How Illini FB Can Upset Kansas [Predictions!] | Two Top Basketball Prospects Visiting Illinois

a line men's basketball hosting two top prospects and an Illinois vers Kansas week 2 preview locked on a line let's [Music] go you are locked on a line ey your daily podcast on the Illinois fighting Ali part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome back to another episode of lock on line I thank you so much for making us your first listen every single day a simple reminder we are free and available on every single podcast and also on YouTube part of the locked on podcast Network my name is sunny Verma you can find me at alcast you can find me at the sunny V you can find me on Facebook and on Instagram just a reminder we are the only place to find daily Alani content that's right every single day and in return I don't ask for anything except for a simple like And subscribe on this page today's episode's another fun one for you we're going to be talking about a couple top prospects who are going to be visiting champagne it looks to be confirmed for one and almost confirmed for another so we'll dig into that a little bit and also I'll give my final predictions and preview for the week two matchup between the El and Kansas Jayhawks today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply download game time today what time is it game time so as I mentioned right off the bat Illinois basketball is going to be hosting two players possibly in the 2025 class and the first one I've kind of mentioned already before on the previous episode of lockdown Eli but I'll kind of jump right back in his name is obviously Brandon Lee he's a fourstar prospect uh he's a guy from Puerto Rico which tells you if you know anything about Illinois basketball where and who he's associated with and that's Orlando Antigua this seems to be an Orlando Antigua recruit now Brandon is a 6 foot2 scoring guard rated at 114 in the composite again a fourar but when you look at his scholarship offers list doesn't really scream fourstar at you obviously you have Illinois and then you also have other schools like Duane Mississippi state Missouri State and New Jersey it again not exactly the type of teams You' associate with trying to get a top 115 type of player now Brandon I think is a talented player and I've actually talked about this in that previous episode I think the relationship with Orlando and Brandon is one on that if Illinois decides to push Brandon will be an Ali Brandon will be visiting September 21st to 23rd and again I'm going to be curious to see whether Brad Underwood is ready to take on H Brandon's commitment why do I say it that way when you think about Kaden Boozer when you think about Jasper Johnson those were top 15 if not top 10 type of players who were obviously guys who are going to command big attention nil funds and we're going to make headlines when it comes to recruiting I don't think Brandon Lee will now that doesn't mean I don't want Brandon Lee on this team I've seen some tape on him and I do think he's going to take a year or two in order to be able to really contribute as a big 10 player but you know what that's kind of okay in today's modern-day college basketball world you can't have 10 guys making six figures in nil all wanting to play 25 to 30 minutes I think Brandon through his relationship with Orlando may come with the understanding that there's some development that needs to be done and I hate to word it this way because I know it's a turnoff for a lot of you but if you kind of equate Illinois nil to what a salary cap would look like at the professional level I don't think Brandon Lee would cost all that much money and so to have a talented player again a four-star still a fourstar who is willing to accept a smaller role a minor role and not take up too much of the nil funds so that you can still continue to be aggressive with other players I think this is a move that I would make if the staff thinks he's good enough to become an Ali and it's certainly one that could very well happen the week he visits now the second kid that we're going to be apparently recruiting and this is according to Ryan Evans schro 200 columns is a kid named Jacob Fury now I said Jacob Fury not Johnny Fury not to be confused by the other Australian kid who is a small Ford for Kansas Jacob is a 6'4 6 fo five combo guard now I've seen some places call him a point guard and I've seen some people call him a two guard and quite honestly from the tape I watched he looked a little bit more like an off- wi player only because the kid can score the kid can really score now granted full disclosure I couldn't find much tape on him and so this is almost kind of reminding me of the whole caspis recruitment in the sense where it's an international kid kind of comes out of of nowhere now obviously caspas was really last minute and this jacob Fury I believe he's visiting us and then Yukon essentially immediately afterwards and so there's a little more time available before this commitment really comes to a resolution at least from what I've heard so right now there's not a lot of tape on him but a lot of the basketball people I trust are saying he's a very aggressive scorer with a very high IQ it's a very smart basketball player almost not too dissimilar to a guy like casus now caspis I don't think is the killer mentality scorer that a lot of other people might think he is I think caspas does like to be a distributor but Jacob looks like he could be a player and again if Yukon the two-time back-to-back national champion is into recruiting Jacob that tells me that he can play and that tells me that he's I IQ as others have suggested if you do a quick search on X you can find some tweets from people who've already watched Jacob here's Sam Vini had a great day had a great day at the Australian under 20 Nationals best player I saw Jacob Fury not related to Johnny just an absolute Hooper tough as hell competitive winner insane Hoops IQ super skilled felt the same way watching him that I did the first time I saw jimie jaquez in 2018 now Jamie was one heck of a college basketball player so that is quite the strong