Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
Yep, the last ten years of Guenther were where Illinois FB and BB started their slide. Mike Thomas just made sure it continued...and at an accelerated rate.
Between former ADs and HCs, I'm convinced you would not have done any worse if you had chosen them (or chosen to retain them past their useful life date) by simply throwing darts or turning name cards. To think these people were the best available would be laughable if it wasn't just so downright sad. I think we will be fine in BB but it will take a couple of years. Football? My personal favorite but am not sure we will ever see even Mackovic/White-type of success in the next decade with the current staff. It think it might take an SEC-type hire (big $$$$$) if we are to ever get back and dont see us doing that.
Proven coaches worth that type of money aren't going to jump to a decimated program like UIUC--that's why an incremental improvement is necessary. I still think Lovie can get us to that point in FB, and I've no reason to believe Underwood can't turn this thing around in hoops, but it takes more than 13 games to demonstrate the potential for that leap.
But for everyone out on the ledge, or those that have already leapt, here's why I'm staying calm--
In our 5 losses, none were by over 7 points. Average margin of loss in those 5 games was 4.8. That is a massive improvement over the last few years in my book. Would I prefer to see these guys be able to finish close games better--of course, but they're playing hard and playing to win. There are things that must be better (slow first halves, turnovers, dumb decisions), but we're competing in every.single.game. Other than the 1st half against NMSU, I've enjoyed watching this team play, even in defeat. I couldn't say that during a couple of Groce seasons, and definitely not during the last 4-5 years of Weber-ball.
Our adjusted tempo is significantly better than last year, defense--despite some obvious holes) is improved, and offensive rebounding is incredible right now.
3 point shooting, interior defense, 3 point defense, and fouls are what's hurting us, along with the aforementioned stupid mistakes. None of those things are likely to improve against B1G competition, but hopefully we see better decisions made in passing and the physical side of things as the season goes on.
Per KenPom we are the 307th least experienced team out of 351 but use our bench more than all but 7 other teams. The combination of those 2 things makes me think we could be even worse than we are, but we should be see improvement throughout the year, and definitely next year.