2017 Coaching Carousel

Second and Chalmers · Jan 13, 2017

FiveStar said:
Unfashionable to coach in Khakis?

You're a relatively young, in-shape multi-millionaire! Dress like one! This isn't the early-bird special at a Palm Beach Ponderosa.

Little known fact: Jay Wright is just a mannequin Villanova ordered from a catalog. It's the suits that win all the games.

I bring up the Keady thing because Keady himself was a mess as we all know, Painter always looks like a middle school principal, and don't even get me started on Weber constantly wearing an olive colored suit with an orange tie. :tsk:

ILL in IA · Jan 13, 2017

Second and Chalmers said:
Where are we at on Ben Jacobson now that this year's team appears to be a disaster area?

If he is below .500 in conference for the first time in his career, that would take a bit of the shine off the resume.

I have always gotten the sense that Jacobson and UNI are a good fit, and he is aware of it. Everywhere has recruiting games, but I get the feeling Chicago would eat him up.

ChiefIllini · Jan 13, 2017

Second and Chalmers said:
You're a relatively young, in-shape multi-millionaire! Dress like one! This isn't the early-bird special at a Palm Beach Ponderosa.

Little known fact: Jay Wright is just a mannequin Villanova ordered from a catalog. It's the suits that win all the games.

I bring up the Keady thing because Keady himself was a mess as we all know, Painter always looks like a middle school principal, and don't even get me started on Weber constantly wearing an olive colored suit with an orange tie. :tsk:

my favorite part about this thread is that after a win it either dies or some tangent takes over. I assume we should add a grading scale to the coaches dress code now

? Also, I believe high fashion would frown at any use of an orange blazer. Just sayin'....

FollowTisdale · Jan 13, 2017

ChiefIllini said:
my favorite part about this thread is that after a win it either dies or some tangent takes over. I assume we should add a grading scale to the coaches dress code now ? Also, I believe high fashion would frown at any use of an orange blazer. Just sayin'....

I think we've zeroed in on our targets, not much else to do until we know Groce is fired or not.

And I have it on good authority that Delbert's only closed because they were tired of seeing that orange blazer get whooped on.

IllinoisFan733 · Jan 13, 2017

LurkLongandProsper said:
I think there's a core group checking this, but the list of names can't really change without large groups of games going by, so naturally it's going to be a little slow when it's not rage-driven I don't think that the silence right now is necessarily an indication of opinions changing, rather than the reality of just not having anything major left to discuss.

I read everything, but this is my least favorite topic to read by far. ALMOST Everything is negative, and after a fantastic win like Michigan people still come here to complain and pick nits.

Offense moved well, floor spacing was good and the ball moved around, and it looked like the offense was a real offense.

Anybody want to talk about that?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

WesterveltVictoryCigar · Jan 13, 2017

IllinoisFan733 said:
I read everything, but this is my least favorite topic to read by far. ALMOST Everything is negative, and after a fantastic win like Michigan people still come here to complain and pick nits.

Offense moved well, floor spacing was good and the ball moved around, and it looked like the offense was a real offense.

Anybody want to talk about that?

There's 10 pages of discussion about that game.

Ga65 · Jan 13, 2017

Just looked at Texas, Shaqa Smart 7 and 9 with eight 4 stars and a 5 star. Maybe it is a complete crap shoot as he would have been my choice when we hired JG.

BlindLoyalty · Jan 13, 2017

Ga65 said:
Just looked at Texas, Shaka Smart 7 and 9 with eight 4 stars and a 5 star. Maybe it is a complete crap shoot as he would have been my choice when we hired JG.

Most of this board needs to remember this when they are puffing up our incoming recruiting class and the subsequent hand wringing over the prospects of losing recruits if Whitman fires Groce.

Foggy Notion · Jan 13, 2017

BlindLoyalty said:
Most of this board needs to remember this when they are puffing up our incoming recruiting class and the subsequent hand wringing over the prospects of losing recruits if Whitman fires Groce.

Should also remember this when puffing up a new coach.

