I think BU is a decent coach. He hires good assistants and knows how to play the game in terms of talent acquisition. In terms of game prep and X's and O's I'd put him in the bottom half of the big 10. As long as he continues to bring in NBA caliber talent we will win, but will generally find ourselves feeling at the end of the year like we did in '21 and '22.
Ohio State 72, Illinois 60 Postgame
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Ok, I'll bite. Name the (at least) 7 coaches you'd put above him.
I'm not saying you're not right, I'm just genuinely curious who you think is better.
Who wins without NBA caliber talent?
Anyway, you do you. I've not seen anything that supports that claim, and I'm not ready to draw any assumptions based on all of two tourney appearances. The guy wins games.
We can't beat Ohio St. do you honestly think we can beat Michigan? We don't know which Illini team will show up.
So you are saying there is a chance the right team shows up??
I have a distinct memory of us beating Ohio St in January.
Can’t & didn’t are two different things.
He won't be able to. Can't name three. What he's done with the program since he's taken over has been incredible. He took a program that was in the mud and brought a Big Ten regular season championship, a Big Ten tournament championship and if I'm not mistaken, they have the most Big Ten wins and most Big Ten road wins over what....a threw year stretch? The people who attack him directly after a loss are the some people who are having a stroke if his name comes up for another job opening.
Didn't we beat Ohio State at home this year? Soundly at that?
izzo, shrewsbury, painter, pikiell, gard, Willard, McCaffrey, arguably Collins, woodson and Holtmann. Remember, I'm talking game prep and x's and o's
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
So the coach with the MOST conference wins over the last 4 years is the 4th worst game prep x's and o's coach in that same conference?
Wow. That is really bad. No, maybe, no, maybe, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Ok, so you're eliminating winning games and conference championships from the equation?
You question insinuates that quality coaching and winning don't correlate with one another. Is that accurate?
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Omg....dude...if bad takes were given bans....you would have a lifetime ban.
This is radioactive garbage.
chiefini
- Rockford, Illinois
You’d take Gard over Underwood? Really?
sacraig
- The desert
Big Jack
- Decatur
You’d take Gard over Underwood? Really?
AyoDos11
- Southern Illinois
At least you didn't say he's worse than Juwan...
11-9 with the Illini schedule is underachieving IMO. I would think an average coach could attain that. They played the easiest Big 10 schedule possible. 10 games vs WI, Neb, PSU, Minn, Ohio State. If 11-9 is the floor, then great. But I think it’s more the norm than the floor given yearly roster turnover and records without Kofi.
I won’t get on Brad too much for lack of NCAA success bc often times it’s a crapshoot. But I will critique what his teams have looked like without Kofi. IMO, they are a level similar to Weber and Henson’s late tenures which both got them sent packing. Post Lou, I think we upgraded. Post Weber, obvious a downgrade.
Retro62
- North Bethesda, Maryland
Teams? This is year one without Kofi. At the beginning of the year, everyone said it would be a difficult season getting this team to mesh with two one year guys, a bunch of freshman, and only a couple of guys left over. One of whom, Coleman, who was never a leader, and one who showed signs of it but missed most of the season. It's been frustrating, sure, but I don't look at this year as a referendum on BU's coaching ability, I look at it more as a learning curve in how to approach the portal. I think we have a really solid core moving on to next season, with some really good freshman coming in...again.
I don't think anyone read my entire post. I'm talking X's and O's and game prep. There is no question in my mind that Greg Gard is a better X's and O's coach than BU for example.
I also said BU is good at building a staff and recruiting talent. In that respect I would take him over Gard, Shrewsbury, Pikiell, probably Painter.
You combine all that and I think he is a decent coach. Until he can win without a generational talent like Kofi I don't see how you can rate him any higher than that.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Well, gee... this part is a bit over-the-top. Kofi has not even played in an NBA game. Phenomenal college player, and unique because of his sheer size and strength. Generational talent? No.
Brad has won at every place and level he has coached. Mostly without a 'generational talent' (well, all without by my count, as I cannot force myself to categorize Kofi Cockburn as a 'generational talent').
He has more wins than any other coach in the conference over the past 4 years. The needle needs to point downward a bit more (and for a bit longer than a single season that isn't even over yet) before people start diminishing what he's accomplished here.
Brad's a great coach, I'm not getting involved in that debate.
But Kofi was absolutely a generational player, in the college game - or at least for Illinois, which is the context in which I read that original remark. Much has been said here about the differences between college and NBA effectiveness, and what NBA teams look for today vs. 20 years ago. I don't think Kofi's lack of NBA time makes for a fair comparison.
He's the fifth multi-year consensus AA in 100+ years of Illini basketball (plus being BT Freshman of the Year his first year). He and Dee are the only two in modern times. This to me defines 'generational'.
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