Agreed on all points. For some reason, Brad did not think Tre was a fit. He sat him for a few games with no minutes last year for some reason. Seems to happen to one player or another every year with BU.
You are making a decision Andre or Tre - I'll go with Andre/Jake/Hummer (when Z and Tomi are on the floor together. Tre fought with Brad... no one needs the sideshow.
Same with Morez v. Mirk.
Morez got the better of us tonight, but I am very, very happy with Mirk.
Sometimes the opposition is just that much better. That certainly was the case tonight.
As for your criticisms of Brad. I can say this as a 60 year avid fan of Illini basketball. Blow it out your...
(1) The guy wants to be here... not build towards someplace else.
(2) He understands the modern game (roster turnover, NIL, change in rules and how the game is played) and is credited by most as being a leader in this area.
(3) He is 11th over the past 7 years in NCAA wins.
(4) It's pretty clear what he is trying to do: build a mental tenacity personafied by rebounding and defense. We are still not at the level that UCONN showed us a couple years ago. However, we are closer to that level than we have been in 30 years. Most of the people not here (I can give you list and yes I have tracked them) we are better off, with them not here. You want Skyy Clark, Jayden Epps, Sencire Harris, Dre LG, Dain Dainja, Amani Hansberry and Nicollo Moretti (those are just the recent transfers)? They're yours.
The guy is able to recruit **** star talent and then replace them with players that are either more talented or a better fit and win 20 games every season. There are only 10 coaches in America who are better at that than he is.
Look at the skill levels the people (I hope) returning have. That is alot to be optimistic about.
I don't get it. Lou Henson was the only other modern day coach more consistent as Brad. You may not remember this, but similar to Brad, everyone wanted to run Lou out of town as they thought (and continue to see) our program should be on a par with the names similar to Indiana, Kentucky, UNC, Duke, UCONN, UCLA, Kansas, MSU, Louisville or Houston.
It took John Wooden 14 seasons reach his first Final Four with UCLA.
Dean Smith won his first NCAA championship in his 22nd season at UNC.
It took Mike Krzyzewski 11 seasons win his first NCAA championship at Duke.
It took Jim Calhoun 13 seasons the University of Connecticut to win his first NCAA National Championship.
Tom Izzo has won 1 NCAA championship.
It took Bill Self 15 seasons a head coach to win his first NCAA championship. It took him another 14 years to win a second.
Brad has been trying to get Illinois to a consistency level, getting the final 16 on a fairly regular basis. You don't win championships without getting your talent level (and mentality) to the upper echelon level first. But other than the Henson era - we don't have the legacy (and donors) the other schools have. But we are making up some of the distance.
Brad has a better understanding of that and is trying create a fit a Illinois. If you don't think that has built a base and we are actually improving off the base, maybe you need to find another school or team to root for.
handed to us on our f’ing home court ??? No toughness … Getting blasted on the glass …