ChiefIllini · Jan 13, 2017

IllinoisFan733 said:
I read everything, but this is my least favorite topic to read by far. ALMOST Everything is negative, and after a fantastic win like Michigan people still come here to complain and pick nits.

I read something yesterday that said for a relationship to be considered positive, for every one negative thing, theres got to be 5 positive things to offset it. Meaning that if theres less than that 5:1 ratio, the relationship is going to be seen in a negative light.

This team has a lot of bright spots. We've got serious scorers at every position. A bench that has players who are very very talented. But theres just too many deficiencies on this team to view it in a positive light. This board just embodies human mentality.

Plus is always fun to argue. And who doesn't want to always improve? Its just a matter of finding the greener grass. I get your saying we dont talk about the positives enough here, but those positives are quick to fade to the norm. People seem generally excited about TJL and Kipper.

Just because the vast majority of comments are negative doesn't mean we don't have positive views--its just a deeper conversation to talk about the improvable points. Groce is put down so much because of what we should be as a team, but he does a ton for this team outside W/L. Sadly that's the metric that matters most, so we complain about it.

Second and Chalmers · Jan 13, 2017

IllinoisFan733 said:
I read everything, but this is my least favorite topic to read by far. ALMOST Everything is negative, and after a fantastic win like Michigan people still come here to complain and pick nits.

Offense moved well, floor spacing was good and the ball moved around, and it looked like the offense was a real offense.

Anybody want to talk about that?

Absolutely!

Also, this thread was silent for 24 hours after the win until I rolled in to make fun of Cuonzo Martin's pants.

Ulysses Everett McGill · Jan 13, 2017

Second and Chalmers said:
You're a relatively young, in-shape multi-millionaire! Dress like one! This isn't the early-bird special at a Palm Beach Ponderosa.

Jake from State Farm effect?

IllinoisFan733 · Jan 13, 2017

LurkLongandProsper said:
This isn't the thread for that, and also, there's two ends to the floor, and more than one game in a season (or coaching tenure)...

Still 14 games left to go in the Big Ten Conference, and I'm happy with the 2-2 start. I want a great season as much as anybody else.

Maryland game was brutal. I'll be the first to admit that. Very frustrating.

Sans the first 5 minutes of the Indiana game, I thought the team fought hard and competed with a decent Indiana team.

Two solid home wins against preseason top 7 B10 teams in Ohio State and Michigan.

Let's see what Groce and this Illini team can do the rest of the season. This team has the skill and opportunity to be a Top 6 Big Ten team at the end of the year!

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Second and Chalmers · Jan 13, 2017

Ulysses Everett McGill said:
Jake from State Farm effect?

As in, the State Farm Center?

IT'S A SIGN. WE WILL SAVE YOU CUONZO!

Shane Walsh · Jan 13, 2017

There have been far too many freak occurrences at the onset of the John Groce era. Things completely out of his control should not dictate how much of a chance he has to be our coach. So many what ifs...
Where would we be if Quentin had not flipped, if Kendrick had not gotten kicked, if everyone had not been injured for what seemed like an eternity.
I am excited with the direction that he is going and with what I hope to be seeing in the near future. TJR, The Kipper, the development of Mav. Are you kidding me?
The arrow is pointing up here folks (the only way it really can at this point to be honest) so let's sit back and enjoy the ride.

Old Number 51 · Jan 13, 2017

IllinoisFan733 said:
I read everything, but this is my least favorite topic to read by far. ALMOST Everything is negative, and after a fantastic win like Michigan people still come here to complain and pick nits.

Offense moved well, floor spacing was good and the ball moved around, and it looked like the offense was a real offense.

Anybody want to talk about that?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok, let's talk about that.

It was the first time all year we moved well, spaced the floor, and looked like a real offense. Why?

Do you think that Groce learned anything about what rotation to use moving forward? I'm pretty positive Turgeon will coach the pants off JG again tomorrow and we will get our butts handed to us again.....

No, the past 5 years have made us negative about this coaching staff.

And I'm a very positive guy when it comes to my family, work, and about pretty much life in general

)

Ulysses Everett McGill · Jan 13, 2017

Second and Chalmers said:
As in, the State Farm Center?

