SouthSideRyan

Didn't Goldstein have Vitters higher?

Wofford is better than all the 12s except for Cornell, and is probably about equal with half the 11s. That's a terrible draw for Wisconsin

Well Cal's only final fours no longer exist, I don't think he's a great comparison. I think you'll find most of us agree with the rest of your post. If he can't get things done with the level of talent that'll be on this team, over the next couple years then it's time to go. Maybe I'm a kool-aid drinker, but I expect a minimum of one Final Four from this current freshman class.

A 5 seed is not a marginal NCAA tourney team. If Chester Frazier doesn't get hurt, that's probably a sweet 16 team last year. Where do you think the current recruits are coming from? You don't go to the title game in '05 and then go out and grab a bunch of kids that'll be in school the next year. It doesn't work that way. That's not just me talking, Jim Calhoun told Weber you see the spoils 3-4 years down the road. It's not like Illinois's recent recruiting successes have been capitalizing on the performance on the floor from the past couple years, they're getting a bunch of recruits who were young and impressionable watching that '05 team, and fell in love with the school from that.

Well that's just recency bias. The most successful coaches were pretty clearly Harry Combes in basketball, and whoever coached the football team to their national titles.

I see your point on Self sulley, but I think you're underselling him a bit. That '02 class was every bit as good as next year's on paper. The '03 class was 3 4 stars (who never lived up to their ranking, whether that means they weren't as good as their rankings, or if they weren't developed is a different debate) '01 they lucked into Luther Head after whiffing on their first 5 options or so, and Powell wasn't nearly the player under Self that he was under Weber. The funny thing about hearing the can't win without Self's players, is that Self had just as good if not better talent waiting for him when he got to Illinois. Self walked into a preseason #8 team at Illinois. Then with each year passing Illinois's results got worse as Kruger's players left. I'm obviously not saying that the program was going to keep having worse results as Deron/Dee/Augie matured, but it's funny to look at. Another point that I've made on here in the past is that Kruger didn't have the guy he replaced stay in the neighborhood recruiting Chicago. Self had already made the contacts with the kids in Illinois's recruiting grounds, and took those contacts to KU with him. Weber was at SIU and certainly wasn't in on the same kids you'd be in on at Illinois. So when the new guy goes after Sherron Collins and Julian Wright, you think they're gonna give him the same reception as they did to the guy who's been in on them the entire time?

Minor correction, it was Aaron Spears instead of Carter. Spears was a fat [expletive] load.

Incredible. I eagerly await the day where Bum is right on something, anything.

If McCamey comes back they're going to contend for the Big Ten title next year. I'm sorry but big freaking whoop. Your sights should be higher than contending for a conference title once every few years. If Kruger or Self had stuck around you'd be looking at a perennial powerhouse, IMO. I don't see that ever coming out of Weber. What's holding Illinois back from being one of the 5-10 best jobs in the country? The reason we are where we've been the last 4 years is because of a horrendous stretch of recruiting. He's recruiting now, I don't know what you want from me. If Illinois contends for a Big Ten title, that means they're a top 10-15 team in the country. You think if Illinois does that next year, they're gonna go win 19 games in '12? I agree with IG that the '11 recruiting class is going to be a huge one for Weber. If he manages a top 10 class there, Illinois is going to be very very good for a long time. And Kruger was not going to make Illinois into a perennial powerhouse. He was very fortunate that Peoria was so fertile while he was here. He wasn't getting anything out of the Chicago area. Self, I could see, but it's easy to say that now that he's gone on to one of the programs that recruits itself, and allows people who can't read like Brandon Rush into the school.

I bet the streak ends next year

Ohio State Illinois Michigan State Minnesota Purdue Northwestern Michigan Wisconsin Penn State Indiana Iowa

I agree that Illinois is one of the bigger snubs, but with a 79 RPI it's hard to say that they are definitively the best resume of any team not in the tourney. RPI is garbage

good luck getting them motivated for that game, bruce Good thing Stony Brooks sucks

Illinois opens the NIT on the road due to a scheduling conflict. (@Stony Brook) Why couldn't they schedule it for a different night?

I am not making any money on brackets this year. I'm not happy with any of my picks. Final 4 of Ohio St, West Virginia, Villanova, and Butler (WTF?) Upsets: Cornell over Temple. Wofford over Wisconsin. Minnesota over Xavier San Diego State over Tennessee

If McCamey comes back they're going to contend for the Big Ten title next year.

They need to be a lock next year. There are absolutely no excuses for next season. Yeah, I am pretty much relegated to thinking he has to get in next year or he has to go. He should absolutely be gone if we miss the tourney next year. I'm not really worried about that.

Details?

Come on. They are 20th in Pomeroy ratings and 31 in the RPI. They deserved to be in. They were 10-5 versus the RPI top 100. Illinois was 6-10. Did Utah State play a lot of top 25 teams? No. They did play a decent schedule. They played a lot of good teams but few great teams. Their strength of schedule is 100 which isn't good but not bad either. Never mention RPI in my presence again. They have 2 wins against tournament teams all year. A 7 seed and a (hilariously overseeded) 12 seed. Illinois had 6 of those wins. 3 against 4s, a 5, a 7, and a 13 To go with that, Utah St had worse losses than Illinois

None of the reasons Guerrero gave applied to Illinois

They got the best 2 seed. It's ridiculous

They gave the last 2 spots to teams that didn't beat [expletive] anybody

Utah St's 2nd best win was [expletive] WICHITA STATE [expletive] THIS

It's not a bubble team, unless I miscounted

CAL AND UTAH ST this is [expletive] [expletive]