whitesoxfan99

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 18, 2012 -> 06:32 PM) What a pathetic effort by these players. f*** all of them, even Leonard. Good riddance. f*** their garbage ass coach.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Feb 18, 2012 -> 06:12 PM) So, Illinois' give-a-f*** isn't real high right now. I'm not surprised. Like I had been saying, Weber should have been fired after Wednesday. Players have quit on him.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 16, 2012 -> 12:40 PM) And the thing is with basketball, it's you like need an entire class of 5-stars. if you can just get one or two outstanding players, that already makes your team so much better And the new coach won't be coming into a team devoid of talent either. James and Hill will stay committed if you hire a competent coach, you have 3 freshmen that have showed flashes this year and Bertrand still has two years left. If Paul doesn't go pro you have the talent to be good (not great but good) right away. If Leonard stays and the team is actually coached properly they could be top 15 right off the bat. This isn't an Indiana rebuilding job.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 16, 2012 -> 11:33 AM) I think the Gottfried thing is an abnormality. Recruiting isn't an easy fix. It's relationship building, which takes time. I think it's a foregone conclusion that Jerrance Howard is also out, though maybe if they throw some money his way he'll stay. He's the key guy in this. He can bridge the gap between Weber and the new coach. Sean Miller recruited extremely well right off the bat at Arizona, Self's second class at Illinois was fantastic, Crean's second class at Indiana was very good, Matta's second class had Oden, Conley, Cook. Hell, Zook recruited really well right off the bat for Illinois and that was with what was a garbage football program. You are drastically overstating how difficult it is to fix recruiting. If you are a good recruiter you will be successful at it right away.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 16, 2012 -> 09:57 AM) Agreed. Let McClain show is coaching expertise (none). In all seriousness though, the whole thing is just sad. The guy never had a chance with the fan base. No one wanted him, even when he succeeded beyond what Kruger and Self were able to do (the whole line about Self's recruits is bulls***. He coached that team up from borderline good to great). He probably should have been fired a few seasons ago to save the embarrassment both of him and the program. Or at the very least they should have told him take that job at Oklahoma last year, or wherever else he got a job offer (wasn't Oregon one a few seasons back?). Losing to teams like Penn State and Northwestern year in and year out is just not acceptable. The fact that he's been on the hotseat for a few years - you just can't coach that way, as he admitted last night. Too much pressure because every loss gets you that much closer to losing all support. So instead of losing early to win later, he wanted to do everything he could to win in the present. And you could see that with his refusal to play younger guys because they make mistakes, so instead he plays guys like Sam who won't turn the ball over, but probably won't be good enough to win either. He needs a fresh start, as does the program itself. I still see a gigantic problem with expectations though. All those highly ranked recruits the next few years? Most are Weber guys, including any chance they had with Parker (who according to Klee, is still very interested in Illinois). So the program is back to being stuck in a recruiting rut, no matter who they bring in. When the new coach fails to land big recruits in his first season or two, get ready for the same boo birds that were all over Weber for not being able to land anyone. f***ing sucks, the whole thing. It is beyond absurd to suggest that there will be a recruiting rut regardless of who they bring in. I can't see a guy like Shaka Smart not being successful as a recruiter. And if a guy can recruit he will be successful at it right away (Mark Gottfried just brought in a monster class for 2012 right off the bat at NC St. for f***s sake). Also, there is a very good chance that Jalen James and Malcolm Hill stay committed if you hire the right coach because both of those guys just really like Illinois and want to play for Illinois (James in particular).

