Video: Illinois Basketball TNT Series

[SteakSandwich]

Originally Posted by NorthwesternIllini4

Is this an attempt at baiting?

That was some serious baiting lol. I loved the shot where in the backround a couple of guys had football pads on during practice.

[SteakSandwich]

I just watched the second video and saw Egwu was wearing a Auggy jersey in two different clips. Groce must have him wear these to inspire him... any thoughts???

[Botb9]

The AV department these guys have is second to none.

[Botb9]

Originally Posted by SteakSandwich

I just watched the second video and saw Egwu was wearing a Auggy jersey in two different clips. Groce must have him wear these to inspire him... any thoughts???

I caught that too. Something to aspire to become, perhaps?

[Bailey]

The top rebounder in the previous game gets rights to it during practice.

[SteakSandwich]

Originally Posted by Bailey

The top rebounder in the previous game gets rights to it during practice.

That's a cool idea. Do you know of any other practice related info??

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by SteakSandwich

That's a cool idea. Do you know of any other practice related info??

*Considers adopting BTF-like persona*







No, I do not.

[SteakSandwich]

Originally Posted by Bailey

*Considers adopting BTF-like persona*







No, I do not.

lol thank you for not doing so

[ILLSauce]

I always enjoy the IPHD highlights of the games...now they're bringing us this...just awesome!!!!

[CAHALL15]

I love this team. You can tell the kids respect and like Coach Groce after he got that game ball. Groce is so intense yet level headed at the same time. You can tell he gets everything out of this team.

[HsvIllini]

Originally Posted by PeoriaChief

I wonder how much Groce had to do with this? Ohio had the same kind of thing last year. Maybe Groce feels it's very important to give fans an inside look and also helps fans connect with the team and therefor be more passionate.

Originally Posted by job71188

I wonder if this was a marketing idea by Thomas, Groce, or who but those videos are great. It definitely helps to be 12-0 during the making of the videos though

Like PeoriaChief, I'm guessing that maybe Groce was at least partly behind it since the Ohio one was similar. Maybe it was also part of Learfield's idea for marketing too. Don't know whose idea it was, but they are awesome! Put a name on it!

[onebrainmob]

I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT

[Kramer116]

I am sure none of you caught it in either video, but I think the motto for this year's team is "Toughness-n-togetherness".

[Cool Hand Luke]

Originally Posted by Illini70math

Mike Thomas would never have shown up in the locker room and congratulated the Illini team after a great win while Coach Weber was here.

Well, in order to do that you have to actually, you know, win a game.

This will also never happen...





Now...

Congrats to the Illini Productions people. Very well done videos. Highly entertaining. I could watch hours of these, no problem.

[sidra1968]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLLLL

[lstewart53x3]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke

Well, in order to do that you have to actually, you know, win a game.

This will also never happen...





Now...

Congrats to the Illini Productions people. Very well done videos. Highly entertaining. I could watch hours of these, no problem.

Wow, I had forgotten about that. That was ugly.

But you know, watching that video, you can tell how bad the guy was hurting at the time. I know it's not a popular thing to say around here, but I kind of feel bad for him.

Still, none of that should ever be said.

The new video by IP was just awesome though. I'm loving everything we're doing right now.

[Illini70math]

Originally Posted by lstewart53x3

Wow, I had forgotten about that. That was ugly.

But you know, watching that video, you can tell how bad the guy was hurting at the time. I know it's not a popular thing to say around here, but I kind of feel bad for him.

Still, none of that should ever be said.

The new video by IP was just awesome though. I'm loving everything we're doing right now.

If there was any doubt that it was time for a new staff before that press conference, there was none after it. Even if one feels that some of his complaints had a basis, when you get paid over a million a year you are supposed to overcome adversity.

BW would have been better off to make his exit after his Round of 32 finish in 2011, but he is not the type to let go until he is pushed out. Since we would not have hired Coach Groce in 2011, things worked out better for UI by BW staying, imo. Given that BW landed on his feet with a good gig for him at KSU, things worked out all the way around.

[IlliniByProxy]

Stepping back away from the emotions of last season and rewatching that presser.....all I can say is wow! No wonder our players spirits were broken....

