College Basketball 2011-2012

[illiniguy]

[expletive] Mike Thomas. I hope you're all happy. We fired Bruce Weber to hire the coach of Ohio University. A guy that has finished 9th in the MAC two out of four years. This is abysmal.

 

Weber needed to go regardless of who MT hired. Weber lost the team, they quit on him. You can't get a team back once they've quit on you. This hire isn't ideal but it shouldn't make people jump off a bridge either. Give the guy a chance. I can't remember that far back but I'm guessing people weren't thrilled with the Bill Self hiring either.

After his press conference most were. He killed it.

[illiniguy]

So my thoughts on our next coach Groce, and yes he's our next coach. Weber had to go, he drove our program down big time. We used to get the best mid major coaches, now they are afraid to take our job. That said Thomas is making a hell of a gamble here. If this guy fails he won't get to hire another coach. The good news is apparently he was the lead recruiter at OSU on Oden and Conley. Hopefully he does ok here, I'm willing to give him a chance. Edited March 26, 2012 by illiniguy

[manbearcub]

Lickliter would have gone at least 35-29 at ohio.

[SouthSideRyan]

I don't even mind trolling, it's fun. But when it's so obvious that Derwood knows nothing about college basketball it's just a waste of everyone's time.

[illiniguy]

Lickliter would have gone at least 35-29 at ohio.

Again Groce was a lead recruiter at OSU. Lickliiter couldn't recruit anyone. Understand the difference here Iowa fans?

[Bruno7481]

Not sure I'm willing to buy into this just yet:

 

Team to watch out for next year: Indiana might be college basketball's preseason No. 1 depending on what happens with Kentucky's underclassmen and North Carolina's underclassmen. Yes, Cody Zeller could turn pro and be a lottery pick. But nobody seems to think he will. And if he doesn't, watch out. The Hoosiers were in the top 25 pretty much all season this season. They might be in the top five pretty much all season next season.

 

 

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/18048914/south-region-wrap-up-cals-wildcats-rolled-right-on-through-to-new-orleans

[PosterToBeNamedLater]

So my thoughts on our next coach Groce, and yes he's our next coach. Weber had to go, he drove our program down big time. We used to get the best mid major coaches, now they are afraid to take our job. That said Thomas is making a hell of a gamble here. If this guy fails he won't get to hire another coach. The good news is apparently he was the lead recruiter at OSU on Odense and Conley. Hopefully he does ok here, I'm willing to give him a chance.

 

As much as I would have been incredibly excited for Shaka or Stevens, there was always a small part of me that wondered whether Groce could turn out to be like Matta. Obviously Ohio State hasn't had a whole lot of trouble recruiting since he has been gone, but he did help to start things there. I know he isn't as big of a splash, but maybe his recruiting abilities will better fit Chicago than the other two would. I definitely think you are right about the gamble. I am willing to give him a chance as well. I would be less excited if it was just a coach who had some success at a mid-major, rather than a coach who has a reputation for being a good recruiter.

 

I at least will be excited for something new next year. I couldn't watch the games at the end of this year. Too much of the same story every game.

[XZero771679666304]

I wasn't entirely sold on Stevens. I'm a bit disappointed, but I had some questions about his ability to recruit and his style of play. He was not my first choice. He and Smart had rebuffed other big name schools recently, so it's not surprising, thought I'm not sure what favors they think they are doing themselves.

 

With Groce at least there is the hope he will be a really good recruiter, with his history at tOSU. An effective recruiter with Howard and possibly Robert Smith as an assistant may get the Chicago-Champaign pipeline flowing, which would obviously be huge.

 

And I'm becoming less and less convinced that Theus would be a poor hire. He did a great job at NMSU (they still rave about him down here), he did as good a job as you could possibly expect at Sacramento and I think he'd be a great recruiter (He's been connected to Jabari Parker, iirc).

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Groce wasn't even on our list of candidates when Weber was fired. That is how horribly Thomas has failed for a second time. This is the best job open in all of college basketball and we ended up with John [expletive] Groce. Thomas promised a home run, and he delivered a strike out.

[Derwood]

I don't even mind trolling, it's fun. But when it's so obvious that Derwood knows nothing about college basketball it's just a waste of everyone's time.

 

I'm just going by what you guys have been telling me.

