College Basketball 2011-2012

[Magnetic Curses]

james was never an issue, he's grown up an illini fan and it's his dream school.

It's still good to hear. You see the news on Nunn?

 

yeah, fab 5 with:

 

james

nunn

hill

parker

schilling

 

yeah right. nice dream though.

[illiniguy]

james was never an issue, he's grown up an illini fan and it's his dream school.

It's still good to hear. You see the news on Nunn?

 

yeah, fab 5 with:

 

james

nunn

hill

parker

schilling

 

yeah right. nice dream though.

Im more just wanting Nunn. We already have the two. You end up with those three. Parkers prolly coming.

[Magnetic Curses]

thoroughly enjoyed boers and bernstein's mst3k performance over the presser.

[Smack]

Chanson Randle had a good night whipping Minny for the NIT championship.

[XZero771679666304]

The more I read about and hear from Groce, the more optimistic I am. I am especially pleased with the reception his hire is getting from potential recruits like Nunn. I think his aggressive and adaptive style will really appeal to the CPL kids, and will utilize current players like Paul, Bertrand, Abrams and Henry much, much more effectively than Weber did. It seems (and everything I've read) indicates he's a lot more intense, energetic and focused then Weber, which will be welcome. He doesn't seem to be lacking in confidence, which will help him weather Mike Thomas' injurious tyranny without his psyche cracking and causing long losing streaks.

 

And D.J. Cooper talking up Groce at every turn won't hurt anything, that's for sure. It'll be interesting to see how his staff turns out, but I'm more confident now that Howard could leave and he'd still be alright recruiting Chicago.

 

On a related note, I've heard more from Thomas today than in previous months, and I have to say I like the way he conducts himself. Confident and to the point. I doubt that the failure to land Smart had anything to do with a lack of salesmanship on his part.

[illiniguy]

I really am starting to like this hire more and more as I read more about Groce.

 

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11602048-419/self-on-groce-hes-terrific.html

 

Self's take on the hire and Illinois job. Appears he agrees with me. abuck better tell him how wrong he is.

[bukie]

Illini alum John Gasaway shares his thoughts on the hire:

 

Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas first approached Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens about the job, and was rebuffed by both men. (See if I ask Stevens to write another Foreword. I’m kidding.) When you’re rebuffed by coaches and your search stretches into its third week, you are ritually accused of incompetence. But where the sole dispositive competence is getting one of these two coaches to say “yes” to coming to Champaign, we are all equally “incompetent.” True incompetence would have been running a coaching search in 2012 and not approaching Smart and Stevens with a sack full of money.

 

Groce will therefore have to go about his work knowing he was not his boss’s first choice. That’s not ideal, but it’s not unprecedented either. Bo Ryan’s done OK in Madison even though he shows up at the gym every day knowing Rick Majerus was Wisconsin’s first choice in 2001.

[SouthSideRyan]

What does Gasaway say about the poop in his pants?

[bukie]

He neglects further comment on Thomas, aside from pointing out the risk in any hiring endeavor, and that even hiring coaches from other major programs doesn't always work out like schools want (Texas Tech, Minnesota).

 

Also, he mentions this is the third consecutive time Illinois basketball has hired a former major conference assistant that was a head coach at a mid-major. First time worked so well he left in 3 years, second time it works fantastic for two years and gradually fell apart after that. So who knows?

[Guest]

Seems to me there's a bunch of similarities in Groce's hire as there was in Mizzou's hiring of Haith. Publically pursue a big fish and strike out, hire a guy who no one would have wanted at the start of the process, and have a blowhard board member threaten to not allow it. New guy was an ace recruiter at a huge school, then had results in his first HC gig that don't typically translate to this type of promotion. He fits his style around his players rather than having a rigid system, and he inherits a pretty experienced and talented roster. Hopefully no one tears their ACL this August or I'm gonna start to wonder.

[hawkeyecub]

This change of opinion in Illini fans is shocking. Usually coaches lose the opening press conference and fans hate them even more afterwards. They never say things that fans want to hear and former colleagues/employers never say anything good about them. There's usually a big black cloud after a new hire and everyone is really negative.

[bukie]

It's amazing what an 8-10 season in the Big Ten does for the ego these days.