endorsement as I dig in a little bit more to Jacob I'll be able to provide updates again right now he's a lefty guard uh I I just don't feel comfortable classifying him as a point guard or a shooting guard yet most of the tape that you watch on him if you find it on YouTube or again on any of the social medias screams offguard to me but maybe he is a one maybe again there's just not enough content out there for me to make a decision but he seems like a player I would be very excited to try to get in the Ali i f obviously Brad Underwood Orlando Antigua Jeff Alexander have had a lot of success when it comes to recruiting internationally and I hope the fury Camp recognizes that normally when you're going up against a Yukon or a duke or North Carolina or a Kansas domestically you're like oh boy this is going to be a tough fight now this one will probably be a tough fight as well again Yukan is the two-time defending national champions but when it comes to the international scene I do think that Illinois is recognized as a brand that international players can perceive as a destination I've joked around that's why I think caspis and will Riley this upcoming season are going to be under a microscope because if those two ultimately do end up having very positive experiences in Champagne well where it is going to get around and folks in Europe are going to be looking at the Eli more closely as a place to come to the United States and play college basketball as I mentioned I'll keep you guys update on the Brandon Lee official visit which is SE September 21 to 23 and also the Jacob Fury which I believe Ryan said was October 4th either way two prospects who I would not mind at all come to see where the orange and blue win their time is ready when you're hiring for your small business you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role that's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help find the right Professionals for your team faster and free LinkedIn isn't just a job board LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else even those who aren't actively searching for a new job but might might be open to the perfect role in a given month over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other job searching sites so if you're not looking on LinkedIn you're looking in the wrong place post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon colge that's linkedin.com lockon colge to post your job for free terms and conditions apply it's been a long time since I've sensed this sort of level of excitement for an Alani football game as we have for week two's matchup against Kansas uh in Champagne Saturday night as I mentioned before the game was pronounced as a sellout first time we've sold out a game since 2016 it's a game that Illinois fans are really giving the opportunity for Brett belma and those guys on the field to prove it to them that their rabid support that they have for the basketball side is also warranted on the football so what's my prediction for this matchup now if you watch the preview show I obviously listed this Kanas game as a loss but that was also before I saw how Illinois performed against Eastern Illinois in week one now sure it's Eastern Illinois FCS but you know what Kansas played Lindenwood in their first game too so it's not like either team is coming into this game really all that battle tested but you know when you talk about Kansas football obviously you're going to be talking Jaylen Daniels and Devin Neil the outstanding quarterback running back combo that Kansas has and and quite honestly it's going to be a huge test for Aaron Henry and that defense to really play two Dynamic talents like that now again Eastern Illinois didn't really offer much when they had the football but Jaylen Daniels and Deon Neil isn't just one level up you're talking about taking like two or three levels up when it comes to trying to face those two on the football field obviously those guys ate us up last year if you recall in game two Kansas at one point was up 347 I think at the end of the third quarter and then Illinois scored a couple touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make the score seem respectable but most people remember watching that game because I believe it was in prime time and saw the debacle and that's kind of what made a lot of people's mind about what that Illinois team look like now us Illinois fans who watched throughout the season know that the team did improve after that Kansas game uh game two was a time where Luke alme was essentially our entire offense he was our best quarterback and he was being a quarterback behind an very poor offensive line uh basically we didn't have the players in place yet for the offensive line to improve like they did later on in the season and also the running game just wasn't established so Luke was not only our best passer but he was also our best running back and this was his second career game as a starter when it comes to college football so he was overwhelmed and honestly while he played okay I don't think it's the same football team that we're going to be putting out on the field on Saturday Saturday's team's got a very solid offensive line much better than the one a year ago we have a potential breakout star in Kaden Fagen and the wide receiver room just came off a week where they had eight guys catch a football Luke showed some confidence and Moxy which he hasn't shown his entire career we know Kansas is going to be able to put up points but now I'm actually somewhat confident that Illinois might be able to go TouchDown for touchdown with them now I just talked about the wide receivers of which I looks like we have a very strong group but they're going to be tested against Kansas's defensive backs who are some it's one of the better secondaries in the country and that's why I think this game is going to come down to time of possession I think if Illinois can get up early and we can make kayen Fagan the focus of that offense hand the ball off and let him get four five six yards wear down Kansas's defense there's a chance we can come out with a victory if we let Daniels and Neil