2017 Coaching Carousel
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The RPI is an outdated resource for sure and hopefully the committee ditches it for more advanced models next year. Our resume is light on quality wins with just VCU and @ Northwestern, but it doesn't have a bad losses either.
mattcoldagelli
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I don't think Groce is leading Mark Smith's "pro" column for reasons to come to Illinois, tbh.
This might be overstating it, but New Coach X probably actually has a better shot at him.
I would trade all these recruits for Cuonzo without hesitation, they're always overhyped and players come and go. We need a rock solid leader. I want to watch defense minded hard fought winning basketball. I'm tired of watching uninspired play. Keady said in all his years at Purdue Cuonzo was his best leader. He's a winner we'd be lucky to have him.
Getting significantly better talent and better production don't have to be mutually exclusive, especially when you are comparing incoming freshmen to outgoing seniors. However, with what Kipper has show and Finke is doing, I don't believe we will be any worse for wear next year over this year from a talent standpoint. Some positives are Lucas will clearly be an upgrade as a sophomore over what we have done this year at the point overall. Finke will be better, Nichols is showing he is good, Black will be better and JCL should be better. I think you get enough improvement from the existing parts to be as good. Looking forward to starting lineup of Lucas, Coleman-Lands, Nichols, Black and Finke, with Frazier, Jordan, DJ Williams and Tilmon as the second group. Of course that is considering DJ stays, and Mark Smith could certainly step into that second group, as well.
Thanks for sharing. Cuonzo seems like such a natural fit. I don't think it should be understated how important it is to walk into a situation with the odds stacked in your favor. When you hit the ground running and carry that early momentum it can really advance a program to new heights.
Regarding M Smith, I believe he wants to come to Illinois. But the coaching uncertainty has made him cautious. I think if TJL had the same type of success and showcased Groce offense early it would work in Groce's favor. But right now I agree, I don't think Groce is in the "pro" column.
Landing C Martin would be more than any recruit. That being said, I believe he will retain the recruits and most current players. His Cal teams have been pretty athletic, I believe that is one of the quick repair items we will see.
Landing C Martin would be more than any recruit. That being said, I believe he will retain the recruits and most current players. His Cal teams have been pretty athletic, I believe that is one of the quick repair items we will see.
By what measure did Cuonzo upgrade Tennessee from Bruce Pearl? He wasn't even close to what Pearl achieved there on the court!
This is just ridiculous guys. How do you take that statement at face value?
Pearl at Tennessee: 2 sweet 16s, an E8, 2 r32s, i loss in first round, 0 misses. 1 conference championship, 146-61 (.701) and 63-31 (.677) over his time there, 6 years.
Cuonzo at Tennessee: 1 sweet 16, two tournament misses, one 2nd place conference finish, 63-41 (.606) and 32-20 (.615) in 3 years.
I'm not going to dig into recruiting rankings. It's entirely possible he recruited better than Pearl, but claiming Cuonzo was better by tourney appearances, wins/losses, etc is objectively incorrect.
The rest of your post loses all credibility to me when you start with something that is that far away from the facts. Nobody is questioning the dude's ties to the area. Literally nobody. But recruits don't matter if the talent doesn't translate to wins, and that is why people are hesitant to deem him the best coach for the job. High floor, low ceiling based on his career thus far. Guessing at what he can do locally is just conjecture.
I challenge you to give me something that supports the argument Cuonzo was better than Bruce Pearl at Tennessee, other than recruiting. Best I can do is that Cuonzo's worst overall win-loss season at UT had more conference wins.
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It's hard to compare Cuonzo to Pearl at Tennessee as he was only there for 3 years. One thing you can't deny is that his teams got better every year and he recruited better every year. If we can't get Archie Miller I think Martin would be a great consolation prize a lot better then Groce 5 years ago.
Pearl is a good coach but I think he is on his way out at Auburn he is 14-33 in 3 years in the conference which other then Kentucky and Florida isn't that great. If they don't make the tourney this year he might get one more year to make the tourney next year then get fired.
I've said this too, but maybe the Sweet 16 is a high ceiling for us right now. It certainly feels that way.
When's the last time you wondered "where will we be ranked this week," or "I wonder if we'll be a 4 or 5 seed," or "who do we need to beat to win the B1G?" It's been a long time. I would be thrilled to get back to Top 25ish teams that look like they have a chance to beat some people in the tournament. I have no doubt Martin can do that on a somewhat regular basis. He'll then put himself in a position to land the elite Illinois recruits we'd need to get to the next level. That's how Henson did it.
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I'd take Cuonzo over Grant he was terrible at Alabama after a good start he reminds me of Groce. I'd take Keatts over Grant as well.
Do not believe the parts will be better at the start of the season but believe having TJL and TF at point will solve the loss of points from MH and MM. Just hope we have an uptempo coach to take advantage of faster players.
So is everyone under the same impression that the 3-4 candidates are Martin, Keatts, Archie Miller and Monty Williams? Any other names coming out anywhere?
How likely is Martin Cuonzo to leave? Isn't he having success? Why would he leave there to come to Illinois?
Email Josh with your questions and then report back here with his response please and thanks
I'm not anti-Cuonzo, and would be perfectly content with him were he to replace Groce, the one thing that offsets his deficiencies in my mind is that he's still young (relative to coaches). But he's not perfect, and he shouldn't be cast as such. His perceived floor (no guarantee anything translates for any of our candidates, as has been said) would certainly be very welcome :thumb:
He should certainly be in our top 5 candidates. Where he falls there is a philosophical debate, as has been my stance for like, 100 pages
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I'm not anti-Cuonzo, and would be perfectly content with him were he to replace Groce, the one thing that offsets his deficiencies in my mind is that he's still young (relative to coaches). But he's not perfect, and he shouldn't be cast as such. His perceived floor (no guarantee anything translates for any of our candidates, as has been said) would certainly be very welcome :thumb:
He should certainly be in our top 5 candidates. Where he falls there is a philosophical debate, as has been my stance for like, 100 pages
Bigger salary, midwest roots, Cal athletic department is in bad shape, bad sports town
So who are your top 5 candidates?
Hopefully not Keatts. I think I provided enough evidence to support Keatts being a poor defensive head coach. If his superior talent in the CAA cannot slow down those team's defenses, then he has no shot in the B10. Even Groce's team's defense this year is better than what Keatts brings to the table. His offense will get exposed by better coaching. It's really not that hard to figure out. Unless he has a Lonzo Ball clone playing for him, his scheme will get exposed in the B10.
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