College Basketball 2010-11

[SpongeWorthy]

Players at any big time program aren't anything like regular college players.

[UK1679666180]

I agree with that as far as Kentucky and their recruitment of players.

 

At the same token, I find it hypocritical that you can't grasp the thought of someone like Richmond/Abrams or their family being paid off in some way to attend U of I. Richmond at the time was prob. the #2 recruit in the country when he committed to Illinois. Why wouldn't they take the money now if it's being offered when they're 13? Hell, between then and now they have time to collect all the AAU money as well as whomever might be paying them to attend Illinois regardless if they commit at 13 or 17.

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

There isn't one iota of evidence and you have not brought any forward. I could be wrong but I don't think Weber has committed a single recruiting violation since coming to Illinois.

 

I'm by no means saying 100% that there isn't anything going on at Illinois, I'm just saying if there is they are doing a damn good job of covering it up because there has not even been a whisper.

[UK1679666180]

There isn't one iota of evidence and you have not brought any forward. I could be wrong but I don't think Weber has committed a single recruiting violation since coming to Illinois.

 

I'm by no means saying 100% that there isn't anything going on at Illinois, I'm just saying if there is they are doing a damn good job of covering it up because there has not even been a whisper.

 

You really don't need evidence to make these assumptions.

 

Was there any evidence with Cousins last year at UK? Was there any evidence with Knight, Lamb, Kantor yet this year? Of course, I think there's some sort of payment going on yet there's nothing there.

 

If Richmond and Abrams can get paid under the table at other programs, why would they choose not to?

[Magnetic Curses]

I agree with that as far as Kentucky and their recruitment of players.

 

At the same token, I find it hypocritical that you can't grasp the thought of someone like Richmond/Abrams or their family being paid off in some way to attend U of I. Richmond at the time was prob. the #2 recruit in the country when he committed to Illinois. Why wouldn't they take the money now if it's being offered when they're 13? Hell, between then and now they have time to collect all the AAU money as well as whomever might be paying them to attend Illinois regardless if they commit at 13 or 17.

 

in either case, nothing can be proven yet, so it's all conjecture. i just happen to subscribe to the belief that where there's smoke, there's fire.

 

i think weber started recruiting players at younger ages so that he could compete with a self or calipari who can drive dump trucks full of money up to the recruits' houses at the last minute and get commitments. to me, that's kind of a logical way to combat that.

[SpongeWorthy]

Because they don't want to get caught and lose their eligibility?

[SpongeWorthy]

I agree with that as far as Kentucky and their recruitment of players.

 

At the same token, I find it hypocritical that you can't grasp the thought of someone like Richmond/Abrams or their family being paid off in some way to attend U of I. Richmond at the time was prob. the #2 recruit in the country when he committed to Illinois. Why wouldn't they take the money now if it's being offered when they're 13? Hell, between then and now they have time to collect all the AAU money as well as whomever might be paying them to attend Illinois regardless if they commit at 13 or 17.

 

in either case, nothing can be proven yet, so it's all conjecture. i just happen to subscribe to the belief that where there's smoke, there's fire.

 

i think weber started recruiting players at younger ages so that he could compete with a self or calipari who can drive dump trucks full of money up to the recruits' houses at the last minute and get commitments. to me, that's kind of a logical way to combat that.

 

The most logical way to combat that would be to drive an even bigger dump truck full of money to the recruits' houses.

[Magnetic Curses]

and that's the argument, isn't it? "who's driving the dump truck and who's not?"

[SpongeWorthy]

Well I don't think it's quite happening that way.

[Magnetic Curses]

okay i guess

[Keener98]

There isn't one iota of evidence and you have not brought any forward. I could be wrong but I don't think Weber has committed a single recruiting violation since coming to Illinois.

 

I'm by no means saying 100% that there isn't anything going on at Illinois, I'm just saying if there is they are doing a damn good job of covering it up because there has not even been a whisper.

 

You really don't need evidence to make these assumptions.

 

Was there any evidence with Cousins last year at UK? Was there any evidence with Knight, Lamb, Kantor yet this year? Of course, I think there's some sort of payment going on yet there's nothing there.

 

If Richmond and Abrams can get paid under the table at other programs, why would they choose not to?

