All Things Alex Illikainen Recruitment Thread: UPDATED 11/12/18: Illikainen leaves UW

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All Things Big Man Alex Illikainen Thread

Tommy Flanagan said:
Why do you think that a coach has to lock down the borders to be successful here? Only about 20% of top 100 kids stay home nationally. We are recruiting higher ranked kids than Jarvis and Alex at their respective positions. It would be nice to get them, but in no way are they must get.
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Because locking down the borders is largely considered one of the most important parts of building a program, especially when you only produce 1 or 2 high major players every year. Pitino said it himself when he was hired.
 

afurry91 said:
Because locking down the borders is largely considered one of the most important parts of building a program, especially when you only produce 1 or 2 high major players every year. Pitino said it himself when he was hired.
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I am just saying that the odds are low at keeping top ranked kids home. I can tell you that it is always a focus, but you cant bank on it. Weeks after Pitino said that he offered 7 scholarships to out of state kids at pg, combo 2/3 and pf. He obviously wasnt banking on the big 3
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pulley's 17 EYBL team downed Kingdom Hoops behind a double-double 14pts/11reb/2blk from <a href="https://twitter.com/AIllikainen_25">@AIllikainen_25</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23PULLEYHOOPS&src=hash">#PULLEYHOOPS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23EYBL&src=hash">#EYBL</a></p>— Errol Carlstrom (@PulleyHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/PulleyHoops/statuses/457509009717612544">April 19, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/AIllikainen_25">@AIllikainen_25</a> dropped a double-double 23pts/12reb/3ast in Pulleys EYBL (4-0) win over All Iowa Attack. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23PULLEYHOOPS&src=hash">#PULLEYHOOPS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23EYBL&src=hash">#EYBL</a></p>— Errol Carlstrom (@PulleyHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/PulleyHoops/statuses/457649815514382336">April 19, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles was in Grand Rapids today to see JR Alex Illikainen. Northwestern and Creighton were there last week.</p>— Chris Monter (@collegebbnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/collegebbnews/statuses/458340501406900224">April 21, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 


Two days after Jack is born, Coach is back on the road recruiting:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Gopher head coach Richard Pitino will visit Grand Rapids JR Alex Illikainen today. Look for an interview I did w/ Illikainen up later today</p>— Chris Monter (@collegebbnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/collegebbnews/statuses/458999196599590912">April 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 


BleedGopher said:
Two days after Jack is born, Coach is back on the road recruiting:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Gopher head coach Richard Pitino will visit Grand Rapids JR Alex Illikainen today. Look for an interview I did w/ Illikainen up later today</p>— Chris Monter (@collegebbnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/collegebbnews/statuses/458999196599590912">April 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
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  1. Moms love babies.
  2. Moms are very important in the recruiting process.
  3. Pitino just had a baby
  4. Genius
 

BarnBoy said:
  1. Moms love babies.
  2. Moms are very important in the recruiting process.
  3. Pitino just had a baby
  4. Genius
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Will Jack and Jill be making the road trip to Grand Rapids to visit and seal the deal?
 










The last Jack and Jill story I heard. went like this:

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
They each had a buck and a quarter.

Jill came down with two and a half,
They didn't go up for water.
 


per Shooter:

Grand Rapids High School's 6-foot-8 incoming senior Alex Illikainen, whom the Gophers are seeking, scored 12 points and had two blocked shots for the Howard Pulley Panthers in a 62-41 victory over Team Texas on Friday night in Sacramento, Calif.

In the past two weeks, coaches visiting Grand Rapids included Minnesota's Richard Pitino, Northwestern's Chris Collins and Creighton's Greg McDermott. Indiana's Tom Crean is expected this week.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_25645329/charley-walters-wilds-yeo-takes-cues-coaching-from

Go Gophers!!
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> 2014 target Alex Illikainen (<a href="https://twitter.com/AIllikainen_25">@AIllikainen_25</a>) tells Rivals he could make a list of favorites in a couple weeks or after <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23EYBL&src=hash">#EYBL</a>.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/460426423031693313">April 27, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Illikainen impresses in front of Pitino

With Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino in attendance, Minnesota-based Howard Pulley cruised to a 62-41 victory over Team Texas. Howard Pulley was led by a sparkling performance by Golden Gopher target Alex Illikainen, who scored a game-high 12 points and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor. Illikainen, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound forward from Grand Rapids, was effective inside and outside, hitting both of his three-point attempts and finding success in the post.



