Second and Chalmers said:We've had so much damn talent :tsk:
No we haven't. We have not had a good recruiter since Self left and with the exception of 2010-11 season talent has been below par at Illinois.
Unless talent drastically improves, we will not be able to consistently compete in B1G and fans will always dream that our lesser talent overachieves, our system outperforms, and our strategies outsmart the rest of the B1G. We may make the tournament once in a while (... and it has been a while) when we hit better chemistry, etc. thinking that we are on the way up, but we will never be able to make much noise or consistently compete in the B1G. And even that little underachievement (e.g., Groce's first year) will most likely be counterbalanced with little underachievement (like last year).
Illini history also proves that, just looking at the two periods when we were consistently good (80s and 2000-06) one can easily see the level of talent discrepancy with the last 12 years.