 

John Calipari is plenty of evidence

[Jon]

Kevin Coble's career at Northwestern is over.

 

I hate life.

[snoodmonger]

Kevin Coble's career at Northwestern is over.

 

I hate life.

 

what happened?

[Jon]

Kevin Coble's career at Northwestern is over.

 

I hate life.

 

what happened?

The healing process of the Lisfranc fracture he suffered a couple of days before the start of last season apparently isn't on schedule. He said he needs to worry about rehabbing right now and letting it properly heal. There was a report 2 days ago that he was close to returning to summer scrimmages and was targeting a return by the team's August trip to Italy. Now he'll graduate this winter after having his college career cut short.

 

He led the team in scoring and rebounding his first 3 seasons and had a pretty decent shot at a pro career at least in Europe. It's arguable whether he was this team's best player coming into the season considering the injury, but it's a huge, huge blow regardless.

[SouthSideRyan]

That's a gut punch. I think Northwestern was pretty safely in the tourney with Coble.

[snoodmonger]

Yeah, that really sucks. I was hoping NW would get in to the tourney this year. I don't know much about their roster. Any chance of sneaking in even w/o Coble?

[Jon]

Yeah, that really sucks. I was hoping NW would get in to the tourney this year. I don't know much about their roster. Any chance of sneaking in even w/o Coble?

It's not likely, though still possible. They'll need quite a few things to go right and no more injuries:

 

-Drew Crawford (true soph, co-BT frosh of the year) stays healthy and continues to improve

-Alex Marcotullio (true soph, coming back from U-20 FIBA competition with Great Britain) improves on what he did this summer and can be a consistent scoring threat in Big Ten play while also improving ball handling skills

-JerShon Cobb (incoming frosh) can step in and contribute immediately, possibly even earning the starting job by early in the season

-John Shurna (junior) makes a push towards first team Big Ten

-Michael Thompson (senior) doesn't fade due to averaging 39 minutes a game

 

Jeff Ryan comes back from missing last season with an injury to provide more depth at guard, but now there's even less depth at center, already the weakest position by far. Kyle Rowley transferred to St. Mary's and there will need to be dramatic improvement by Mirkovic in order to be competitive in every Big Ten contest. And Cobb is the only incoming freshman. Next year's class will hopefully have 5 recruits, so this is a short bench.

 

Individually, I don't think any is all too unrealistic, though Mirkovic becoming a strong center this year is probably a stretch. However, everything really does need to go right. There's not much margin for error.

 

Coble apparently didn't have any setbacks, per se, but it looks like he and his doctors were worried about long-term effects if he were to play on it this year.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah, that really sucks. I was hoping NW would get in to the tourney this year. I don't know much about their roster. Any chance of sneaking in even w/o Coble?

 

They only lost one player from last year's team but he soaked up a lot of minutes that they were counting on Coble to take on. They should be able to make it to the NIT based on beating up the absolute garbage in the bottom of the conference. The Big Ten will probably have the best top 4 in the country, and the worst bottom 4 (of power conferences; yes worse than DePaul +3)

[illiniguy]

Northwestern really caught a bad break. They were for sure in with Coble.

[hawkeyecub]

Is it strange that in his statement he thanked administration, fans and teammates but had no mention of Carmody or the coaches? And that Carmody only released two sentences?

[ConstableRabbit]

WTF!?!?!?

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

This really sucks. I liked Coble, he was fun to watch and seemed like a genuinely good guy.

[Flames24Rulz]

Is it strange that in his statement he thanked administration, fans and teammates but had no mention of Carmody or the coaches? And that Carmody only released two sentences?

 

Not at all. I think there's more to the story than what is currently out there.

 

That really sucks though. If you don't pull for Northwestern, you don't have a soul.

[Jon]

General consensus in the Chicago media is that Coble saw his rehab schedule differently than Carmody and the coaching staff. I doubt we'll ever know much more beyond that, though.

 

At least Kevin made his decision now prior to practice beginning in a few weeks for the upcoming trip to Italy. Carmody at least knows what he'll be working with now.

[hawkeyecub]

Yeah it seems pretty clear to me that there was some kind of falling out between Coble and the Northwestern coaching staff.