Wisconsin 91, Illinois 88 OT Postgame
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“Make Jay Wright say no!”
There is no way we are firing a coach who just went 15-5 in conference and has gone to 6 straight NCAA's (would have been 7 but for Covid). He is what he is - he's a good recruiter and knows how to find talent. He can use that talent to consistently finish in the top 3rd of the Big 10 and make the tourney every year. But he is below average when it comes to actual coaching - developing game plans and managing the game. And that limits our ceiling; a great year gets us to the Elite 8 and a normal year has us going out in the Round of 32. He is Lou Henson with better hair
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Probably this and the buyout required (though if tgere was genuine interest from all sides it could be negotiated). Big openings probably want younger coach for that type of payment.
Because Illinois is already an elite position.
Agree I just wasn't going to argue with him lol
rmlsr
- El Paso,IL
Let’s look into this closer.
Over last 7 years
Houston 1 runner up 1 FF 1EE + 3 Sw 16
Duke 1 FF 1EE and JS only been there a few years
Arizona 3 Sw16 TL got a few years until he gets to 7 years
UConn 2 Championships
Purdue runner up 1EE 3 Sw16
Alabama 1FF 1 EE 2 Sw16
Kansas 1 Championship 1 FF
Illinois 1 EE
We honestly don’t measure up to these other teams on this list and if you think we do you are fooling yourself. Jmo
Had we made another few free throws, say Jake made his late and it allowed us to win in regulation I would indeed be less upset with the coaching. However it's not because of the win or loss from that but because it would mean that those 5 minutes of overtime didn't exist which featured some extraordinarily questionable coaching decisions.
My absolute biggest problem was Brad going with Tomi in OT. Absolutely nothing in the game suggested that Tomi would be able to hold his own defensively and he was a minus player all game. Z however was a plus player defensively all game. And despite missing those wide open threes (Tomi missed most of his too), Z also had the higher offensive efficiency. He outrebounded Tomi 7-2 in less minutes. He effected and blocked more shots. He had less turnovers. And Wisconsin was nowhere near as effective when Z was in the paint. So why was that decision made? I said it in the game thread that that coaching decision would likely lose us the game. I stand by it.
Now to save you the trouble, the rral question you should ask me is if Tomi went bonkers on both sides of the ball in OT, would I be happier. And the answer to that is Yes. I'd have tipped my hat to Brad and said I would not have made that decision but that's why he's the coach. He clearly had a feeling and was right and I was not. But instead what happened was exactly what happened in the 40min of regulation where Tomi was in defensively.
But yes, Brad's rotations, substitutions, and use of timeouts have been subpar in my opinion. And his late game strategies over several seasons have been consistently questionable. 1st commercial break, doesn't matter if a player is feeling it, consistently makes the sub. Z comes in and gives the team a giant spark of energy and great defense? Doesn't matter, next commercial break he's back to the bench. In past seasons benching your best defensive players late in games like say Ty or Morez or this year, Z when you have the lead and just need to defend and rebound and you win, it's silly.
There's a reason we can't hold leads late- it's because we can't get stops because our best defenders are out of the game and so we give up easy buckets. And despite having better free throw shooters out there, we settle for tougher quality shots and can't get foul calls. It's a strategy that Brad consistently employs and it hasn't really worked. So that's why I'm upset. Because games like this have been a broken record the past several seasons.
Age.
As well as buyout / contract details.
Also — Illinois is a fairly decent job to begin with.
And Josh is a bigger administrative support than just about any other AD. Brad’s smart enough to know that.
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You can tell it's March in here.
I mean, he's the winningest coach in the B1G! People should be breaking down his door.
I agree …
With us being an elite program and elite position … Would other schools not want to try and poach our coach ?
I understand the sentiment and, in general, I do think every other year 2nd weekend is an adequate place for this program.
However, just to put it in perspective, only 9 programs have gone to 5 or more 2nd weekends from 2015 to 2025:
- Gonzaga
- Duke
- Houston
- Michigan
- Purdue
- UNC
- Arizona
- Kentucky
- UCLA
Those are elite programs. 2 of them fired their coach in that stretch and 3 of them (IMO) kinda want their coach fired.
UConn is not on the list bc under Dan Hurley they’ve only gone to the 2nd weekend twice in 5 years (just happens to have 2 titles as well).
