This thread is depressing (specifically a team being more than the sum of their parts) . I'm sitting hear reading about of some of the lesser Bruce Weber years and thinking to myself, "You know, it wasn't that terrible."
It WAS that terrible. And it's even more terrible now. We don't have to accept this. In fact, acceptance of this is the only think that will keep it happening.
People act like just firing a bunch of coaches until you get what you want is morally wrong somehow, because firing people isn't nice and the narrative of delusional fans who don't know their program's place is one that everybody loves.
And maybe it is morally wrong, but it certainly works. Teams find their level as they churn though coaches. And for teams who are playing below their level, you either break through and hire Jim Harbaugh or your public humiliation sixth-choice disaster turns out to be Pete Carroll. I don't mean to compare Illinois Basketball with Michigan or USC Football, but Illinois' natural resources in terms of fan interest, facilities, recruiting base, press coverage, successful history all indicate that in an average year, all else being equal, we should be better than schools that don't have as much going for them like Iowa or Wisconsin or Ohio State. The only thing that can break that reality is us accepting that it is not reality.
You shouldn't just fire your coach after every bad year, things only become clear over longer time horizons than that. But if you're the all time top team in the Big Ten in winning percentage (did you know that? I just found that out by looking it up, I expected to be 2nd or 3rd), who went to the tournament 21 times in 25 years (and one of those misses was because the NCAA banned us) until very recently, and who has a brand new arena, and you're sitting there having missed the tournament four times in a row, you should be confident, not frightened or ashamed to think "we can and will do better under different leadership."
Have some pride folks!