Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
He should have a good chance next year in what will be considered a rebuilding/retooling year if Kofi leaves.
Big Ten All-Conference Awards
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
1. Most minutes lost via injury/sickness in all of CBB
2. Lost all of his assistants
3. #1 seed in the B1G
Very easy to argue I think.
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
Would not be hard to argue if we had a normally healthy season, but what we went through is well documented, and I doubt Gard or many other coaches could have pulled off what BU has.
Frankly, I don't think its hard to argue at all. Just because the "experts" thought they weren't going to be good, doesn't mean w/o Gard's unmatched leadership they would be lousy. It means the experts were wrong in their assessment of what that team was made of. Wisconsin didn't start out bad and end up good. They have played very well all season.
Wisconsin has only had 3 missed games from their starters all season. We had more missed in our 1st 3 games.
IMO Steve Pikiel has done a better coaching job over the course of the season than Gard. Brad has dealt with more in season continuity issues than arguably anyone in the country, and still won the league.
He won't likely be a star, but he can certainly play at that level. He already has everything you'd want in a 2 & he just turned 20.
TheFameProtector
- Champaign
Pumped for Plummer and the team as a whole, but also think it says a lot about this team that he recently has been subbed out for Belo down the stretch of games. So much depth. Same could be said for DMW vs. Trent on the All-Defensive team: both are deserving and either might be our best defender on a given night.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Coach of the Year:
Per Reuters, the Michigan AD and Juwan Howard just filed a protest to the Big Ten league office, challenging the C.O.Y. vote. Pikiell and Underwood told to stay close to their phones in the event the vote is overturned.
Per Reuters, the Michigan AD and Juwan Howard just filed a protest to the Big Ten league office, challenging the C.O.Y. vote. Pikiell and Underwood told to stay close to their phones in the event the vote is overturned.
From teamrankings.com -
Season SOS:
Illinois = 8
Wisky = 17
Luck Ranking:
Illinois = 154
Wisky = 1
Is it better to be lucky than good?
TheFameProtector
- Champaign
100% agree. The reason they've ended up at the top of the B1G is not primarily due to Gard's tremendous leadership and coaching, but because a guy who averaged 7ppg suddenly became a 20ppg force and eventual POY. Nobody saw that coming and that's why they were picked 10th. I have some issues with 'double-dipping', so to speak, and admitting they had the best player in the conference while also crediting Gard with an outcome that is surprising only because everybody was unable to see that they would have the POY on their team.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Totally agree. Very solid selections this year overall!
Think he got the sportmanship award.
Joel Goodson
- ties will be resolved
This. Add the suspension to deal with. And my point is, what would happen to Gard if he lost his entire coaching staff? That is greatly overlooked on the part of Underwood. And the most number of wins over multiple seasons. No contest.
illini80
- Forgottonia
I’ll just say this. If the situations were reversed, we would absolutely think Underwood should be COY. (Perhaps I shouldn't have worded it exactly like I did, because lord knows we can argue anything on this board
.) I seriously doubt that everything that has been mentioned in your post and others was debated in the discussions. My uneducated guess is they looked at the preseason expectations vs results and that was the answer. jmhoillini80
- Forgottonia
That is just a stunning graphic.
That's exactly what they did. My point is that it's an extremely lazy way to pick.I’ll just say this. If the situations were reversed, we would absolutely think Underwood should be COY. (Perhaps I shouldn't have worded it exactly like I did, because lord knows we can argue anything on this board
Media and coaches I am guessing
I do think Gard was overrated as a pick just because the roster was undervalued - mostly due to Johnny Davis having a breakout year. Not to mention the number of games they would've lost if he hadn't been able to save them with ample trips to the foul line.
Gard won coach of the year in the 1st two weeks of the season when, despite the predictions of the experts, it became clear that Wisconsin was actually pretty good. No one else was ever even considered.
The Big Ten is so short sighted with Illinois. It’s like we begrudgingly get anything from the conference. We are your potential basketball cash cow because of Chicago. You’d think they’d want us as hyped as possible.