This is an interesting tension that Illinois and a bunch of other schools are dealing with.That's college basketball now. Reload every year. When your a 59 year old coach who has pressure to win in the tourney, getting a bunch of old, talented veterans will help with this
Fans and DIA want to build something that can be sustained for decades. This might mean grinding through a down year with a young team in order to be better for the next 2 or 3 years.
But Brad and other coaches want to win now. They don't want to "take their medicine", to steal a golf phrase. And they're compensated and evaluated on what they achieved this year.
Meanwhile, the players are becoming less and less motivated by team outcomes and multi-year outlooks. How can Brad stake his career on anything but the current season when players don't commit to coaches or schools anymore. They commit to checks that Brad doesn't write.