Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Very, very, very discouraged. Not that we lost, how we lost. Given our experience, our performance was terrible. Team was ill prepared, to say the least.
West Virginia 89, Illinois 57 POSTGAME
Besides the litany of other problems, if MH and JCL don't score for us, we won't be dancing yet again. It's time for MT Jr. to start, too, and for JT to play much less.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal
These are nice - but wrong - thoughts.
Wow!! An HOC sighting. Good to see you posting again. Hope all's well.
Glad I didn't watch. It sounds terrible.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We have some good players. Our coaching staff is terrible.
It's been a bad 4+ years under Groce.
Thank god.
Now you're getting ridiculous.
I have never been embarrassed of being an Illini fan but that was tested today. Ouch!
Illini1221
Peru,IL
I know everybody is down on Groce right now, as am I, but Im still going to give him the rest of non conference to see if they can work some kinks out. There is still plenty of opportunity for quality wins, as bad as they looked today. Still not hopeful, but im not flushing anything down the drain just yet. Only six games in to a long season.
Groce teams have been the same. Always.
These players are mentally fragile. They looked horrible today. They lost a game they should have won, in a craptastic way a few days ago. Now, they come out and play uninspired bball because they lost all of their confidence in themselves. It's the same story every year. My prediction is they come out and play a battle tomorrow, but just not enough to win the game. That will continue our downward spiral.
These players are mentally fragile. They looked horrible today. They lost a game they should have won, in a craptastic way a few days ago. Now, they come out and play uninspired bball because they lost all of their confidence in themselves. It's the same story every year. My prediction is they come out and play a battle tomorrow, but just not enough to win the game. That will continue our downward spiral.
No, no. Wait.
TnT: "Toughness and Togetherness"
"Attack Mode"
"High Level"
There. Feeling more hopeful now?
I grew up in an era when making the tourney was a given, and it was just a matter of which top 7 seed we would get. The last 10 years have been a complete and utter joke. There is just zero excuse for this sad state of the program. It's one thing to lose a game to a better team - that happens - it's another to lose by 30 and look so unprepared. And it's happened for a while now.
I feel bad for Groce and I feel bad for the players. Even if it was bad luck, at a certain point it gets hard to break a habit and currently it's a habit of losing. We still have an opportunity to turn the season around but we have to beat a quality team or two before conference play to at least give us some confidence during the first stretch of conference games. Winthrop and WVU probably won't be bad losses at the end of the season but we need good wins, period. I won't watch the recording but I'm hoping that the meltdown is more because of WVU's strength and quality as opposed to incompetencies with our players and coaching staff. I still have hope, but it'll surely fade fast if we can't get a solid win in the next couple of weeks. I definitely don't blame fans for being upset or fed up. Regardless of what happens, this season is the where we'll find out for sure if Groce is the guy for the job or not. I hope he is but if he doesn't start winning, his likeability becomes meaningless. That's a tough thing to say about a terrific guy so I hope we don't have to cross that road.
Illini1221
Peru,IL
As bad as they've been, i cant blame fans for trying to be optimistic.
I can see this team has no identity. A common theme. Hair on fire offense. Just no strengths. How many baskets did we give up at the rim today? No intensity. Urgency. Same ole !!!!.
89-57, and it was only 89-57 because WVU lost interest with 6-7 mins left. Coulda been 110 -57 if they would have kept their foot on the gas. That's how bad it was.
We looked like the Washington Generals out there for most of the game.
We are 0-2 in games that matter with another one tomorrow.
I'm in the JG stays all season camp. I don't see much being accomplished by a mid season firing. The guy has one chance left, give all the rope he needs.
We looked like the Washington Generals out there for most of the game.
We are 0-2 in games that matter with another one tomorrow.
I'm in the JG stays all season camp. I don't see much being accomplished by a mid season firing. The guy has one chance left, give all the rope he needs.
Deleted member 51
D
Guest
I couldn't watch anymore after the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half. Noticed there wasn't anybody in the stands either. How sad, the highlight after Illini games is watching the forums implode afterwards. :tsk:
If there is any consolation at least the ranked BigTen teams are also losing. But they have BigTen coaches who know how to turn things around (including a Hall of Fame Coach Candidate in Izzo)...I was patient over 4 years but now I seriously have my doubts about JG being a bona-fide BigTen coach now and into the future.
Illini1221
Peru,IL
Could not have said it any better
Good post. My jaw is still on the floor about how bad we looked for most of the game so it's difficult to have any rational.comments. you pretty well summed up the thoughts of a lot of us I think.
But this was a shockingly bad performance against a much more motivated, better coached, seemingly more athletic team with a solid identity. Their game plan is simple. Search and destroy and if you're not able to deal with it mentally they'll destroy you physically.
This team was scared of WV and should be embarrassed. When WV was pressing they went backwards, sideline to sideline, and would catch the ball in the corners on in-bounds. All things anyone who played basketball for more than 2 years past the 4th grade know you don't do. You should definitely know this when you are playing D1 basketball. It shouldn't need to be coached.
I am tired of hearing that we have the players to be good, but not the coaching. Hill is very good, but not great. Our other seniors are average. Our sophomores and freshman have potential to be very good. These are not the types of players that even a Blueblood coach could turn into a sure- bet tourney team. If we are going to make the tourney we are going to have to win the games we are supposed to and steal a couple that we probably shouldn't that is obvious.
For everyone calling for a coaching change you will never be happy unless we find another Self and I don't see that type of coach anywhere right now. At least not one who would come to Illinois. I could be wrong because college sports are fickle, but IMO Groce has 2 years after this one to succeed or he will be gone. In that period of time he will have the players on his roster that will give him no more excuses. So we just need to enjoy the wins an deal with the losses.
I am tired of hearing that we have the players to be good, but not the coaching. Hill is very good, but not great. Our other seniors are average. Our sophomores and freshman have potential to be very good. These are not the types of players that even a Blueblood coach could turn into a sure- bet tourney team. If we are going to make the tourney we are going to have to win the games we are supposed to and steal a couple that we probably shouldn't that is obvious.
For everyone calling for a coaching change you will never be happy unless we find another Self and I don't see that type of coach anywhere right now. At least not one who would come to Illinois. I could be wrong because college sports are fickle, but IMO Groce has 2 years after this one to succeed or he will be gone. In that period of time he will have the players on his roster that will give him no more excuses. So we just need to enjoy the wins an deal with the losses.