OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Judging by all of my “you’re ignoring content” quotes, sounds like my decision to ignore this particular poster was a sound one.
Coaching Carousel (Basketball)
- Status
We went from our dream coach lists and yelling for change to unraveling histories mysteries the John Groce edition. I’m here for it lol
Dude what the heck are you talking about Louisville had there 2011-2015 seasons VACATED by the NCAA for cheating 2012 final 4 and 2013 National Championship Vacated . That means all gone no record of completely erased . 126 games . 123 record season and tournament games . First team history to get a National Championship vacated by NCAA.
Louisville Basketball Record
2020-2021 13-7
2021-2022. 13-9
2022-2023. 4-28
2023- 2024. 8-24
Under Groce did Illinois ever go 4-28 , 8-24 , 13-9 ,13-7 did Illinois ever get 4 seasons vacated by the NCAA right before Underwood took over ? The answer Is NO. Like I said Louisville basketball has been a dumpster fire for over a decade . Coaches caught cheating, NCAA sanctions. Vacated seasons . Once again Illinois was down when Underwood took over but it wasn’t a dead program like Louisville
Louisville Basketball Record
2020-2021 13-7
2021-2022. 13-9
2022-2023. 4-28
2023- 2024. 8-24
Under Groce did Illinois ever go 4-28 , 8-24 , 13-9 ,13-7 did Illinois ever get 4 seasons vacated by the NCAA right before Underwood took over ? The answer Is NO. Like I said Louisville basketball has been a dumpster fire for over a decade . Coaches caught cheating, NCAA sanctions. Vacated seasons . Once again Illinois was down when Underwood took over but it wasn’t a dead program like Louisville
Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
You mean this one? Already used it on that person.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
I’m looking forward to the eventual Unsolved Mysteries episode featuring Tre White. The Curbelo one should be interesting, too.
That's good to hear. So maybe everyone can calm down then about Brad and underachieving etc. Thanks for replying @illini0440
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
In fairness all Illini fans could probably benefit from some psychological help. As evidenced here.
There is a lot of talk comparing Weber, Groce and Underwood. Weber and Groce’s biggest failures were an inability to recruit (which was largely affected by an unwillingness to cheat). Underwood has GREATLY been helped by the University of Illinois NIL bag. Chin got us Ayo, OA got us Kofi, TA and luck got us TSJ. There is no evidence the Underwood would be successful without Illinois’ large NIL bag. I’m quite confident Weber would be a great coach in the NIL era. It’s not a fair comparison. Underwood has enormous advantages that Weber and Groce didn’t have. If Weber had an NIL bag then Derrick Rose would have been an Illini.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Not me. I just can’t enjoy stupidity anymore. It’s no longer funny. 
I feel partially responsible for encouraging the fringe-siders, as I will now coin them, to spew just absolute nonsense. While I believe Brad has his weaknesses, he'd be hard to replace with someone that would be notably better than him.
When people start liking my posts and they are screaming that Bruce Weber is better than Brad Underwood, I feel I have clearly lost my way. There's nothing wrong with questioning or disagreeing with a head coach as a fan, but that is just lunacy.
When people start liking my posts and they are screaming that Bruce Weber is better than Brad Underwood, I feel I have clearly lost my way. There's nothing wrong with questioning or disagreeing with a head coach as a fan, but that is just lunacy.
So for those of us keeping score at home.
You are more or less in favor of a Bruce Weber Cult over a Brad Underwood Cult?
Because you’ve got people standing by their coach now and you’re accusing them of being in a cult. I have plenty of things I’m not crazy about myself…and I get the idea that it should be university first. Good point.