[mattcoldagelli]

Originally Posted by lstewart53x3

I know it's not a popular thing to say around here, but I kind of feel bad for him.

I did, too. I think we all did. I wrote this at the time:

it’s sad that Bruce thinks he needed to win a certain way to keep fans happy, because I just don’t think that’s the case. If we were consistently winning games playing awkward Bo Ryan basketball, nobody would care. But the fact that he saw two paths – one that involved chasing the best players available and one that involved getting his type of guys for his type of system – and ultimately chose to try to split it down the middle (taking the best players he could get and trying to shoehorn them into his approach)….tells me he was never fully confident and secure in what he was doing at Illinois. You can’t have that. You can’t have a coach that is liable to coach scared because he doesn’t believe in what he’s doing, and that’s what we had for the last 3-4 years. He admits as much in the clip above.

Then, of course, he went to KSU and launched essentially a disinformation campaign about how he we were all expecting way too much of him and he got dismissed unfairly even though he was under .500 in the B1G over SIX seasons. So that kind of, uh, changed my feelings.

[WizardBill]

Originally Posted by mattcoldagelli

Then, of course, he went to KSU and launched essentially a disinformation campaign about how he we were all expecting way too much of him and he got dismissed unfairly even though he was under .500 in the B1G over SIX seasons. So that kind of, uh, changed my feelings.

Matt, I am with you here. I do not often comment on the BW threads because, well, because he is gone and I prefer to look forward, but, since I am commenting, I will go ahead and say my thoughts (cause this is a board of opinions and I have one).

Bruce Weber, at the end of his U of I tenure, was a wounded animal. He is a great person with a great heart. He always gives his all. He puts everything he has into his coaching, his recruiting, his basketball.

HOWEVER, his time here ended unexpectedly for him. I do not think he was ready to be let go. So, since he felt that the players gave up (rightly or not, this was his thought), he did not deserve to lose his job.

BAM did a typically normal thing. He bad-mouthed the former employer. Right or not, he did not feel that he was treated fairly. We can point out all the ways that he is "incorrect" or "wrong". It IS the U of I's prerogative to remove someone that they feel is not doing their job.

I really think BAM was just hurt.

[lstewart53x3]

Originally Posted by IlliniByProxy

Stepping back away from the emotions of last season and rewatching that presser.....all I can say is wow! No wonder our players spirits were broken....

Yeah I agree. I feel for him because of how hard that situation would be for a person, but you can't have a presser blaming your players, and saying you'd rather coach these other players, then expect your team to keep fighting for you.

I'm on my phone now, so I'm not going to look it up, but what was our record after this game? Does anyone remember? Did we still have a chance to play for anything, if we would have start winning? Or was the season already pretty much over?

[lstewart53x3]

I will say this though: I'm very happy how everything ended up. BW was given an entire year to make some noise, but he coached poorly, therefore he was fired. We then got, who I now believe, is a very special coach in John Groce. BW found himself another high major job, where he has one last chance to prove himself. I'd say it's a win/win/win.

[Dan]

Episode 3 of Toughness and Togetherness released. All 3 videos can be found at the first post of this thread.


Episode 3 of Toughness and Togetherness (TNT), a behind-the-scenes look at 2012-13 University of Illinois basketball. The third episode takes you from the Illini's Holiday trips to St. Louis and Chicago through the start of the Big Ten Schedule.

[Holdemall]

Interesting to see how they treat this stretch. Wouldn't be surprised if there was a long "hiatus" in production.

[illinisc]

Originally Posted by lstewart53x3

Yeah I agree. I feel for him because of how hard that situation would be for a person, but you can't have a presser blaming your players, and saying you'd rather coach these other players, then expect your team to keep fighting for you.

I'm on my phone now, so I'm not going to look it up, but what was our record after this game? Does anyone remember? Did we still have a chance to play for anything, if we would have start winning? Or was the season already pretty much over?

We we're 16-10 and had lost 4 in a row and 7 out of the last 8. Conceivably we could've rebounded and made a run but by this time it was pretty clear we were a bad team. I also think Weber knew he was going to be fired after the season by this point and all his frustrations came out during the post game press conference.