Something to be very proud of. Well done.
Illini Basketball 2024-2025
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Interesting to hear what the best NBA prospect we’ve had in nearly 2 decades thinks of one of our most questioned assistants…
Fire Brad Underwood! Illinois basketball is better than this and us fans on this board deserve more! Only six straight seasons over .500 in conference and the low of a fifth place finish in those seasons.
Bruce Weber(post Dee/Augie)
2006-07 23–12 9–7
2007–08 16–19 5–13
2008–09 24–10 11–7
2009–10 21–15 10–8
2010–11 20–14 9–9
2011–12 17–15 6–12
John Groce
2012-13 23–13 8–10
2013–14 20–15 7–11
2014–15 19–14 9–9
2015–16 15–19 5–14
2016–17 18–14 8–10
First, nothing personal against you, SC. I liked the first part of your post but the second part is a pet peeve of mine so I'm going to take the opportunity to stand on my soap box for a minute.
It's a disservice to Brad and really the entire basketball program to continue holding Groce and Weber up as the standards for coaching at Illinois basketball. Brad compares pretty well to basically every coach who has been here. He's done something that no coach at Illinois has done in 34 years...That no coach in the B1G, including the likes of Izzo and Painter, have done over the same time frame. And he's done it in the strongest B1G of all time.
I know part of it is that Groce and Weber are just BU's two most recent predecessors. But using them as the bar for success, IMO, is like a golfer who comes a stroke short of his personal best but instead of comparing his round to his PB or even his handicap, he compares it to his worst round that he had 8 years ago. Or a restaurant that's been open for 100 years but uses the COVID years as their benchmark for success.
Basically BU belongs in better company than Weber and Groce. We have a higher bar at Illinois and BU is (mostly) reaching it.
Small tangent: The only other time over the last 120 years that we had a stretch of basketball worse than Groce's five years was immediately following the slush fund scandal. I know those years were traumatizing but we shouldn't let that lurk over us as a likely scenario if Brad ever leaves. Groce was an anomaly.
That Thanksgiving game was scheduling masterclass getting on following the CBS football game.
So the magic numbers for national title contenders I believe are KenPom top 20 offense and defense. We are currently sitting #14 O #32 D. However, most of the year our defensive metrics were ahead of our offensive metrics until our defensive slide in February.
So to me it’s a question of who we are defensively. Are we really the top 15ish defense we were the first 3ish months of the season and our slide is mainly due to injury/illness. Or were we over our skis the first 3 months and now offenses have scouted/adjusted to the point where our defense is good but not title contending?
If there were no injuries or illnesses, particularly in our front court, I would say the latter. But given how beat up we’ve been I actually think we are a top 20 defense and are a national title contender hiding in plain sight.
But to me the biggest question is consistency. Even when we were healthy we couldn’t go more than 3-4 games without playing a clunker. We’ve had 2 pretty good efforts in a row. If we have a good showing against Purdue and at least 2 good showings in the BTT. I will start to believe a run is possible.
One thing I do know is if I were a 2 or 3 I would not want to face us in the round of 32. We are a high variance team but when we are on we can beat anybody.
So to me it’s a question of who we are defensively. Are we really the top 15ish defense we were the first 3ish months of the season and our slide is mainly due to injury/illness. Or were we over our skis the first 3 months and now offenses have scouted/adjusted to the point where our defense is good but not title contending?
If there were no injuries or illnesses, particularly in our front court, I would say the latter. But given how beat up we’ve been I actually think we are a top 20 defense and are a national title contender hiding in plain sight.
But to me the biggest question is consistency. Even when we were healthy we couldn’t go more than 3-4 games without playing a clunker. We’ve had 2 pretty good efforts in a row. If we have a good showing against Purdue and at least 2 good showings in the BTT. I will start to believe a run is possible.
One thing I do know is if I were a 2 or 3 I would not want to face us in the round of 32. We are a high variance team but when we are on we can beat anybody.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Not only that, but CBS recognized that it would not only keep the Bears fans watching Illinois, but it would also stop a large portion of Dallas fans from switching over to Fox as many Razorbacks fans are also Cowboys fans. Brilliant!!