But you end up undercutting your best arguments…
Maybe it’s time to just put down the keyboard and walk the Earth like Caine for a while…
Yikes. Take a breather, my dude. It's not that serious.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Much love for Weber. He took over during an under-appreciated and delicate time in Illinois bball history where lots of things could have went wrong and he got almost the absolute maximum out of the situation. The player loyalty to Self was high and Bruce was asking them to do things that were difficult and antithetical to the previous regime's beliefs. Bruce's mock funeral to declare the end of the Self era would have been mercilessly attacked for generations of Illinois fans if it didn't work out so well.
There is no hatred for Weber by Illinois fans. He has announced multiple games in C-U and has received at least one curtain call of applause from the fans. A hated coach doesn't receive that same experience. Bruce was given a long leash to turn things around from 2006-on and the frustrated associated with him had nothing to do with Bruce, but had everything to do with the program's (lack of) success. Overall, I'd say Illinois' fans perception of Bruce is extreme appreciation for 2004 and 2005, respect for his ethics and principles, but also that he wasn't equipped and/or willing to do what was necessary to consistently win at Illinois.
For your statement about Self won with Kruger's roster - that's absolutely correct....but we also saw (a) how Self did when that roster was supplemented with his recruits, (b) what Weber did with Self's recruits, and (c) what Groce did with Weber's recruits.
Where would you rank BU as far as Big 10 coaches go? Based on results, Izzo, Painter, Altman, Cronin are clearly ahead of him. Dusty May is darn good and I'd put Collins ahead of him as well. Gard and Muss are pretty comparable. I can't think of anyone else I'd put ahead of him. So slightly above average?
This thread has gotten out of control crazy. Records tell the true story. Bruce couldn’t win without Self’s guys, either because he couldn’t recruit or didn’t cheat (probably a combination of both). But he was and is a good person Groce was over his head at this level, and he is also a good person. He stayed too long because of AD problems. Bruce turned us around and got us back to national relevance, but some key losses like Loyola suggest he has weaknesses at the “coaching” part of being a head coach. Add to that a lot of premature player departures and some unfortunate coaching turnovers, plus hiring his unqualified kid, and we get some concerns. His salary magnifies the problems, as does his apparent rigidity this season, when even casual fans could see that the scheme and lineup needed to be changed.
We can’t dismiss a guy off an elite 8 season, but if he can’t keep MJ, who he underutilized and may be his best returning player going forward, the seat needs to get very warm. NIL and social media have conpressed the time frame for all of this.
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We can’t dismiss a guy off an elite 8 season, but if he can’t keep MJ, who he underutilized and may be his best returning player going forward, the seat needs to get very warm. NIL and social media have conpressed the time frame for all of this.
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OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Jeez, is this the old Illiniboard with their legion of Weber defenders?So for those of us keeping score at home.
You are more or less in favor of a Bruce Weber Cult over a Brad Underwood Cult?
Because you’ve got people standing by their coach now and you’re accusing them of being in a cult. I have plenty of things I’m not crazy about myself…and I get the idea that it should be university first. Good point.
But you end up undercutting your best arguments…
Maybe it’s time to just put down the keyboard and walk the Earth like Caine for a while…
Underwoods personality w/recruits>Webers……that part still matters too
I agree but so do Xs and Os and Weber was better at Xs and Os than Underwood.
In comparing Oranges to Oranges, Weber with Underwood’s NIL bag (not to mention a MUCH better coaching staff of OA, Chester and GA) would have had great success. Underwood has a lot of tremendous advantages at U of I that NO previous coach has ever had.
With all that said, Weber did fail. But it was for a very specific reason. He couldn’t get players. But if he was in Underwood’s situation he would have had talent. Underwood gets talent handed to him compared to every previous U of I coach who usually had try to recruit players who were getting paid from other schools when during the periods we are discussing we refused to even have conversations about paying players.
Feee the trolls at your own risk.Well, normally I would:
But this particular display of bullshittery calls for:
Sure, I guess IF Weber could recruit as well as Brad, and IF he could get as good of a staff as Brad, he might be as good as Brad.
Brad got guys here before NIL.
Brad got guys here before NIL.
- Status