I’m going to venture a guess that Tom Izzo is going to try a lot hard… scratch that… try … to keep Xavier Tillman than Nick Ward.
Ward and Izzo… not a happy marriage.
4 Likes
Xavier Tillman is newly married, has one child already and another one on the way if I remember correctly. This is supposed to be a weaker draft and probably a great opportunity for Tillman to go.
1 Like
Second child was birthed a couple of days ago.
1 Like
That’s just the first example that came to mind. I think in general that guys who come back figure that if their junior (or sophomore) year didn’t raise their stock, another year won’t either.
Tillman didn’t go through the process or anything last year though, FWIW.
He didn’t go through anything, after the tourney run he had? That’s crazy.
Does Izzo blackmail these guys or something?
6 Likes
Maybe Izzo’s genius is spending the bag man money to get four-stars to stay a few years too long instead of wasting it on one-and-dones. #moneyball
2 Likes
Winston didn’t either for no apparent reason
1 Like
Neither did Winston or Henry. I believe Nick Ward simply entered the draft after last season, although he did test the process the year before.
Yeah. My only point was that I agree that guys who “test the process” are more likely to go the next year but Tillman didn’t test the waters.
2 Likes
Try that explanation on Nojel Eastern’s mom. 
Illinois’ charmed season continues with a ridiculous 3/4 court heave to go up 6 vs Nebraska literally on the cusp of 0.1 seconds and 0.0 seconds before halftime.
From last spring:
'Izzo said he is “not a big fan” of players just going through the NBA draft process just to go through it.
“I think it’s very difficult for players to try and figure out,” Izzo said. “And then you get other people saying, ‘You only need one team to like you.’ But that’s like Russian roulette. I think in all honesty, a coach has to try and help his players try and understand the process. …’
Seems legit and completely unbiased.
16 Likes
This is the same time, prior to Winston making a decision, that Izzo publicly stated Cassius had “unfinished business” at MSU.
1 Like
Yeah, that’s it… help them understand the process, by not actually going through the process?
14 Likes
Nebraska doing work in a game that would be huge for our top 4 chances as Illinois is a huge pain for tiebreakers. Nebraska can do some stuff on O.
@umhoops You and BQ talked about this a little on the pod, but what happened to Gorgi? Just turned on the Ill/Neb game and the first two things I see are him shotputting a putback way off the backboard (missed rim) and then going up weak and getting it swatted away the next trip.
They’ve got me sucked in. I am watching Nebraska-Illinois.
1 Like
Just realized I haven’t seen Cam Mack yet…is he injured?