madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
Served him a veggie burger when I was a server in Madison
2/7 Polls & Bracketology - Illinois #13 in AP Poll
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Don’t sleep on tOSU.
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
I love the total collapse at Michigan.
Juwan was the annointed one by the press. He was an long time NBA player, then an NBA assistant for a few years. In no way was he qualified to run coach a power 5 program. He was named National Coach of the year for his one good season out of 4 (last year).
Lunardi has Michigan on next two after first four out and 2nd four out. So 10th best team after the 68 in. Effectively ranking Michigan at # 78. Hope they enjoy thie NIT
Go Illini #7
Juwan was the annointed one by the press. He was an long time NBA player, then an NBA assistant for a few years. In no way was he qualified to run coach a power 5 program. He was named National Coach of the year for his one good season out of 4 (last year).
Lunardi has Michigan on next two after first four out and 2nd four out. So 10th best team after the 68 in. Effectively ranking Michigan at # 78. Hope they enjoy thie NIT
Go Illini #7
Attachments
Let's hope it is a lucky #13 for us. We need to take out the Boilers and never look back.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Props on the T. Boone Pickens comment up front there. Yeah; that was a shock. Josh caught him sleeping! Or... and I hope everyone is sitting down... perhaps Brad actually wanted to come here.I'll just say, once it was officially clear that BU was going to be the coach, most were on board with it.
Brad Underwood Named Illini Basketball Coach
hZVSZzFezUE Ni-sAg5OjIc M7PppVXTUto University of Illinois Director of Athletics Josh Whitman has taken the first step in helping Illinois Basketball return to a place of national prominence by hiring Brad Underwood as the 18th Fighting Illini men's head coach...www.illinoisloyalty.com
There weren't many at the time. He'd recruited well at his other stops only to see his teams become mediocre. His best winning % was at Cal at 61%. He actually had a very Groce-like resume (great recruiter, dubious results), so there weren't many takers. That said, he made quite a splash at Mizzou with a top-rated recruiting class at the time, with the #1 player, plus he took Tilman and Smith. Even then, I don't recall many people questioning we'd gotten the right guy.
And we did
We found out pretty early on another site and most were excited about him. His gaudy record at SFA and his second half turnaround at OSU had most of us intrigued. Recruiting was the concern, but OA and CC turned that around.
Very few wanted Clownzo. He was known to jump ship before his gimmicks failed.
sacraig
- The desert
Some gems from that page:I'll just say, once it was officially clear that BU was going to be the coach, most were on board with it.
Brad Underwood Named Illini Basketball Coach
hZVSZzFezUE Ni-sAg5OjIc M7PppVXTUto University of Illinois Director of Athletics Josh Whitman has taken the first step in helping Illinois Basketball return to a place of national prominence by hiring Brad Underwood as the 18th Fighting Illini men's head coach...
Now, if you go back through the coaching search thread...it's a little bit of a mess lol. On page 188 of 190 is when it becomes clear BU is gonna be the choice.
The Illinois Coaching Search
The Illinois Coaching Search & the world of the college basketball coaching carousel.
I am glad everyone is so excited about the hire. I had to come and see what others thought.
My thoughts: a flop of a hire. I expected much more.
So, @Indy Illini Fan, how on Earth did you end up with this hot take?
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Indy Illini Fan needs to repent his sins. FYI, we all have bad takes in a coaching search thread or you haven't been here long enough.
This is what I'm saying. Best team that no one is talking about. And their remaining schedule sets them up for a decent run. The only ranked team they play on the road is Illinois.
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
Thanks. Josh's work snagging BU was truly brilliant stuff. Considering the deep pockets OSU had at the time, it just never made sense that they were paying BU so poorly. Josh took complete advantage of it.
And yeah, from that first presser, it genuinely has always seemed like this is where BU wanted to be.
sacraig
- The desert
The best part about the post is not how bad the take is in retrospect, but how it looks next to his current avatar.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Literally the anti-Bill Self, we hope.
He inherited a fantastic program!
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
Year 1: He's a bust, bad coach.
Year 2: He's the best coach in college basketball.
Year 3: He's a bust, bad coach.
Meanwhile Brad:
Year 1: Bad team, wait and see on BU
Year 2: Bad team with some heart, BU might be turning this around
Year 3: Great coach
Year 4: Great coach
Year 5: Great coach
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Well, needless to say ... beat #3 on the road this week (and of course also defeat NU at home on Sunday), and our ranking will look mighty pretty.
Wasn't sure where to put this, but given Rutgers is a Bubble team and this is also a Bracketology thread ... YIKES, look at their upcoming schedule:
vs. #16 Ohio State
at #14 Wisconsin
vs. #13 Illinois
at #3 Purdue
at Michigan
at #14 Wisconsin
at Indiana
vs. Penn State
A brutal finish for a team trying to sneak into the Tournament, but I suppose it's also plenty of opportunities for some statement wins ... hope we aren't one of those.
