Considering the patterns that seem troubling and why BU doesn't seem to have things rolling at this point.
I think one pattern that has emerged enough times in the BU Illinois era is the competitive halftime score, only for the wheels to come off sometime in the second half. Not where things should be of course, but to my memory (correct me if I'm wrong) a small step towards a better level of play and expectations than a previous coaching staff led by an amiable shaven-domed guy who played groceball, where the Illini would take the court at places like Indiana, and as soon as the clock started down from 40:00 after the tipoff the score disparity would continue to increase until by halftime we were in a 20 point hole. Sure basketball would be played, guys would run back and forth and take shots, but by halftime we would have around a 20 point deficit. We would lose a bunch of games until there was a late season rally where we could possibly get in the tourney if we could just beat Rutgers.
Maybe there are some similarities to BU in there. The whole thing was burned down last season with the tough schedule and there were some late moral victories against Maryland and Michigan State, etc.
But my overall impression is that the BU teams have been decidedly more competitive in the first half, only to eventually lose, whereas the Groce teams had more of another blowout type feel right out of the gate.
So what about the question "can BU coach?". Is he good or consistently going to be outcoached when it matters? It's concerning how easy it looked for Sean Miller to blow the doors off with his "McDonald's high school team".
In my opinion the competitive first halves (and some complete games) tell the tale. The first halves where the Illini are tied or leading at halftime (eg at Purdue, etc.) and everything seems to be going right show that BU's schemes are adequate and he knows what needs to be done and what he's trying to get the team to do.
So why can't the team continue to execute it through the second half? By the end of his season with OkSt the team seemed to make it to the final buzzer. (albeit losing to Michigan). In a general sense (and obvious statement) it seems like BU needs to have the horses to execute his gameplans for two halves, whether that's in terms of having a deep/talented bench along with adequate starters, or whether it's just having a super talented starting 5.
So I believe that for strategy and tactics/in game coaching BU is an adequate coach. His coaching chops are adequate. He may not be the best, but he is not far inferior to others where he could never run a successful program. So it seems like his success in righting the Illini ship will hinge largely on his recruiting. Can he stack enough talent at every position to execute his gameplans for two halves.
One other question that is interesting is will BU ever have a good defense, as a lot of the blame for the 90-69 score disparity was on terrible defense. While that wouldn't have happened if the Illini had a staunch defense full of stoppers, it could also be attributed to the offense going cold for six minutes. If the offense keeps scoring, that final score disparity is whittled down a lot. (Doesn't excuse nonexistent defense of course.)
I think one pattern that has emerged enough times in the BU Illinois era is the competitive halftime score, only for the wheels to come off sometime in the second half. Not where things should be of course, but to my memory (correct me if I'm wrong) a small step towards a better level of play and expectations than a previous coaching staff led by an amiable shaven-domed guy who played groceball, where the Illini would take the court at places like Indiana, and as soon as the clock started down from 40:00 after the tipoff the score disparity would continue to increase until by halftime we were in a 20 point hole. Sure basketball would be played, guys would run back and forth and take shots, but by halftime we would have around a 20 point deficit. We would lose a bunch of games until there was a late season rally where we could possibly get in the tourney if we could just beat Rutgers.
Maybe there are some similarities to BU in there. The whole thing was burned down last season with the tough schedule and there were some late moral victories against Maryland and Michigan State, etc.
But my overall impression is that the BU teams have been decidedly more competitive in the first half, only to eventually lose, whereas the Groce teams had more of another blowout type feel right out of the gate.
So what about the question "can BU coach?". Is he good or consistently going to be outcoached when it matters? It's concerning how easy it looked for Sean Miller to blow the doors off with his "McDonald's high school team".
In my opinion the competitive first halves (and some complete games) tell the tale. The first halves where the Illini are tied or leading at halftime (eg at Purdue, etc.) and everything seems to be going right show that BU's schemes are adequate and he knows what needs to be done and what he's trying to get the team to do.
So why can't the team continue to execute it through the second half? By the end of his season with OkSt the team seemed to make it to the final buzzer. (albeit losing to Michigan). In a general sense (and obvious statement) it seems like BU needs to have the horses to execute his gameplans for two halves, whether that's in terms of having a deep/talented bench along with adequate starters, or whether it's just having a super talented starting 5.
So I believe that for strategy and tactics/in game coaching BU is an adequate coach. His coaching chops are adequate. He may not be the best, but he is not far inferior to others where he could never run a successful program. So it seems like his success in righting the Illini ship will hinge largely on his recruiting. Can he stack enough talent at every position to execute his gameplans for two halves.
One other question that is interesting is will BU ever have a good defense, as a lot of the blame for the 90-69 score disparity was on terrible defense. While that wouldn't have happened if the Illini had a staunch defense full of stoppers, it could also be attributed to the offense going cold for six minutes. If the offense keeps scoring, that final score disparity is whittled down a lot. (Doesn't excuse nonexistent defense of course.)
