Home
Forums
New Posts
Illini Basketball
Illini Football
Sports Talk
Log in
Register
What's new
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Sports
Illini Basketball
Looking back on recent Illini Basketball history
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Spanky" data-source="post: 1409691" data-attributes="member: 746040"><p>The issue is that the talent level from 2000 - 2006 was never going to be sustainable, and you can simply look at how those teams were constructed and realize the luck/circumstances involved. Why was 2001 so good? Easy. There were 3 McDonald's All Americans (Frank, Marcus, Brian) all in downstate Central IL. Credit to Rob Judson/Kruger for landing them. But, let's be honest. That circumstance will most likely never happen again. It's been nearly 20 years, there's never been that type of talent in central IL. Take the Peoria kids off of 2000-2003, and that's just an average Illinois team even with Bill Self coaching. </p><p></p><p>Then you take a look at 2003-2006. Why were those teams so good? For one, I think Weber got the most out of them. However, there was again lots of luck/development involved in that you had players that Illinois has usually been able to land (guys ranked 20 to 100+ - not the super elite guys) and a few vastly outplayed their rankings and they just happened to be all on the same team. Deron Williams becomes a top 5 draft pick. No one could have forecast that. He was ranked like 50. Augustine/Head both get drafted. Augie was around 75 and Head wasn't even in the top 100. Since 2006, Illinois has landed plenty of guys that were ranked around Deron/Augie/Head. But hardly any turned into great players, and you never had a group of them together all turn great on one team. So 2003-2006, wasn't a function of super recruiting IMO, it was simply alot of luck in terms of individual development. </p><p></p><p>So getting back to recruiting (since this is a recruiting thread), from my perspective coaching is far more important than the recruiting. I don't expect Illinois to land top 20 kids from Chicago (or anywhere else) because it has hardly ever happened even when Illinois has been great. But where Illinois needs to have its competitive advantage is in getting the most out of the kids ranked 35 - 100. Land those guys, and develop them. Weber (once he hired Jerrance) was able to land those guys. He just didn't develop them into a good team. Groce was able to land guys in that area (and failed coaching wise). Underwood has really struggled even landing those core guys that any coach at Illinois should be able to get (talking instate top 100s). It will be very difficult for any coach at Illinois to be successful if you miss on downstate top 60 talent (Liddell, Okoro, KBD, Tilmon). So right now, I'm discouraged about Underwood. But I still think the coaching that he does with the talent he does have is far more important (and the results that come with it), than holding him to some recruiting standard that he's never gonna meet and really shouldn't be expected to meet (2000-2006 talent levels).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Spanky, post: 1409691, member: 746040"] The issue is that the talent level from 2000 - 2006 was never going to be sustainable, and you can simply look at how those teams were constructed and realize the luck/circumstances involved. Why was 2001 so good? Easy. There were 3 McDonald's All Americans (Frank, Marcus, Brian) all in downstate Central IL. Credit to Rob Judson/Kruger for landing them. But, let's be honest. That circumstance will most likely never happen again. It's been nearly 20 years, there's never been that type of talent in central IL. Take the Peoria kids off of 2000-2003, and that's just an average Illinois team even with Bill Self coaching. Then you take a look at 2003-2006. Why were those teams so good? For one, I think Weber got the most out of them. However, there was again lots of luck/development involved in that you had players that Illinois has usually been able to land (guys ranked 20 to 100+ - not the super elite guys) and a few vastly outplayed their rankings and they just happened to be all on the same team. Deron Williams becomes a top 5 draft pick. No one could have forecast that. He was ranked like 50. Augustine/Head both get drafted. Augie was around 75 and Head wasn't even in the top 100. Since 2006, Illinois has landed plenty of guys that were ranked around Deron/Augie/Head. But hardly any turned into great players, and you never had a group of them together all turn great on one team. So 2003-2006, wasn't a function of super recruiting IMO, it was simply alot of luck in terms of individual development. So getting back to recruiting (since this is a recruiting thread), from my perspective coaching is far more important than the recruiting. I don't expect Illinois to land top 20 kids from Chicago (or anywhere else) because it has hardly ever happened even when Illinois has been great. But where Illinois needs to have its competitive advantage is in getting the most out of the kids ranked 35 - 100. Land those guys, and develop them. Weber (once he hired Jerrance) was able to land those guys. He just didn't develop them into a good team. Groce was able to land guys in that area (and failed coaching wise). Underwood has really struggled even landing those core guys that any coach at Illinois should be able to get (talking instate top 100s). It will be very difficult for any coach at Illinois to be successful if you miss on downstate top 60 talent (Liddell, Okoro, KBD, Tilmon). So right now, I'm discouraged about Underwood. But I still think the coaching that he does with the talent he does have is far more important (and the results that come with it), than holding him to some recruiting standard that he's never gonna meet and really shouldn't be expected to meet (2000-2006 talent levels). [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Sports
Illini Basketball
Looking back on recent Illini Basketball history
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…