Whitman cleaned up Mike Thomas' mess. He was the one who presided over the dark years.....
Illinois #13 in 12/18 AP Poll
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Interesting take! Self leaves to take a job at a blue blood school = being run out of town. Hires Weber who is incredibly successful until his lack of ability to land top level recruits (not willing to push into gray areas?) combined with some bad luck (Jamar Smith, etc.) limited his success. But, yeah, Ron Guenther who was the AD during the "mini golden age of Illinois Basketball" was the guy who ruined it all!
Yea Guenther may have not been the greatest AD....but the Thomas...then Beckman hires put us at Rock Bottom for several years....the later being an embarrassment near apocalyptic levels!
Guenther in a way did run Bill out of town....while Bill probably would have left regardless Ron did a lot of this that pissed Bill off. Ron was a cheap a$$ who counted every nickle and dime in recruiting expenses, also put a leash on Bill in terms of recruiting and RG took things way too personal in this line of work. Bill also would have listened to an offer from Illinois once he told RG about Kansas but RG couldn't believe that Bill would even think about leaving and got so mad he didn't offer a raise.
Interesting take! Self leaves to take a job at a blue blood school = being run out of town. Hires Weber who is incredibly successful until his lack of ability to land top level recruits (not willing to push into gray areas?) combined with some bad luck (Jamar Smith, etc.) limited his success. But, yeah, Ron Guenther who was the AD during the "mini golden age of Illinois Basketball" was the guy who ruined it all!
Appreciate the clarification @illini0440. I did not know much of the internal workings. That just demonstrates more clearly Bill Self's ability to recruit under those constraints. I still stand behind the fact that Mike Thomas did far more to hurt Illini athletics comparatively. From an insider's perspective, am I wrong?
They both did a ton of damage. RG had a history of hiring bad football coaches. And didn't try to keep Bill Self. Thomas also hired a bad FB coach and from what I hear was a miserable person to work for / with. But that information may be wrong about what he was like to work for.
Loyalillini10
- Urbana, IL
And I heard his wife’s lasagna wasn’t even that good.
Interesting take! Self leaves to take a job at a blue blood school = being run out of town. Hires Weber who is incredibly successful until his lack of ability to land top level recruits (not willing to push into gray areas?) combined with some bad luck (Jamar Smith, etc.) limited his success. But, yeah, Ron Guenther who was the AD during the "mini golden age of Illinois Basketball" was the guy who ruined it all!
Illinois resigned to losing Self
If the race for Bill Self was a tug-of-war contest, as of early this morning it appeared Kansas University was close to knocking Illinois into the center pit. While Self, Illinois’ men’s basketball coach, hasn’t told any of his confidants of his decision whether to take the KU job, Illinois is...
www2.kusports.com
Geunther made no counter offer to Selfs KU offer
#10 Baylor lost today and one of #7 Oklahoma or #12 UNC will also lose today. Assuming we do our job and beat Missouri on Friday, that's likely at least #11 on next Monday's AP Poll.
#5 UConn also lost but idk if they'll drop down far enough.
We're getting close to that elusive top 10 ranking. It'd be great if our game @ Purdue was a top 10 matchup.
#5 UConn also lost but idk if they'll drop down far enough.
We're getting close to that elusive top 10 ranking. It'd be great if our game @ Purdue was a top 10 matchup.
Who is “Luke DeCock” and how does he have Illinois as “under consideration” when everyone else has us as around 13th?
Which one of you bullied this guy* in school and he hates Illinois for life since?
*supposedly according to my little brother who was Andy Moeller’s classmate in middle school, the reason Andy Moeller and his stalwart father hated Illinois forever was because of the mockery lil Andy got for the stellar job his Michigan Man father was accomplishing for the Illini at that time.
I can’t help but wonder what Illinois fan caused this Luke DeCock fellow to be so full of irrational petty revenge
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Well, Baylor, Oklahoma, Creighton, and UConn all lost tonight. I doubt we jump em all but let's win to close out 2023 and kick the kitty's and home to start the new year and see what happens. Looking forward to being there upclose. Big game on Friday to move in to the top 10.
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
Creighton and Baylor losses should move us up if we beat Miznoz to #11. I feel like Oklahoma maybe drops to 9 or 10 after this loss? UConn in the same neighborhood at either 9 or 10. We'll see
I'll never believe that we could have kept Self so I can understand the lack of a counter offer that would have just resulted in a bigger paycheck for Self at Kansas.Illinois resigned to losing Self
If the race for Bill Self was a tug-of-war contest, as of early this morning it appeared Kansas University was close to knocking Illinois into the center pit. While Self, Illinois’ men’s basketball coach, hasn’t told any of his confidants of his decision whether to take the KU job, Illinois is...
Geunther made no counter offer to Selfs KU offer
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
If we blow out Miznoz we could easily be looking at #10 on Monday.
And #6 Marquette lost earlier this week.
jumping Oklahoma, Creighton, Baylor & Marquette seems possible with a win on Friday.
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
*Fingers crossed*
Agree with Creighton and Baylor plus I think we also jump Oklahoma. They are outside the top 20 in Kenpom and Torvik and they did not look good in their first true road game. That's gets us to 10.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
I agree, with a win Friday, I think UConn and Marquette remain ahead of us, but we jump those 3 to be 10. I image UConn and Marquette land at 8 & 9 respectively.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
In the Coaches Poll, we're sitting at #11 heading into this week. Of those ten teams ahead of us, UConn, Baylor, Oklahoma and Marquette have already lost. Arizona (losing by 7 to AL right now) and Kentucky still have tough games tonight and tomorrow. That's potentially five or six losses among those ten teams.
We then have the upcoming weekend games still to consider. We need to beat Mizzou by 10+ on the neutral court in St. Louis.
MIGHT WE BE HOVERING AT OR AROUND #5 / #6 NEXT MONDAY ??!!??!!??
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lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Throw caution to the wind
I’m not being cautious but tend to focus on us winning more than other teams losing. This thread is the opposite of that. To each their own.Throw caution to the wind
Because he is DeCock . . .
Is it Luke or Like?
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