Illikainen's versatility has college coaches taking notice.
Though he has little problem dominating in the post against smaller competition during the high school season, Illikainen is using the AAU season to improve his perimeter play and add a different dimension to his game.

"In my high school season I'm probably the biggest guy so I do a lot of back to the basket, center work," Illikainen said. "When you get to the EYBL I'm not very tall so I focus on expanding my game inside out, the three, the pull-up jumper, all that kind of stuff. (Also what) I've been working on a lot is ball handling. Just being comfortable with the ball."

It seems schools have taken notice of Illikainen's versatility. They're not recruiting him as a strictly back-to-the basket player.

"They call it the stretch-four," Illikainen said. "So inside out, just whatever your defender gives you, pretty much."

Illikainen holds 12 scholarship offers but doesn't currently have any favorites.

"I haven't really decided that," Illikainen said. "Maybe in a couple of weeks or after EYBL."

Illikainen said that he recently hosted Nebraska head coach Tim Miles for an in-home visit. He also took an official visit to California earlier this year (but has not yet heard from the new coaching staff), as well as unofficial trips to Indiana, Minnesota, Creighton and Iowa State.

He doesn't currently have any other visits scheduled.
 

It sounds like Iowa St. is likely out of the picture for Alex according to Ryan James in the podcast at http://talkgopherbuckets.tumblr.com/ I guess they aren't talking to him anymore.

He also says that Pitino has taken the reigns in the recruitment of Alex and Jarvis on the Gophers side and they're putting the full court press on those guys as the main targets. James mentions it's likely Creighton as our biggest competition right now, with Nebraska, Oregon, and Indiana in the mix, although Indiana is seemingly recruiting everyone at this point. He also expects more schools to enter the picture.
 



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Grand Rapids junior Alex Illikainen received a scholarship offer from Providence today. He has 12 previous offers.</p>— Chris Monter (@collegebbnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/collegebbnews/statuses/460953926146064384">April 29, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Grand Rapids junior Alex Illikainen received a scholarship offer from Providence today. He has 12 previous offers.</p>— Chris Monter (@collegebbnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/collegebbnews/statuses/460953926146064384">April 29, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
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The Providence offer is nothing to worry about.

But this got me thinking...I think Alex probably likes smaller schools better. He seems to be showing a lot of interest and gaining interest from smaller universities with good basketball programs, like Creighton.
 

RoyalGopher said:
The Providence offer is nothing to worry about.

But this got me thinking...I think Alex probably likes smaller schools better. He seems to be showing a lot of interest and gaining interest from smaller universities with good basketball programs, like Creighton.
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May be, but I've always gotten the impression he wants to be close to home and he seems like a big gopher and Pitino fan, I feel better about him than I do with Jarvis, hopefully both realize they'll be the man here the second they walk on campus.
 

RoyalGopher said:
The Providence offer is nothing to worry about.

But this got me thinking...I think Alex probably likes smaller schools better. He seems to be showing a lot of interest and gaining interest from smaller universities with good basketball programs, like Creighton.
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Providence offered because his sister goes there. Not because he's JP Macura 2.0. If he wanted to go to a small school and conference, his first official wouldn't have been Cal.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
 

Didn't Alex say he wanted to pick a school by summer, should know with him in a couple months, I bet if we land him that would help with Jarvis, good players want to play with good players
 

bemidjigopher said:
May be, but I've always gotten the impression he wants to be close to home and he seems like a big gopher and Pitino fan, I feel better about him than I do with Jarvis, hopefully both realize they'll be the man here the second they walk on campus.
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What other small schools besides Creighton is he seriously looking at? I know he has interest in Minnesota, and Nebraska, and once had interest in Cal and Iowa State. It doesn't feel like he is particularly favoring a small school or large university in his recruitment process.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Alex Illikainen talks to <a href="http://t.co/XWZAAnOUHq">http://t.co/XWZAAnOUHq</a> about Gophers, Coach Pitino's style of play, recruiting, playing EYBL, etc.</p>— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanJamesMN/statuses/462268796426661888">May 2, 2014</a></blockquote>
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MadtownGopher said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Alex Illikainen talks to <a href="http://t.co/XWZAAnOUHq">http://t.co/XWZAAnOUHq</a> about Gophers, Coach Pitino's style of play, recruiting, playing EYBL, etc.</p>— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanJamesMN/statuses/462268796426661888">May 2, 2014</a></blockquote>
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ANDDDDDD.......?????!!!!!
 

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