Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#276      
Illwinsagain
When is the press conference for the hire and how many times will Brad use the word "elite" in describing coach Crocker?
 
#279      
PepeSilvia
illini0440 said:
We just hired a guy known for guard development and game planning……and you mean like every head coach ever?
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Has spent a few years with Langel at Colgate who runs one of the better offenses in the country so hopefully he's picked up a thing or two.

That being said I think you could still very clearly upgrade from Hamer without it even costing that much.
 
#280      
illinifan31
Probably an uninformed question, but who was filling in for Anderson and is now displaced on the bench? Or is it not like that?
 
#282      
the juiceman cometh
sacraig said:
That's a total misread of people's complaints about other current staff members (which probably don't need to be relitigated for the 100th time).
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To be fair, people's complaints about current staff members are pretty much just what they get fed by one particular insider, so what people's complaints about this one will be hinges on that.
 
#287      
ptgrd23
the juiceman cometh said:
To be fair, people's complaints about current staff members are pretty much just what they get fed by one particular insider, so what people's complaints about this one will be hinges on that.
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People complained because last year we struggled to stop most good teams. Our defense rarely made adjustments. We did not get steals so we had very few fast breaks and easy buckets. If we want to be a top 10 team we will have to improve. Coaching / X&O's is big part of defense. Hopefully it will improve in 2025-6.
 
#288      
RabidDawgClassic
the juiceman cometh said:
To be fair, people's complaints about current staff members are pretty much just what they get fed by one particular insider, so what people's complaints about this one will be hinges on that.
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This Up Here GIF by Chord Overstreet
 
#290      
Illini2010-11
the juiceman cometh said:
To be fair, people's complaints about current staff members are pretty much just what they get fed by one particular insider, so what people's complaints about this one will be hinges on that.
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That is not entirely fair. There can be some that are parroting certain talking points from one particular insider, but anybody with eyeballs has seen issues with the defense. Now it is entirely possible that much of the issues on the defensive end over the last two years have been player personnel, but it is very acceptable to criticize/question defensive scheme and gameplan. Labeling anyone with criticism as a blind follower of one poster is a bit disingenuous.

With that said, it is Brad's staff, so his opinion is the only one that matters (and he is getting paid the big bucks for a reason...the buck stops with him). Based on what I am seeing about Crocker, I am actually very content with the hire.
 
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#292      
Mobi
SweetLou2020 said:
A lot of talk about this years team not having EVERY box checked. Who does? And those that seemingly do, how many win the natty? Get as close to you can to checking the boxes, Coach, and hope for the best.

I’d much rather have a “close to” team than a mid major talented team.

Let’s go!
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I was more worried about whether this year's staff had every box checked. Now at least it seems like Brad is TYRING to address it.
 
#294      
the juiceman cometh
ptgrd23 said:
People complained because last year we struggled to stop most good teams. Our defense rarely made adjustments. We did not get steals so we had very few fast breaks and easy buckets. If we want to be a top 10 team we will have to improve. Coaching / X&O's is big part of defense. Hopefully it will improve in 2025-6.
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First, I think this is overstated and oversimplified. Clearly our offense outperformed our defense. But our defense was #40 in the country, not #140. Texas Tech was a top-10 team in both Kenpom and Torvik and had about the same defensive efficiency rating as us (#39 Kenpom, #37 Torvik). TT made the Elite 8 by beating Arkansas with a terrible Torkvik AdjD of 107.8, before losing to Florida in a game where they posted a very good AdjD of 96.6. Texas Tech was arguably a top-10 team, despite a very similar defense to ours and put up bad defensive performances against teams like Arizona St. (according to advanced metrics a worse outing than our defense against Duke), Colorado, TCU ,and UCF.

Second, the criticism of this particular insider, which was echoed by others, was not just about defense and was not reserved solely for Zach Hamer.

Illini2010-11 said:
That is not entirely fair. There can be some that are parroting certain talking points from one particular insider, but anybody with eyeballs has seen issues with the defense. Now it is entirely possible that much of the issues on the defensive end over the last two years have been player personnel, but it is very acceptable to criticize/question defensive scheme and gameplan. Labeling anyone with criticism as a blind follower of one poster is a bit disingenuous.

With that said, it is Brad's staff, so his opinion is the only one that matters (and he is getting paid the big bucks for a reason...the buck stops with him). Based on what I am seeing about Crocker, I am actually very content with the hire.
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Again, I refer not just to the criticism of Hamer, but similar criticism were levelled and then parroted against TU, and you can't point to any advanced metrics to justify those. Also the criticisms often did not even focus on our defensive output but on personality traits and clothing choice, with those being widely repeated as well.
 
#295      
skyIdub
Lmao, wow…some of you must need an FAA flight plan and oxygen to ride your high horses.

The rest of us are just dumb dumb insider parrots with no outside sources, knowledge or ability to make any reasonable observations apart from this forum.

5Iu7.gif
 
#298      
Illini2010-11
the juiceman cometh said:
Again, I refer not just to the criticism of Hamer, but similar criticism were levelled and then parroted against TU, and you can't point to any advanced metrics to justify those. Also the criticisms often did not even focus on our defensive output but on personality traits and clothing choice, with those being widely repeated as well.
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Again, my issue is primarily with you blanket labeling anyone who has any sort of complaint/criticism as someone who blindly parrots one person/insider. There were quite a few posters that made unnecessary comments (as you mention), but it is a disservice to discredit anyone with criticism into that general bucket. There is certainly warranted valid criticism to be had (which I expect Brad and staff to clean up).
 
#300      
the juiceman cometh
Illini2010-11 said:
Again, my issue is primarily with you blanket labeling anyone who has any sort of complaint/criticism as someone who blindly parrots one person/insider. There were quite a few posters that made unnecessary comments (as you mention), but it is a disservice to discredit anyone with criticism in that general bucket.
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Fair. 90% is probably about right.
 
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