Illini Basketball 2018-2019

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#702      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
Love the Illini said:
Program is in big trouble for the upcoming season not sure we have more than 2 or 3 players right now who are ready to be in a Big 10 rotation. I did not think we would possibly be poorer in Underwood's second year compared with his first but that is starting to certainly look like a possibility. We had better hope that several of these freshman are immediate studs and impact players.
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Not sure we will be poorer, I think we will likely be better at positions 1-3. Our inside game and depth are huge problems, but when we just finished one of our worst seasons in modern history, just being a little better is not enough. We need to be a lot better and compete for a tournament birth.
 
#703      

TheGMan

TheGMan
TheGMan
I generally try to be very optimistic about my sports teams...but this is testing my limits.
 
#704      

Love the Illini

L
Love the Illini
Program may be ok in the long term we will see but pretty hard right now to say that this years team will be better than last years. The longer we are a non competitive program in the Big and national stage the harder it will be to recruit and turn things around. Need some positive news and there unfortunately hasn't been much of that the last few months.
 
#706      

RichBradIllini

RichBradIllini
Peoria
RichBradIllini
ILL in IA said:
Let's take a deep breath and look things over. Becuase the timing of this doesn't pass the "BU is too hard to play for" reasoning IMO. If that was the case, why wait till now. Unless backchanneling was done by another program, now would seem to be the worst time for Ebo to leave. This makes me think it is more to do with family, school, or personal.

And of the 5 transfers not counting black, Smith and Ebo seem to be the only ones that we would have wanted to stay, or didn't have a replacement set to come in. And I'm not 100% sure something won't work itself out with Ebo gone.

I'm concerned but I think we will be just fine.
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The paid insiders say otherwise.
 
#707      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
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#709      

Deleted member 17900

D
Guest
Deleted member 17900
jcgoldie said:
I'm as homer as they come but at this point I think it takes willful ignorance not to see whats going on... kids don't want to play for this guy :noidea:
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That's because kids these days are soft. They want to be praised, not pushed. We don't want those types of kids anyway.
 
#710      

breadman

B
Herndon, VA
breadman
This is just Illinois being at its very best Illinois-ishness to the extreme.
Was really looking forward to Ebo's more exciting play this season. Oh well.
BU and the team will be just fine, but the uncertainty of that continues to rise.
 
#711      

infamous

I
infamous
Well whats another 4 or 5 more years hoping we will get out of the BT cellar
 
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#712      

mattcoldagelli

mattcoldagelli
The Transfer Portal
mattcoldagelli
Love the Illini said:
Program may be ok in the long term we will see but pretty hard right now to say that this years team will be better than last years. The longer we are a non competitive program in the Big and national stage the harder it will be to recruit and turn things around. Need some positive news and there unfortunately hasn't been much of that the last few months.
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But it’s not like you can put the long and short term on separate tracks. We’re certainly not going to the tournament next year, which means we’re fighting an uphill recruiting battle for the following year, which means we are going to start flirting with a decade-long absence from the NCAAs - that’s not even something that can be recovered from; that’s essentially relegation in the CBB hierarchy.
 
#713      

Geo76

G
Geo76
BU coaching mentors, Martin and Huggins, are tough, intense, demanding coaches, and BU seems to be all of that. But those guys’ “tough love” has a big love component, and their players will run through walls for them. When I saw BU on the sidelines, in timeouts and after games last year, I saw the tough, but I didn’t see the love. Without the love, tough easily equates with jerk. I wonder if this has anything to do with the defections?
 
#714      

AEX

AEX
Danger Zone
AEX
Mr Nice said:
That's because kids these days are soft. They want to be praised, not pushed. We don't want those types of kids anyway.
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Well, the other side of that is this: you are not a very good leader if no one wants to follow you.
 
#715      

PtownIllini8

P
PtownIllini8
Obelix said:
Underwood successfully recruited 4 players last season (Smith, Vesel, Ebo, Alstork) and all 4 ended their career in disappointment, 3 of them prematurely.

It does not mean that future players will not succeed, but it definitely puts a damper on claims that BU is somehow better in identifying underrated talent and players who fit his system, who will likely overachieve, just because he makes millions of dollars.

For the record, the vast majority of coaches can't do that either, so this is not unique to Underwood. Expecting to outsmart and outsystem the rest of the B1G and other coaches will not happen. We need a very strong 2019 Fall recruiting class. I sound like broken record, but attrition will happen, even with existing players, unlikely that all project recruits will pan out. So we can't go into Spring of 2019 with many recruiting gaps. Fall is the key.
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1) Underwood had very little time to adjust his recruiting to Illinois for last year's class; 2) Smith had offers from UK and MSU, among others and was the POY in Illinois. Everyone thought he would be a big time player for us, but his talent clearly did not live up to that; 3) Alstork was widely considered one of the top few grad transfers last year, so again, if Coach U made a mistake on him he was in good company with many others. 4) He took late flyers on two big men and they didn't work out. Such is the nature of flyers on big men. Many do not work out.
 
