illiniswish09
- Northwest Suburbs
How about those Dana Altman comments last night postgame…
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IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
With how it played out, did the team assume that, or was his camp insisting on it?
And how many other PGs did it keep away?
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Nice post bro...............I said yesterday that I was completely blindsided by the talk about BU sniffing around other HC jobs as I never knew he had ever done that .......
All I've heard from BU is this is his dream job and we have the best fans in the country........With the upgrades to Ubben , following the major upgrade to SFC , I felt JW was doing everything to make our facilities among the best in the nation ....
Then came the extensions to BU and the increase in the AC pool to replace the 3 AC's we lost .............It got to where , IMHO , anything that BU wanted , either JW got or tried to get.......Not being an insider I depend on Indy , 0440 , Lville and DBHeadband for any info regarding the behind the scene's going's on with the Illini....
Yesterday's thread just sprouted wings and was flying at breakneck speed for the duration of the day.........Post after post of so and so going there and what ramifications that would have on the Illini.......The thing that got my attention was the notion that BU has sniffed around other jobs EVERY year since he's been here......I get the nature of the job as I had other companies calling me and asking if I was happy where I was at ........But , I never inquired first about another job and that has me in a quandry about BU..
I kinda feel betrayed by that , or at least mislead by his action of sniffing around privately while profoundly spewing superlatives about UI and Illini Nation , talking about how tight he was with JW and now what he has said might not be an accurate picture of what is really going on........I have known other managers in my field years ago just tell me they needed another challenge as they had become stagnant in their current job performance.......Ok , that's cool .....Just don't go so overboard with the praise unless it is truly heartfelt.............JUST BE HONEST is all I ask.......And i feel our good sources were being brutally honest with their info they passed on to all of us yesterday.....I would trust all 4 of them completely without reservation in their info........
Bottom line to me is we are in for an exciting period going forth and when the music ends , I hope we have the right coach to lead us to the second weekend in the dance and even further,,,,,,JMHO ...It really really really is ................
LETS GO ILLINI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
100000% agree. No doubt. If BU has completely gone off the rails and has put himself publicly out there for hire, citing JW as a problem, citing the University as a problem, etc, that's an entirely different situation than taking calls and sniffing around. If he and JW talked, amongst themselves, and they're on the same page...that's professionally and personally acceptable. That's just good business and JW is an incredibly good businessman. If there's good communication on raises, bonuses, job offerings, agreement to look, etc....that's a great relationship and shouldn't be looked at as a spite of anyone.
According to E.F. Hutton: “ he was given the
keys and he crapped 
the bed.”I’m pretty sure I am not misquoting him…
It seems there wasn’t a lot of thought to a back up PG.
Is that you Tucker?
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
You're not. I remember that post, too. I'm just wondering if the staff had the same opinion of Clark's abilities, or if they handed him the keys because the family said that's how it had to be.According to E.F. Hutton: “ he was given the
I’m pretty sure I am not misquoting him…
No coach is ever going to admit to that being the case but I still wonder.
Terry would be promoted to HC before they took Underwood.
This isn’t an A====>B thing.
Think musical chairs.
This isn’t an A====>B thing.
Think musical chairs.
the national
- the Front Range
I see you are from Austin @Illini92and96 - whats your pulse on things down there?
What is sad is Skyy likely does have what it takes physically. He was coming off a injury and wasn't even 15 games into his career. It was certainly a struggle and he just quit. He quit on himself his team, and his Coach. Its sad because I do think he has a lot of talent and can shoot but I think he thought it would be easy and it wasn't. I think he had talent but great players have a better approach to adversity & don't just quit when things get tough. Great players don't quit on themselves, their teammates or their coach that wanted the best for everyone. Had he had a better approach to those hurdles things would have turned out better for everyone.
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One point that hasn't been discussed is that Underwood is relatively young in the head coaching position. Also, this is his longest stint as head coach at the same place. We may be the only place to be beyond the honeymoon phase and are seeing who he is as a leader. Many on the board lament that we do not have the "everyday guys" BU wants and for some reason are blaming the players. BU is the leader and teams tend to take on their coaches identity especially if the coach has been there a number of years. My biggest complaint/concern regarding BU is we had many young and new players on the roster and he was unable to instill confidence and consistency. This was a very big problem for RJ and in my estimation he was the early scapegoat for Underwood while allowing others to make the same mistakes with much different repercussions. Also, I am not a fan of a coach throwing around "elite" compliments one moment and then completely "disowning" the team or player the next either manifested by his sideline actions or in a press conference. It seems consistency and CONFIDENCE are lacking all around....maybe this is why BU supposedly has taken poorly to outside input?
Underwood hasn't shown me what he can do without 1st Team All American talent on the roster to believe that Illinois will be Top 4 more often than not. It's ok to be biased but we should be able to step back and look at the situation to Illinois and how it looks objectively from a neutral perspective.
