TMC999
- Not Iowa
I would never cheer for an injured opponent. But I would pass the hat for some NLI income if Damonte snapped his little stupid red headband right before tipoff.
Pregame: Illinois at Rutgers, Wednesday, February 16th, 6:00pm CT, BTN
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Please please don't mention Bruce Weber ever again. Don't get me wrong, the 2005 Illini team was outstanding/amazing but that was literally the only highlight of the Weber era. It went to crap right after that.
Your post is giving me horrible flash backs of his inept /awful recruiting , constant whining and throwing hissy fits on live tv, him being BFF (aka best friends forever) with that annoying little twerp Izzo and that voice of his is like nails on a chalkboard (I know that sounds mean and that its not his fault due to a childhood accident ) Look I wish Weber and his family all the best but I am so thankful he isn't our coach anymore (ditto on Groce too. Outstanding hire there to that former AD of ours. Thanks for setting Illinois' bball program back even further down the tube whoever you are. Good riddance to all of them.
Very happy with our new AD Mr Whitman and him hiring Brad Underwood . So thankful Coach Underwood is our coach. Its like night & day compared to those two clowns I mentioned. . Izzo knows this too and it terrifies him (remember when that jerk off called out our beloved program when Weber was fired ? Cause I remember. Hey Izzo you might want to focus on your own dirty program and vet your players/ recruits better too (Sparty has a bit of a "rapey" problem in their 2 biggest money making sports) Oh and 2 words...Larry Nassar. That entire university is a disgrace.
Sorry for the long winded rant but I had to get that off my chest haha. In conclusion, I love where our program is at right now and hope we go into Rutgers place and beat them by 35 points but this time in front of their stupid guido fans
IN UNDERWOOD I TRUST
GO ILLINI!
WI had 7 footer, Crawl, and a backup 7 footer. They aren't as skilled as Omoruyi, but you're right. It's just him at true center. But they have some very athletic players to double or triple.
Geez, easy big fella.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
How short thy memory is.....I, too, like watching a terribly boring brand of basketball that was only really entertaining for one season because of the outstanding cast it had.
And even though I pointed to one specific year (2004-05) in which we averaged 18 assists/game with the best ball movement offense in the nation, one can't ignore how well BW utilized the talent he was gifted. At 89-16, Bruce won 90% of his first 105 games. His problem/downfall was "RECRUITING".
2003-04:
Season: 26-7
Final Rank = #11
Won 12 straight Big 10 games
Won the Big 10 Conference regular season outright
2nd Place in the Big 10 Tourney
Averaged 73 pts/game with 565 assists
2004-05:
Season: 37-2 (Started 29-0)
Final Rank = #2
Weber named NCAA COY
Dee Brown 1st team All-American
Luther/Deron 2nd team All-American
1st Place Big 10 Conference
1st Place Big 10 Tourney
Averaged 77 pts/game & had 727 assists
Voted by Sports Illustrated as the best-ever team to not have won the NCAA title
Did not run a weave offense, btw....
2005-06
Season: 26-7 (Started 15-0)
Final Rank = #13
Dee 2nd team All-American
2nd Place Big 10 Conference
Averaged 70 pts/game & had 500 assists
Luther and Deron had moved on to the NBA, of course
But yes, I'll take Brad Underwood any day of the week over BW. The reason our current offense looks so lethargic at times is probably because we have to slow it down and feed the monster in the paint. Speculating that BU will once again speed things up once Kofi departs. Lots of guard/wing talent in the pipeline!
MOTION!!!!Oh, those Weber hissy fits.
I am not in the CoHawk fan club. He is a very weak passer, not a good ball handler and I absolutely go nuts every time his man shoots by him and he reaches for a foul, generally a 3 point play.
To me he just hasn't shown he can be competitive in the Big. I hope he proves me wrong but he is in the last part of his 2nd year and hasn't shown much.
To me he just hasn't shown he can be competitive in the Big. I hope he proves me wrong but he is in the last part of his 2nd year and hasn't shown much.
sacraig
- The desert
Fine, 2 seasons. But 05/06 was a major disappointment.
The Illini have enough bench strength now that when one of the players is shooting terribly, losing their man on defense, not moving with purpose, piling up unneeded fouls, and committing stupid turnovers, they need to sit for awhile so that their positional coach can give them a little attitudunal adjustment. These long scoring droughts with head scratching turnovers need to be addressed down the stretch to give us the best chance to win. We have the quality players and the athletic talent to compete with anyone when we are on our game.
