Where does the Illinois basketball program "belong?"

#51      

UrbanaIsTheShiz

U
UrbanaIsTheShiz
Newman said:
Lol, I wasn't kidding when I said it was a different topic. I wasn't trying to relate it to our situation at all. Just think it's funny that Tubby is getting publicity with how he turned Texas Tech into a decent team while Little Richard is struggling to stay above Rutgers. This is what happens when people are on completely different levels when it comes to expectations. The cute little run that Minny had in the late 80s and middle 90s gave people the false sense that they were a good program. Tubby made the tourney 3 out of 6 years and IMO, that's more than great results for that kind of program. But to relate it to our situation, I think we could turn our program around and people still wouldn't be content. We could make the tourney 6 out of 7 times but people will complain when we don't make the Sweet 16 every other year. I believe it's the same people that complained about McCamey's impact, which is laughable in hindsight.

Nobody wants to be mediocre, but people need to understand that you're more than likely to strike out when you're aiming for a homerun. Sometimes people need to settle with base hits. We weren't making the sweet 16 every other year with Henson but I'd be ecstatic if we got to that level again.
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yeah I agree with a lot of that. Minny program definitely botched the fire/hire with Smith who is a very good coach, even though the momentum there understandably felt a bit stagnant.

I think "expecting" sweet sixteens is reaching. it might be fair to say you expect to make the tournament 3 of 4 or 7 of 8 years, and perhasp to say that in 5 of 6 appearances you expect NOT to be the victim of major first round upsets (assuming you are a 6 seed or higher). beyond that, like almost all sports playoffs (with the exception of 1 seeds in the tourney) most anything can happen and the second weekend is generally a crapshoot.

What we'd do for McCamey. Probably even Chet (I loved that kid).
 
#52      

Oskee67

Oskee67
Champaign
Oskee67
ritster said:
Illinois should be a perennial Top 10 program, consistently making the Sweet 16, with an Elite 8 every 3-4 years, a Final Four every 4-6 years and a National Championship every 8-12 years. Realistically , God please at least one NC before I am either dead or can't remember it happening .
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+1
 
#53      

zpfled

Z
Logan Square, Chicago
zpfled
Ransom Stoddard said:
Top 4 in the conference 4 out of 5 years. The rest (NCAA success) will follow from that.
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Yeah, this seems about right. The Big Ten is bigger than it used to be and finishing in the top 4 consistently means we'd be a very very strong program.
 
#54      

ChiefIllini

C
ChiefIllini
Sybok said:
Bill Self was a mid-major coach. You didn't like him? That stepping stone you mention is how Illinois got stuck with Weber.
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Yeah guess Self was a good hire ;) but still I guess my point was hiring people with the little background like each of our last hires have shouldnt of happened.

I understand everyone needs a big shot to prove what they really can do but its hard to not be disappointed at how average we have become when it comes to expecting experienced hires. It's hard to hire good people if you aren't a blue blood. I'm someone who prefers a higher floor to a higher ceiling, especially at this point.
 
#55      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. USA.

This took 3 pages?
 
#57      

cardini99

cardini99
Twin-Cities
cardini99
As others have said earlier, think we should be a perennial tournament team 7/8 out of 10 years and finish in the top half of the big ten pretty regularly. Be a 21-23 win type team before the big ten tourney starts...and the tourney should be looked at as a chance to up our seeding, not just to make the dance! Then maybe once or twice in that 10 year period have a team/s that are positioned to make a deep run in the tourney.
 
#58      

samtheman10

S
samtheman10
Should be good enough to bring in perennial top-25 recruiting classes as a product of the resources we have.
 
#60      

Adnarel

A
Adnarel
ChiefIllini said:
Yeah guess Self was a good hire ;) but still I guess my point was hiring people with the little background like each of our last hires have shouldnt of happened.

I understand everyone needs a big shot to prove what they really can do but its hard to not be disappointed at how average we have become when it comes to expecting experienced hires. It's hard to hire good people if you aren't a blue blood. I'm someone who prefers a higher floor to a higher ceiling, especially at this point.
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This is partially the fault of the AD's responsible for bringing the coaches on board. MT, for example, exploited the hell out of his MAC connection and look where that got us.
 
#61      

URH Snyder 490

URH Snyder 490
Orange Crush '89
Northern Illinois
URH Snyder 490
Adnarel said:
I'm curious to hear what the older fans on the board think as to how quickly we can return to "normal" for Illinois Basketball.
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I'm in my mid-40s, and this take pretty much sums it up for me:


ChiefIllini said:
Insanely Good Year (~every 8 years): 1 or 2 seed in the tourney
Above Average Year(~every 4 years): 3-5 seed
Average Year(~every other year): 5-8 seed
Below Average Year(~every 4 years): 9-11 seed
Insanely Bad Year(~every 8 years): Bubble Team

Why strive for ever missing the dance? In fact, resources and location should put us in it every year.
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- Make the #$*&% tournament almost every year, and Selection Sunday is about seeding not hoping we make it.
- Be in the top 25 more often than not, and receiving votes when not.
- When things click-a 5 star, hidden gem, whatever-we are a Final Four contender or favorite.
 
#62      

491illinois

4
491illinois
Making the tournament every year should be a given, not a hopeful possiblity.

That the flagship university in the state is bubble team or worse year after year is really kind of humiliating when you stop more than 3 seconds to think about it.

Time for a change.
 
#63      

Goldtop

G
Goldtop
491illinois said:
Making the tournament every year should be a given, not a hopeful possiblity.

That the flagship university in the state is bubble team or worse year after year is really kind of humiliating when you stop more than 3 seconds to think about it.

Time for a change.
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I agree with this except I am not ready to kick Groce to the curb.
 
#64      

CoalCity

C
St Paul, MN
CoalCity
Sybok said:
Bill Self was a mid-major coach. You didn't like him? That stepping stone you mention is how Illinois got stuck with Weber.
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Self was a mid-major coach who had turned around two moribund programs at Oral Roberts and Tulsa and did it in fairly short order. A bit more impressive than losing league seasons and one deep run in the dance.

Too bad we couldn't hang on to him for at least a couple more years so he could get Illinois really back on the basketball map. He's an old Big 8 guy at heart, I don't think we'd have hung on to him for life no matter what.

:chief: