I like you..Fact of the matter is this … I come into dang near every game thread and thread on this board to express my thoughts and opinions … That is what a message board is for … There is nothing on here I wouldn’t discuss with Brad … There is no personal beef between me and Brad … Never has been … I sometimes question his decisions and that’s just the way it is when you’re a coach …
I am not a booster … I am not Josh Whitman … I am simply someone who cares about Illinois athletics and wants to see sustained success and when we aren’t doing that, I call it out …
If you don’t agree or simply don’t like me which you have shown to be the case … Find the ignore button and use it … That way you don’t have to listen to me just like you say Brad shouldn’t …
Have a great day …
Rutgers 82, Illinois 73 Postgame
- Status
Some good reading here. I can’t believe Brad would have these two young guys running their offense / defense, they are running Brad’s. They may not be teaching it / implementing it correctly, but Brad owns it. I thought in the old days the young guys jumped from coach to coach cutting their teeth before they earned that type of responsibility.
As someone stated earlier, watch UConns offense movement, flow, and execution. It’s like we are too proud to steal concepts, that work, from others.
We have talent, just not setting them up to succeed. How long will Antigua put up with this?
As someone stated earlier, watch UConns offense movement, flow, and execution. It’s like we are too proud to steal concepts, that work, from others.
We have talent, just not setting them up to succeed. How long will Antigua put up with this?
Underwood has proven to be a very good judge of talent (until this season's regrettable signings of Humrichous and Booth) and an excellent recruiter but by now it has become apparent that his coaching ability is not that impressive for the level he is at, which makes it all the more alarming that he has gone with such a weak coaching staff, including the highly questionable hiring of his son as a key assistant.
It's a very bad look, and I'm surprised Whitman agreed to it.
The key now is to admit his mistakes in giving Tyler and Hamer such influence, reduce his kid's role, can Hamer and Jones and hire two proven assistants who can help him with his in-game decision making.
Very hard to imagine achieving that record over next four
Hamer ... Tyler ... Kwa Jones ...
NONE should return as assistant coaches next year ...
UNACCEPTABLE ...
And Brad ... Your seat is officially warm ... Top 10 paid coach ... Top 10 NIL ... Winning every other game ???? 1 deep tournament run in 8 years because TJ carried you there on his back ...
You have had BU's seat warm too hot for years now. I repeat it is NOT warm. This will however give you a chance to AGAIN let us all know how you and Sean Miller are tight.
Coach Underwood has without question massively, massively improved the program from where it was before he arrived. He is clearly an absolutely outstanding recruiter. He has a phenomenal ability to develop a star as the focus of a winning team.
And: I have been thinking for months now, since last April I guess, about his: has any coach in the B1G had more roster turnover in his career?
I would calculate that as number of returnees/13 scholarship spots, averaged over years in the league. Or something -- how would I count Luke Goode? Coleman Hawkins? TSJ?
Get FighterOfTheNightman on it.
Have to understand the heat is not necessarily just from Whitman, it's the big NIL donors.
He put up with far worse at KY.
Indy, understand the goal, but I don't think there is any coach in the B1G that meets those expectations, and maybe not even nationally. If that is the expectation you are never going to keep a coach for long.
We have become Kentucky under Calipari this year. As Kentucky fans learned, a roster of young stars is just too inconsistent and difficult to manage. I don't think this is a coincidence given that OA is back here.
The problem with an experienced team is the players graduate and leave you with one returning player.
I think BU understands he needs balance, but sometimes you just have to take the best player available and that may be a freshman.
So here we are with a high ceiling, low floor team that plays inconsistently (especially given the illness and injuries).
I refuse to let it get me down. I am looking forward to the next game. I wait all year for basketball season, this is the coach and the team we have, and I am going to enjoy it. As Ayo used to say, the secret is not getting too high or too low. Unless your livelihood is tied to the success of the team, it pays to remember it is just a game.
Few has done it for 9 straight tournaments and has 15 straight years of getting to at least the 2nd round.
Houston has been doing that for 6-7 years under Sampson.
He's had 7 seasons at Illinois. Only 6 tournament opportunities so far because of COVID but 4 tournament appearances and only 1 elite 8 run paired with two ugly second round exits and a first round exit aren't incredible results that can't be improved upon.
Brad was entering hot seat territory last year if he didn't make a run. If this year continues on its current trajectory the seat warming up a bit wouldn't be surprising. It would be 2/3 years where the locker room basically fell apart and didn't perform to the talent level.
Houston has been doing that for 6-7 years under Sampson.
He's had 7 seasons at Illinois. Only 6 tournament opportunities so far because of COVID but 4 tournament appearances and only 1 elite 8 run paired with two ugly second round exits and a first round exit aren't incredible results that can't be improved upon.
Brad was entering hot seat territory last year if he didn't make a run. If this year continues on its current trajectory the seat warming up a bit wouldn't be surprising. It would be 2/3 years where the locker room basically fell apart and didn't perform to the talent level.
I agree 100 %. The Illini look exactly like a Calapari team. Great young talent, but cannot win.
Seat is warm, very warm.
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
I don’t disagree with anything you said,
BUT
If we continue to shoot 3s at a high rate AND continue to have have a hot 3pt/cold 3pt game rotation, AND don’t adjust until half time, we won’t have the 3-4 game win streak we need to 1) get into the BIG tournament, 2) go deep in the BIG tournament or 3) survive the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
But isn’t that part of this years team DNA (high/low/high/low) due to its compulsion to shoot 3s 50% of the time and its inability to CONSISTENTLY make >30% of them?
We’re also coming off an elite 8 and have won a B1G championship in 3 of the last 4 years. The idea that Underwood’s seat would/should be warm is insane to me. It’s totally fair and warranted to criticize him for the team’s struggles this year, but people lose me when they venture into “seat is warm” territory.
True, but there are coaches who are capable of meeting those expectations on a more regular basis. Underwood has done well in the conference, but has only been past the first weekend in the NCAA 1 time and TBH that was not a great run. They did beat a decent Iowa St team, but only needed to beat an 11 and 14 to get there and then played, perhaps, the most uncompetitive Elite Eight game I've ever seen due in large part to Underwood's poor game plan that he made little effort to change. He's had a good five year stretch in the conference, but one can argue his teams have also underperformed overall in that stretch.
Nobody is firing a coach with his track record because he lost 5 games in an 8 game stretch. It's pure delusion.
As a fan, fine to have that viewpoint if you want but understand who is making the decisions.
Are those people happy with losing 5/8 games? No.
Is Brad's job in jeopardy? Also, no.
No, it isn't.
When the season is over and his name is considered for other jobs, watch the people here lose their minds. It'll happen again. There are positions that will open up and it will cause a chain reaction to the point where he's in a list. Watch the tone of the board change into full meltdown mode.
Starting a Friday seeing common sense is refreshing. Perfectly said. Thank you!
I guess we'll wait and see how the rest of the season plays out...
Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
- Status