Couldn't sleep last night, so I watched the Rutgers game from early Dec. I really hope CH has a game Weds. like he had earlier against Rutgers....he really looked confident and played great D on Harper...kind of makes you want to scratch your head and wonder what has happened since then....but his play against NW was encouraging ....wondering if he'll get the start again and be on Harper.....Rugters is a pretty good team, Pikell has them playing for a tournament bid....beating a ranked Illinois team would strengthen that resume....4 keys for the game Weds......1. Kofi needs to get the ball nearly every trip down the floor...either he scores or kicks it back out to our guards for good perimeter shots. 2. Our guards/forwards need to keep(theirs)..Baker, Harper, Mulchay, Jones, etc in check...all of these can score and in multiple ways....3. control the pace of play...if they get on a roll we need to recognize that and slow it down and not let them go on a 10-0 run, go inside......4. get to the line....don't want to see a huge FT advantage for Rutgers....Confident we'll win....but confident it will be a nail biter.....getter done boys....ILL
To be expected with the loss of 2 NBA first round draft picks. Without researching this, the weird thing about that season with me is that all I can seem to recall were the "bad" games. The home opener against MSU where we needed 35 points by Dee Brown to squeak by. The home game against Penn State where we won on a last second 3 pointer, but then lost because it was overturned (yes, correct call). The early exit in the Big Ten Tournament to MSU, where Shannon Brown was the best player on the floor. The lackluster play against Air Force in round one of the NCAA Tourney. Followed by the disappointing loss to Washington, whom we should have beaten. Just a tough season where we expected too much.
I too wish CH will have a great game against Harper again. But his struggles seem more mental than anything else, which I hope he can fix... but has been the story with him for a while now. Harper is a matchup nightmare for us if we don't have a CH type player playing well. RJ might be able to help, but Harper is too strong for him.
So just for fun I pulled up our schedule last year to see how difficult our last 6 games (where we went 5-1) compare to this year’s last 6.
Last year we had 5 of 6 on the road, including a stretch of 4 games in 8 days, and finished with 3 straight road games vs ranked opponents, including 2 top 10 opponents.
We may never see a stretch like that again, but good news is this year we don’t need to. Only 3 of the last 6 are on the road, and only 2 of the 6 are against ranked teams. I think a realistic goal is to sweep our home games and take one of our road games. And I think 15-5 wins at least a share of the title.
Issue is we haven’t yet found our other gear yet this year that we found last year. Our shooters overall are in a funk. Trent, DaMonte and Jake shot 4-23 last game! I’m wondering if all of the heavy minutes are taking their toll and we are seeing tired legs. Hopefully the reincorporation of Belo and the emergence of RJ will help, and maybe Luke or Coleman can provide a spark in a game or 2. Should be an exciting stretch run!
Last year we had 5 of 6 on the road, including a stretch of 4 games in 8 days, and finished with 3 straight road games vs ranked opponents, including 2 top 10 opponents.
We may never see a stretch like that again, but good news is this year we don’t need to. Only 3 of the last 6 are on the road, and only 2 of the 6 are against ranked teams. I think a realistic goal is to sweep our home games and take one of our road games. And I think 15-5 wins at least a share of the title.
Issue is we haven’t yet found our other gear yet this year that we found last year. Our shooters overall are in a funk. Trent, DaMonte and Jake shot 4-23 last game! I’m wondering if all of the heavy minutes are taking their toll and we are seeing tired legs. Hopefully the reincorporation of Belo and the emergence of RJ will help, and maybe Luke or Coleman can provide a spark in a game or 2. Should be an exciting stretch run!
SampsonRelpenk
- Edwardsville, IL
I thought the high points of that season were pretty memorable as well. Going to Chapel Hill and getting a little revenge for the title game. The most lopsided Braggin Rights victory ever (featuring one of my all-time favorite Illini moments: we're up by 18 going into half and Dee is ripping into his teammates on the way to the locker room because it should have been more). Unexpectedly smacking around Wisconsin at their place, and ruining Sparty's senior night. However blowing the conference championship and petering out of both tournaments did leave a real bad taste, portending the misery ahead.
Touche. And I've had my coffee now.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
... '06-'07 was frustrating, and '07-'08 was a disaster.
I have a soft spot for Bruce. He's a good coach, and has acknowledged the many mistakes he made at Illinois, his first power conference HC job. Foremost among these was coaching not to lose and recruiting certain players who might have been uber-talented but didn't fit. From the beginning I had my doubts because of his sideline demeanor. His body language exuded insecurity and beta male inadequacy for the role. I questioned anyone who was in his early '50s and had been content to be a senior assistant to Keady for ~ 20 years w/o seeking a HC job earlier than his gig at SIU. I'm pleased he's had success at K-State but wished at the time that Guenther had gone after Xavier's Thad Matta (Hoopeston-East Lynn native, IIRC), which I understand (via someone on the Loyalty board in a long-ago thread about this) he didn't for some unknown reason.
