2017 Coaching Carousel

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#1,076      
And how did that work out for those coaches? Half of Lavin's "monster" class didn't end up playing for him. Rice is gone at UNLV. We beat Gottfried's team full of his great recruits (and many on this board thought they stunk). It's too early to tell with Martin at Cal, but his results are mediocre so far.

I think his point was theres some great classes that come in right after a coach gets hired. Whether they perform well or not wasnt really the point.
 
#1,077      
And how did that work out for those coaches? Half of Lavin's "monster" class didn't end up playing for him. Rice is gone at UNLV. We beat Gottfried's team full of his great recruits (and many on this board thought they stunk). It's too early to tell with Martin at Cal, but his results are mediocre so far.

Lavin's recruiting is perhaps a bad example of what to call a monster class. He came in late and took a lot of risks he probably wouldn't have once he'd built up his team --he had little to lose with some of those. I don't have a problem with that, but it means you're at high risk for setbacks between the class on paper, and what you actually have to work with.

I don't think anyone would argue that change is disruptive and entails risks: but, the thing that matters is, are you better off over the long run? My take is that we're FAR below our potential right now. I also think we can screen for what we want in terms of recruiting, system, etc.. It'd be interesting to see a poll of the users on the question, but discussing it would probably stir the usual controversy.
 
#1,078      
Understood, but what's the point of recruiting "monster" classes if they don't perform?

The thought is if the talent is there, a good coach should be able to perform well.

Emphasis on good. Obviously the classes pointed out were great, but the coach didn't perform up to their standards.
 
#1,080      
Catching up again :thumb:

I think the sit out year is a huge deterrent to legitimate NBA prospects. Very few of those caliber players transfer under any circumstances.

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Finally I'm not sure they need to either fire or extend Groce following this season. Obviously you can't really fire a coach that makes the tourney because of media backlash and I don't think you can argue to keep him if they don't make it as it would be a fairly historic run of below expectation play.

If guys are already known as an NBA prospect to the point where they wouldn't transfer upon a coaching change simply because it's delaying their departure to the NBA, they'd just go to the NBA earlier. That happens all the time. Also, we certainly have to extend or fire Groce after the season. Coaches don't operate on 2 year contracts in college sports. That shows a complete lack of faith from the administration, and broadcasts that to opponents, recruits, and the players. And yes, you can fire Groce after making the tournament. The failings under his regime are well documented, the hot seat is known, and nobody would really question unseating him if he just squeaked into First Four or something like that.

Still have an opinion not shared by majority but still makes the most sense to me.

JG strengths are his recruiting, relationship to his players and good public presentation.

Weakness per this thread are X's and O's.

Believe it is much easier to cover his weakness with a good assistant than it is to find someone with his strengths in the other areas. Recruiting is not a one year project but building of relationships and starting over is not a one year project. In two years with a new coach, this thread would be repeated. IMO

You can have x's and o's guys on the bench, but I really think the model you are proposing is more effective in football than basketball (there are certainly more cases of it we can point to). Additionally, and S&C touched on this, Groce has been loyal to his own detriment at this point, I find it hard to believe he'll make a change. Additionally, we already added Darren Hertz as special asst to HC in the last 2 seasons after Brandon Miller went to Butler (iirc) and saw zero noticeable impact there (he's certainly not being sent out recruiting, and there haven't bee improvements on the court schematically).

You have too much time on your hands.

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Also your last line is why almost no one on this board likes you

Speak for yourself. Maybe you shouldn't take it so personally when you make a claim without any evidence, and then someone takes the time to actually disprove it. Tilmon could easily transfer for any assortment of reasons, and he could also bust. Just because he is committed to Illinois doesn't spare him from any of the variety of things we've seen happen to top prospects across the country at other schools.

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Where Groce's team usually fail in my eyes is in playing with confidence and trusting the system we're running in times of stress.

An assistant who is going to bring in different fundamental basketball ideas is only as good as the level of trust the head coach has in that person. Groce has steadfastly refused to make any staff changes, shockingly in my view, and it's clear that he doesn't have any desire to hand over some of his responsibility to an outside voice. Forcing that upon him would be ineffective at best. It's not like football where you can take away playcalling duties from someone, and even that is a bad idea.

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The idea that recruiting is hindered in the first year of a new coaching administration does not hold up to scrutiny.

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I'd agree with the first and second points. Our teams have bad habits. When they reel those in and play together, we've at times looked OK or even good for stretches, but the issue is when things get tough, or we get ahead, the bad habits start to come out due to adversity or comfort (thus why I get so angry at my TV when we go into 'prevent' offense with 4 minutes left with a lead!). I would add that our teams tend to display signs of a lack of basketball IQ, although some pieces are not necessarily victim to that.

I think there's definitely reason to believe recruiting is in fact boosted in the first year, because realistically, coaches can sell that any perceivable problems in the product are not theirs, but rather inherited, and also, as has been mentioned, coaching changes all come with hope and excitement. There are cases where this would not apply, such as moving from an excellent recruiter to a poor one, or are operating in a scenario a la Kentucky where your standard is incredibly difficult to maintain for ANY coach, you will likely see the first year have solid returns.



I don't mean to be a jerk. I don't think I'm smarter than everyone because I can do a Google search. Nor do I think others are dumb because they don't waste their work hours digging through the internet about college basketball players. I just feel like our arguments ought to based on factual predicates that hold up to scrutiny. And if people stubbornly cling to ideas that fall apart in the face of the evidence, the whole point of a discussion board like this is to point that out, right? Isn't that why this is fun?

And I understand how it's a bad, arrogant look for me to say so, but it's still true: a lot of the received wisdom on this board about how to estimate and anticipate the future of recruits is just not very accurate. And the accuracy of those assumptions is very, very important to people's perceptions of what we do about John Groce going forward, which is the purpose of this thread.

