West Virginia 89, Illinois 57 POSTGAME
Do Not Resuscitate
I am not a big fan of firing coaches. It took the Nebraska game, with Meyers in tears on the bench, to put me on the dump Bruce bandwagon. I am not yet in the dump Groce camp. Still...
Standing on the subway platform after the game, I noticed I had three trains to choose from: D, N & R. DNR. A sign, perhaps?
I am not a big fan of firing coaches. It took the Nebraska game, with Meyers in tears on the bench, to put me on the dump Bruce bandwagon. I am not yet in the dump Groce camp. Still...
Standing on the subway platform after the game, I noticed I had three trains to choose from: D, N & R. DNR. A sign, perhaps?
I felt the same way pretty much.
In Webers last year I felt the team was so wrapped up in the Weber firing that the players didn't play with clear heads. I rmemebrr the announcers would talk about how Bruce was almost too prepared for teams.
This game I felt embarrassed by the fact that we didn't look prepared by the coaching staff. I just don't ever remember an Illini team being less prepared to play our opponent like today.
If you are a blueblood you don't get that amount of time, but we are not a blueblood.
I'm not saying I am happy with the situation. I am trying to be realistic. I do not see a coach that Illinois could even think about bringing in at this point that can:
1. Keep the recruiting class we have coming in next season to stay.
2. Keep the recruiting up after.
3. And be a top flight X's and O's guy.
This is why I say 2 more years. Then he will not have a single excuse. Because as I said, the players we have right now could not be coached into a lock tourney team (which is what we want at Illinois) by Coach K, Izzo, Self, or Cal and I don't want to get into this pattern of hiring "the next shining star coach" only to be let down again. I am just trying to be realistic.
Deleted member 11241
D
Guest
I think that's a bit too much. While this was a tough loss to watch, it was against a top 25 (should be top 10) team that plays a style of basketball that hardly no one else plays. That Nebraska loss was in the midst of conference play where we had played several horrible games with our season in the balance against a bottom feeder conference foe while our NBA lottery pick was crying on the sidelines. WVU is a legit team that I feel has F4 potential. We won't face another team like them the rest of the year. I think we have a much better showing tomorrow against FSU. I'm still holding out hope for this season, still chances to get good quality wins this year
My position is he doesn't have a single excuse now.
I understand your thought process.I just don't agree. If we can't hire someone better than JG this time there is no reason to think we could do it in 2 years. The job wouldn't be any different then. That's my take.
I'm all for cooling the fire JG talk until the 2nd half of the season. We will know soon enough if he's had his time here.
Dan
Admin
Groce/players postgame video-
http://www.news-gazette.com/video/2016-11-24/illini-recap-mountaineers-press-too-much.html
http://www.news-gazette.com/video/2016-11-24/illini-recap-mountaineers-press-too-much.html
The only reason to not fire Groce immediately is to increase the odds of retaining the 2017 recruiting class.
The results are in - Groce cannot coach. He is completely overmatched.
He should be charged with felony theft for stealing $1.7MM per year from the DIA.
I guess I feel like it will give us the chance to really study a coach from a larger sample size (which would be about 3 years counting this one).
At least we can both agree that we need to cool on the fire JG talk.
I do have strong feelings about this particular loss being about the players though. It is just unacceptable to me that they weren't attacking the press and doing the boneheaded things they were doing to get beat like this. We played with two point guards for huge chunks of the game and they should have had their heads down and moving up court instead of what they were doing.
Forgive me.... But... These are exactly the same arguments used by some fans when BW was taking this program south... Now we are further south than we were then, but the same lame arguments keep appearing....
This is a multi-million dollar business. This is year 5 of JG's reign over this multi-million dollar business. He's been coaching and teaching these players for 4+ seasons... NO... I don't think he should be fired today, this week, or at any time DURING the season.... But to continually be willing to accept poorer and poorer results, is just baffling to me. If you performed this poorly in your job, do you think you employer should just accept that performance level, and say I'll give you more and more time to show how bad you are ???? :tsk:
Come on, man... That's not even reasonable...
Maybe this has already been mentioned, but anybody remember the NIT game we played at Alabama a couple years back? I hadn't felt that demoralized until today.
The Big Ten, at least early on, appears to be down this year. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Coach Groce will be here after this season. He hasn't done the job. We finally get a top recruiting class & that will be gone too.
Being a fan of the Illini is tough.
There's a guy on GOEMAW who has a photograph of that as his avatar. In it, BW is striding past the bench with his hands in his pocket and a blank look on his face. In the background is a scoreboard.
It's a powerful photograph that perfectly illustrates how the end of that season felt.
To me, that is the very definition of rock bottom. If people here are saying that we've reached that feel in the gym, then I'm going to be really, really sad.
But I'm not convinced we're there. Yet. It could still happen this season.
I texted a buddy of mine exactly that right after the game.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
You can be realistic or you can be someone who thinks we'll learn something in two more years we don't already know. Not both.
There were a few games that were like that Alabama game a couple years ago. Really ugly!
WVU was very athletic and aggressive. They really were not good basketball players. We looked completely unprepared and never adjusted either. We consistently allowed them as much time as they needed to get there press setup and once we did get the ball in, more often than not we would stand at the end dribbling and looking for someone to come to the ball. There was no attacking the zone most of the game. I thought our coaching was horrible today.
Fortunately, it appears the Big Ten might be down this year so maybe we have a better chance in conference than I first thought. However, as Big Ten teams keep losing, it also means fewer making the dance. Losing this game didn't really hurt our tournament chances too much even through it can't be good to have a complete blowout on your resume but that Winthrop loss at home sure did.
Unless there is a massive turnaround, I don't know how Groce has any chance of staying around.
I'd hate to see what we look like when we come up against a team of good basketball players.
I'd be perfectly happy with another coach like Lon Kruger. He's getting up in age, but is he available?
illini80
- Forgottonia
Finally, I thought. Finally, we just may have a season worth watching. Difficult to understand what is happening here. This is way to much experience to roll over like we did the last 2 games. I heard a little of the post game on the radio. Of course it's not time to throw in the towel, but Groce was way too positive for that kind of effort. Someone needs to own it. Either the coaching staff takes the blame or maybe it's time to call out a few guys that are not getting it done. Everyone hated it when Weber did that and he probably did it too much, but he called it like it was at least. Sugar coating it and talking about bouncing back tomorrow seems way too soft an approach imo.
MSU has a history of playing poorly early and losing some games they shouldn't. But Izzo has figured out how to use that to make his guys tougher. I have not seen that to date with JG. Lord knows I hate to think about another coaching change, but somethings gotta give. He either turns it around in a big way or this could be a real train wreck.
MSU has a history of playing poorly early and losing some games they shouldn't. But Izzo has figured out how to use that to make his guys tougher. I have not seen that to date with JG. Lord knows I hate to think about another coaching change, but somethings gotta give. He either turns it around in a big way or this could be a real train wreck.
I wanna hear the interview between Thomas and Groce. Obviously didn't question him about BB philosophy or scheming an opponent. It's kinda like Kramer or Costanza BSing they're way into jobs. He can't Coach this team. He can't teach this team.
The Sprouting Divot
Invisible and Bulletproof
- Miracle Mile
Being an Illini fan sure does afford a person a lot of free time during the football and basketball seasons. Just think of all the fun things you can do instead of watching the games!