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
I think that we have multiple guys that can get theirs, makes us hard to defend (8 guys with 20+ pt games). Of course, when the whole team is missing, tough to score.
illiniswish09
- Northwest Suburbs
Hmmm…
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
To celebrate this recent success even further and to try only take the positives away from this season, this is the seventh straight season that we have defeated at least one top 25 team away from Champaign ... in other words, every single year after Brad's first season. Considering how much some other programs rely on home court advantage (and don't get me wrong, we need to get back to NOT losing in Champaign!!), that is damn impressive.
2018-19
W 78-67 vs. #13 Maryland (New York, NY)
2019-20
W 62-56 at #9 Penn State
2020-21
W 83-68 at #10 Duke
W 74-69 at #23 Wisconsin
W 76-53 at #2 Michigan
W 73-68 at #7 Ohio State
W 82-71 vs. #5 Iowa (Indianapolis, IN - BTT Semifinal)
W 91-88 in OT vs. #9 Ohio State (Indianapolis, IN - BTT Championship)
2021-22
W 79-74 at #19 Michigan State
2022-23
W 79-70 vs. #8 UCLA (Las Vegas, NV)
W 85-78 in OT vs. #2 Texas (New York, NY)
2023-24
W 98-89 vs. #11 FAU (New York, NY)
W 72-69 vs. #4 Iowa State (Boston, MA - NCAAT Sweet Sixteen)
2024-25
W 90-77 vs. #19 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO)
W 109-77 at #9 Oregon
W 93-73 at #15 Michigan
We are literally averaging one top 25 Big Ten road win per year.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Put that in the Coaching Carousel thread and see how this assessment holds up
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RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Ten to one says the Cowboys play Carolina at that same time.
I wonder how much of that is based on KJ and Tomi not being well-known prior to coming here. (ESPN never assigned them recruit rankings for example.)
Right in our backyard….ouch
Love seeing Georgetown in the ‘Major Disappointment’ category. Ed Cooley and his bulls**t program. Ha ha. I’m not still bitter…
Penn State was #9? I tend to pay close attention, but totally forgot about that. Thanks for the post!To celebrate this recent success even further and to try only take the positives away from this season, this is the seventh straight season that we have defeated at least one top 25 team away from Champaign ... in other words, every single year after Brad's first season. Considering how much some other programs rely on home court advantage (and don't get me wrong, we need to get back to NOT losing in Champaign!!), that is damn impressive.
2018-19
W 78-67 vs. #13 Maryland (New York, NY)
2019-20
W 62-56 at #9 Penn State
2020-21
W 83-68 at #10 Duke
W 74-69 at #23 Wisconsin
W 76-53 at #2 Michigan
W 73-68 at #7 Ohio State
W 82-71 vs. #5 Iowa (Indianapolis, IN - BTT Semifinal)
W 91-88 in OT vs. #9 Ohio State (Indianapolis, IN - BTT Championship)
2021-22
W 79-74 at #19 Michigan State
2022-23
W 79-70 vs. #8 UCLA (Las Vegas, NV)
W 85-78 in OT vs. #2 Texas (New York, NY)
2023-24
W 98-89 vs. #11 FAU (New York, NY)
W 72-69 vs. #4 Iowa State (Boston, MA - NCAAT Sweet Sixteen)
2024-25
W 90-77 vs. #19 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO)
W 109-77 at #9 Oregon
W 93-73 at #15 Michigan
We are literally averaging one top 25 Big Ten road win per year.
Plus, you can scratch your itch!!
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
I think FOTN's idea of an annual Thanksgiving Night (or late afternoon) game at the United Center just got a whole lot better. Duke, to its credit, understood the assignment and jumped all over it.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Yeah a roster talent ranking of ~40 doesn’t pass the sniff test for me. I don’t believe there are 39 teams with more talent than us.
Edit: we have two expected first rounders and a second rounder for this year’s draft. Not many teams can say that.
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Definitely something to that. I’d also argue that there is something to finding guys that other scouts/coaches are under-rating.
While he doesn’t bat 1.000, BU has consistently put together very talented teams. The arm chair scouts on this board are routinely pleasantly surprised once we roll the ball out.
Feels disrespectful to let Duke play in Jordans house.
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