I agree with these points and think it is important to look at trends nationally (which, while inconclusive and not necessarily gospel when assessing our own situation, can help us evaluate potential scenarios). Many trends will be subject to small sample sizes, but they are still helpful and should be based in data available. UofIChE06, in my opinion, went a little overboard on trying to look at other possible factors in the individual points of the data set in this particular case, but those are important to look at as well because we are talking about 17-22 year old kids, after all.

Could have fooled me and a number of people that have been here a long time. I personally am going to do what I should have quite some time ago. Enjoy yourself railing on people on a message board proving you know the most about Illini basketball. I won't have the "pleasure" of seeing it anymore

I don't understand people being so averse and offended by being proven wrong. The data says you were incorrect. You weren't personally attacked. This is just discussion, not an attack on your character or intelligence. He took the time to fact check.
 
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#1,081      

Foggy Notion

San Francisco
What's the point of getting a 1-seed if you don't win the whole tournament?

If a high seed does not yield success in the tournament, however you choose to define success, then there is no point, except that it is evidence of a great regular season. Tournament seeding reflects on-court performance that actually happened, unlike recruiting rankings, which merely reflect opinions about future performance.
 
#1,082      

Bailey

Los Angeles
I would push back a little bit on this. When you say "X's and O's" as basically "ability to turn recruited talent into wins" I think you make it a bit too simplistic.

Groce is not Josh Pastner. We don't play AAU ball. We scout and gameplan for our opponents relatively well (not as well as Weber did - his greatest strength as a coach - but well). We play a real offense and generally look to exploit favorable matchups.

Where Groce's team usually fail in my eyes is in playing with confidence and trusting the system we're running in times of stress. Shot clock winding down, pressure in the backcourt, late game clutch situations, our guys continually abandon the plan. That's all about belief in what you're doing from a basketball perspective, and that's on the head coach to build that belief in the summer and during practice so that it's just muscle memory when the game gets intense. You could bring in the greatest greaseboard jockey to ever grace a sideline, if the kids can't execute it when it counts, it's not gonna matter.

Totally fair.

Admittedly, part of my inherent opposition towards the Groce pitchforks stems from a total lack of understanding within said group in regards to how basketball on the offensive end has progressed in the last 10 years. Not everybody, obviously (as clearly illustrated above), but man - hang out in a game thread and watch the fallacies fly.

Groce is a very, very bright basketball mind. Implementing his system...well that hasn't gone so great.
 
#1,083      

mattcoldagelli

The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
If a high seed does not yield success in the tournament, however you choose to define success, then there is no point, except that it is evidence of a great regular season. Tournament seeding reflects on-court performance that actually happened, unlike recruiting rankings, which merely reflect opinions about future performance.

A high seed, like a good class of recruits, doesn't guarantee anything, but it sure makes your job a lot easier.
 
#1,086      

Serious Late

Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
A high seed, like a good class of recruits, doesn't guarantee anything, but it sure makes your job a lot easier.

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh. A #1 seed (or high seed in general) implies a season with many more ups than downs. It guarantees more entertainment than disappointment over the course of a season. On court results also provide more hope (in my opinion) than highly rated recruiting classes. A highly rated recruiting class doesn't move the average fan either (who likely doesn't have a clue about the recruiting). Wins, on court performance, even without a title, still has a lot of merit to those who follow the team, imo. A top recruiting class without results is as likely a net negative as a net positive. Hard to see how a high seed with an early tourney exit is a net negative (particularly given where our program is right now).

I am to the point i just want to be able to appreciate game to game results. Beat the 50-100 Kenpom teams however it looks, play competitive with top 50 Kenpom teams (and win a few), easily handle the teams 100+ in Kenpom. All I really hope for each game at this point. So far, we are a -3 in that category. 2 blowouts to top 50 and a loss to a 100+ team. No wins that go above and beyond reasonable expectations to offset the bad. The sound of a high seed and an early exit feels a lot more satisfying than a top 15 recruiting class right now.
 
#1,087      
The idea that recruiting is hindered in the first year of a new coaching administration does not hold up to scrutiny. Just off the top of my head, Cuonzo Martin at Cal, Mark Gottfried at NC State, Dave Rice at UNLV and Steve Lavin at St. Johns all brought monster, game-changing recruiting classes to non-blue blood schools in their first year at the helm.

Which of these guys will come to Ill?
 
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#1,089      
The writing on the wall is getting clearer and clearer to read with each poor performance. Everything will play out in its own time. As we get further in the season I suspect we will start to hear about a lot more potential candidates. I just hope we don't jump on another flavor of the month.
 
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#1,090      

Cheez

Sun Prairie WI
Mr. Cuonzo Martin?

Josh Whitman calling - line 1
 
#1,091      
Even if we do make the tourney the feeling we get as fans clearly tell us that Groce isn't the guy to get us back to the level we know Illinois can get to and sustain.
 
#1,093      

radiodj

Houston
I hope we call a few guys before Cuonzo. I think the board got infatuated with the name after rumors spread of reciprocal interest.

Mediocre coach.

The sad thing is that mediocre would be an upgrade right now.
 
#1,094      

JMAC8504

Formerly Danville, Il. Now Langley AFB, VA/ Camp B
Jeff Capel is interesting. He had decent-good success at VCU and OU. Maybe pair him up w/ some illini assistants like RGIII or Chester Frazier and maybe we have a future.
 
#1,099      

Illini4Reel

Champaign, IL.
Twitter is having a night with the Illini. "John Groce" has been a top ten trending topic in the US.
 
#1,100      
Getting excited about JG's future after a loss at Indiana doesn't seem logical to me.

We have 2 at home coming up that will be much more barometer worthy. JMO.
 
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