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 16, 2012 -> 12:12 AM) Weber is on a roll right now with just pathetic comments. He threw the entire team under the bus tonight. Just a despicable postgame press conference. This is the main reason he should be fired tomorrow and not after the season. He is a beaten man. Just end it now, let the assistants take over and maybe they actually play the freshmen more, the players play loose, make the NCAA tourney and maybe even win a game or two.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 15, 2012 -> 10:26 PM) Abrams playing a hell of a game for Illinois He is a lot like Chester Frazier just with a lot more offensive ability. He needs to really get in the gym and work on his jumper but he can get to the rim and finish and is a bulldog on D. Love that kid.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 15, 2012 -> 11:51 PM) Is the key for the next Illini coach recruiting Chicago? Will that be the key for Shaka returning the Illini to greatness? Will the Public League coaches embrace Shaka? It seems sometimes the Illini coach relationships with Public League talent is not good. And other area talent. Wouldn't NW's Sobelewski of Benet and Boatright of Aurora look good in Illini colors? Unless Illinois was going to cheat, they weren't going to land Boatright.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Feb 15, 2012 -> 10:52 PM) So I was curious as to how Maniscalco has actually done (numbers wise). Since the weak part of the schedule ended (beginning with the Gonzaga game), he is 18 for 79 for the field (22.7%) in 15 games. I knew it was bad, but Jesus... I guess Weber had him out there for his defense though. To be fair to Maniscalco, he re-injured the ankle in the St. Bonaventure game and has been playing (incredibly poorly) on one leg since. It isn't his fault that Weber keeps playing him when he has no chance to succeed. Also, if anyone heard Weber's press conference after the game today he already knows he is being fired. I actually wish Thomas would just do it now and appoint an assistant just to get it done and to let the players play loose down the stretch. Also, Weber also basically confirmed that he has been coaching not to lose the last few years and that the pressure of the job got to him.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 15, 2012 -> 01:59 PM) The ironic thing about Weber complaining about that Minnesota call is that it was still a close enough play to be called a foul on Leonard. There's significantly worse calls made in each game than that one. Weber reminds me of Hawk Harrelson here. I thought it was a bad call (particularly in that situation where refs are taught to be absolutely certain that a foul was committed and the ref that made the call wasn't in position to see if there was a foul or not) but Leonard needs to either foul the Minnesota player hard and make sure he doesn't get off a shot or just back away and give up the layup. Never put college refs in a position to make a call because they will almost certainly get it wrong. But even if it wasn't a foul, that isn't why Weber's job is in jeopardy and why Illinois may not make the tourney. Have more than one good season out of six and don't significantly underachieve for 3 straight seasons and Illinois isn't in this mess to begin with. My dream scenario at this point is for Illinois to make the tourney but for Weber to be fired the day after the Big 10 tournament. I want nothing to do with risking a miracle Elite 8 run that could save his job. And as unlikely as that is, as we have seen the last couple of years, with the top teams in college basketball generally being very beatable, anything can happen.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 15, 2012 -> 01:44 PM) I see now where Weber said that thing about the Minnesota game. What an insecure loser. That is one of the lamest statements I've ever read from a professional/collegiate coach. I just read where Chad Qualls stated that he shouldn't be charged with giving up Konerko's home run in Game 2 of the World Series because Dye wasn't hit by a pitch, and that it should have been a foul ball. He is done mentally and it is clear based on Thomas's comments that Weber is going to get fired.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 10, 2012 -> 03:36 PM) That was an awful call. That is one of those calls that by the letter of the rule is the right call but if you call that there is a moving screen committed on every single possession during a basketball game and there are moving screens significantly worse than that not called on a significant number of possessions each game. To call that in a 3 pt game with Leonard having 3 fouls is inexcusable. But college refs are amazing incompetent so it doesn't surprise me. The leap in reffing ability from college to the NBA is nearly as big of a jump as the basketball talent.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Feb 9, 2012 -> 09:52 PM) Because he's awesome? Well he does root for IU during games...

