ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Probably true that one of those PG's would have given one or more of Groce's Illini team the small bump to push them on the right side of the bubble.But overall if Groce could have landed ANY of Jackson, Snider, Bruson, or Evans he would have had a much different tenure. If Kendrick Nunn didn't go all domestic on some girl, he could have had a different tenure. He still needed to be a better in game coach but he also had plenty of bad luck.
So thank goodness he missed on all of them, because we'd be unimaginably worse off if he'd survived. Nunn is the perfect example as to why, a huge recruitment that Groce won, and after three years of floundering under Groce's tutelage he immediately explodes into an NBA regular the second he leaves.
In five years at the helm Groce never made the most of his players individually or collectively, especially at the offensive end. There was never an easy bucket against even the weakest opponents, just constantly pulling teeth.
Nice guy, good recruiter, represented the University with dignity and I wish him the best. If he stays somewhere where his player acquisition ability can give him a sizable talent advantage he'll do very well. But if whiffing on Jackson, Snider, Brunson and Evans in rapid succession was down to luck, it's the best luck Illini Basketball has ever had.
And as ever, analytically there are absolutely zero points of any kind for finishing second in a recruitment under any circumstances whatsoever, period, end of story. Do or do not, there is no try.
(Man am I happy Illini Basketball isn't this doe-eyed narrative of recruits we almost landed anymore. Bless you Brad)