Michigan 66, Illinois 57 POSTGAME

#26      

txillini11

T
txillini11
Our team has no buisness talking trash calling other teams "white collar" we probably have one of the softest most spineless teams in the NCAA.

Saw this coming. May not win another game, Rutgers maybe.
 
#29      

Fillory

F
4th Floor Grainger
Fillory
CoalCity said:
Not if you make the right hire. In JW we trust.

Even if we lose a couple of them the change has to be made. This staff appears to have given up more so than the players.
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We might lose a couple, but if this team continues to flounder under poor coaching, you're looking at a potential flash in the pan. We're better off restarting in that case. I'm as nervous as the rest of us that this program and that recruiting class will go away with a new hire.
 
#30      

RedRocksIllini

RedRocksIllini
Morrison, CO
RedRocksIllini
Interesting that the team chose to take this game off. Looking at our schedule, we going to be very hard pressed to find enough wins to make the dance. This was one of those games and the team elected to stay in the locker room. Says all I need to know about the coach.
 
#32      

homesickalien

homesickalien
Springfield
homesickalien
I have them right where I want them...

john-groce-ohio.jpg
 
#33      

katytxillini

K
katytxillini
As bad as we are with our Man D, our 2-3 is even worse. When Boeheim had Syracuse rolling with the 2-3 they often practiced in man, just to convey the principals needed for both. If you can't coach man D, you probably can't coach zone, either.

I have the sense that any other coach in the Big Ten would have this team 15-5 or so.
 
#35      

americanoutlaw11

A
americanoutlaw11
Frazier has said this is his school, can't imagine Da'Monte and Pickett leaving. I want Tilmon to be an Illini. But he is not bigger than the program itself. And the program itself is in absolute disrepair. It is a mess. And if the current staff cannot win with this current roster, they won't win with the roster next year either. Honestly, those kids that committed to UofI deserve much better than they will get under this staff. It's done. Beyond time for a change. And I do not feel sorry for anyone losing their jobs whose fate was in their own hands the whole time while they got to live out their life's dream for 5 years and become a millionaire many times over because of it.
 
#39      

PrudenceJuris

P
PrudenceJuris
There was a scene on the West Wing I loved. The president had just destroyed his challenger in the big televised debate. The staff is discussing how to react afterwards. The press secretary proposes they say nothing, other than they are going back to work the next morning on the nation's business. She says 'anything else would be inelegant. It's the punch Ali never gave Foreman on the way down.' Sort of sums up how I feel about Coach Groce.
 
#40      

helppitch

H
helppitch
BirdDog9048 said:
And so will half of the class of 2017 recruits...
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I agree with you. The recruits will most likely be gone, but, at this point (I have been a Groce supporter) but I personally don't think Groce could get the most out of the recruits.
This team is underachieving (as have most of his teams here) big time.
I'm not thrilled about the offense, IMO we don't run very good sets. Though if we would move some off the ball it could help.
But my biggest criticism is the total lack of defense. One, either we haven't been taught correctly, or two, we just haven't instilled the desire to play D.
If Wisconsin, Purdue, etc. can be good, why can't we? I really can't think of a legitimate excuse.
I can remember the days when it was us, Michigan & Indiana.
 
#41      

KSmooth

K
KSmooth
Up until today it was still possible to see this team pulling itself together and making the tourney. After this, I just don't see how that happens. I honestly hope I'm wrong about this, I don't really want to see the team lose or Groce get fired. But this is clearly a bottom-third B1G team right now, will likely remain a bottom-third team for the foreseeable future, and one cannot expect the fanbase to put up with bottom-third status for much longer. I'm not going to be in front of the crowd with the pitchfork, but I've resigned myself to the fact that this team is mediocre at best and Groce will likely need to go come March.
 
#42      

radiodj

R
Houston
radiodj
KSmooth said:
Up until today it was still possible to see this team pulling itself together and making the tourney. After this, I just don't see how that happens. I honestly hope I'm wrong about this, I don't really want to see the team lose or Groce get fired. But this is clearly a bottom-third B1G team right now, will likely remain a bottom-third team for the foreseeable future, and one cannot expect the fanbase to put up with bottom-third status for much longer. I'm not going to be in front of the crowd with the pitchfork, but I've resigned myself to the fact that this team is mediocre at best and Groce will likely need to go come March.
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One of us! One of us!:)
 
#46      

radiodj

R
Houston
radiodj
This is an aesthetics thing only, but my god Groce needs a "P" popper so badly.
 
#47      

majobo

M
majobo
Illinois Basketball

Illinois is rapidly dropping to the non factor level of DePaul. How do programs with highly significant achievements drop to this level of ineptitude. Watched Creighton and Marquette. Completely different level of play. Are the players any different?
 
#50      

KRSAS

K
Charleston, IL
KRSAS
What I dislike about Illinois basketball among the many other things is that when we win one game after losing several, we become so optimistic that things are going to get better. However, we quickly fall back to reality and for some reason we are okay with this mediocrity. For the last 5 years that HAS been in the case. I'm not sure if there will be a coaching change after this season, in fact I am believing that there wont be and yet we will have another season of disappointment. I don't know how anyone can refer to us as a basketball school when we lose to the likes of North Florida, Chattanooga, Winthrop... Then all of a sudden when we beat a Central Michigan or a BYU, then WE ARE A FORCE TO BE RECKON WITH! Those are teams that we should ALWAYS beat! Thanks Coach, but we would like to take our program in a new direction.