[UMFan83]

Groce wasn't even on our list of candidates when Weber was fired. That is how horribly Thomas has failed for a second time. This is the best job open in all of college basketball and we ended up with John [expletive] Groce. Thomas promised a home run, and he delivered a strike out.

 

I don't understand this. He went after the right guys correct? And there's nothing to suggest he wasn't willing to pay them enough to entice them right? The main reason it seemed like Smart would be willing to consider Illinois is due to his preexisting relationship with Thomas. Not sure about Stevens but I don't see any evidence that Stevens chose to stay at Butler because Illinois didn't present themselves well enough.

 

Maybe he failed behind the scenes, but there is nothing I've seen to suggest Thomas is the reason Smaty and Stevens declined the Illinois job.

[hawkeyecub]

Lickliter would have gone at least 35-29 at ohio.

Again Groce was a lead recruiter at OSU. Lickliiter couldn't recruit anyone. Understand the difference here Iowa fans?

 

So Matta gave him the large bags of cash to hand to Oden and Conley? That's a big responsibility for Jim Croce. And we all know their recruiting has gone to [expletive] since he left.

[hawkeyecub]

So my thoughts on our next coach Groce, and yes he's our next coach. Weber had to go, he drove our program down big time. We used to get the best mid major coaches, now they are afraid to take our job. That said Thomas is making a hell of a gamble here. If this guy fails he won't get to hire another coach. The good news is apparently he was the lead recruiter at OSU on Odense and Conley. Hopefully he does ok here, I'm willing to give him a chance.

 

As much as I would have been incredibly excited for Shaka or Stevens, there was always a small part of me that wondered whether Groce could turn out to be like Matta. Obviously Ohio State hasn't had a whole lot of trouble recruiting since he has been gone, but he did help to start things there. I know he isn't as big of a splash, but maybe his recruiting abilities will better fit Chicago than the other two would. I definitely think you are right about the gamble. I am willing to give him a chance as well. I would be less excited if it was just a coach who had some success at a mid-major, rather than a coach who has a reputation for being a good recruiter.

 

Matta's 4 seasons before getting the OSU job: 102-31, 50-12 in conference play combined at Butler and Xavier. 3 trips to the second round and one Elite Eight.

Groce's 4 seasons: 85-56, 34-30 in conference play, one 2nd round and one Sweet 16.

 

The two are practically identical.

[hawkeyecub]

Groce is kinda the basketball equivalent of the Turner Gill hire.

[hawkeyecub]

Seriously if you have the kind of money to throw around, I can't imagine you end up with this year's guy who is only considered because he made a Sweet 16 by beating Michigan and USF. No [expletive] way.

 

In all honesty even if you just went through non-BCS coaches you would like, where would he rank? Would he make the top 15?

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Groce is less accomplished than Weber was when he took the job. This is the second major hire, and the second major failure by Thomas. Groce wasn't even on Illinois' list of candidates before this Sweet Sixteen run. So, in effect, we're hiring a guy based upon two lucky weeks of basketball to bring our program back from the dead. This is beyond pathetic.

 

We fired Bruce Weber, for a less accomplished more expensive version of Bruce Weber. MAC Thomas needs to go, he's been nothing but an axe man, he's promised results and failed to deliver. Football is one forgiveable, but doing the same in basketball is unacceptable. This all goes back to publicly trashing your coach, failing to communicate with your coach, and running your athletic departments in a scorched earth fashion. He's an awful boss, and no one wants to work with him. Hence, we get stuck with Tim Beckman and John Groce. Get excited Illinois fans, we're about to plunge to Lickliter Iowa levels.

 

Edit: I'd rather have Collins or Theus at this point over Groce just for the record.

[Smack]

Speaking of O$U, Matta, and Groce... That new book, Don't Put Me in Coach by Mark Titus is great. He just rips apart Evan Turner and a bunch of other OSU guys. Matta actually seems like a pretty damn funny guy, and OSU has had some really, really dumb players on their team over the last few years. I'm only about 2/3rds through it, but I highly recommend it. Edited March 26, 2012 by Smack

[NewUserName]

Groce wasn't even on our list of candidates when Weber was fired. That is how horribly Thomas has failed for a second time. This is the best job open in all of college basketball and we ended up with John [expletive] Groce. Thomas promised a home run, and he delivered a strike out.

 

Both Stevens and Smart turned down other jobs last year. I have a hard time believing this is all on Thomas.

