 perimeter jump shots during one eight-week period.
If Tate doesn’t prove to Groce that — with Abrams watching from the bench — he is needed on the court for long stretches in games, too, it might signal the end of his opportunity to be a difference-maker at Illinois. Because we all know this roster is going to look a whole lot different in 2015-16.
‘‘It’s like Coach Groce has always told us,’’ Tate said. ‘‘When your number is called, you’ve got to show up.
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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami
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