IT'S A SIGN. WE WILL SAVE YOU CUONZO!

Knew you'd catch my drift.

UofIChE06 · Jan 13, 2017

IlliniBrave75 said:
So what is your excuse for the team looking like an unprepared high school team against West Virginia?

WVU has done that to quite a few people this year. This team simply does not have the right horses to handle that pressure. You realize in them and FSU the team basically played two #1 seeds that almost no one recognized as being that good before the season.

Foggy Notion · Jan 14, 2017

UofIChE06 said:
WVU has done that to quite a few people this year. This team simply does not have the right horses to handle that pressure. You realize in them and FSU the team basically played two #1 seeds that almost no one recognized as being that good before the season.

Yeah, WVU did the same thing to #1 ranked Baylor.

FiveStar · Jan 14, 2017

Foggy Notion said:
Yeah, WVU did the same thing to #1 ranked Baylor.

Sssssshhhhh. How are we gonna blame everything about that game on Groce now?

radiodj · Jan 14, 2017

FiveStar said:
Sssssshhhhh. How are we gonna blame everything about that game on Groce now?

Nobody didn't say that WVU is a better team with a unique and difficult style of play, but let's not forget how the team rolled over and never showed up. Yes, that's on the coach.

LurkLongandProsper · Jan 14, 2017

FiveStar said:
Sssssshhhhh. How are we gonna blame everything about that game on Groce now?

Just because they did that to another team doesn't make the way we played in that game any less embarrassing or indicative of a complete lack of preparation.

Temple and Texas Tech beat WVU.

Also, comparing our performance to the Baylor performance is a stretch, Baylor was playing a true road game, whereas we were neutral court, and they beat us by 32 vs beating Baylor by 21. Radford (a tiny school in southern VA) lost by less to WVU than we did, and we also scored the T-fewest of any P5 team WVU has played this season and lost by the largest margin of any P5.

IlliniBrave75 · Jan 14, 2017

Foggy Notion said:
Yeah, WVU did the same thing to #1 ranked Baylor.

My comment was that we were unprepared...I didn't say anything about losing or how much we lost by! Anyone who has played basketball, should have been questioning our "press break". Simple things that I recall learning in grade school about a press break seemed to go unaddressed!

1. Passing the ball into the corner (the sideline is like another defender).
2. Staying inside the volleyball lines makes it harder for the defense to trap.
3. Not setting any screens to get the ball handler open to inbound the ball.
4. Inbounder (or preferably another ball handler) should be behind the level of the basketball...easier to make a pass than trying to go over the top (especially for smaller players)
5. If you go over the top, get the ball in the middle of the court (similar to getting ball in high post against a zone)

I understand WVU is good and am not saying we should have won, but we looked like a bad high school team with our press break!

radiodj · Jan 14, 2017

IlliniBrave75 said:
My comment was that we were unprepared...I didn't say anything about losing or how much we lost by! Anyone who has played basketball, should have been questioning our "press break". Simple things that I recall learning in grade school about a press break seemed to go unaddressed!

1. Passing the ball into the corner (the sideline is like another defender).
2. Staying inside the volleyball lines makes it harder for the defense to trap.
3. Not setting any screens to get the ball handler open to inbound the ball.
4. Inbounder (or preferably another ball handler) should be behind the level of the basketball...easier to make a pass than trying to go over the top (especially for smaller players)
5. If you go over the top, get the ball in the middle of the court (similar to getting ball in high post against a zone)

I understand WVU is good and am not saying we should have won, but we looked like a bad high school team with our press break!

+1000

And let's not forget, JG was crowing about how they'd been planning for the game for months. In other words, all of those mistakes were part of the game plan on how to break the press.

Second and Chalmers · Jan 14, 2017

Yeah I think it is both fair to say that WVU is a legitimate national title contender who we would reasonably expect to lose to on a neutral floor by a decent margin and also that it was an embarrassing performance by us that reflected poorly on our preparation for the game.

WVU went on a 53-20 run in the middle of that game. No team in the country should be able to do that to a team with our talent.

2017 Coaching Carousel

aka "Captain Oblivious"