[illiniguy]

Groce is less accomplished than Weber was when he took the job. This is the second major hire, and the second major failure by Thomas. Groce wasn't even on Illinois' list of candidates before this Sweet Sixteen run. So, in effect, we're hiring a guy based upon two lucky weeks of basketball to bring our program back from the dead. This is beyond pathetic.

 

We fired Bruce Weber, for a less accomplished more expensive version of Bruce Weber. MAC Thomas needs to go, he's been nothing but an axe man, he's promised results and failed to deliver. Football is one forgiveable, but doing the same in basketball is unacceptable. This all goes back to publicly trashing your coach, failing to communicate with your coach, and running your athletic departments in a scorched earth fashion. He's an awful boss, and no one wants to work with him. Hence, we get stuck with Tim Beckman and John Groce. Get excited Illinois fans, we're about to plunge to Lickliter Iowa levels.

 

Edit: I'd rather have Collins or Theus at this point over Groce just for the record.

He hired Brian Kelly and Mick Cronin at Cincy, yes?

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Groce is less accomplished than Weber was when he took the job. This is the second major hire, and the second major failure by Thomas. Groce wasn't even on Illinois' list of candidates before this Sweet Sixteen run. So, in effect, we're hiring a guy based upon two lucky weeks of basketball to bring our program back from the dead. This is beyond pathetic.

 

We fired Bruce Weber, for a less accomplished more expensive version of Bruce Weber. MAC Thomas needs to go, he's been nothing but an axe man, he's promised results and failed to deliver. Football is one forgiveable, but doing the same in basketball is unacceptable. This all goes back to publicly trashing your coach, failing to communicate with your coach, and running your athletic departments in a scorched earth fashion. He's an awful boss, and no one wants to work with him. Hence, we get stuck with Tim Beckman and John Groce. Get excited Illinois fans, we're about to plunge to Lickliter Iowa levels.

 

Edit: I'd rather have Collins or Theus at this point over Groce just for the record.

He hired Brian Kelly and Mick Cronin at Cincy, yes?

 

And Mick Cronin had a champagne party with his staff when he left. Says all you need to know.

[illiniguy]

Groce is kinda the basketball equivalent of the Turner Gill hire.

Fran mccafrey has a .566 career winning percentage, yet I imagine you think he was a home run hire for Iowa.

[Flames24Rulz]

Give me Frank Martin. That would be a much better hire than Groce. If he's flirting with the idea of leaving K-State for South Carolina, surely he'd consider Illinois, right?

[illiniguy]

Groce is less accomplished than Weber was when he took the job. This is the second major hire, and the second major failure by Thomas. Groce wasn't even on Illinois' list of candidates before this Sweet Sixteen run. So, in effect, we're hiring a guy based upon two lucky weeks of basketball to bring our program back from the dead. This is beyond pathetic.

 

We fired Bruce Weber, for a less accomplished more expensive version of Bruce Weber. MAC Thomas needs to go, he's been nothing but an axe man, he's promised results and failed to deliver. Football is one forgiveable, but doing the same in basketball is unacceptable. This all goes back to publicly trashing your coach, failing to communicate with your coach, and running your athletic departments in a scorched earth fashion. He's an awful boss, and no one wants to work with him. Hence, we get stuck with Tim Beckman and John Groce. Get excited Illinois fans, we're about to plunge to Lickliter Iowa levels.

 

Edit: I'd rather have Collins or Theus at this point over Groce just for the record.

He hired Brian Kelly and Mick Cronin at Cincy, yes?

 

And Mick Cronin had a champagne party with his staff when he left. Says all you need to know.

You are insane with your hatred of Thomas. Why don't we let him hire a basketball coach, then let the coach actually coach a couple games before we call him a failure. Prolly ought let the football guy coach a gmae or two also. Thomas may have screwed up, but there is really no way to know yet.

[illiniguy]

Give me Frank Martin. That would be a much better hire than Groce. If he's flirting with the idea of leaving K-State for South Carolina, surely he'd consider Illinois, right?

He's said he is highly interested in the Illinois job.

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Thomas devalued the job and himself so much that no coach wants to work for him. Now we are hiring a guy based off of two wins two weeks ago. Groce is not a step up from Bruce Weber, he's a more expensive step down. Well done MAC Thomas.