Everyone's trying to figure out what went wrong this year. My take:
Especially at this level, team chemistry is huge. On and off the court, it affects practices, games, and everything in between. Brad put these guys together, and early on they had on-court chemistry in spades. Natural stuff you can't coach. KJ was dealing, Tre was sneaky good, Tomi hitting shots, everyone seemingly had their roles ... guys had off days and others would pick them up ... smiles all around. I'll bet practices were fun and dynamic; off the court there was nothing to talk about except how great their performances were and what was possibly in front of them ... a potential F4 and Natty. Every analyst was saying it, and these guys all drink up that stuff on their phones all day long. Bonding was strong.
Then ... in my mind the first thing to happen was Brad starting Ben and playing him 30+ minutes even though he was drastically underperforming. Others playing better were on the bench. Brad ridiculously defends Ben as a great defender in a press conference. Doubt creeps in as to why the HC is sticking with this guy. Talk begins to change.
Then ... injuries and illness starts. Players react differently to these things; some try to push through and others don't. Fears come in about the season. Their rhythm is upset. Shots don't go in. Losses start to mount. More talk.
Then ... talk spills out into practice. I'm thinking this is what happened with Tre. He gets sick and seemingly punished as well. More talk about coach's decisions and biases. This affects off court talk and effort in practice.
Then ... Morez gets seriously injured. Many see this as the final straw as to the teams potential. Their ranking is gone. Effort is further dimished.
All of this I've mentioned is heightened in young men their age, and in addition when the stakes for them are so high (NBA, overseas, NIL) these things can snowball quickly. And because these are very young men, it all escalates into the worst defeat in Illinois Basketball history on a Saturday night in Madison Square Garden.
Can coaching affect this? Absolutely, both to the positive and negative. It's especially bad if the coach is stubborn, which ours famously is. But much of team chemistry is elusive; you can't just say you have it. It's what drives bad baseball teams to the World Series, and 8 seeds to beat 1 seeds in the NBA. We had the chemistry AND the talent early, and lost it. So my main reasons...
1- Team chemistry lost
2- Brad's stubborness
3- Illness and injury
4- Kylan burning sage unnecessarily
Go Illini