BTW, Matta is now an advisor to Woodson at IU, isn't he? Wonder how that's going...
the national
- the Front Range
the national
- the Front Range
I like that coach gives Loren a hard time
Really nice post. I too like some aspects of Weber, like his helping carry the bags onto the team bus. I'm sure he's a really nice man. But that guy was so beta ... you hit it right on the head. You cannot win in the ncaa big time unless your coach is deep down an alpha. Doesn't mean you have to be Bobby Knight. Wooden was as alpha as they come.
How good was Mike Davis in his second year?
I do not, I was 1000000000% against the hire in 2003 and he should have been fired after losing to Va Tech if it was up to me. We hired the wrong PU assistant at the time but am very happy with BU but we had to crash and burn with Weber and Groce first.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
When I say I have a soft spot for him, it's because I believe that he's (as @Rocky noted above) a fundamentally good man. I, too, believed he was the wrong hire at the time (and was baffled about the lack of interest in Matta, who seemed perfect). I didn't give it a lot of further thought until that '06-'07 season when the chemistry on the team seemed poor and guys like Randle (who was a JR by then, IIRC) were clearly not reaching their potential.
A lot of lost seasons, and I feel badly for the fans, and especially the students, who suffered through them. We're on the right track now, however, we've got the right guys at the helm for BB and FB, and in the AD's chair, and all is heading in a positive direction in Illiniworld from what I can see.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Really good. Averaged over 11 pts and over 8 rebounds per game while dishing close to 2 assists per game.
Rutgers fan here
Last game was an embarrassment and this isn't a good matchup for Rutgers. It is however a much different team at this point in the season and we do have Geo for this one.
Coleman Hawkins absolutely shut down Harper. Ron struggles against taller longer defenders. I've seen the board comments that he hasn't reached his potential but he was so so effective against Harper, I would give him minutes.
Cliff vs Kofi. Cliff is a more explosive athletic 5 and will do his best, but he doesn't have the weight to really stop him. Best case for RU is just having Cliff stay out of foul trouble which he has been excellent at. We have absolutely 0 depth at 5 to guard Kofi. Agee was playing early but he looks like he is 6'6. Reiber has shown a lot pf development and skill but he is very undersized compared to Kofi and will really struggle. We do have a walk on Luke Nathan who could at least stand his ground with his size, but would be a liability on offense and never plays.
On the other end attack Kofi with the PnR is what we want to see. Maybe Kofi picks up fouls dealing with Cliff's athleticism.
Paul Mulcahy since Northwestern has bee a completely different player. He is attacking confident and decisive with his play. Knocking down 3's. Layups. Turn around in the paint. Fantastic pivot foot. A larger defender on Paul could stop him in the lane, but it seems Illinois plays small at the 3. Either Paul or Caleb should have a significant height advantage at 6'6/7
Caleb's perimeter defense has been phenomenal lately with 14 steals over the last 3 games.
Geo and Harper continue to be streaky. Need at least one to show up
Last game was an embarrassment and this isn't a good matchup for Rutgers. It is however a much different team at this point in the season and we do have Geo for this one.
Coleman Hawkins absolutely shut down Harper. Ron struggles against taller longer defenders. I've seen the board comments that he hasn't reached his potential but he was so so effective against Harper, I would give him minutes.
Cliff vs Kofi. Cliff is a more explosive athletic 5 and will do his best, but he doesn't have the weight to really stop him. Best case for RU is just having Cliff stay out of foul trouble which he has been excellent at. We have absolutely 0 depth at 5 to guard Kofi. Agee was playing early but he looks like he is 6'6. Reiber has shown a lot pf development and skill but he is very undersized compared to Kofi and will really struggle. We do have a walk on Luke Nathan who could at least stand his ground with his size, but would be a liability on offense and never plays.
On the other end attack Kofi with the PnR is what we want to see. Maybe Kofi picks up fouls dealing with Cliff's athleticism.
Paul Mulcahy since Northwestern has bee a completely different player. He is attacking confident and decisive with his play. Knocking down 3's. Layups. Turn around in the paint. Fantastic pivot foot. A larger defender on Paul could stop him in the lane, but it seems Illinois plays small at the 3. Either Paul or Caleb should have a significant height advantage at 6'6/7
Caleb's perimeter defense has been phenomenal lately with 14 steals over the last 3 games.
Geo and Harper continue to be streaky. Need at least one to show up
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