Topic.
The ongoing discussion in the John Groce thread got me thinking about this last night. We're a big and diverse fanbase. Is there a consensus as to where we "should be" as a program? If so, what's the timetable for getting there?
There appear to be a lot of ideas regarding the answer to this question, and I thought a thread dedicated to it might be enlightening, or, at the very least, diverting.
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Bearing in mind that I'm completely spitballing here, I'm going to throw out that I realistically expect this program to place in the top half of the B1G every single year.
Broken down further, for 4 out of 5 seasons, I expect us to be ranked for at least a couple of weeks running. For 2 out of 5 seasons I expect us to be in the discussion for the B1G regular-season title. I expect to be a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament once every ten years. I expect to win it all once every 20-30 years.
All of this is based on what I think is possible, yet not necessarily as often as I'd like. Some people are going to jump on this as having expectations being set too low. Maybe that's true. But Illinois has branding issues. Nobody's going to dispute that we just aren't a blue blood. So I don't expect blue blood results (e.g. dance every year, ranked most weeks, win conference regularly).
How long should it take to get there from where we are now? At best, 2-3 years (with this class of freshmen). At worst, 5-10 years (assuming a new hire and his subsequent rebuilding).
Have at it.
The ongoing discussion in the John Groce thread got me thinking about this last night. We're a big and diverse fanbase. Is there a consensus as to where we "should be" as a program? If so, what's the timetable for getting there?
There appear to be a lot of ideas regarding the answer to this question, and I thought a thread dedicated to it might be enlightening, or, at the very least, diverting.
---
Bearing in mind that I'm completely spitballing here, I'm going to throw out that I realistically expect this program to place in the top half of the B1G every single year.
Broken down further, for 4 out of 5 seasons, I expect us to be ranked for at least a couple of weeks running. For 2 out of 5 seasons I expect us to be in the discussion for the B1G regular-season title. I expect to be a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament once every ten years. I expect to win it all once every 20-30 years.
All of this is based on what I think is possible, yet not necessarily as often as I'd like. Some people are going to jump on this as having expectations being set too low. Maybe that's true. But Illinois has branding issues. Nobody's going to dispute that we just aren't a blue blood. So I don't expect blue blood results (e.g. dance every year, ranked most weeks, win conference regularly).
How long should it take to get there from where we are now? At best, 2-3 years (with this class of freshmen). At worst, 5-10 years (assuming a new hire and his subsequent rebuilding).
Have at it.