Fighting Illini Basketball Senior Week: Bill Cole

 

So senior day is quickly approaching.  With Bruce Weber’s "first" official recruiting class at U of I about to graduate, lets take some time to look back at the last 4-5 years and see how they’ve shaped out.  As proud members of the Class of 2007, this is the first real to the Big Ten Network regulars they are today.  This is the rare class that saw everyone contribute and no one buried on the bench.  Apologies to those from the class that didn't make it to campus.  (Quinton Watkins, Rodney Alexander after a year, and JJ after 3 years).  More on those later.  But today, we will start with what was, in my opinion, the least heralded recruit, turned into this fan's favorite: Billy Cole.

Who?  That was my thought when I heard about our first commit of 2007.  All I knew was that he was a skinny 6’9" forward, who Scout.com rated as a 4-star prospect (at the time).  At this point in Weber’s recruiting career (after missing out on Charlie Villaneuva, Andre Iguodala, Sherron Collins and Jon Scheyer), I thought "Hell, I’ll take a 4-star any-day."  Even his picture, showed somewhat of a mean-streak.  I read he was a great 3-point shooter and later saw he was compared to Robbie Hummel as a prospect.  Sounded like a good get….  Then I saw him play.  It was in the IHSA state championships against Derrick Rose's team.  Obviously, I was floored by how good Rose was.  But I was also turned off by how awkward I thought Cole was.  Let’s just say he is the exact same type of player he is now, as he was then (ironic because he is one of my favorite players now).  But at the time, I thought he was awkward, un

athletic, and didn’t display anything outstanding.  "How was this guy a 4-star recruit and how is he supposed to succeed at the college level?  He’s not even dominating in high school" I thought.  At that point, I immediately wrote off BC30 as a waste of a scholarship.  When Scout.com later downgraded him to a 3-star recruit, I thought my criticisms were getting validated.

Two and a half years into his Illini career and very minutes played later, nothing had changed.  I’ve heard him referred to many times as "waste of a scholarship" around campus.  Seems like my opinion was a popular one.  Then something amazing happened.  Chester Frazier graduated and we started struggling.  We realized that we needed an effort guy.  Bruce inserted him into the starting lineup halfway through his junior season and he hasn’t looked back (even though he's been shuffled in and out of the starting line-up, he has enjoyed solid playing time as a result).  While he’s never dominant and again, still very much the same type of player as he was in high school, he brings to a lot to our team.  Defense, hustle, effort, 3-point consistency, humor, and he just always seems to know where he is supposed to be on the floor.  While he will probably never be an all-star, he brings the team together and has been an integral member of our team.  "Glue guy" and "intangibles" are words I feel are used too often, but I can't honestly think of a better way to describe him.  Does no one thing spectacularly, yet he does everything pretty well, and with full effort.  "He does all the little thigns, he just needs to score" as Weber once put it.  And when he gained confidence in his 3-point shot, he started contributing on the stat sheet as well.

I'm not the first to admit to this mistake, but let me apologize for writing you off, BC30.  You’ve waited, improved, and showed us what you can do.  You’ve embraced your role as the "glue guy" and I’m glad we offered you a scholarship.  You’re the guy in the class of 2007 who consistently displayed improvement season after season, game after game.  Hey, he puts in the effort, what do you expect?  It’s just too bad he didn’t redshirt because we could use him next year!  Perhaps now there is one NBA scout saying to another "Him?  He can’t even dominate in college.  Why are you drafting him??"  Ok that’s not happening, but its not that different than me writing him off in high school as a collegiate waste, right?.  He won't get drafted and he probably won’t ever make an NBA team.  But if this guy can be on a championship NBA team, you'd figure there might be a GM out there willing to give BC30 a shot???  Unfortunately, that's again, very unlikely.  But I have no doubt that given a spot on an NBA team and with the patience that allows him a year or two to develop and adjust to the pace of the game, he can be a valuable addition to an NBA team as well.  Keep efforting, Billy Cole!  Keep efforting!