Coaching Carousel (Basketball)

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#427      
Can't help but agree with pretty much everyone here ^^^

It has to be some combination of all of this - tougher opponents and either getting 'figured out' because we aren't adapting to how we're being attacked and/or adding any wrinkles, etc to scheme?
 
#429      
I was just saying I don't think our expectations as a program have skyrocketed that much. But I do agree with that ^.
Current Fan Expectations of the Program: I'll take a shot

Playing for championships each and every year: (defined as)
** Playing in the Final Four OR being a #1/#2 seed in the NCAA Tournament 2-3 times every 10 years
** Winning the Big 10 regular season title twice every 10 years
** Playing in the Big 10 Tournament championship game 2-3 times every 10 years
** Routinely attracting an abundance of 4-star recruits, peppered with occasional 5-stars
** Having a Top 15 NIL budget, nationally
** Attracting 60-70% of the NCAA transfers we target nearly every year
** Finishing in the AP Top 25 85% of the time

With the floor being a .500 winning percentage in the Big 10 regular season, and always securing a bid to the NCAA tourney.
 
#430      
These questions may have been asked and answered before, but what is JW’s salary and who is responsible for setting his contract?
 
#431      
agree
if what her initial report said was true , he did a real bad thing , but it’s not like he needs a lifetime ban .

I get it that some schools want to stay away from him , but I also get it that some schools will give him another chance .

people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
Thats all I got to say about that .
After reading that report, I have no hesitation calling him out. He fits the mold of some SEC programs, a hard pass for me. I don’t see how anyone could read that and still trust him to lead young men. Any man who puts his hands on a woman like that is a disgrace, and in my eyes, always will be.
 
#432      
Current Fan Expectations of the Program: I'll take a shot

Playing for championships each and every year: (defined as)
** Playing in the Final Four OR being a #1/#2 seed in the NCAA Tournament 2-3 times every 10 years
** Winning the Big 10 regular season title twice every 10 years
** Playing in the Big 10 Tournament championship game 2-3 times every 10 years
** Routinely attracting an abundance of 4-star recruits, peppered with occasional 5-stars
** Having a Top 15 NIL budget, nationally
** Attracting 60-70% of the NCAA transfers we target nearly every year
** Finishing in the AP Top 25 85% of the time

With the floor being a .500 winning percentage in the Big 10 regular season, and always securing a bid to the NCAA tourney.
We haven’t made final four for 20 years, so I’d take 1 every 10 years for now.
 
#433      
This is an interesting point. You can filter by date on Torvik, and if you go through the Penn St. game on 1/8 (next game was USC where things kinda started to go downhill) Torvik has us as the 5th best defense in the country. That would paint the view that the defense is actually good when we are healthy. But then you filter from the Iowa game onwards, when we supposedly got healthy again, and in that stretch where we went 5-1 our defense is #107 in the country! Yikes.

So was it injuries? Was it initially injuries initially, and then other teams figuring out what we were doing and us failing to adjust? It's really hard to say. But last year our defense was #25 on Torvik through December 31, 2023, and then from January 1st on was #109!! It's starting to feel like not-a-coincidence that our defense starts out strong and then ends up extremely weak.
I would be curious to see how the decline in defensive rating correlates to turnover rate/margin over that timeframe. Maryland clowned us in many respects but the hole we dug in transition points was going to be insurmountable no matter what.
 
#434      
Current Fan Expectations of the Program: I'll take a shot

Playing for championships each and every year: (defined as)
** Playing in the Final Four OR being a #1/#2 seed in the NCAA Tournament 2-3 times every 10 years
** Winning the Big 10 regular season title twice every 10 years
** Playing in the Big 10 Tournament championship game 2-3 times every 10 years
** Routinely attracting an abundance of 4-star recruits, peppered with occasional 5-stars
** Having a Top 15 NIL budget, nationally
** Attracting 60-70% of the NCAA transfers we target nearly every year
** Finishing in the AP Top 25 85% of the time

With the floor being a .500 winning percentage in the Big 10 regular season, and always securing a bid to the NCAA tourney.
I think that is generally fair expectations. Obviously, you could have added other criteria. For instance, I’ll add making the Sweet 16 every 2-3 years.
 
#435      
This is an interesting point. You can filter by date on Torvik, and if you go through the Penn St. game on 1/8 (next game was USC where things kinda started to go downhill) Torvik has us as the 5th best defense in the country. That would paint the view that the defense is actually good when we are healthy. But then you filter from the Iowa game onwards, when we supposedly got healthy again, and in that stretch where we went 5-1 our defense is #107 in the country! Yikes.

So was it injuries? Was it initially injuries initially, and then other teams figuring out what we were doing and us failing to adjust? It's really hard to say. But last year our defense was #25 on Torvik through December 31, 2023, and then from January 1st on was #109!! It's starting to feel like not-a-coincidence that our defense starts out strong and then ends up extremely weak.
After our game in East Lansing is when things seem like they really fell off a cliff. Our average AdjD against P5 opponents prior to that game was 91. Since that game, it's been 105. What changed after the MSU game? Well, it was after that game that Tomi was diagnosed with mono.