Wasn't sure where to put this, but given Rutgers is a Bubble team and this is also a Bracketology thread ... YIKES, look at their upcoming schedule:
vs. #16 Ohio State
at #14 Wisconsin
vs. #13 Illinois
at #3 Purdue
at Michigan
at #14 Wisconsin
at Indiana
vs. Penn State
A brutal finish for a team trying to sneak into the Tournament, but I suppose it's also plenty of opportunities for some statement wins ... hope we aren't one of those.
That's the matchup everyone would be drooling over in the Sweet 16: Illinois v. Kentucky.
Honestly not even suuuch a hot take. If we had continued to pay our assistants pennies we'd probably be struggling just as much. I think many of us assumed that losing a solid recruiter who was also a head coach (Groce) meant we had to replace him with another HC/known recruiter. Not saying that Brad's not a good recruiter, but with the assistants we've had in the fold over the last few years he hasn't really had to be. Thank god Josh understands the value of $
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I think BU's results (thus far) this year speak more to his coaching ability than any other year. We returned a lot of talent, but we lost NPOY finalist Ayo and what was - on paper - one of our best returning players and potential breakout stars in Adam Miller. Add on top of that two assistants bolting and Giorgi deciding not to come back, and it's amazing the way Underwood filled out this roster, weathered an early storm of not having a full squad hardly EVER ... and here we are in February playing our best basketball. Love it.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Whenever someone critiques Whitman ... I can't help but ask if they even KIND of understand the seismic shift in baseline attitude this athletic department has compared to the RG days. In fact, Mike Thomas even represented a positive shift away from the University-of-East-Central-Illinois-pinching-pennies perspective, but unfortunately he didn't seem to be good at much else, lol. Whitman has been such a breath of fresh air.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Speaking as someone who has spent a fair amount of time observing the production process on the floor of the Loyalty sausage factory the past several seasons, I'd say that those Yrs 3/4/5 assessments, even as of nine days ago pre-tip in Evanston, are rosy retrospectives. I can think of a dozen, high-volume criticisms even two weeks ago in the wake of the MD loss ranging from the hysterical ("We're nothing without Kofi" / "Belo is hopeless") to the truly deranged ("Bench Damonte.")
I recall a lot of gnashing of teeth in Year 3 when we lost to Miznoz and MSU, only to reel off seven straight Ws. The we hit that four-game skid in early Feb and there's mass hysteria again. We proceeded to win 4 of the last 5 (including the epic season-ender w/Iowa) and finished 1 win shy of sharing the title.
Year 4 we lose again to Miznoz and then Rutgers at the RAC in Dec and the Board got ugly, like the old guy returning deli soup.
Just sayin'. This virtual town has its poker tables that are often "What have you done for me lately?" echo chambers.
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
Your prose and metaphor's are intriguing , to say the least ......The Loyalty sausage factory line was hilarious......But , you out did yourself with the last line of your mesmerizing post ........Made me visualize every word...............well done , sir !!
Illinois #13 in Coaches Poll
| 1 | Gonzaga(18) | 19-2 | 786 | - |
| 2 | Auburn(14) | 22-1 | 782 | 1 |
| 3 | Purdue | 20-3 | 698 | - |
| 4 | Kentucky | 19-4 | 682 | 3 |
| 5 | Arizona | 19-2 | 666 | - |
| 6 | Duke | 19-3 | 649 | - |
| 7 | Houston | 20-2 | 605 | 2 |
| 8 | Kansas | 19-3 | 602 | 2 |
| 9 | Texas Tech | 18-5 | 481 | 5 |
| 10 | Baylor | 19-4 | 478 | 2 |
| 11 | Providence | 20-2 | 477 | 4 |
| 12 | UCLA | 16-4 | 424 | 8 |
| 13 | Illinois | 17-5 | 411 | 5 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 18-4 | 389 | 3 |
| 15 | Villanova | 17-6 | 368 | 3 |
| 16 | Ohio State | 14-5 | 308 | - |
| 17 | Michigan State | 17-5 | 280 | 4 |
| 18 | Tennessee | 16-6 | 231 | 2 |
| 19 | Marquette | 16-7 | 193 | 5 |
| 20 | Texas | 17-6 | 157 | 1 |
| 21 | USC | 19-4 | 148 | 2 |
| 22 | Saint Mary's | 19-4 | 89 | 4 |
| 23 | UConn | 15-6 | 85 | 6 |
| 24 | Murray State | 22-2 | 68 | 2 |
| 25 | Wake Forest | 19-5 | 51 | 1 |
Chad Fleck
- Eureka, IL
Post more often.
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