Cal was a 4 seed in the Tourney, correct? That's a pretty solid year with a talented yet mostly very young team. And then his season was torpedoed by the injuries to Wallace and Bird. They had little chance of success in the Tourney after that.
2017 Coaching Carousel
- Status
They're still pinging on my radar, but I'm also of the conviction of being far more interested in Musselman as a candidate pending a great 3rd season than I am right now. Capel's faded for me a little bit, he really did not do a whole lot while running the show at Duke. I agree he'll get another gig, but Keatts and Archie hold firm at the top of my list, and I don't see a reason we'd have to go past Keatts.
Lol, this is as good as it gets.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
They were a 4 seed. Wallace, Bird and Matthews were all upperclassmen and one of their young Freshmen was a top 5 draft pick. 11 losses is concerning to me with that level of talent.
Illi0105
- Chicago, IL
Didn't know much about him so I took a quick look. Looks like Utah had 5 players transfer off the team before this season and 3 players transfer two years before that. Seems like a lot of roster turnover. Anyone who follows Utah/Pac-12 basketball closer know why?
They were a 4 seed! Isn't that pretty damn good? Wallace was hurt and didn't play. Same goes for Bird, I guess. And Bird was very raw as a frosh. What am I missing? They weren't expected to compete for a nat'l title or anything.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
I believe their talent level was above that of a 4 seed. I sincerely doubt there were 5 teams in all of college basketball with a more talented starting 5 than Cal had last year. They had MUCH more talent than SDSU, Richmond, Oregon St. and Colorado, all teams they lost to last year.
Martin is an upgrade over Groce. Martin is not in my top 5 reasonable candidates for the Illinois job.
Keats is growing on my a lot in this search, I think it will be either him or Cuanzo. The one thing I am worried about and a little skeptical of is, should there be any concern that he is doing this at an even more mid-mid major? It just seems like a big jump from UNCW to Illinois.
4 was an overseed for that Cal team too. They were more of a 5/6.
I need them to be a relatively comfortable tourney team this year to be interested in Cuonzo. Which should happen.
I need them to be a relatively comfortable tourney team this year to be interested in Cuonzo. Which should happen.
It's not a particularly bold statement. I'm not excited about it but there is some smoke coming from out west right now. A mere brush fire right now but there's something behind it..
Trent said John Groce is his guy and he better be there when he gets there and then he was bombarded with tweets from angry illini fans and backed off the statement. Do you expect him to draw a line in the sand on twitter and definitively announce it?
I'd be really surprised if he comes here if Groce isn't here. But maybe he loves the campus enough to play several hundreds miles away for a coach he didn't commit to.
I don't particularly care if you believe me but some out there thinking you'd be getting a coaching upgrade (albeit IMO not a great one) with recruiting ties that could save most of the class and recruit at a high level to Illinois.
I think he's another version of Romar. But ultimately I don't think he's #1/2/3 on the list but make no mistake he is on it.
That's not a concern, not only for Capel but for any coach. If you tell me that Illinois hires a coach who will have such success at Illinois in the next 2-3 years to the point that Duke, UK, UNC, or KU want him, i'd be jumping from joy, even if he decides to leave. You turn the clock back to 2000, you still hire Bill Self.
Agreed.
Maybe I'm a little salty from the current season, but I'm growing tired of excuses of not meeting expectations/not performing well. I want to see results, not excuses. This is why I'm so high on Keatts. There are plenty of reasons for him to have underperformed at UNCW, but he hasn't.
Here's another number for the Keatts book, because numbers don't lie. The combined team record of UNCW from 2008-2009 until he took over: 65-139. Their record since? 63-26.
Bingo, create some momentum
Not sure if this has been posted already but I thought it might be interesting: Coaches salaries
http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/mens-basketball/coach
http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/mens-basketball/coach
And here's a companion piece that has a run down of all coaches in just Big Ten.
http://www.btpowerhouse.com/2017/2/3/14435144/2-2-big-ten-basketball-hot-seat-check-in-illinois-john-groce-minnesota-richard-pitino-and-beyond
Yeah, I've posted it a couple times, never seems to generate much interest, even if I find it interesting
Archie is the best pick - look at where his current player at Dayton are from - Chicago. So he already has a foothold on chicago
I'm really intrigued by Krystkowiak. His results at Utah, a P5 school, have to put him near or at the top. I just want to know where the whole idea is coming from that he's too Utahn or Montanan to want to leave, or wouldn't be able to figure out Midwestern recruiting if he does. I'm sincerely curious. Does anyone know if he's turned down other HC gigs recently? Does he <heart> Big Sky like Larry Bird does Indiana? Is he Mormon? I mean, he did spend 7 years in Milwaukee with the Bucks (2 as a coach) so he has to know something about our area.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Land enough of a big name coach and I still believe we can keep Tilmon and land Smith. But man, Smith is totally Anthony Davis 2.0 as far as bursting onto the scene. Unreal.
Oversees underseed, at least they were seeded just sayin
- Status