However, that doesn't explain oddities like this:
2/25 vs Iowa - AdjD of 84
3/13 vs Iowa - AdjD of 113

What might be most telling is the fact that for every team we've played twice, our defense got worse the second time we played them. In other words, the second time a team plays us, it's easier for them to score on our defense.
 
#437      
After our game in East Lansing is when things seem like they really fell off a cliff. Our average AdjD against P5 opponents prior to that game was 91. Since that game, it's been 105. What changed after the MSU game? Well, it was after that game that Tomi was diagnosed with mono.

However, that doesn't explain oddities like this:
2/25 vs Iowa - AdjD of 84
3/13 vs Iowa - AdjD of 113

What might be most telling is the fact that for every team we've played twice, our defense got worse the second time we played them. In other words, the second time a team plays us, it's easier for them to score on our defense.
Defense by spreadsheet isn't very adjustable. Hamer is out of his depth.
 
#438      
Current Fan Expectations of the Program: I'll take a shot

Playing for championships each and every year: (defined as)
** Playing in the Final Four OR being a #1/#2 seed in the NCAA Tournament 2-3 times every 10 years


I was interested in how many teams qualified for this expectation:

UConn
Houston
Purdue
Tennessee
Auburn
North Carolina
Villanova
Michigan State
Duke
Virginia
Gonzaga
Kansas
UCLA
Marquette
Arizona
Kentucky
Baylor
Alabama
Michigan
Xavier
 
#439      
I was interested in how many teams qualified for this expectation:

UConn
Houston
Purdue
Tennessee
Auburn
North Carolina
Villanova
Michigan State
Duke
Virginia
Gonzaga
Kansas
UCLA
Marquette
Arizona
Kentucky
Baylor
Alabama
Michigan
Xavier
I think the Illini fanbase would be deservingly disappointed with no Final Fours and two #1 or #2 seeds over the next ten years.

I think the poster above’s expectations are fair.
 
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#440      
I remember in Underwood's one season at Oklahoma State they were a very exciting offensive team and a dreadful defensive team. The last two years at Illinois, the offense has really carried the defense. The 2022-23 team was likely the only one where the defense was stronger than the offense. Every other year, the offense was notably stronger or a couple years, they were about equal.

If Underwood leans more offense as a coach, then that means he's going to need to delegate defense more. Similar to certain football coaches that have a background all on one side so they really need a good coordinator on the other side. So a top defensive minded assistant is a must priority.
 
#441      
sad ice cream GIF by SMARTY

Any scoops today?
 
#444      
Chester is going to get an interview to be the HC at WVU … Wren has respect for him …

I do not expect him to end up on staff at Indiana at this point … He’d like to get the WVU job and if not that, he’s got other options on the table as well …
I should think Chester would have his pick of any of the low-major jobs right now, and probably some mid-majors, too. Maybe I'm biased.

That said, there are still IU fans that think Brad Stevens was just waiting for an opportunity to come home. It hasn't hit them that it's been a long time since Bobby Knight trolled along that sideline. DeVries is fine.
 
#445      
That's the real story ...

But the Iowa story is much different ... LOL ...

I hear these stories and after I get off the phone ... I sit and take a minute and thank the Lord that we have Josh Whitman ...

And I am being 100% serious ...
I think it makes sense. You look at the recruits Iowa has landed the last couple of years and the talent just isn't there. These are guys who aren't going to play anywhere professionally after their time is up, let alone going to the league. I don't know how vocal Fran has been about NIL (certainly not to the level Izzo has been) but his apparent exhaustion by this season gives an air of someone who's been run over by this new iteration of CBB.
 
#446      
DeVries was a good realistic candidate for IU. They'll never get the level of coach their fans think they should. A godfather offer (in terms of $) to Scott Drew a few years ago was their best somewhat realistic shot at a mega name but he's going to be a career Baylor guy at this point. Stevens has one of the best jobs in Basketball. If he got the itch and wanted to get back into Coaching it would be in the NBA, I can't see a scenario where he's grinding the recruiting trails making NIL offers to 9 new players every year again.
 
#447      
I sort of chalked it up to other teams figuring out a relatively simple scheme and how to attack it and us not adjusting. It just feels like it's defense by statistical analysis but with a real lack of attitude. That's where I miss Chester the most.

This …

When’s the last time we had a floor slap on defense ???

 
#448      
I think expectations are raised with consolidation into what is starting to become a "Power 2" (with obvious exceptions in the Duke, UNC, Kansas, UConn, Arizona, Gonzaga and others to make it not a clean differentiation) and the fact that Illinois skews Basketball over Football unlike most of the others in the conference. As long as Illinois stays hungry, I think they are a well-poised program to be around that Top 15 level.
 
#449      
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