He was recruiting Darius Miller for Illinois and Miller ended up signing with Kentucky after Webster was hired there. Probably unlikely that Miller was going to pick Illinois anyway, but it does look a little questionable.
2017 Coaching Carousel
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He was recruiting Darius Miller for Illinois and Miller ended up signing with Kentucky after Webster was hired there. Probably unlikely that Miller was going to pick Illinois anyway, but it does look a little questionable.
I'm sure people outside of our fan base would argue that Michigan would belong in Tier two and maybe even Wisconsin.
Michigan has 5 Final Fours and that is when you don't count their two vacated appearances from the Fab Five era. They also have the title that we should have had from '89.
Wisconsin has 18 conference titles; 1 more than us, and they have 4 Final Fours, only one less than us. Plus they have a title from way back in the day when the tourney was first started. With the right staff I think those two have a ceiling that is pretty close to that of Illinois, MSU, Maryland, and tOSU.
Purdue is a tweener. The only real downfall to their history is that they've only reached the Final Four twice. Other than that they are the all time leader in B1G titles and have 27 or 28 NCAA appearances I think.
Tier 2 and Tier 3 are all one tier. There are a bunch of really good basketball jobs in the Big Ten.
$1.1 million before 4/15 and $1.0 million after 4/15
Yup. You can argue if anyone else joins IU on tier 1, but all those 2/3 schools are the same level.
I'd say as of now, Michigan State is the only Tier 2/3 program who could arguably join IU on Tier 1.
I'd say the gap between 1 and 2/3 is fairly small these days. Certainly smaller than the gap between say KU and the rest of the B12.
At the game Saturday, I noticed that we have a banner hung for our 1915 Helms trophy "national championship" next to our Final Four banners. I know everyone likes to say that those titles don't count, but what I find interesting is I saw a picture on twitter of Kansas's national title banners and they have banners hung for their two Helms trophy titles in 1922 and 1923 next to their three tournament era titles.
South Farms
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and I didn't think our AD would listen to the people banging the drum for a new coach to be a certain skin color, but don't pretend there are not plenty of people expressing that thought to him and to the media.
Lovie was a home run hire for us at that point in time. That was a slam dunk.
I want us to say the same thing about our next basketball coach. Something we haven't been able to say since Self came 15 years and two failed coaches ago.
South Farms
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and we have watched our program devolve into what 99% of the country/college basketball watching world would say is the bottom of that 5 program tier of 2/3.
The advantages we used to enjoy are buried so deep we need 3-4 years of 13-5 or 14-4 to unearth them.
Cal is a great university, but it's not a great basketball job. I am 100% certain he would leave Cal for Illinois, assuming the offer is competitive.
If we talk in terms of best jobs nationally the top jobs would probably go like this:
(Programs in each tier are in no particular order)
Blueblood:
Kentucky
Kansas
North Carolina
Duke
Blueblood/Next tier tweeners:
UCLA
Indiana
Second tier:
Louisville
Michigan State
Syracuse
Arizona
Florida
Villanova
UConn
Third tier:
Illinois
Michigan
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Purdue
Maryland
Georgetown
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State (6 FFs and 2 titles)
NC State (2 titles)
Arkansas (6 FFs and 1 title)
Some of these tier 3s might have an argument for being tier two but their program has been down for so long it's hard to justify putting them there. Program such as Oklahoma St, and Arkansas. I'm sure some would also argue that tOSU belongs a tier up because its hard to ignore that they have 10 FFs.
(Programs in each tier are in no particular order)
Blueblood:
Kentucky
Kansas
North Carolina
Duke
Blueblood/Next tier tweeners:
UCLA
Indiana
Second tier:
Louisville
Michigan State
Syracuse
Arizona
Florida
Villanova
UConn
Third tier:
Illinois
Michigan
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Purdue
Maryland
Georgetown
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State (6 FFs and 2 titles)
NC State (2 titles)
Arkansas (6 FFs and 1 title)
Some of these tier 3s might have an argument for being tier two but their program has been down for so long it's hard to justify putting them there. Program such as Oklahoma St, and Arkansas. I'm sure some would also argue that tOSU belongs a tier up because its hard to ignore that they have 10 FFs.
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I hope they see the light and cripple their football program so that basketball might live, but UConn is now a mid-major and belongs on none of such lists, I don't care how many national titles they have.
They are in the same conference as Villanova and their run of success is pretty recent. Maybe at worst they could be knocked down one tier, but they definitely deserve to be on these lists.
+ Virginia to Tier 3
Five years ago when Weber was fired, there was a lot of talk on multiple message boards about the history of college basketball's best programs and mostly our fans justifying why Illinois belongs in that conversation amidst all of the trolling about Illinois' prestige from guys like Doug Gottlieb and Tim Doyle. I never thought five years later we'd be sitting here having this same discussion.
Not true anymore. Villanova is in the Big East. UConn is in the American.
I don't know they same like a tweener between tier 3 and the next tier down. Great program today, but the only other time they seemed to be great was in the 80s and even then I think they could only manage 1 FF appearance. If they reach another FF then they absolutely belong on that list.
Oops my bad. Still UConn's history I think is too recent to ignore.
That second tier is tough when you have programs whose success came under the guidance of just one coach. Was it just that coach? We don't know if programs like Syracuse or MSU will stay up their when their current coaches leave or if they drift down like Arkansas.
BTW, I'd definitely bump Louisville up to the tweener status.
Right. There was a rumor that if (read: when) the Big 12 turned them down that UConn would consider joining the Big East and let their football program fend for itself elsewhere. It hasn't happened yet.
That would be great for UConn and I think it would be great for the Big East.
We're in an age when conference matters so much, much more than it used to. The Big East has great teams on the floor, I love watching those games. But I'm not sure how long they can sustain at that level with some of their best programs being Butler and Xavier and Creighton, and having themselves being essentially blackballed by ESPN with their exclusive Fox contract.
Tier 4 (programs that are solid jobs and have had decent success historically but overall nothing special enough to warrant them being in the third tier)
Iowa
Mizzou
Cincinatti (could arguably be up one tier. 6 FFs and I think 2 titles)
Texas
St. Johns
Notre Dame
Butler
Washington
Marquette
Kansas State
Utah
UNLV
LSU
Temple
Virginia
Iowa
Mizzou
Cincinatti (could arguably be up one tier. 6 FFs and I think 2 titles)
Texas
St. Johns
Notre Dame
Butler
Washington
Marquette
Kansas State
Utah
UNLV
LSU
Temple
Virginia
Agreed on Lousville. 10 FFS and 3 banners definitely warrants that status.
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