Gus Johnson is horrible. Why do people like him?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 8, 2012 -> 02:17 PM) The Hornets are 4-21 on the season. If there's any question about Rose, sit him. I wouldn't care if they were playing the Miami Heat. If there is any question about Rose you sit him during the regular season. All that matters for a team like the Bulls in the NBA is the playoffs.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 11:51 AM) Top basketball schools don't lose their coaches to other places. Sure they do. Roy Williams left Kansas for UNC and it isn't uncommon for coaches to leave top basketball schools for the NBA. If money is equal and the coach doesn't have ties to a certain school there are probably only 5 or 6 (UNC, Kansas, Kentucky for sure and then a couple of others like Duke or UCLA that a guy may leave for but is Duke really that great of a job once Coach K leaves?) jobs at most that a coach would leave Illinois for.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 10:16 AM) I was too busy prepping my place for a superbowl party, so I didn't get to watch much of the game. Frankly, I could care less how well they played or how much better NW played. That's a game you simply have to win. No excuses. If I'm Thomas I'm on the phones this week to see what kind of money I can gather for a buyout and a new contract going forward. Problem is this decision will come down to finances. Weber makes 1.3 mil a year, that's fourth to last in the Big Ten. Izzo makes 3.5, Matta makes 2.5, Crean makes 2.2. In other words, if Illinois fans expect them to compete for a top of the line coach, they're going to have to come up with some money. That's something they've never really done before. If you can somehow get Shaka to come AND you can keep Howard, I'm all for it. Otherwise I think you have to fire a couple of assistants, give Weber the end of his contract (next year) and hire an assistant that can take over if need be. Here's what I see happening: they barely make it to the tournament and lose in the first or second round. Everyone calls for Weber's head. Then he pulls in a good recruiting class. He's already got 2 good verbals, maybe he gets Hamilton too. Then what do you do? Risk losing those recruits? James and Hill are very good players but they aren't program changers and the next coach will have a good chance at keeping both of them. I honestly don't care about Hamilton. Very talented but he is always hurt, never plays and doesn't seem to work hard on his body or his game. Short of going 7-1 or 8-0 down the stretch or landing Jabari Parker in the next two months I don't see a single reason to keep Weber on board unless the finances are so bad that you would have to go incredibly cheap on the next coach. Really sucks that Shahid Khan is supposedly friendly with Weber or he could easily be the money behind buying out Weber and landing the next coach. He was behind buying out Zook and was the money behind Illinois' offer to Sumlin (which was for top dollar btw).

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Feb 5, 2012 -> 10:27 PM) Fire Lowery, fire Bruce, hire Bruce. #pipedream I fully expect Weber to be successful at his next stop. It is pretty clear that the pressure of the Illinois job got to him and he just isn't the same coach he was when he first got the job. He inherited a lot of talent but those teams were also exceptionally well coached and executed on offense at an incredible level. His success at Illinois wasn't just the talent he got from Self, it was also good coaching and his teams at Southern Illinois were also very well coached. I think that the recruiting failures he had early at Illinois coupled with the failures on the floor made him very uptight in his coaching and the play on the floor has reflected that. He also hasn't seemed to truly connect with a lot of his players recently which is a major issue at the high major level where you have guys with bigger egos and guys that need to be pampered a little more than at the mid major level.

Also, I'm shocked the Patriots didn't let the Giants score earlier than they did. You do it before you use the 2nd timeout and with 30 extra seconds on the clock and you have a legit shot at coming back and winning.

Wes Welker lost that game with his drop on the previous drive.

Patriots should have done that 30 seconds ago when the Giants got inside the red zone.

New England should let them score.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Feb 5, 2012 -> 05:31 PM) That was an odd game. Illinois made more 3's at a higher percentage than NU and Leonard was unstoppable, and yet they somehow lost? Bruce Weber sucks. Really no other explanation needed.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 5, 2012 -> 05:25 PM) Go away Bruce, I'm tired of the Jekyll and Hyde personalities of this team. Time for a new start, and if done right it wouldn't take long to put Illinois back into a top 15 program. Illinois could be top 15 next year if Leonard returns and you have a competent coach. The only player they will lose is the guy who has been amongst the worst players in the country since he got hurt against St. Bonaventure.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Feb 5, 2012 -> 05:20 PM) I don't think Thomas would have taken the job if his hands were tied to that degree, Bye, bye Bruce. Mick Cronin, come on down. Cronin and Thomas are not on friendly terms and I'm not convinced Cronin would be able to recruit Chicago right off the bat. Get me Shaka Smart (and maybe keep Jerrance) and you could potentially own Chicago. He will also excite the fanbase and with the talent returning next year will be set up for success right off the bat.