Nope nope nope.
"Near the top of the conference"? Maybe not. Competitive? Certainly.
Come hell or high water, we in this thread are going to strangle this "John Groce didn't have any talent" myth in its crib.
Maybe not? How about, definitely not?
Competitive level of talent? What does that mean? If you mean talent enough to push us over the bubble and compete for a birth, with some good coaching/chemistry, etc.? Yes. Talent that was shoo-in for NCAA? No. Granted, Groce is doing the program no favors, and his coaching will not push bubble level teams (in terms of talent) to NCAA births, but recruiting and talent, especially at key positions, have been a big problem, definitely a
B1G problem.
Especially at the most important position, PG, talent has been absolutely dismal in Groce's tenure and C has not been good either, and I'd give much credit to Mav for, despite his many limitations on defense, probably developing as a much better player than anyone may had expected.
The teams that we have lost to so far, Purdue, Maryland, Indiana are a lot more talented. Even with Maryland losing their big men, their guard combination of Melo/Cowan is arguably the best in the league. Way more talented than us. It does not excuse Groce's poor coaching, he has been bad, but let's not pretend that talent is not a problem.
Even with Michigan, another bubble level team IMO, who we actually split with (1-1), it is a very hard argument to make that we have more talent than their top 6 main rotation of Irvin, Walton, Wagner, Wilson, Robinson, and Abdur-Rahkman. We do not have more talent.
Since Dee and James Augustine left, the talent level has been a huge problem, below the level Illinois should be at, independent of good or bad coaching in specific seasons. The only one of those years that Illinois had "good" talent, at a level that we should have, was 2010-11: DMac, DJ, Paul, Davis, Tisdale, Griffey, Richmond, Leonard, Cole, Head, Bertrand. Independent of coaching, head cases, off-court, chemistry, etc. Talent-wise.
Even historically, the periods that Illinois consistently got very good talent (80s and late 90s/early 2000s) miraculously coincide with the periods we were consistently good, not just good in a single season.
The next coach will need to bring the talent for Illinois to be consistently competitive, not only in a single season, but be consistently competitive in the top-4 in the B1G. Otherwise, on the average, we will be hovering around the Mendoza line of B1G basketball (.500), sometimes better, sometimes worse, depending on coaching, chemistry, etc.