One new source of potential high expectations for the coaching situation is of course Whitman's apparent runback for a touchdown in football (of course Lovie has not won anything here yet, so we will see, but seems promising). Hoops fans would undoubtedly love to get some of that kind of energy going. If it is recruiting homeruns with Groce, lets try it out I guess.
Illinois Basketball 2016-2017
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One new source of potential high expectations for the coaching situation is of course Whitman's apparent runback for a touchdown in football (of course Lovie has not won anything here yet, so we will see, but seems promising). Hoops fans would undoubtedly love to get some of that kind of energy going. If it is recruiting homeruns with Groce, lets try it out I guess.
That depends on if you listened to all the people saying that Bruce left the program in total disarray. They all said it will take a while to right the ship. And hence, it depends on what one considers "taking a while". Bruce left some seniors and Tracy and Nnanna. Outside of that, it was a whole lot of nothing (especially with Meyers hitting the lottery). We all wanted it to happen fast, but it hasn't for all the reasons we have been debating over the years.
4 years is a pretty long time, if you're old like me.... Plus, JG has not landed a top100 high school PG or C in 4 years. For a coach whose forte is recruiting, that's not a great situation...
So in recruiting year 5, if you count Damonte as the pg & he pulls off Tilmon as a center are we good then?
I've been MIA for a while but got sucked back in with the recent bad headlines and the presser today, so apologies in advance if already discussed recently.
Mav Morgan seems to have come along more than many imagined. Would people consider him a serviceable starter at the 5 considering the level of talent around him for a tourney hopeful team next season?
In other words, are we looking for a big for depth or because the opinion is that Mav won't cut it as a starter for an entire season? To be clear I would love to have Thorne back if the NCAA allows.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Mav will be fine, especially if he continues to improve. We really need depth there, though, especially since next year will be Mav's last.
What difference does that make? Do you really think we're in danger of having "too much talent" down low? They're going to get the best guy they can. Mav may get the majority of the minutes next year, but it won't be because they won't try to get someone better.
I think most would be comfortable with Mav as the starter next year, he showed much improvement in the latter part of the year.
We need "big overlap" with MM...he's graduating and need a developing big in addition to Tilmon in 2017
True. It was probably a long winded way of just trying to get a feel for how confident people feel about Mav's progress (like the responses below). I haven't been able to watch every game like I have in seasons past but did catch a couple of the games which Mav happened to play well in. It was night and day to what I remember in previous years.
I know a lot of people aren't fans of Dan Dakich but he's been in Mav's corner and it is starting to look like he knew what he was talking about on this one.
So even though i don't think it pans out this way, we have to assume none of the suspended are back next year.
and man do we need a miracle with Mike Thorne. Team is so desperately thin without him.
Abrams
JCL
Hill
Finke
Thorne
with AJ, DJW, TJL, Nichols and MM coming off the bench is a lineup i can live with.
It's amazing how taking Thorne out of there makes things so much worse for me.
and man do we need a miracle with Mike Thorne. Team is so desperately thin without him.
Abrams
JCL
Hill
Finke
Thorne
with AJ, DJW, TJL, Nichols and MM coming off the bench is a lineup i can live with.
It's amazing how taking Thorne out of there makes things so much worse for me.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Mav is one of Dakich's guys. Of course, he's gonna talk him up.
That said, Mav made major strides this season. Kudos to him and the staff.
I agree. The light definitely went on for Mav. The great thing is he became both confident and consistent. I think he qualifies as a real BIG center now. Maybe not top of the BIG, but middle to above, and if he takes another step, I think he's among the better BIG bigs next year.
But we still need another, and I hope it's a freshman, not another "plug the hole" 5th year.
Gwinner
I suspect we'll add another 5th year big to replace Thorne. Of course, unlikely that guy will be as good as Big Mike, but should help add some depth.
Ideally you want a 4 that can rebound and play great D playing with Mav. Mav can be pretty good on offense, his problem is on the defensive end. A guy that can really help mask some of Mav's deficiencies on D would be great for next year.
Leron and Mav compliment each other well. I think that is what gives me confidence going into next year. Would love to see a 5th year pg and big come in, and the team could have some potential.
I think a lot of people continue to forget something that played a huge part in our lack of success this season...injuries. Think back to when Nunn came back. We beat a very good UAB (26-7) team by double digits. Then with Nunn, Thorne (for the 1st half), and Black, we lost a competitive game to S16 Iowa St. The following game (now without Thorne), we lost another competitive game (by 5) to S16 team Notre Dame. This team has a lot of talent when it's healthy.
I continue to see people gripe about Groce and the losses this year, but he took a depleted roster and beat some VERY good teams this year. How quickly people forget we have beaten Yale, Purdue, and Iowa this year. Those are all tournament teams with very good rosters.
I think adding Tracy and a couple 5th year transfers next year can go a long way with this team.
Rant over.
I continue to see people gripe about Groce and the losses this year, but he took a depleted roster and beat some VERY good teams this year. How quickly people forget we have beaten Yale, Purdue, and Iowa this year. Those are all tournament teams with very good rosters.
I think adding Tracy and a couple 5th year transfers next year can go a long way with this team.
Rant over.
Yep, Black and Morgan together would be a decent front line. Finke should be bigger/stronger, too.
Are we really that confident Black is gonna be back next year?
From what I hear, he'll be back.
Add in the addition of kipper, and djw will be stronger, and MH can slide in and fill minutes at the 4 if need be, and I think we will be ok at the 4 next year, even if Leron gets the boot.
Agreed. Even assuming all 4 of thorne, black, nunn, and Tate are gone, I still see the potential and depth to be a tourney team, would need to add a 5th yr big at least though.
That being said, I don't see black and Tate being kicked off, and I'd put Nunn at 50/50. Don't know what to think about thorne... hard to say with the NCAA
dsboyce
- Golden, IL
It really is something isn't it? On a different thread I asked for an example of a Big Ten team that could lose its starting PG, PF and C for the season and still be successful. I didn't get a single response. The expectations for an injury depleted team were wildly impracticable.
I sure hope so. If I had to choose only one of the three suspended players to return, it would be Leron.
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