Josh tapping in to some of that NIL $ for himself.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Bingo....................i recruited and hired many an agent ....They could look good , talk good and hit all the right things pertaining to the job........But until they performed on the field of play I never knew if I had a winner or a dud.........After 5 years only one out of five survived in my career field .......
Recruiting was not one of my favorite aspects of my job , but it was a necessary evil that I had to do .....
I fully agree that we should have recruited a veteran PG , but hindsight is not available at the time decisions are made.....And i surely hope we change the offense to an attacking the rim scheme next year more to at least reduce the amount of standing around pointing fingers where to go on the court.......................
now , back to the frenzy of coaching changes.................
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pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Illin618
I forgot the last i in my username
- Southern IL
Good thing you didn’t point from B to A. That would have been a lot more graphic of a statement
Big Jack
- Decatur
that is oh so yesterday and laughed at a lot....Buddy of mine just sent this screen shot... Which one of you pot-stirring jokers has the twitter handle "The Assman"?
Bingo! Hopefully he can but from a "neutral perspective" its very clear this past season we had enough talent to have played better. Barkley is neutral as far as Illini go and when he said we are so careless with the ball in March he was 100 percent correct. This year without Kofi was not encouraging. BU certainly had to have learned a lot this season both on and off the court. He is smart and will get better from it too.
I think if you look at Ayo, Kofi, Frazier, Giorgi, Damonte, Coleman, Plummer, Rodgers, Sencire, etc were definitely emboldened by BU. He gave RJ, what, until February before he had to sit him because he was in his own head and then....RJ regained confidence and was VERY good down the stretch. If there's an issue, to me, he needs to better vet who he brings in. Some guys thrive on the tough love, being pushed to get every last ounce of talent out of you, being challenged, etc. Conversely, we see the guys that didn't take to that well. No need to name names, we've seen it. Morez was interviewed a couple of weeks ago and he flat out said that he thrives on being pushed. If I had to pick one area that BU needs to clean up, it needs to be the guys he takes on. If he wants a team with a dog mentality, he needs guys who fit that mold and guys need to know who the boss is before they sign up. BU had to completely reinvent his defensive principles, in January, because he had guys who couldn't grasp it. He had to reinvent his personality, in January, because some didn't take to it. The comments at the end of the year by Hawkins and TSJ regarding guys not listening to the coach, the plays he's calling and that having to change...was an eye opener. It took them being humbled to get to that conclusion? They saw it. The recruiting of personalities needs to be stronger ... JMO.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
On the one hand that sounds like a guy who would be very interested in a Big Ten job. On the other hand it also sounds like a 64 year old coach who might be getting a little sick of modern college basketball in general.
But Altman is one of the best, if our job opens while he's still committed to the game (he's 6 years younger than Pitino), that's gotta be a name on the list.
sacraig
- The desert
Pac-12 attendance more broadly is pretty abysmal with a few exceptions. That's got to be frustrating as a coach and player.
the national
- the Front Range
Since this is an airing of grievances, I get really bothered when Coach says this guy is "elite" or "elite-elite" when everyone knows that it's not true. What scale are you using, Coach? I don't think this year would have been as painful for fans if Brad had admitted the simple fact that we were replacing 90% of our scoring and would be one of the youngest teams in Div 1. That's a big deal and likely should have governed the fanbase's expectations. Retooling in the portal is exciting, but as others have said until the team hits the court, you don't know what you have.
I just kept hearing all offseason from the coach (and reporters who team sans Loren Tate) that we were going to be tall, long, and athletic this year. Unfortunately, I don't think it frequently translated into play that I would describe as "elite." Basketball is about way more than physical measurements. What's between the ears and chemistry with teammates are critical aspects of the game. (to Loren's credit, he maintained that we had an awful lot of production to replace and seemed skeptical)
Even still, until I see Brad take a sub-athletic team with middle or late-pack expectations in the big ten to a B1G championship, I will always question his coaching skills relative to his peers. Lon Kruger did it in 97-98. That was a coaching clinic of a season. I haven't seen anything like that from Brad (yet).
I just kept hearing all offseason from the coach (and reporters who team sans Loren Tate) that we were going to be tall, long, and athletic this year. Unfortunately, I don't think it frequently translated into play that I would describe as "elite." Basketball is about way more than physical measurements. What's between the ears and chemistry with teammates are critical aspects of the game. (to Loren's credit, he maintained that we had an awful lot of production to replace and seemed skeptical)
Even still, until I see Brad take a sub-athletic team with middle or late-pack expectations in the big ten to a B1G championship, I will always question his coaching skills relative to his peers. Lon Kruger did it in 97-98. That was a coaching clinic of a season. I haven't seen anything like that from Brad (yet).
Yeah..I remember some national talking head also complaining about UCLA's attendance this year. There were games late in the season where they had tons of empty seats.
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