All this to say, this s#&$ is HARD. Illinois can be there no doubt.
Hey when I used that term CEO for our Coach one of the a**holes on here said how stupid that was, because?????
But I'm of the opinion the Brad has turned everything over to the young guys and has taken a back seat. I think you're absolutely right about him he's lost his edge. It's all talk now with no substance.
And I've sat right behind the bench and seen it first hand several times.
From what I read on this website, they try to every year.
This is debatable. His combover definitely looks terrible from certain angles.
this is the post that has circulated, repeatedly, over the years. and here we are again. just fix the dang issues
i swear i had the thought during whatever blowout game early in the year when the starters were in way too late that it would come back to bite us late season, what freshman doesnt hit a wall? why make it a bigger wall than it needs to be?
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We seriously have PTSD from the John Groce era... that was forever ago.. It's time for our fanbase to grasp that we are an elite basketball school and that there are MANY excellent coaches out there that would love to coach at Illinois.
But man, as far as in game coaching, there's just so many areas that we drop the ball..
Brad's lack of using timeouts at this point is just so irrational that I legit don't understand it. The worst part- is it also doesn't appear that the coaching staff as a whole knows how to identify when momentum is clearly shifting... because that's when you call the timeout.
Also, end of game, our play ended up being Keaton attempting a hook shot... We had a timeout, draw up your best flipping play... Identify your best flipping mismatch... something, anything... But thankfully we saved that timeout for our next game.
Tyler has said how we try to leverage mismatches... Awesome- the 3 times we went into the post player- Tomi had a nice post up and score, Big Z got a great look from Wagler and shot a nice little baby hook-score, Mirk-the only time he shot was a gorgeous true post shot... All 3 were clear advantages that we had... And guess what- Washington did that with Steinbach- 25 points, 16 rebounds. Am I the only one that saw a clear opportunity to consistently get the ball in the paint? And on top of that- anytime you go to Mirk or Tomi- they are both excellent passers who could absolutely kick it.
Tomi has been almost unplayable lately and has 0 confidence... How about the first play of the day against Wisconsin- we have a play drawn up for Tomi to get it in the paint and maybe, just maybe score close to the basket and get a little confidence.
I have more issues as well- especially during our 15 point leads. But those were a few in the game yesterday that were driving me nuts.
Didn’t you say Arkansas tried to poach Brad when Muss left?
k state has we know that.
Lville media reported they had interest before they turned to Pat Kelsey but balked at the buyout and didn’t think he was really available
Also, lots of these jobs recently have probably made a call only to be told no chance. UW, OSU, LSU, Texas…
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I am tired of Brad saying we are built for March when obviously we are not. I believe we have reached the ceiling with our program with Brad as the HC. He is paid to not only win games but to have some success in the tourney. We are 6-4 in NCAA games with Brad. I really do not want to hear, well, Brad inherited a mess. Dusty May inherited a mess and look where they are. Hurley inherited a mess at UConn. Florida, Alabama the list goes on. We haven’t had a true point guard since McCamey. Another thing, the everyday guy thing is getting old. We need athletes who are ballers. It’s time to change our recruiting and get 10 guys who can play high D1 ball. We have 8 and we are fatigued as you can see it. We played the majority of the conference season with 8 and sometimes 7 and once with 6 guys and we have nothing left. This is so similar to the 2022 season. It’s time for a change of philosophy.
Good point.
I get where you are coming from. I just can’t bring myself to move off BU yet after bringing the program back from the dead. There is a shelf life though and the next couple of weeks are going to be important. How will we all respond in the following scenarios?
1. Round 1 upset? (I am probably with you then)
2. Round 2 defeat (big disappointment)
3. Sweet 16 loss (appeases me)
4. Elite 8 loss (satisfied)
5. FF loss (thrilled)
6. Runner Up (Ecstatic)
7. Champion (lifetime contract)
Indy, I’m sure you’re a good dude but you can’t be seriously advocating for the coach who shoots the highest percent of 3s when the thing I see you complain about the most is stop chucking 3s. Seems….almost hypocritical?
That and the other guy is a s£x pest….and people seemed to have just forgotten about it bc he won a title.
And lost on a last second shot. They’re legit.
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