Illini Basketball 2018-2019

[mattcoldagelli]

I'll take a moment to thank S&C for his thoughts on the above, you summed it up rather nicely. I don't particularly care for the situation we are now in, but the insinuation was that BU was a questionable hire. The results so far have not been pretty, but the hire was viewed in a very positive light at the time.

I was doing everything short of setting off fireworks when he was hired. It was a grand slam. But.....it’s honestly hard to imagine it going much worse than it has.

 

[AEX]

1) Underwood had very little time to adjust his recruiting to Illinois for last year's class; 2) Smith had offers from UK and MSU, among others and was the POY in Illinois. Everyone thought he would be a big time player for us, but his talent clearly did not live up to that; 3) Alstork was widely considered one of the top few grad transfers last year, so again, if Coach U made a mistake on him he was in good company with many others. 4) He took late flyers on two big men and they didn't work out. Such is the nature of flyers on big men. Many do not work out.

I don't know, it seems to me that Ebo was working out just fine.

We can pretend like maybe Mark Smith wasn't very good, but that's simply not accurate. He had his deficiencies but Underwood didn't get the most out of him or Alstork for that matter, and I think Jordan and Finke had more in them last year, too.

We can keep making excuses based on each individual situation and the intricacies of its context, but it's time to start seeing the forest through the trees. When this many guys are leaving that were getting substantial playing time and / or are clearly on the way substantial playing time next year, there's a problem. And when we can't get guys to commit to the program who have a much clearer path to playing time here than elsewhere and would be surrounded by an otherwise strong team, then there's a problem. Underwood wants to get his own guys in here. Fine. But he's got to keep them around if he ever wants his system to work. And if it's this hard to find "his guys," then he's the problem.

The question is whether or not he'll adapt, because whatever it is he's currently doing, it's not working.

 

[IlliniinNJ]

When you combine the transfers with the number of kids who have (but never should have) rejected us this year, you must believe there is a problem with the program under the current coaching staff. I have no idea what that problem may be, but it is certainly real. And, assuming that we have another poor season, this situation will only grow geometrically worse.

 

[BRucks]

1) Underwood had very little time to adjust his recruiting to Illinois for last year's class; 2) Smith had offers from UK and MSU, among others and was the POY in Illinois. Everyone thought he would be a big time player for us, but his talent clearly did not live up to that; 3) Alstork was widely considered one of the top few grad transfers last year, so again, if Coach U made a mistake on him he was in good company with many others. 4) He took late flyers on two big men and they didn't work out. Such is the nature of flyers on big men. Many do not work out.

By my count that makes him O-fer.

 

[TriangleIL]

Things aren't always as they seem. Relax guys. Everything is fine. Good night.

 

[EJ33]

Ayo wants to make a quick move to the pros, but he's going to transfer and sit out a year? Oh boy. I give your scenario about a .001% chance of happening.

Nobody who knows anything thinks Ayo is anything less than a 3 or 4 year player. His expectations only increase the chances of him being frustrated - similar to Mark Smith.

I really hope Ayo succeeds here, but it's really not that hard to imagine him having an average season while losing all the time and getting yelled at. That's the recipe for transferring that we're watching right now.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

I was doing everything short of setting off fireworks when he was hired. It was a grand slam. But.....it’s honestly hard to imagine it going much worse than it has.

+1

Imagine how Whitman is feeling.

And it's tough because when something fails on you the smart thing is to try and learn from that and avoid making the same mistake. But I have a hard time identifying any red flags on what we knew about Underwood in March 2017, at least that would indicate what has happened. If he bailed on us in a year or got us in NCAA trouble there would be things you could point to, but not this.

 

[AEX]

When you combine the transfers with the number of kids who have (but never should have) rejected us this year, you must believe there is a problem with the program under the current coaching staff. I have no idea what that problem may be, but it is certainly real. And, assuming that we have another poor season, this situation will only grow geometrically worse.

I agree with all of this, but especially that last part. A triangle of trouble may soon be a pentagon of pain. Oh, or a tesseract of terror!

 

[orangeroses07]

I thought we hit rock bottom before. Every month there's another episode and rock bottom gets further down. Maybe this is actual rock bottom? Hopefully? Please?

 

[tpbradley]

Things aren't always as they seem. Relax guys. Everything is fine. Good night.

Aaaaahhhh, the kiss of death haha. But seriously, if the father of a current player who has bled Orange and Blue through three of the worst seasons in recent memory isn't worried, then I'm going to trust him. Here's to hoping that AJ grew 4 inches in the off-season.

 

[AEX]

Things aren't always as they seem. Relax guys. Everything is fine. Good night.

