Meltdown in Champaign





Their board may be rational here. Bruce Weber is the worst coach in the Big Ten. He hasn't accomplished much without Self's recruits.
 






He did coach those Self recruits to the championship game of the NCAA tournament. The closest Illinois has ever been to the NC. He also did get Southern Illinois to the sweet 16.

But their outrage is understandable as how does a team with this much talent even be struggling to reach the NCAA tournament? They have a strong recruiting pipeline into Chicago and have had some highly ranked recruiting classes. I would hate to think how good Illinois would be if they had a decent coach.

But if they let Weber go it will probably turn out like football. All the really good coaches will use Illinois to get better contracts or jobs and they will end up with another mid major/no name hire.
 






Six straight seasons of 25+ wins will raise annual expectations. That program was on elite level for a while. When you get use to that and then fall a bit, a lot of people get upset. As was said, very comparable to Iowa football.
 


Not sure Iowa football is a great comparison...

burky247 said:
Six straight seasons of 25+ wins will raise annual expectations. That program was on elite level for a while. When you get use to that and then fall a bit, a lot of people get upset. As was said, very comparable to Iowa football.
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Illinois basketball has many more inherent advantages than does Iowa football. Illini have ready access to very, very good talent yearly without having to venture out of state. Had Self stayed at Illinois instead of going to KU the Illini would have likely been a force the last number of years. No, they are not the level of UNC, Duke, or Kansas, but this is a team that could consistently be just a small level below that with the talent level in the state of Illinois. If they hire another good coach they could be quite scary.
 


Re: Not sure Iowa football is a great comparison...

DodgerHawki said:
Illinois basketball has many more inherent advantages than does Iowa football. Illini have ready access to very, very good talent yearly without having to venture out of state. Had Self stayed at Illinois instead of going to KU the Illini would have likely been a force the last number of years. No, they are not the level of UNC, Duke, or Kansas, but this is a team that could consistently be just a small level below that with the talent level in the state of Illinois. If they hire another good coach they could be quite scary.
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I wasn't comparing programs, but rather fans' expectations of those programs after a period of success. I agree that if Self had stayed in Champaign, Illinois would be great on an annual basis. Most likely even with MSU and O$U.
 


burky247 said:
Six straight seasons of 25+ wins will raise annual expectations. That program was on elite level for a while. When you get use to that and then fall a bit, a lot of people get upset. As was said, very comparable to Iowa football.
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Just to piggy back on this a little.

I think there are some similarities to the Iowa basketball program in all of this too. Davis and Weber both won early with the previous guys recruits. Both programs regularly made the NCAA tourney, although rarely made it to the 2nd week. Outcry from fanbase that wanted to go the the "next level".

Hopefully this works out for the Illini about as well as it did for the Hawks.
 






Section136 said:
Bruce Pearl is available. Think they give him a look? :D
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I told an Illini fan friend the other day that they should wait out Pearl's Show Cause and take him.

Pearl would freaking smoke it there.

That aside, Illinois is one of the best jobs in college hoops IMO...the talent in that state, if they can consistently get the best of the best there each year? That is why Illini fans are ticked off...and they should be.
 


burky247 said:
Six straight seasons of 25+ wins will raise annual expectations. That program was on elite level for a while. When you get use to that and then fall a bit, a lot of people get upset. As was said, very comparable to Iowa football.
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I am sorry, but it's not even close to a similar situation.

The level of basketball talent that exists in Illinois on an annual basis is staggering. Iowa produces on the average, 4 to 6 BCS conference caliber football players a year...and that might even be high. Comparing Illinois' basketball program and expectations to what Iowa's football program expectations are is not remotely fair or realistic.
 


JonDMiller said:
I am sorry, but it's not even close to a similar situation.

The level of basketball talent that exists in Illinois on an annual basis is staggering. Iowa produces on the average, 4 to 6 BCS conference caliber football players a year...and that might even be high. Comparing Illinois' basketball program and expectations to what Iowa's football program expectations are is not remotely fair or realistic.
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Once again, I wasn't comparing programs. I was comparing fans' expectations of the programs after a high level of success.
 
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burky247 said:
Once again, I wasn't comparing programs. I was comparing fans' expectations of the programs after a high level of success.
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I understand what you're saying and I agree 100%. I have been on the Illinois Scout board for years, so I kind of understand their mentality, and it is very similar to ours. Although, to the credit of others, I think that the reason they have high expectations are different (in Iowa's case, I think it is the coach's salary).

Also, the fact that Indiana is ranked and successful is KILLING Illinois fans. They have an immense little-man's syndrome with IU. They feel that their history and tradition exceeds IU, but they are ignored by the media while IU is cheered. The only school they hate more is Iowa (Go onto their board, admit you're an Iowa fan, and I promise you'll get a Bruce Pearl comment in 30 minutes or less). If we beat them at C-U, Weber might not make it out of the building alive.
 




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