3/17 Games

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#303      
Ye of low expectations. 2 B1G titles a decade is not enough for you. We have had 18 in the 117 years since 1906. Lou Henson won 1 in 20 years and his name is on the court.

Not suggesting we trade BU for Painter. But Painter has won the B1G 4 times in the last 14 years. Harry Combes is the only Illinois coach to win it 4 times, ever. Painter has gone to NCAA tourney 14 of 17 years and made the second weekend 6 times, the Elite 8 once. Your expectations are not real, because if we get rid of BU the odds are we are not going to get someone even as good as Painter.

We had a period of 8 years where we played like a blueblood - Kruger won 1 B1G title, Self 2 and Weber 2 in that period - but that is not sustainable long term. If you want to cherry pick the best 8 year period in the 117 year history of Illinois basketball and have that be your standard by which to judge any coach, then don't plan on being a happy fan.
Do we not want the program to go to new heights? That's what I'm saying. We've been where Purdue is. We've been higher than that. We're capable of more than that. Why settle for our historical water level?

Give me what Michigan St. has. That's what I want. Not Purdue.

I'm an Illini, Bears, and Cubs fan. "Being a happy fan" isn't something I'm super familiar with. I'm good at passion, desperation, and loyalty though.
 
#304      
Purdue's last two NCAA tournament games:
- loss to No. 15 seed Saint Peter's
- loss to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson
Joel Mchale Lol GIF by NETFLIX
Who wants Painter over Underwood now? I guess nobody in the first place.
 
#306      
I think some of these upsets occur because coaches know they have nothing to lose and will try out of the box strategies that a P5 coach wouldn't. If it backfires and you lose by 30 who cares? So things are thrown at high seed teams that they have never encountered playing another P5 opponent.
 
#308      
We had a period of 8 years where we played like a blueblood - Kruger won 1 B1G title, Self 2 and Weber 2 in that period - but that is not sustainable long term. .

There was a 25 year period (82-83 to 06-07) where we made the tourney 21/25 years (2 of the misses were due to Pearl), 1 NCAA title game appearance, 4 E8's, 7 S16's, 6 Big Ten titles, and 2 BTT titles. Of course it *can* be sustained. Wisconsin sucked in everything for 60 years, then got an AD that was competent and prioritized on field success, hired great coaches and remain one of the premier athletic programs in the country to this day.

The only reason it's proven unsustainable here is because Illinois had zero interest in prioritizing winning on the field under the most incompetent AD in all of college athletics that let the world pass him by, prized loyalty above competence so he wouldn't have to do the actual work of hiring coaches, was fine treating a B10 program as a small regional program, and ultimately just wanted to sip warmed cognac with small time donors from Tolono.

Guenther sat and watched Weber spend 5 years destroying what he was handed - even after the signs were in clear view from the onset, watching him pull disastrous recruiting classes in 2005 and 2006 even while having the most exciting team in the nation on display nightly. Hell, the idiot AD gave him another extension in the middle of that 5 year run after the title game

Wisconsin could have continued with Brad Soderberg and clucked about success not being sustainable. But because they weren't run by an absolute moron, they immediately moved on after 26 games and brought in Bo Ryan.

If the admin and fanbase don't care about success, of course success won't be sustainable.

Luckily it appears we now have an AD that cares about on field success.
 
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#311      

Goillinikobd

Southeastern US
I want to be sympathetic with PU, but..

they had a huge team average height advantage
they had the POY who is 7’ 4“
the network sages were falling all over themselves apologizing for, explaining the PU loss, probably because a 1 seed generates more viewer eyeballs, except that FDU is now must see TV
they lost by, what 5 points, and had a chance right up to the end. As opposed to VA who got blown away by 20 pts by UMBC and was never in a position to win.
Yes, Edey made his average points and rebounds, but the team needed a way ABOVE AVERAGE performance from him bc the rest of the team was trying not hot to lose instead of trying to win.
a lot of the board did not think they would win the tourney, but, wow, no one predicted this.

the answer is in the mirror.
 
#312      
I can’t believe they went away from Edey in the last 10 min. You see who Pu is without Edey.
 
#313      
There was a 25 year period (82-83 to 06-07) where we made the tourney 21/25 years (2 of the misses were due to Pearl), 1 NCAA title game appearance, 4 E8's, 7 S16's, 6 Big Ten titles, and 2 BTT titles. Of course it *can* be sustained. Wisconsin sucked in everything for 60 years, then got an AD that was competent and prioritized on field success, hired great coaches and remain one of the premier athletic programs in the country to this day.

The only reason it's proven unsustainable here is because Illinois had zero interest in prioritizing winning on the field under the most incompetent AD in all of college athletics that let the world pass him by, prized loyalty above competence so he wouldn't have to do the actual work of hiring coaches, was fine treating a B10 program as a small regional program, and ultimately just wanted to sip warmed cognac with small time donors from Tolono.

Guenther sat and watched Weber spend 5 years destroying what he was handed - even after the signs were in clear view from the onset, watching him pull disastrous recruiting classes in 2005 and 2006 even while having the most exciting team in the nation on display nightly. Hell, the idiot AD gave him another extension in the middle of that 5 year run after the title game

Wisconsin could have continued with Brad Soderberg and clucked about success not being sustainable. But because they weren't run by an absolute moron, they immediately moved on after 26 games and brought in Bo Ryan.

If the admin and fanbase don't care about success, of course success won't be sustainable.

Luckily it appears we now have an AD that cares about on field success.
7 Sweet 16s in 25 years - 6 B1G titles in 25 years. Yeah, that can be sustained. The original poster I was responding to claimed 2 B1G titles every ten years was not acceptable - that is about what we averaged in the period you discussed.
I don't think BU is perfect, but I don't think he has failed because he hasn't got to the second weekend in the last three years. The original poster was basically advocating that we move on from BU because his performance has not been up to his lofty standards for the program. I just don't think any team is going to be able to win the B1G 5 out of every 8 years on a consistent basis which is what the original poster apparently expects.
 
#314      
Do we not want the program to go to new heights? That's what I'm saying. We've been where Purdue is. We've been higher than that. We're capable of more than that. Why settle for our historical water level?

Give me what Michigan St. has. That's what I want. Not Purdue.

I'm an Illini, Bears, and Cubs fan. "Being a happy fan" isn't something I'm super familiar with. I'm good at passion, desperation, and loyalty though.
Well, in the last three years that BU hasn't got out of the first weekend, which is apparently unacceptable to you - he has finished above MSU and they haven't got out of the first weekend either.
We have been getting better than MSU.
 
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