control the game we just don't have the dynamic players to match those two but we caused four turnovers in the first half of that Eastern game if we can get one or two early on Saturday night and we can go up a touchdown or 10 points all of a sudden I think that Illinois which has essentially built itself as a typical Brett belma team will have a chance and opportunity to come out of Saturday with the Victory and what a victory it would be I mean you're talking about in front of a sold out crowd you'd potentially be selling out the week after and then you'd have a big battle of probably undefeateds by then between illino inois and Nebraska the excitement would be back in champagne and this time on the football side basketball doesn't start for another two weeks but if football can start generating excitement the fans will come I believe it Brett BMA has built a very strong football program here they just need to kind of prove it on the field am i g to be disheartened if Illinois loses to Kansas on Saturday it probably depends on the way they lose last check I think the spread was six or six and a half Illinois needs to cover that spread if it's another blowout like last year I'm telling you all that optimism all that positive momentum that the fan base is showing or showing up this Saturday a lot of it is going to be gone if we look like we're outmatched by Kansas in the repeat matchup again I think everyone's just going to roll their eyes like this is just the same old same old but if this is a competitive game again most of us remember watching that Kansas Beatdown that we got a year ago if this is a competitive game if Illinois looks like they're legitimate football team now keep in mind Kansas is one of the teams projected to possibly win their conference Illinois not even close Illinois our goal right now is to finish somewhere in the middle of the Big 10 so if we can compete with Kansas I think that we can still contain some of that positive momentum that we have and moving forward and then who knows like we we'll give ourselves a shot at beating one of the tossup games later on in the season to try to make us bow eligible but my ultimate prediction Kansas 34 Illinois 3 1 now I consider that pretty optimistic especially after last year's game but I'm just simply going to stick to my preseason prediction I think Kansas is actually a very good football team they've got a lot of players who were on last year's team returning this season Illinois is a much improved team from last year but I just don't know if they're quite at the level of what Kansas is right now is is that disheartening maybe especially with the whole Lance lipold and Brett belma career track over the last couple Seasons them being the two final options for Josh Whitman to hire as the Illinois football head coach but Lance inherited a lot of his players from less miles Brett belma inherited a completely bare cupboard sure he had some stars on the team in the sense of Devon Witherspoon Johnny Newton but when it comes to recruiting and just having a foundation for a football team Brett had very little and quite honestly has done a very good job I'm actually interested to see what Lance is able to do when some of the stars that he inherited all graduate so my final prediction is a three-point close loss to Kansas but one that's going to continue to have me feeling optimistic moving forward with this season now just keep in mind win or lose I will be going live immediately after the game certainly on this channel and quite possibly also on my other channel at Aline icast so make sure you follow that on X and on YouTube as well Illinois plays Saturday night but most of the world is going to be watching Michigan and Texas on Saturday at 1100 a.m. local time and local is exactly what I am I'm I think I'm about 20 minutes away from rdk Stadium now the game is being played in Michigan but if you're interested in going definitely take a look at the game time app game time has a new feature called Game Time picks that makes getting tickets for your favorite Live Events even easier game time picks filters out the fluff to show you only the incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through the thousands of tickets game time has all in pricing toggling this feature shows the total upfront with no surprise fees at checkout just remember to turn on this feature take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code lock on college for $20 off download game time today what time is it game time and that's just about going to wrap it up for today's episode of Locked on Ali thank you for making us your first listen today now go check out locked on college football podcast from nil deals NeverEnding conference realignment rumors rumors Spencer mlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the GD iron you can spend you can find the link to locked on college football in the description so you don't need to search part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day please on your way out hit that like button hit that subscribe button cost you guys nothing and helps this channel grow immensely we're so close to that magical 1,00 subscribers now do a search for Illinois or Eli on YouTube and see how many channels out there have 1100 subscribers there's not many I think there's only one so let me be number two again also follow me on Instagram on Facebook uh last week I went live on Friday night with some of my favorite gambling picks for the weekend and guess what I went undefeated that's probably never going to happen again but again it's it's a nice way for me to go back and forth with you live have some interactions back and forth and just uh get to know some of this community a little bit better I hope you all enjoy your weekends it's going to be a big game for the Ali against Kansas if you're nearby champagne please try to go make sure you wear orange it's an orange out and really scream at the top of your lungs because uh this team I think has the potential to be a very solid team and they deserve your support speaking of thank you for your support I'll catch you in the post team I love you guys