#716      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
mattcoldagelli said:
But it’s not like you can put the long and short term on separate tracks. We’re certainly not going to the tournament next year, which means we’re fighting an uphill recruiting battle for the following year, which means we are going to start flirting with a decade-long absence from the NCAAs - that’s not even something that can be recovered from; that’s essentially relegation in the CBB hierarchy.
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Correct, and more importantly, we were an NIT team, an NCAA bubble team, for pretty much the entire Groce career. So IF we miss the tournament again, and don't even make NIT, we will be below that for 2 straight years.

For many fans, it seems at this current stage, reaching NCAA bubble level would be a huge success and overachievement, which speaks volume of where we stand as a program.

We need a very strong Fall recruiting class (2019), and also try to compete for a tournament birth (even if just fall short). Without both of those, future is in jeopardy.
 
#717      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
mattcoldagelli said:
But it’s not like you can put the long and short term on separate tracks. We’re certainly not going to the tournament next year, which means we’re fighting an uphill recruiting battle for the following year, which means we are going to start flirting with a decade-long absence from the NCAAs - that’s not even something that can be recovered from; that’s essentially relegation in the CBB hierarchy.
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I would push back a little bit on this, just in the sense that the switch between "that's a program that's good" to "that's a program that's bad" was flipped probably 3-4 years ago. We already got relegated.

I think folks look at something like Ayo committing to us and see that as validation of our former status, when it is in fact much more of a Ben Simmons-to-LSU coincidence of circumstance.

Illinois Athletics is face down in the gutter with a vanishing fanbase that has given up and stopped caring. I have abundant hope for one side of Kirby and as of today virtually none for the other, but in terms of where we stand today, that's the truth.
 
#721      

Peoria Illini

P
Peoria, IL
Peoria Illini
Geo76 said:
BU coaching mentors, Martin and Huggins, are tough, intense, demanding coaches, and BU seems to be all of that. But those guys’ “tough love” has a big love component, and their players will run through walls for them. When I saw BU on the sidelines, in timeouts and after games last year, I saw the tough, but I didn’t see the love. Without the love, tough easily equates with jerk. I wonder if this has anything to do with the defections?
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And you don't see much love on the sidelines from Martin and Huggins, either. Guys like Frazier, DaMonte, AJ and the guy that he was probably toughest on, Kipper, have stood by Underwood.

We'll be fine. I'm excited to see how fast and long we will play this season. Other teams will have a hard time defending us.
 
#722      

EJ33

E
San Francisco
EJ33
Second and Chalmers said:
I would push back a little bit on this, just in the sense that the switch between "that's a program that's good" to "that's a program that's bad" was flipped probably 3-4 years ago. We already got relegated.

I think folks look at something like Ayo committing to us and see that as validation of our former status, when it is in fact much more of a Ben Simmons-to-LSU coincidence of circumstance.

Illinois Athletics is face down in the gutter with a vanishing fanbase that has given up and stopped caring. I have abundant hope for one side of Kirby and as of today virtually none for the other, but in terms of where we stand today, that's the truth.
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Yeah but at least we're going to have D1 hockey. :doh:
 
#723      

PtownIllini8

P
PtownIllini8
TheGMan said:
I generally try to be very optimistic about my sports teams...but this is testing my limits.
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I have to say I'm shocked that people are having such severe reaction to a guy leaving who was a big project from the get go and might never have panned out. Plus all of this stuff about Coach U being hard to play for and people are saying Ebo leaving is proof of that...really? If this related to Coach U's style of coaching why would Ebo wait until June?
 
#724      

Calvin

C
Calvin
ILL in IA said:
I'm concerned but I think we will be just fine.
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Define "fine"

Fine as in, no one's likely to die? Agreed.
Fine as in, we'll stay out of last place? I'm not so sure.
Fine as in, we're still on track to move into the middle of the conference? Not seeing it.
 
#725      

mattcoldagelli

mattcoldagelli
The Transfer Portal
mattcoldagelli
PtownIllini8 said:
I have to say I'm shocked that people are having such severe reaction to a guy leaving who was a big project from the get go and might never have panned out. Plus all of this stuff about Coach U being hard to play for and people are saying Ebo leaving is proof of that...really? If this related to Coach U's style of coaching why would Ebo wait until June?
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It’s less about Spicy G specifically (although I was a big fan) and more about the fact we have major minutes- if not a starting role- to offer and kids are literally running away from it.
 
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