Is that regarding the Ebo situation in particular, or the larger situation? I can still imagine that the Ebo thing is something personal and unavoidable. Still, based on what Yates mention a couple days ago, it seems like this has been in the works for awhile, which makes all these spring misses on big men recruits all the more baffling.

 

[Dren1]

Nobody who knows anything thinks Ayo is anything less than a 3 or 4 year player. His expectations only increase the chances of him being frustrated - similar to Mark Smith.

I really hope Ayo succeeds here, but it's really not that hard to imagine him having an average season while losing all the time and getting yelled at. That's the recipe for transferring that we're watching right now.

I really don't think we can assume the bolded, particularly in Ebo's case. As has been pointed out previously, why would he wait until June to transfer if one of his primary reasons for transferring was getting away from a coach with BU's style?

 

[SKane]

Coach Groce was too nice.

Maybe Coach Underwood is too mean.

Why can't Illinois get a coach who is just right.

 

[illiniguy24]

Guys.....We will be alright. The sky is NOT falling. Have faith in the Orange and Blue, Coach U, and the System.

What do the players think of all this?


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[illiniCA]

I really don't think we can assume the bolded, particularly in Ebo's case. As has been pointed out previously, why would he wait until June to transfer if one of his primary reasons for transferring was getting away from a coach with BU's style?

Yeah it doesn't make sense for that to be the primary reason

 

[BlueLeader]

Coach Groce was too nice.

Maybe Coach Underwood is too mean.

Neither of these two extremes are really an issue that is a problem for Illinois basketball.

 

[RML]

The belief that this transfer occurred because Ebo, a guy who worked his way from the bottom of the depth chart to playing time last year and had a starting spot basically locked up to start the season, thought he couldn’t compete with a guy who he really has never seen on the court is bananas

I also have a hard time accepting the theory that this kid that worked his tail off and saw great success from it is leaving because he thinks the coach worked him too hard.

 

[FC Illiniman]

Guys.....We will be alright. The sky is NOT falling. Have faith in the Orange and Blue, Coach U, and the System.

Thanks for input, you are much closer to the situation with your son in program. Ebo was actually recruited by Chin long time before BU made scene, that was his connection. Matic left the program, no transfer. There is reason for concern all, but not because of the coach or system, its the guys . BU wants guys that are self motivated, have a desire to win, and want to play his way. This culture is not for weak hearted.
If Ebo saw things he didn't like, had personal issues, or he couldn't play for BU, isn't better to happen now? I know many think the sky is falling, can't understand why or just like to blame. Look at society as whole nowadays. The kids of today have less passion about sports than many of us do. They rather be video chatting or playing games with friends and hanging in their parents basement.
Not sure what case this falls into, but, the facts are we are lacking heigh in our lineup, without someone coming in to give us options, we will have problems. BU has his way of doing things, like it or not he will be the coach next season. You better hope to hell he has so solution for this situation, or I foresee a lot of whining and crying from this board, and we haven't even got close to season beginning. Faith in coach, staff , players and system. For now it's all we got.

 

[TheGMan]

https://twitter.com/WCIA3Bret/status/1004844727840145408

Ebo says that it was for mostly personal reasons. "It's about more than basketball."

Granted, that could still be that he personally doesn't like BU.

 

[Govoner Vaugn Fan]

Barring the unlikely signing of some yet unknown big, we will enter the season with three bigs. Two project freshmen and a 6'5" 'big'. That's not a recipe for success with the schedule this year. Does the NCAA permit playing on stilts?

 

[Deleted member 236589]

One look at Kane and Ebo knew he was in trouble. We will Win! Some of you Mary’s must have majored in drama because we are going to play Underwood ball and we are going to win more games than last season.

Respectfully disagree.

 

[sacraig]

Brad Undertaker makes Tom Crean look like an amateur.

Now, I personally think everyone is being overly dramatic, but if Underwood comes by the nickname "Brad Undertaker" legitimately after (hopefully) turning this ship around, that would be pretty awesome.

 

[Joel Goodson]

Wow! Ain't that a kick in the nuts? Hope a more definitive reason surfaces.

Staff needs to be in full scramble mode to pick up a serviceable big or two.

 

[Sizzler22]

One year and everyone wants this dudes head, one year.

 

[Deleted member 29907]

Human psychology is astonishing.

Please explain your comment - if what you are saying is i am rationalizing - GMAx-ing break -



You have some pretty stupid posts - but to assume you know my reasoning and that because it differs from you is idiotic - get off your horse.


My apologies for not whining and crying every time someone makes a move during a MAJOR revamp of the program.