The callers on the postgame show are killing Groce. I think Whitman has made up his mind but I love seeing our fans express how they feel.
The consensus: We have had enough.
The consensus: We have had enough.
JCL didn't have it tonight. It's called a momentum-killing situation. Sometimes the player knows better than the coach. This is one of those moments. He takes JCL out for that laughable offense of not taking a 3 but leaves players like Tate or Thorne in after they make boneheaded turnovers or shot attempts. Not exactly the same logic applying if you ask me.
On a neutral court there is no team in the Big Ten that I think Illinois would beat. They beat Ohio State and Michigan early in the year but there is no way they could beat them now because that have gotten better and Illinois has regressed
JCL passed up an open 3 with under 5 seconds left on the shot clocked, and ended up passing to a guarded Malcolm Hill who didn't have enough time to get off a shot. How in the world is that anything but a bad play from JCL? And JCL would be the first to tell you he should've shot that.
Groce has been preaching this same concept since day 1. He won't take players out for missing good shots, but he will take players out for taking bad shots or not taking open shots.
Fine, JCL made a bad play there but Groce has not been balanced in when he takes players out and when he leaves them in. I'm sorry, he has not been and this is another example of that. Maybe he should've taken JCL out when he made that ridiculous behind the back pass that went for a TO a couple of games ago.
JCL passed up an open 3 with under 5 seconds left on the shot clocked, and ended up passing to a guarded Malcolm Hill who didn't have enough time to get off a shot. How in the world is that anything but a bad play from JCL? And JCL would be the first to tell you he should've shot that.
Groce has been preaching this same concept since day 1. He won't take players out for missing good shots, but he will take players out for taking bad shots or not taking open shots.
Should we assume DJW will not return next year?
It doesn't even look like he will return this year
How in the world did Illinois lose this game ?
I was talking to a friend of mine today about College Basketball. His cousin Thomas Welsh is the starting center for UCLA. 7-0 Junior center.
I asked him What do you think is wrong with Illinois Basketball this year ? He said I dont know I only follow good teams.
Well I follow Illinois in the Good years and Bad years and this is a really Bad Year was my response.
If this was the December version of Illinois, I would disagree. It seems like this team has regressed significantly since December and this is directly proportionate to when Abrams fell off the map. We are missing that 3rd scorer, which is something we have been missing for a long time now.
Should we assume DJW will not return next year?
We're a game ahead of Rutgers, but they appear to be improving, while we are going backwards
Groce has RARELY sat guys for bad shot selection
It's entirely possible that the odds of his departure decrease with every sign of an upcoming regime change. He has to know there is playing time at Illinois and a new coach on the way. But if he wants to sit out next year, he should go for it. I'm guessing he's smart enough to wait a bit.
For the first time this season I have watched the entire 40 minutes of two games in a row, Wisconsin and Minnesota. While I don't think Groce is a good coach, these two games have really shown how poorly put together this roster is. Its as if they took pieces from five different puzzles and threw them together to make one complete puzzle. I don't think Groce's in-game coaching is good but it appears to me that they aren't getting productive work done in-between games. These guys play like they just met five minutes before game time. The talent on the roster, which isn't that great, is minimized even more. I thought they had plenty of open looks today but they couldn't hit a shot to save their lives. Same thing against Wisconsin. This group of players just isn't very good.
At this point the only question is are we the worst team in the big ten this season.
If this was the December version of Illinois, I would disagree. It seems like this team has regressed significantly since December and this is directly proportionate to when Abrams fell off the map. We are missing that 3rd scorer, which is something we have been missing for a long time now.
Sooooooo.....what was everyone's favorite moment of the John Groce era?
JCL just needs to develop a more all-around offensive game and cannot just simply rely on shooting 3's all the time. I'd like to see him dribble into the lane more and create fouls or create better spacing and pass it out. If he can eventually develop like Brandon Paul did, he'll be a successful player. Otherwise, he's just a 3 pt. specialist and that's not enough to be a major impact.