[abuck1220]

I really am starting to like this hire more and more as I read more about Groce.

 

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11602048-419/self-on-groce-hes-terrific.html

 

Self's take on the hire and Illinois job. Appears he agrees with me. abuck better tell him how wrong he is.

 

yeah, i can't believe bill self didn't come out and say the illinois job was a rotten piece of [expletive] job that would ruin your career.

[hawkeyecub]

It's nothing specific at Illinois. But the exact same things happen after almost every coaching hire at every school (including Iowa). The coach says all the things everyone wants to hear, everyone speaks positively about his past, current players/recruits talk about the good things they've heard and it's happy happy time for everyone. People who were skeptical about the guy or didn't like the hire start to admit that they're coming around on him after hearing all of the positives.

[bukie]

I think part of the initial negative reaction from some fans around here had to do with having no idea who John Groce was three weeks ago.

 

Well, that and the ridiculous meathead spin put on everything by some mainstream Chicago media members, and reading way too much into their comments.

[SouthSideRyan]

It's amazing what an 8-10 season in the Big Ten does for the ego these days.

 

Perhaps you didn't notice that they had their first postseason win in 9 years. (This post got a lot funnier as I kept going back year by year in disbelief that a postseason win wasn't showing up)

[abuck1220]

it's amazing what a 6-12 big 10 season and getting rejected by coaches from the horizon league and the colonial league does NOT do to the ego these days.

[hawkeyecub]

I eagerly await the press release that his mentor, Todd Lickliter has been added to his staff.

[illiniguy]

I really am starting to like this hire more and more as I read more about Groce.

 

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11602048-419/self-on-groce-hes-terrific.html

 

Self's take on the hire and Illinois job. Appears he agrees with me. abuck better tell him how wrong he is.

 

yeah, i can't believe bill self didn't come out and say the illinois job was a rotten piece of [expletive] job that would ruin your career.

So to be clear, you're still not wrong? Phew, for a second there I thought you might have been wrong.

[Bruno7481]

This thread is always entertaining.

 

Can you imagine if all of us got together to watch our teams play one another? That would be fun.

[SouthSideRyan]

This thread is always entertaining.

 

Can you imagine if all of us got together to watch our teams play one another? That would be fun.

 

Bukie would be the first to die. From suicide.

[abuck1220]

I really am starting to like this hire more and more as I read more about Groce.

 

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11602048-419/self-on-groce-hes-terrific.html

 

Self's take on the hire and Illinois job. Appears he agrees with me. abuck better tell him how wrong he is.

 

yeah, i can't believe bill self didn't come out and say the illinois job was a rotten piece of [expletive] job that would ruin your career.

So to be clear, you're still not wrong? Phew, for a second there I thought you might have been wrong.

 

wrong about what?

[illiniguy]

This thread is always entertaining.

 

Can you imagine if all of us got together to watch our teams play one another? That would be fun.

 

Bukie would be the first to die. From suicide.

I doubt that.

[illiniguy]

I really am starting to like this hire more and more as I read more about Groce.

 

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11602048-419/self-on-groce-hes-terrific.html

 

Self's take on the hire and Illinois job. Appears he agrees with me. abuck better tell him how wrong he is.

 

yeah, i can't believe bill self didn't come out and say the illinois job was a rotten piece of [expletive] job that would ruin your career.

So to be clear, you're still not wrong? Phew, for a second there I thought you might have been wrong.

 

wrong about what?

Illinois being a great job, or is everyone else who is paid to talk about this sort of thing wrong?

[abuck1220]

I really am starting to like this hire more and more as I read more about Groce.

 

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11602048-419/self-on-groce-hes-terrific.html

 

Self's take on the hire and Illinois job. Appears he agrees with me. abuck better tell him how wrong he is.

 

yeah, i can't believe bill self didn't come out and say the illinois job was a rotten piece of [expletive] job that would ruin your career.

So to be clear, you're still not wrong? Phew, for a second there I thought you might have been wrong.

 

wrong about what?

Illinois being a great job, or is everyone else who is paid to talk about this sort of thing wrong?

 

i never said it was a terrible job, psycho. but obviously you overrate just how good it is. if it was truly a top 10 in the nation job, the guy from ohio wouldn't be their coach. it's that simple.